I said sit not sh*t!

I follow one simple rule and it is called the 3 Rs of training.
Remain calm
Repetition
Reward

It is that simple.  Patience is the corner stone of training your dog.
Second, you need to be consistent.  You can't get the dog to sit and then don't bother for another 3 days and wonder why the confounded dog hasn't learned the new trick you taught him just the other day or so ago.

I implement hand signals at the same time as I train the dog to sit.

If you are out in a field or your dog gets out of the home and wants to cross the busy road to get to you then hand signals can save your dog's life.

I recommend that you raise your hand over your head to signify sit.
For stay I would recommend your arm straight out in front of you with your had pointing up. The sit command will get the dog's attention and know to sit by showing him the signal to stay simply enforces your first signal.

When you want him to come bring your hand towards you and say come.

Getting the dog to sit is quite easy.  For the puppy it may be a bit of a challenge because he is young and gets excited knowing there is a treat coming his way.

This is where remaining calm comes in.
Tell the dog to sit and simply place your hand on his backend and say sit.
When he does it, reward him.

A second action that often works is to simply use the treat and slightly above his head move the treat towards the rear of the dog.  He will most likely sit.

Repeat this function until he sits on verbal command.

Obviously it is best to have 100 percent of his attention so try doing this some place where you can have one to one without distractions of older dogs or young kids.



After he sits on verbal command and you no longer need to push his bottom down into the sitting position, then implement the hand jesture each and every time.  Eventually he will associate the body language with sit.

Stop using the verbal command and see if he/she sits down.

Reward him or her and praise him as often as it is possible.

If he/she fails to respond to the command, do not reward him.  Never re-enforce bad behavior.

Simply say firmly, when he is misbehaving, "NO!"
Redirect his attention away from what he is interested in and make sure he is focused totally on you.

Have him/her sit and again reward and praise him.

Shake a paw can also be accomplished quite quickly but don't load your dog up with a dozen tricks.  Start with one and when he/she has mastered the hand gesture then introduce the next trick.

Next we will tackle stay.  It is a little trickier because you need to take baby steps but eventually with hand signals you can be quite a distance from your dog and have him/her sit and stay.