sitting

[ladybugtastic]

I have a 1.5 year old pit mix that I've had since she was about 10 weeks old. She's been through obedience classes, and she knows how to sit on command, but I don't know how to create distance with it. whenever I tell her to sit, she thinks it means sit directly in front of me. She'll be halfway across the room, I'll tell her to sit, and she'll run over to me, and then sit. I'm sure that it's probably something that I've done while training her, but I can't figure out how to correct the problem.
It took a lot of work just to get her to sit next to me instead of in front of me while we go on walks.

[jacksdad]

I have a 1.5 year old pit mix that I've had since she was about 10 weeks old. She's been through obedience classes, and she knows how to sit on command, but I don't know how to create distance with it. whenever I tell her to sit, she thinks it means sit directly in front of me. She'll be halfway across the room, I'll tell her to sit, and she'll run over to me, and then sit. I'm sure that it's probably something that I've done while training her, but I can't figure out how to correct the problem.
It took a lot of work just to get her to sit next to me instead of in front of me while we go on walks.

ask for a sit. when she does, take a half step back, then step back to your starting position. reinforce your dog with some food. Take a full step back, then step forward, reinforce your dog with food. when you can take a single step back and return to your dog 5 out of 5 times, take a step and and half, then two steps etc. for now always return and reinforce your dog for siting where you left her.

start like that. work in sets of 5. if she is successful 5 our 5, add another half step or full step.

so that moves you away from your dog while she holds a sit.

For a sit while she is over there, but you are over here. that is a different skill all together. As is "stopping and siting" while returning to you.

[CarolineLovesDogs]

What jacksdad said is right on. And if you need to move even slower than that (originally just picking one foot up off the ground a bit, then immediately placing it back down) do that. It might seem tedious, BUT if you build a strong foundation and don't go so fast that the dog is not successful, chances are later you will be able to increase the distance / duration in larger increments.
As for the problem of her not sitting when she is away from you, I don't have many suggestions that I can say with confidence would work for your dog. The only tip I can give is very gradually moving away from the dog and asking for a sit (VERY gradually moving away).
Something else that might work- teach your dog to go over to a target (just a simple mat). Teach the dog to go over to the mat (through shaping, which is basically rewarding your dog incrementally for doing the goal behavior, i.e. first looking at the mat, then stepping toward it, then stepping on it, and then give the cue for her to sit on it, for longer periods of time. (That could take several different sessions). I know that has worked for a some people but it might not be the easiest way, especially for a new trainer who isn't used to shaping.
I am sure someone else on positively has a better answer for your second query!

[gwd]

I'm sure that it's probably something that I've done while training her,

Kudos for realizing that it was something you patterned! Often people forget that dogs know a version of a behavior but that they only know it in a narrow context. A prime example is that folks often teach drop (down) from a sitting position. The dog thinks that we've messed up if we say 'drop' when they're standing!

I won't add anything else since the other posters have covered it already......... and they're dead on. I just wanted to give you an atta girl for understanding it's a confusion issue and not any sort of 'she's being stubborn' nonsense!

[Nettle]

She is, as you recognise, doing what you taught her now you need to teach the distance 'sit' to a different word. Because to her 'sit' means 'sit next to me' and by changing the word and then using the methods described by the others, you will proof the far-sit as well.

[ladybugtastic]

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll start attempting these during our training sessions today. I think I sometimes forget that I need to go a lot slower training her than I do for my other dog, so that's probably part of my problem.

[WufWuf]

The method I learned at the Nando Brown trick dog day worked a treat for me and was so easy and quick I've got to say I was amazed when I tried it for myself .

When dog is at a distance from you ask them to sit. They will most likely come over to you and sit that's fine, throw the reward back to where they were when you asked them to sit (so test out how far you can throw before you do this, Nando's got a better throwing arm then me for sure you can start at a few feet and eventually move on to greater distances as your dog gets better at it) . Dog will go to eat treat, as soon as they have finished the treat ask them to sit, they will probably come back to you and sit, so repeat and throw the reward back to where they were when you asked them to sit. If you keep repeating this they will eventually cop that they don't have to come all the way back to you to get the reward and they should have a go at sitting where the treat is landing (I'm pretty sure it only took 2-3 goes for my dog to do this). This is the time to give them a "jackpot" reward . You can do another couple of reps of this and then have a little play or fuss depending on what your girl likes best.

[ladybugtastic]

That sounds fairly easy. I'll go ahead and start attempting that with her. I was just at a loss because my other dog has a 95% success rate of doing his commands where ever you ask him to, and I never did anything special with him to achieve this. (or maybe I did, and I just don't remember).