Premier MannersMinder Instruction Manual page 26

Chapter 6: Say Please by Sitting
and staying seated, but give several treats in suc-
cession if he tends to get up immediately after
you're done or if he has a long history of jumping
on people. This means you should have 5-10 treats
ready in your hand. If your timing is good and you
perform these sits in rapid succession, your dog's
eyes should be glued to your face. If you're too slow
or your timing is off, he'll get bored and his atten-
tion will wander. The more we reinforce sit and
standing completely stationary when Fido gets up,
the quicker sitting for food will become a habit.
Practice in Other Situations
Once Fido knows this exercise so well that he's
performing 10 sequential sits in a minute, apply
this polite behavior to other situations where he
wants something from you. Avoid using a verbal
cue such as "sit" because we don't want to have
to micromanage his sit behavior, rather we want
him to say "please" automatically every time he
wants something from you.
When to Use "Say Please by Sitting"
Fido should sit and remain seated in all of these situations below and remain sitting until
you give a verbal or visual signal that he can get up. So for instance, when he sits for you
to open the door, he should remain seated even with the door wide open until you tell him
he can go through. The goal is to teach Fido that the door only opens when he sits. As soon
as he stands without your permission, the door closes. This will be very important for the
last stage of training.
• To go through doorways and gates, especially when guests come to the door
• To get out of his crate
• To have his toy tossed
• To receive treats or meals
• To get his leash on when he goes for a walk
• To get out of the car
• To greet people
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