Improvement

We walk every night and we sit everytime before crossing the roads...and there are many

Rosie has it under control and Eddie is a work in progress with lots of man handling.

Well tonight after the 12th sit and cross, Eddie sat with a Sit command and the slightest tug on the lead, then the next road he sat with just a simple sit command.

What a proud dad moment

Then it was back to man handling, but the light is getting a little brighter.

Great to hear the training is coming along

Just a quick question- what do you mean by man handling?

Using my left hand to gently push his legs in so he will naturally sit along with my right hand pulling him back and down towards his tail via his harness..if that makes sense.

hiya try using treats and lift the treat above the pups nose so he looks at the treat he will sit naturally. ps: hope u dnt have a lot of roads to cross  rosie is fab

I do that when I am in front of him but standing beside him he just turns his body even more....now to start working out why he reacts to some dogs and not others

Yikes! I didn't even realise people still used such old school methods to train? I know he's new and it would be great to get him trained quickly, but these methods are outdated and not used anymore for good reason - they are not kind and they're not encouraging Eddie to build a bond and work *with* you. As Crystal has mentioned, there are some great other ways to train your dog to sit, that you and he will enjoy a lot more.

What other options are there for sit training? I am happy to try something new.

I agree with Rachel.  In training we ask for a sit, by putting our hand up with a treat in it and our fingers towards the sky. As soon as the bum goes down we give her a treat. Our trainer says it's quite a natural thing for them to sit when you do the hand movement, something about the eye hand coordination, when the head goes up the bum goes down. There are probably many others ways to do it.

I definitely wouldn't put your hands on him, however gently as you want him to want to sit etc. 

Don't forget these things do take time. We ask Misty to sit at each kerb but sometimes we do stay at a kerb for a few minutes before she does. We just wait her out and she does sit eventually, when she does we give the finish command and on we go!

Ah yeah gently pushing the back/hind down is pretty outdated and probably a little confusing. It will work eventually but It doesn't fit with a natural reaction.

The method that Emma (Misty's Mum) suggests is how I would & do, do it. It's a universal command to sit then and not just one to be used at the kerb, the kerb bit will become associated with the sit command when out. So in a way, if you teach the sit command using the hand and treat method it will work wherever so is like a double win if that makes sense

Awesome I would also go with Emma's method, there are some really great YouTube trainers also kikopup is the first one to spring to mind. I'm a visual learner so I really benefit from watching methods being taught

Something I found useful when a dog didn't quite get it was to work near a wall or corner, just to make the options of going back less easy. A lot of training is about setting the dog up to do what you want naturally, then rewarding them.

I'd also say to go easy on Eddie for the moment, it's very, very early days and he's probably very confused. I personally don't care if a dog doesn't sit when crossing the road or do any set obedience stuff that's not necessary for safety in the early days especially. You want that bond first, so the dog is looking to find out what you want, rather than learning that they have to do something because you say so. 'Forcing', even lightly, can often lead to mechanical compliance and even resentment, which doesn't lead to a happy team.

I certainly will retry the treat technique.

I never push on his hind/back to make him sit

Apologies Dave, I assumed that when you said man handled you were gently pushing said bum down... My bad

All good I just sort of gentle karate chop his legs and with a gentle backwards/downwards tug on the lead, he sits

Not sounding great that either, Dave

We went on our daily walk this morning and the first road we came to he sat with just a command

After that he didn't sit once however I just let him stand at each corner for about 30 to 40 seconds then we moved on. He is very happy to stand and stays nice and still.

I will work on the sitting some more tomorrow

Thats ok, hes listening & behaving so great start, well done

That's a great improvement! Just getting him listening to you is brilliant as its only been a short time he has been with you. Well done!!

Great progress! IMO a stand is as good as a sit at a roadside, as long as Bug is still and not rushing/pulling into the road I'm happy that she's under control

Thanks all, down the track I am aiming for off lead obedience/agility, non competition.

Ooh that sounds exciting