# To sit or not to sit ? - that is the question



## EmmasMommy (Jun 2, 2008)

For those of you that do not know I am attending conformation classes with my Mimi and just learning the details that a good show dog and handler should learn.
Our teacher warned not to confuse a show dog by teaching 'sit 
' while learning stacking. Of course I had never thought about this.
Mimi is just under 6 months old. She is doing well with potty training and knowing her name. ( Today she ran from another room in answer to her name)Skipping the whole obedience skills is kind of odd for me. Its like skipping teaching them basic manners.

My other 2 dogs ( a nearly 2 year old Malt and a 12 yr old Sheltie) are well trained and every evening (almost) when its "treat" time, we practice basic obedience, sit then stay and come and sit and down.They know some to hand signals with commands, some commands only and some to hand signals only Also I recently added Emma's newest skill - to dance on her hind legs to the word "dance" and a hand signal. Emma and Katie know the routine and I have to mix it up or they will try to anticipate what command I will do to get the treat. Sometimes this in it self is comical.

So here is my problem, what do I do with Mimi when this pack surrounds me for their lesson? I hate to have to put her in the Xpen ( which is situated in a place where she can see me work the other dogs.)Each evening Mimi gets 5 minutes on the show lead for movement training and , 5 minutes of stacking/stand on the table lessons each evening/day. 1 or 2 nights aweek we go to classes for 1 hour.

Do all dogs being shown at the dog shows in conformation "skip" sitting when next to a human which is the desired placement in obedience? When do they learn to sit?Come? stay? etc?
I am comparing notes from the trainer and you guys with handling/showing experience. 

Thank you all.


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

My first maltese was Lucy, who was bought as a pet. We did the whole Petsmart training thing so she learned to sit, down, stay, etc. Fast forward a few months and my interest shifted and I wanted to show her, so now I had to teach her 'stand'. My experience with her is that she learned 'both' commands. Mimi could always do 'stand' while the others do sit. Marina shows Lucy in juniors and sometimes when she is baiting her, Lucy will sit instead of stand but that is mostly Marina's fault, because her hand command is too far over Lucy's head so she thinks she is being asked to sit. 

Now when I'm training a dog for show, I bypass sit until after they are done showing. They learn 'down' mostly for grooming purposes, but the sit isn't as necessary. I know people do obedience along side show training, so maybe they will have some advice for you!


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## Tina (Aug 6, 2006)

Every show dog needs to be taught "stand". Some are taught "stack". I am like Stacy, I don't teach "sit" until after they are finished showing. 
All the fun learning with confirmation showing.

Tina


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

Sometimes while we're in handling class and I show her a piece of bait and say "Stand"....she'll sit... :blush: ...cause that's what she learned at home. And that's usually at the end of the night when she's tired.

But she is a natural stacker and "Stand and Stay" is her best thing!!!! :chili: :chili: When everyone else in the line is kneeling and stacking their dog, Ava just freezes and watches me.....OMG I love that little girl.

I don't ask her to sit for her treats in the morning anymore though....that could get confusing.


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## Orla (Jul 5, 2009)

The first thing I taught Milo was "sit" - oh what a big massive mistake!!!!
He sits in the ring now!   

he knows "stand" so its just a case of getting "sit" to the back of his mind!


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

QUOTE (2MaltMom @ Nov 10 2009, 04:38 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=849709


> Sometimes while we're in handling class and I show her a piece of bait and say "Stand"....she'll sit... :blush: ...cause that's what she learned at home. And that's usually at the end of the night when she's tired.
> 
> But she is a natural stacker and "Stand and Stay" is her best thing!!!! :chili: :chili: When everyone else in the line is kneeling and stacking their dog, Ava just freezes and watches me.....OMG I love that little girl.
> 
> I don't ask her to sit for her treats in the morning anymore though....that could get confusing.[/B]


That is great that Ava is a natural stacker!! I like free stacking but I can get my dogs to look better if I'm on the ground with them, plus i can brush them if they need it.


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## ilovemymaltese (Oct 9, 2008)

Don't teach sit! LOL Gigi has learned that everytime I won't give her some food/treat that she has to "sit" for it and then she will get it. She was taught to even sit and wait for the longest time til I gave her a treat. It's so cute through, she's sit, lay down, so confused why I'm not going to give her the treat anymore! :blush:


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

I don't have any problem teaching a dog to sit AND stand on cue. The error people make is teaching sit and making it a default for treats and not spending nearly as much time with stand. I train with many people who show their dogs in conformation and obedience...they all learn to stand just fine.


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## iheartbisou (Feb 13, 2007)

Just wondering if the majority of people use hand signals or voice commands? Or both?


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## ilovemymaltese (Oct 9, 2008)

QUOTE (shanghaimomma @ Nov 11 2009, 03:34 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=849882


> Just wondering if the majority of people use hand signals or voice commands? Or both?[/B]


I use both


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## angelgirl599 (Apr 8, 2009)

Same here, I use both but Lola does better when both are being used rather than just voice commands or just hand signals.


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## almitra (Apr 24, 2009)

I taught "sit" and "stand" simultaneously, so Pepper does both, depending upon the visual/verbal cue. It is true that I use "sit" much more often than "stand", but I still find definite use for both on at least a daily basis.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

It's important to keep the commands separate and apart. If you say stay and then sit, they will, in their 
haste to please do both within the same command. 
I always taught stay as a stand and look up to the judge command.


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## tamizami (May 1, 2007)

I use both hand and verbal commands.


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