How to Teach Your Dog to Sit with Leash Pressure

Before signing up for puppy class, I was using Google and YouTube as dog training resources. I remember googling “how to teach a dog to sit” and getting results that seemed impossible to do.

One of the suggestions was to say the word “sit!” right before your dog’s butt touches the ground. This would make him eventually realize that when you say “sit,” he should sit.

I tried it, with limited success. But to be honest, how can you expect him to truly learn it this way? I’m a single dog mom with a full-time day job and responsibilities beyond dog duty. How in the world would I be able to teach him to sit when I can’t watch him all the time?

The moment I learned how to apply leash pressure to teach Ezra to sit, he immediately learned the command.

Why should you teach your dog to sit?

Sit is one of the seven basic commands that all dog owners should teach their dogs. Sit is so important to learn for safety, control, and leash manners. Here are a few examples of times when you will want your dog to sit nicely:

• When you are walking and you need to stop at a busy intersection before continuing down the street.
• When you are entering/exiting a building, room, stairway with your dog on a leash to ensure you walk through the doorway before the dog pulls you through it.
• When you want your dog to nicely greet strangers.
• When you bring your dog to the groomer or vet.
• When you need to settle and refocus your dog on you vs. any distractions.

Why should you use leash pressure to teach sit?

Other trainers may recommend clicker training or other training methods; however, because you will most likely need to use sit while your dog is on a leash with you, it makes sense to learn how to sit on a leash so you can easily reinforce the right behavior when there are distractions. If you do not know how to use leash pressure, it’ll be nearly impossible to teach your dog to walk nicely on a leash. This is the first major skill you can learn to practice leash pressure and learn an essential basic command.

How to teach your dog to sit with leash pressure

All you need to do this is a regular collar, leash, and some treats. There are lots of options of treats you can use, but I recommend identifying the best treat based on the activity, age, and distraction level. We will detail each step of teaching your dog to sit below using leash pressure.

Step 1: Hold the leash ~12 inches from the collar and pull up.

With your dog standing next to you, pull up on his collar via his leash. This one action should will put pressure on your dog through the leash so that it is taut above his head to force him into a sit position. It may not happen right away, keep playing with the position of your hand on the leash and the force you use to pull up. Keep doing it until you get him to sit. When he does, immediately release the leash to give him slack, praise him, and give him a treat.

Releasing the pressure is critical, because he’s learning that it feels uncomfortable until he does the desired behavior, and then he is comfortable again. This helps reinforce a sharp sit the moment he feels the leash pressure.

Practice this a few times until it’s like second nature. Don’t forget – the moment his butt hits the floor, release the leash pressure, praise, and reward with a treat.

Step 2: Add the verbal cue.

Once you start getting into a groove, start saying “sit” right before applying the leash pressure. This will begin to connect the command with the behavior. Do this a few times and then start adding a couple seconds between saying the word “sit” and pulling on the leash. Try to get him to think about what he’s supposed to do in order to get his treat. Ideally he should be sitting on his own without requiring leash pressure, but if he still isn’t getting it continue applying leash pressure until he sits. Then release, praise, and reward.

Over time, you can just say “sit” and your dog will sit. It’s as simple as that.

Conclusion

This skill only takes a couple basic steps with your everyday dog essential tools to teach. With some practice, you’ll get your dog to sit within a couple of days. Over time, this will be the easiest skill to reinforce and use in everyday life for a well-behaved dog.

Have you tried learning sit with leash pressure before or different methods? What has your experience been? Share with us by commenting below!