Basic Training Pt. 2 : Getting Basic

When starting with any dog, we find it best to start with the sit, stay and break commands in conjunction. Without the stay command, sitting has little relevance to a dog and without sit, stay is a difficult command to lead with properly. Start this with food. Some use treats but we like to advise doing it with meals on non-food aggressive dogs. A dog should be fed once in the morning and once at night. This way you're not really going out of your way to train your friend since you'll be feeding them anyways.

We found this method to be the easiest while still very effective. Always feed you pet after your meal to show dominance. No other actions are required here other than to commence your usual eating habits and times. Afterwords, bring your dog his/her food in a scooper (easier than using the bowl to scoop in this training exercise) however, don't pour it yet. Tell your dog to sit. If she/he doesn't do as told repeat the command while making them sit. Don't hurt your dog just gently yet assertively put them in the sitting position. After this tell them stay. This may take a little time the first try, but most dogs pick it up quickly. When sitting calmly and staying tell your dog break to let them know they can get up. In the beginning the dog will just know you said something and they get up but repeated use of this command will get them accustomed to the word break as a releasing command. I have heard some use okay, free, or just get up but we use break because we don't usually use it in everyday conversations (Whereas okay is used frequently by most people in conversation). Continue this and your dog will begin sitting and staying automatically when you bring their food. Dogs love consistency in leadership. We only did this for a few weeks until our dog would just sit in front of her food until we said break. This same technique can be used in fetch.