Why one of the most common behaviors in dog training may also be one of the most overused.
If you’ve followed my work for a while, you may be surprised to hear me say this, but teaching Sit is not one of the first things I teach a puppy. In fact, when Jessam joined our family, several weeks passed before I introduced a Sit cue. That wasn’t because I don’t think Sit is useful – it absolutely is – but because there were other things that I considered far more important during those first few weeks together.
Before I worried about where Jessam’s bottom was, I wanted him to feel safe in his new home. I wanted him to develop confidence in the world around him and to build positive associations with the people, places, sounds, surfaces and experiences that were likely to become part of his everyday life. I wanted him to learn that hearing his name predicted wonderful things, that putting on a harness was something to look forward to, and that having a leash clipped onto that harness meant good things were about to happen. Before we ever set off on proper walks, we spent just a few minutes at a time practicing loose leash walking around the house and garden so that those early outings would be enjoyable.
Only later did I begin thinking about Sit.
Even then, I didn’t teach Sit in the way many people might expect. Rather than luring him into position, I simply observed him. Before long, I could recognize the moments when he was naturally about to sit. Once I was confident the behavior was going to happen, I said “Sit” just beforehand, then marked and reinforced the behavior. In effect, I was capturing a behavior Jessam was already offering and attaching a cue to it.
Sit is a valuable behavior, but I don’t believe it’s nearly as important as many of us have been led to think.
Somewhere along the way, Sit became the default response to almost everything. We ask for it before greeting people, while chatting to a neighbor, before opening a door, while clipping on a leash, when waiting for something to happen, and often simply because the dog has walked over and is standing beside us. For many of us, asking for a Sit has become such an automatic habit that we rarely stop to consider whether it actually serves a purpose.
I sometimes encourage people to imagine the same thing happening to them. Imagine arriving home after work and, before anyone greets you, someone tells you to sit down. A few minutes later you stand up to make a cup of coffee and hear, “Sit.” You walk into another room and hear it again. By the end of the day, you’d probably be wondering why everyone seemed so concerned about your choice of posture.
Dogs don’t experience the situation exactly as we do, of course, but the comparison highlights an important question that I think is worth asking every time we give a ‘sit’ cue.
Does my dog actually need to sit right now?
Sometimes the answer is yes. There are occasions when asking a dog to remain still for a few moments genuinely makes life easier or safer. During a veterinary examination, waiting to cross a road, while having a photograph taken, or whenever remaining in one place is important, having a reliable stationary behavior is incredibly useful.
Notice I didn’t say Sit.
When I put Jessam’s harness on, I don’t ask him to sit. He happily walks forward into his harness because that’s the behavior I’ve taught him. Likewise, when we’re waiting to cross a road, I usually ask him to wait, not to sit. Whether he chooses to stand or sit while he waits isn’t important to me. What matters is that he stays with me until it’s safe to move on.
Rather than focusing on a particular posture, I prefer to focus on the outcome I’m trying to achieve. If standing quietly achieves that outcome just as well as sitting, why insist on a Sit? If lying down is more comfortable for the individual dog, that’s perfectly acceptable too. And if the dog is already making an appropriate choice, sometimes the best training decision is not to ask for anything at all.
The same principle applies when a dog doesn’t respond immediately to a cue. One of the most common habits I see is people repeating the word over and over again: “Sit… Sit… Sit…”. Instead of repeating the cue, I think it’s far more useful to ask a different question:
Not, “Why is my dog ignoring me?” but, “What’s influencing my dog’s behavior right now?”
Perhaps they didn’t hear you. Perhaps they’re distracted by something in the environment. Perhaps they haven’t yet learned that the cue applies in this new location as well as it does in the kitchen at home. Or perhaps there’s a perfectly reasonable physical explanation. The pavement may be hot, the grass wet, the gravel uncomfortable, or the dog may simply be getting older and finding the movement more difficult than they once did.
Rather than assuming the dog is choosing not to respond, I think it’s more useful to ask yourself why. Behavior doesn’t occur in a vacuum. If the dog doesn’t sit, there’s a reason. Perhaps the cue wasn’t salient enough, perhaps the environment was too distracting, perhaps the reinforcement history isn’t strong enough in that context, or perhaps sitting simply wasn’t the best choice for that individual at that moment. Instead of labeling the response, I prefer to ask, “What’s influencing the behavior?”
Sometimes the answer lies with the individual dog. We can become so focused on teaching the behavior that we forget to consider whether the behavior is equally appropriate for every learner. A young, athletic dog may happily sit repeatedly during a training session without giving it a second thought, whereas an older dog with arthritis may find every repetition uncomfortable. Giant breeds move differently from toy breeds, and some dogs naturally choose to sit more often than others. Rather than expecting every dog to fit the same mold, I think we should adapt our training to the learner in front of us.
It’s also worth remembering that a sitting dog isn’t necessarily a relaxed dog. A dog can sit while feeling worried, frustrated or overwhelmed. They can sit because they’ve learned that doing so is the quickest way to make the human stop asking. The posture tells us what the dog’s body is doing at that moment, but it doesn’t necessarily tell us how the dog feels. That’s why it’s so important to look beyond the behavior itself and pay attention to the dog’s body language, emotional state, and overall wellbeing.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I absolutely teach Sit. It’s a valuable foundation behavior, and it’s an excellent exercise for developing good training mechanics. It helps trainers improve their timing, observation skills, reinforcement delivery, cue transfer and overall communication. It’s also a behavior that many pet dog guardians want their dogs to learn, and as professionals we should certainly be able to teach it well.
What I question isn’t whether dogs should learn to respond to a Sit cue.
What I question is whether we’ve given it a level of importance that it doesn’t really deserve.
If I had to choose between a puppy who responds enthusiastically to their name, feels safe exploring new environments, happily wears a harness, walks comfortably on a loose leash and doesn’t yet know Sit, or a puppy who sits beautifully but lacks those other foundation skills, I know which puppy I’d choose every single time.
Perhaps the next time you’re about to ask your dog to sit, pause for just a moment and ask yourself one simple question:
Is Sit genuinely useful here, or am I asking simply because it’s become a habit?
Sometimes the answer will be yes.
But I suspect you’ll discover that, quite often, your dog was already doing exactly what they needed to do.
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