Gather tasty treats to motivate your dog and choose a quiet place free of distractions for training sessions.
Prepare
Hold a treat over your dog's nose, slowly moving it up and back from a sit position, marking and rewarding once they sit.
Lure
Immediately give treats and praise as soon as your dog's bottom touches the ground in a sit position. Be enthusiastic to reinforce the behavior.
Reward
After rewarding your dog for sitting, use a release command like "free" or "ok" allowing them to break the sit position.
Release
Repeat the lure, reward and release process multiple times over several short, positive training sessions to cement the sit command.
Practice
Once your dog is consistently sitting when you move the lure, introduce a verbal sit command right before you lure to associate the cue.
Cue
Gradually phase out the food lure over time by rewarding intermittently and unpredictably once the verbal cue reliably causes your dog to sit.
Phase Out