I don't know who told you that but most trainers today use treats. I have treats in all my jacket pockets. I went and visited my daughter in Seattle and borrowed her jacket and discovered some treats I had left in there the year before when I visited with my dogs.
Treats are a paycheck for a job well done. Dogs work and enjoy working more when they get something they like. Praise is good but treats are really tasty. You know they love treats. So find a kind that your dog for sure likes and keep them on you. (be careful to hang up your jacket. My Chihuahua ate the bottoms out of several pockets when I hung my jacket on a chair)
Take baby steps when you train. Get the sit. Reward, get the sit again, reward. Then start adding the word, "sit." He doesn't understand English anyhow so you might as well try to get him into the sit by some other means...usually people lure with the treat kind of over their head. You can use a leash if you must to help you. Forget the stay for now. That's another lesson. To get the sit to be gradually held longer, start out treating the instant he sits, but gradually teach him that he has to hold it one second longer before he gets a treat, then 2 seconds longer etc.
When it is time to teach stay, break it up into the three parts; duration, distance from you and distractions. Those three things should be taught seperately at first. It makes it much easier. So, you'll stand right in front of your dog and show him what you mean and you'll only expect him to stay for 1 or 2 seconds, then 4 seconds, then 6....staying right smack in front of him. Gradually you'll lengthen that duration.
When he's got that pretty well, you can step back 6"..then 1 ft, then 2 but come right back to him to treat him. Don't worry about duration now. Step back and come immediately back to him. Don't even pause. Gradaully get further away. If he breaks the stay, you've asked too much from him too soon. Go back some steps. Replace him calmly and try again, making it easier for him so he can succeed. Always reinforce for a correct response. (praise/treat) And make it immediate, within 2 or 3 seconds of his correct response. The more reinforcements he gets for correct responses, the quicker he'll learn. So set him up to succeed. :hail:
Then when he has the distance pretty good, you can try both together, but make it easy at first. Lots of practice and patience...then you can add a small distraction...maybe a person walking by, then gradually add more.
Always, with everything start out in your living room, then yard, before you plunge them into higher distraction areas...that's with everything. Dogs don't generalize well. So, if they can sit fine at home but they fail to do it down the road, owners think they're being stubborn or defiant and so the dog gets punished or jerked. The truth is, to them sitting when told down the road makes no sense at all. It's another exercise entirely from sitting in the living room. So, add new distractions gradually.
It takes time. So it's important that you and your dog have fun. Don't get frustrated or tense. Just have fun. When you're bothered or in a bad mood, quit, but quit on something the dog can do well. Come back to it later. Pups have very short attention spans...5 or 10 minutes at a time is enough for now. You can ask for sits anytime throughout the day and ask for some other skill here and there all day long. Those little mini training times are very valuable and useful.
Good luck. Let us know how things go.
Good luck.
