[Alejandro]

Well, I asked this question in another part of the forum, but I think this place is more proper.

To put some context, my dog is around 5 years old and has been with us for around that time (we got him when he was a puppy). He is a Dalmatian and his name is Homero

Before asking for advice on training him on basics, I must say some basics he already have. Not all ideal, but they are at least things that make him manageable in everyday living:

He is good on walks, I generaly take him on short leash except when near bushes or stuff I think he might want to sniff and claim teritory on, in those moments he knows he can sniff when I give him some more leash. There is no tension, 1-2 gentle pulls are enough if I feel he is getting behind or too to the side or anything and he resumes position at my side with the leash relaxed, (though generaly short as I said)

He responds to his name with attention and when I want him to really pay attention and come I snap fingers and he does (although I must do it a couple of times generaly, the snaping of fingers).

When someone he dislikes comes he is generaly put in someone´s room from where he is not allowed to leave, when you tak him from collar he follows you to where you to the room you take him although he keeps growling (but it is at the person he knows is outside, not at the owner. This can be said cause the barking and growling happened from before taking him from leash and he keeps up without any resisting the pase when is grabbed by collar) and when left in the room (almost always supervised, but ot always) he keeps barking until left out generaly (it is never too much time, if it were he would be sent to backyard, not a room). When you call his attention (not in a bad tone, simply a firm one of calling the attention) while he barks he generaly gives attention a couple of secs, but then keeps on barking and from then on he doesn´t shut up and we do what described above. This is no big deal so far though, I a m just describing current behaviour.

My aims:

this post is not for the difficult things yet, but really for basic things that are still not covered, but show that a dog has good obedience (and understanding) of the ower´s commands.

I for now simply want to teach him to:

Sit

Down

Realease (so sit and down can work like a "stay")

and probably a stronger form of "come". It should be one that wouldn´t take several finger snaps, but just one word and he comes. It could include a "release" so he stays with me and follows me until I release him.

Naturaly I would also like to teach him to be calmed when this people he dislikes come, but I think that´s more advanced, and for now I would like to understand the first commands I wrote above.

So my interest is: where should I begin? for what I posted above I think it´s clear Homero is responsive to me and my family in general, he just has to learn this new tricks, and I have to figure out a good way to teach them to him. Which should be the best order? Should I first reinforce the "come" to be a lot more reliable and THEN start with the "sit" ? How much and which tricks should I teach him at the same time?

I was thinking on starting with "come" and "sit" but maybe both are too much. I was thinking on starting with rewarding "come" and then starting the training on sit, but maybe this is not the best approach to start.

Also, I´ve heard about "clicker" training, and I am thinking about it, but I am not entirely certain and would like to know pros and cons. One concern I have is that th dog wouldn´t feel as certain of his actions once asked without the clicker. That is one concern I have. I also have the general concern that I wouldn´t want to have to give my dog a treat for every time he does what he learns once he already reliably know it (although I am perfectly cool with purposefully reinforce them periodicaly on him, it´s just I wouldn´t want to have to treat him EVERYTIME I simply call him and he comes) but I also wouldn´t want the dog to feel tricked at all. I want him to feel comfortable and good doing what I ask him to.

so well, those are my doubts

 

[L Kathryn]

For teaching a more reliable come and sit at the same time, just make sure you reward for both actions. Ask him to come when he arrives, praise and treat, then request a sit - if he doesn't know how, lure his nose up with the treat and press gently on hindquarters until seated, then praise and treat for that.
Clicker training is a very useful tool. The problems only arise if the clicker isn't fazed out of training. It can be a pain to have tons of treats on you all the time and have to balance the leash, clicker, and the bag of treats. Timing of the click is crucial.
Load clicker by clicking, treat, etc until dog has the idea. Once it's loaded, use it to capture behaviour you want. The sit, for example: As soon as dog's butt hits the ground you click and treat. Once doing well, you can start fazing the clicker out with a short word like 'yes' in a happy tone. yes, click, treat. After a while it's just yes, treat. then you can discard clicker and use yes. Start fazing out food by giving affection and praise as well as the treats. Mix it up. Eventually you'll only need treats on special occasions.
Hope I helped at least a little... For step by step with or without the clicker, feel free to PM me or ask other trainers.

 

[Alejandro]

For teaching a more reliable come and sit at the same time, just make sure you reward for both actions. Ask him to come when he arrives, praise and treat, then request a sit - if he doesn't know how, lure his nose up with the treat and press gently on hindquarters until seated, then praise and treat for that.
Clicker training is a very useful tool. The problems only arise if the clicker isn't fazed out of training. It can be a pain to have tons of treats on you all the time and have to balance the leash, clicker, and the bag of treats. Timing of the click is crucial.
Load clicker by clicking, treat, etc until dog has the idea. Once it's loaded, use it to capture behaviour you want. The sit, for example: As soon as dog's butt hits the ground you click and treat. Once doing well, you can start fazing the clicker out with a short word like 'yes' in a happy tone. yes, click, treat. After a while it's just yes, treat. then you can discard clicker and use yes. Start fazing out food by giving affection and praise as well as the treats. Mix it up. Eventually you'll only need treats on special occasions.
Hope I helped at least a little... For step by step with or without the clicker, feel free to PM me or ask other trainers.

Yes, you helped a lot in taking out some concerns I had . So you say with time clicker isn´t needed for the moves and is just a learning tool and not a necessary one when the move is learned. That is all I had to know on that regard

Yes, I was thinking in rewarding both behaviours. After all, I don´t want it to become one in his head, I want him to differentiate them.

Actually, I was thinking now, instead of doing "come" (I use the spanish word "aqui" (here) cause that´s my original language ) and then sit, maybe I should reinforce the "come" so the dog stays with me until hearing a release word. I´ve seen good videos about this (most of thm with clicker).

Maybe it is best to do just "come" and "release" then for starters? Also, how many times a day would you suggest me to do this exercise? and, better to do it all days til he learns it right?


Again thanks for the help, yo´ve been really useful.

 

[SassyCat]

Don't make him stay with you or sit when called, this is counter productive long term. Teaching a dog to sit in front of you when called is slightly more complex and I wouldn't worry about it, just click as soon as he's half a meter away and then play with him with lots of food before you issue another command. Idea is to make coming real fun. Don't call him just to put a leash on immediately afterwards. Whenever he comes, make it a real big deal by feeding him lots in a playful manner for a minute or two.

 

[Snoopy11]

When you first start training, keep the sessions short. For instance, you might work on one command for 10 minutes and then take a break. It will be easiest for the dog and for you to start working in short sessions. As you progress and get a feel for your dog's attention span, you can increase the length of your training sessions. Just be sure to stop if you start to feel frustrated during training... if you're not in a good mood, or if your dog just isn't "getting it" that day, you should end the session and try again later. Your dog will be able to sense that you're irritated, and it will only make things harder if you keep trying to push it.

With training, you will get out what you put in. So the more training you do, the faster you will progress, as long as you do take breaks in between. It's up to you and how much time you are willing to commit to it. It's good to train in short sessions multiple times per day if you can. And things like "sit" and "down" and "come" are really easy to practice every day as you go about your routine. Read the sticky on NILIF here: http://www.dogforums.com/dog-training-forum/6856-nilif-nothing-life-free.html

Some of the most important obedience commands for every dog to know are come, stay, and leave it. They do take a lot of time and repetition (and practice in different environments) to make reliable, but they are safety measures you should have.

I've just recently started clicker training with my dog, and while it isn't necessary, a clicker is helpful and easy to use. You're right that it is just a training tool, so once you teach a behavior, and attach a cue that the dog understands, you don't need to carry the clicker around with you forever. You can gradually phase out rewarding him every time.

If you're going to clicker train, you should first read a quality source on how to start, and learn the reasons behind why it works. Once you fully understand it, you can use it for anything you want to teach. I'd say the pros are that it's easy to learn if you just take a bit of time to read first, it's versatile, it's positive reward-based training, dogs pick up on it quickly, and it's an inexpensive tool. I can't think of any real cons. You're not punishing the dog, so the only risk is you using the clicker incorrectly and reinforcing the wrong behaviors. If that were to happen, it could be fixed with re-training. This forum has some links to book recommendations and online resources in the stickies, or you could look on YouTube for video instructions. One of my favorite channels for training clips is kikopup's. (she has a website with a video list here for easier browsing by topic: http://www.dogmantics.com/Dogmantics/Free_Video_List.html)

On another note, there is nothing wrong with training a dog more than one behavior in the same stretch of time. You don't have to wait until your dog is perfect at "sit" before you work on "come" or any other command. You should start work as soon as possible on your dog's unwanted barking behavior when you have guests over. If he's been allowed to act this way for years, it's going to take a lot of time and practice to change his behavior, but it can very likely be accomplished with persistence and cooperation from your guests.

I would say you should space out the introduction of brand new behaviors, so you don't confuse your dog. Don't introduce new behaviors during the same session. A lot of times the commands you teach are things that build on other commands. For instance, it's easier to lure your dog into a "down" once your dog already knows "sit", so teach "sit" first and work on only the sit for at least a few days, until he understands what behavior you're asking for, before you introduce "down." The same applies for teaching "stay" because you first want the dog to know either a "sit" or a "down" position in which to stay. If you take a bit of time to plan out the order you're going to train the commands, it becomes easy. Once the dog knows what each command means, it's fine to practice "sit" and "down" and "stay" in combinations. If your dog starts to confuse the cues and offers the wrong behavior, you just go back to practicing them separately for awhile so he learns to distinguish the words (or hand signals - it's useful to teach hand signals as well as verbal cues).

But when you're training unrelated commands like "come" and stopping inappropriate barking, there's no reason to wait until you finish training the first command. If you do that, it's going to take a very long time to get anywhere, and dogs are smart enough to train more than one thing at a time.

 

[Alejandro]

Thanks a lot for the new answers!


You are right, I think I´ll soon see if I can do something about the barking. It´s just that while it is not ideal, it is a manageable situation in the way we´ve been doing it, and to make him stop barking will be kinda hard, mostly because of the coperation needed from others, but I´ll try to start as soon as I can

This is my 3rd day training homero to come with the command "Aqui" ("here") and trying to teach him he can go when I say "meshma" (means nothing in any language that I know, but for this it should be a "release").

It´s too soon to say anything. Homero comes when I say "aqui" without me having to repeat myself or anything (which is new and cool, generaly I had to say "Ven"(come) and snap fingers twic or thrice to see him coming very slowly, he comes somewhat faster than that and with less calling . When he comes, I am clicking when he is close enough to me and saying "Bien!" (good!) and feeding him, and also clicking and feeding him every more or less 20 secs that he stays. Then when I say "meshma" (the relase command I am trying to reinforce) I take the treat and throw it kinda far away and then ignore homero competely even if he comes to me and stays for a while. In this 3 days I have done this several times each day. ( 5 or more times each day). Also, because when I say "here" I also expect Homero to follow me until I give the release command some of the times I have called him I have walked around the house clickng and giving him treats for following me until I say meshma.

He is not that used to verbal commands and I think a "release" command is somewhat complicated, he is also 6 years old which means he is not a puppy, but well, he is not "old" neither and he is a dalmatian which I understand is a relatively smart race. So I have a couple of question: more or less how many days/weeks(?) should I expect him to take him to understand Meshma(release) is when treats are going to stop coming? Is there aything else I should do for him to understand that meshma means release or is there something I am doing wrong and should change now?

So those are my new questions for now

Hopefuly you can answer them as throughly as you´ve been doing

 

[Nil]

Then when I say "meshma" (the relase command I am trying to reinforce) I take the treat and throw it kinda far away and then ignore homero competely even if he comes to me and stays for a while.

Instead of throwing a treat I would just say "Meshma!" in a happy voice and throw up my arms. Maybe play some tug, pet the dog a bit, then I would dis-engage from the training session and do something else (wash dishes, look at a paper, go on the internet, walk around outside, etc.) So "Meshma" comes to mean "All done! I am not playing the game anymore." Then, when you want to continue, call the dog and when he comes lots of treats and praise!

That is how I did it. It seems like if you throw a treat you are really teaching him "Meshma means go catch the thrown treat and come back".

At least, that is how I see it =)

And older dogs can learn new things just as easy if not easier than puppies! Puppies have horrible attention spans. I think working on this every day 4-7 times day (spread out over the whole day) is absolutely wonderful. If you are keeping them short (~4-6 minutes) then that amounts to about 30~ minutes of highly rewarding training/day which is terrific. You can increase training sessions if you want and if Homero seems eager to work. Or, you could lower it on days he seems a little slower. I think you are doing great so far though.

 

[Alejandro]

Instead of throwing a treat I would just say "Meshma!" in a happy voice and throw up my arms. Maybe play some tug, pet the dog a bit, then I would dis-engage from the training session and do something else (wash dishes, look at a paper, go on the internet, walk around outside, etc.) So "Meshma" comes to mean "All done! I am not playing the game anymore." Then, when you want to continue, call the dog and when he comes lots of treats and praise!

That is how I did it. It seems like if you throw a treat you are really teaching him "Meshma means go catch the thrown treat and come back".

At least, that is how I see it =)

that has been kind of one concern I had. An Idea I had though, was that he will get it if I stop looking at him completely after he goes see the treat and stop paying attention completely. Playing tug may be more attention than should when I am trying to tell him he can leave (after all the idea is that when he hears "meshma" he knows I won´t pay more attention to him, so accostuming him to too much play or stuff afterwards seem a little counterproductive to me, but idk), but raising hands excited and pett him may be it

I think I´ll try what you say, hopefully he won´t be too confused for the change :redface:

And older dogs can learn new things just as easy if not easier than puppies! Puppies have horrible attention spans. I think working on this every day 4-7 times day (spread out over the whole day) is absolutely wonderful. If you are keeping them short (~4-6 minutes) then that amounts to about 30~ minutes of highly rewarding training/day which is terrific. You can increase training sessions if you want and if Homero seems eager to work. Or, you could lower it on days he seems a little slower. I think you are doing great so far though.

Thanks it means a lot . Well, yeah you can bet he is eager! xD. It´s like I become a free vending machine for that time that just gives him treats for being there, must feel like some kinda christmass to him xD. He drools a lot just waiting for the treat in between waitings, I feel like Pavlov :wink:

 

[Nil]

that has been kind of one concern I had. An Idea I had though, was that he will get it if I stop looking at him completely after he goes see the treat and stop paying attention completely. Playing tug may be more attention than should when I am trying to tell him he can leave (after all the idea is that when he hears "meshma" he knows I won´t pay more attention to him, so accostuming him to too much play or stuff afterwards seem a little counterproductive to me, but idk),

Yea, if you're intent is that he should realize he is done with that training session then giving him the release then some fun playing might not be the best. My dog isn't big into toys too much so when I do it, it doesn't have as big an effect. More of an "Oh cool fun...what's over there?" effect.

But if he look away and he "gets it" then that is fine. When you dis-engage with your body language he can pick that up and realize "Oh no more treats for now". Dogs can read body language amazingly well.

 

[Alejandro]

Yea, if you're intent is that he should realize he is done with that training session then giving him the release then some fun playing might not be the best. My dog isn't big into toys too much so when I do it, it doesn't have as big an effect. More of an "Oh cool fun...what's over there?" effect.

But if he look away and he "gets it" then that is fine. When you dis-engage with your body language he can pick that up and realize "Oh no more treats for now". Dogs can read body language amazingly well.

Yeah, the way my dg cares about toys is if I try to "steal them" from him, so he starts running after me and then we invert it and then I fake dead and spin and pretty much jump like a frog a lot. Actually, most of the game is the dog trying to catch his toy back or me "scaring" the crap out of him with mindless spinning-jumping . Actually, I never mentioned, but he does can play fetch. It´s just that when he bring the ball to you if you seem "too interested" he doesn´t let you take it. now if you pretend to ignore him there he starts leaving the ball near you and loking at you like saying "what? I wasn´t serious, you can take it... you throw it again right?". Probably cause of my little game above, well no actually this was first now that I remembr xD. In any case I am really not interested in fetch perfecting right now . But yeah probably just comlpetely get my attention elsewhere he´ll hopefully get meshma.

Thanks I´ll put here whatever *seems like* progress with him ^0^

 

[Alejandro]

I have problems tryng to make himlearn "Sit".

When I try to make him sit by changing position with food, he just doesn´t, he goes backwards with his body or move in other ways that simple don´t make him sit.

Just nkow I tried that and then I tried to push his butt down with my palm and he growled at me. This is like the second time it has happened, the first it was before I tried to teach him to come and release.

I said the release word and stop paying attention to him and he left (I´ve read here it is a bad idea to say "no" when he growls, as you eliminate the warning before the bite (ah, he has never biten me, just playing, but that is seriously play))

It is also curious because when I play with my dog I can be physical and he loves it.

I don´t know how to train him to sit

 

[Alejandro]

OMG O_O I think he finally got his release word perfectly!

I mean, it´s still not only verbal, I would guess that for now he knows that when I say "homero, Meshma" and throw the food away from him he can leave and may be confused if I only say meshma without throwing the food away.

But it is a big improvement! now after I say it he doesn´t wander around wondering if I will give him a new treat for staying like before!

 

[Snoopy11]

When I try to make him sit by changing position with food, he just doesn´t, he goes backwards with his body or move in other ways that simple don´t make him sit.

This is a common problem with luring a sit. Don't worry, you'll get it to work, and if you don't, there are other ways.

Don't push his butt down. It works better if he learns to assume the position by choice, not by force.

The trick to overcoming his backing up is to train this in a corner. He'll back his butt up against the wall and have nowhere left to go if he wants to continue facing the treat. Don't follow him with the treat, he needs to follow where you move it.

The key to getting the position is in how you move your lure hand. Move it slowly, letting him lick and nibble the treat a bit, but don't let it go. Make sure you're moving it in towards him while you move it up, so that his head turns up to follow it and he has to lean back slightly. Not too high over his head or too fast, slowly move it just above his nose, so that he's reaching for it but not jumping up.

It might take awhile to get it in just the right spot to make the pup want to sit. Experiment with your hand positioning, and be ready to immediately mark and give the treat as soon as his butt hits the floor the first time.

As far as your release, you're teaching him to expect a treat to be thrown every time you say the word. Not that it's a problem right now, but if you plan to use Meshma as a release cue without food later, he's just going to be confused over what it means.

Personally speaking, I don't place much importance on having a release word to denote the end of our training sessions. When I want to end a session, I might use some phrase like "all done" and just go do something else, or I might have him do an easy behavior and give him a nice treat to end on a positive note, or I might just transition straight from whatever cue we were working on into a game... it just depends on the day. The way I see it, training is just part of our daily life and there's no need to "release" from learning.

To me, a release is only for behaviors that require a clear end point - those behaviors which are expected to be held until the dog is specifically told otherwise... e.g. releasing from a "stay" or releasing from "heel" position back into regular loose leash walking. Anything else is going to naturally end when you give the final reward and stop providing cues to follow. Or when you put away the clicker and treats

If you want your dog to not bother you for awhile, then teach him self control, put him in a down-stay, teach "go to mat", give him a stuffed Kong, or crate him. I don't see any reason to worry about formalizing a cue that essentially means, "I don't require your attention anymore so you need to go ignore me in the other room."

 

[Alejandro]

I plan to withdraw the food later, the same way as one withdraw foods from any other cue.

Also, technically speaking "Meshma" is not much of a "command" as a marker. It means he is allowed to leave, not that he must. While in words it may sound complicated, I guess it shouldn´t be pragmatically complicated in the fact that he may stay and I do nothing about it. Just him acknowledge that after Meshma I won´t be paying him attention (and in this case treats)

About the sit, I am still having great problems with it. without body gesture he simply doesn´t get it at all, but a pair of times when I even more extremely gently "pushed" (almost a tap really) his but WHILE doing what you suggested of slowly moving the treat he HALF assed his way to the floor, without actually sitting, just "almost poop" stance x_x

That´s the better I´ve got, but I´ll stop trying at least till night to make him sit. It´s just to hard for him, at least in those ways. It´s like he has no idea it is going to be rewarding for him to sit and prefers to be standing to better follow the treat (and I am moving it very slowly).

Maybe here is another cue, although I am not sure: When I call him Aqui ("Here") the training I am doing and when he waits for long, after 20-30sec he tends to sit. I think I could reward him then, but I wouldn´t know how to integrate the word "sentado" (sit) afterwards. Should I say "sentado" at the same time as clicking? Idon´t know. Just sharing so to see if anyone thinks of something.

 

[petpeeve]

When I call him Aqui ("Here") the training I am doing and when he waits for long, after 20-30sec he tends to sit.

You could try "capturing" a sit. That's what it's called when you wait patiently for the sit to happen on it's own accord (similar to what you've described in the quote). Watch carefully. At random points during the day whenever the dog sits and opportunity presents itself, then c&t at the precise moment his butt touches the ground. Repeat, repeat, repeat .... every time you see it and are able to "capture" it happening. Eventually, your dog should begin to offer the sit behaviour on his own. Once he is offering it consistently, you can assign a cue to it ... in a timely fashion, just slightly ahead of when you know it's about to happen.

(sidenote: I always chuckle when people tell me "my dog doesn't know how to sit". .... ummmm ... REALLY ??? I'm certain he DOES know how, as he already does it freely without any urging, at least a hundred times per day! lol! Point is, it's a prevalent behaviour so it shouldn't be too difficult to simply capture it.)


Pushing down on his butt will likely only evoke an "opposition reflex", where the dog is pushing back an equal amount, so-to-speak, but in the opposite direction. Typically, the more you push downward, the harder he'll resist and push upward. As far as gently "tapping" him, that's something to be avoided too, or at least minimized and faded asap so the dog doesn't become reliant on that becoming the cue. Much better to end up with a verbal (or signal) "sit" cue obtained through capturing, rather than a lifetime of tapping your way there.

 

[Snoopy11]

About the sit, I am still having great problems with it. without body gesture he simply doesn´t get it at all, but a pair of times when I even more extremely gently "pushed" (almost a tap really) his but WHILE doing what you suggested of slowly moving the treat he HALF assed his way to the floor, without actually sitting, just "almost poop" stance x_x

If he'll offer an almost sitting position (dropping his butt partway), without you touching, you could try giving him a mark & treat when he does that the first few times. Then when he does it say, the 4th or 5th time, don't mark, instead hold the treat where it is or move it a bit higher and see if his butt will drop more. If he drops it further, mark and treat. If not, do not reward. You might be able to build it up gradually to a full sit position.

But it would also work to capture the behavior like petpeeve described. Either way, you'll get it if you keep trying.

 

[Alejandro]

I am trying the capturing of behaviour now. I think he got it yesterday at least at the end (we did it for a good while cause he really wanted to cookies, and this time they were MY cookies! but blah, I was soft hearted ) that the sooner he´ll sit the sooner he got the cookies.

When I see him like moving his front paws in a way I know he is a sec from sitting I said "sentado" (sit) and then clicked and rewarded the second his but touch the ground.

I am only kind of concerned that he doesn´t relate the verbal cue, cause I am waiting for him to WANT TO sit and then saying the cue and treating him when he does.

 

[Alejandro]

Aggh! I effed up today.

It was too hard for him. He has no idea sentado means sit yet, and I have no idea how to make him understand it. It troubles me that he just relates sitting to getting the treat when with me, and doesn´t get at all that it relates to the verbal cue. Because of this, I tried a couple of times to see if he already related this verbal cue to what he was doing and he doesn´t. Then eventually he left on his own out of the training, and now he doesn´t always come when I say "aqui".

I am really frustrated, I feel I made things go backwards stupidely. I am just not certain at all about him relating the verbal cue to the sitting, because I always must say "sentado" when he is already half a second to start sitting, so maybe he´ll just relate the treat to when he sits (with no idea there is a cue attached to it)?

I really need help, I am too uncertain

Am I being unreasonable? how much time would be reasonable to wait till the dog relates the sitting to getting the cooke and the verbal cue to it evem? how many repetitions?

He looks like if he has no clue at all x_x. I am sure he still doesn´t know why he gets the treat x_x

 

[Snoopy11]

Relax. Capturing a behavior takes time. You should start out by NOT using your cue word at first. Just mark (click) and treat whenever your dog offers the sit. Wait until the dog has figured out that sitting down means he gets a treat... when he figures that out, he'll start offering you sits over and over again. This means he understands what position you want, and you should not give the position a name until you are at this point. You might have to practice getting him to sit without the lure for multiple sessions before you are ready to add the cue word. It all depends on you and your dog and how well you're able to communicate.

When it's time to name the cue, at first you just say it when the dog is already offering it. Don't say the word "sit" and wait for a sit. Wait for the sit, then say "sit" when his butt hits the floor. So just replace your marker with the cue word and then treat. Repeat this a bunch of times. Then switch to saying the word "sit" when the dog is just starting to go into a sit, and treat after he's sitting. Repeat a bunch of times. Then finally, you can try saying the cue "sit" first and waiting for the sit to happen before the treat. If the dog does not sit after you say the word, make sure you back up to naming the behavior again. You don't want to be saying "sit... sit... sit" multiple times without getting the behavior. If it isn't working, just wait for him to offer a sit and then say the word, and repeat this a bunch of times again. There's no point in saying a cue over and over again if the dog has not made the association. Go back and re-attach it.

Make sure you're not making the treat part of the cue. Keep the treat out of sight until it's time to give it to him. Also be aware of what the rest of your body is doing when you give him the cue "sit." Dogs are experts at reading body language, so he is noticing your movements. If you're moving your hand towards a treat during the cue to sit, he'll start thinking that your hand motion means sit and he'll probably ignore the word "sit". It's not that he isn't learning - it's that he's only learning what you are teaching. So make sure you're teaching him what you intend to... keep your body language neutral while giving cues, and don't move for the treat or let him see the treat until it's time to give it.

Don't overwork it. Just take one handful of treats, and when you run out, end the session. You shouldn't be going so long that he gets bored and leaves on his own. Always stop while he is still having fun!

You also need to give this new behavior multiple (short) training sessions over the course of a few days to start taking hold. Your posts were only a day apart, and you're getting frustrated already. Give it time. I've learned that when you're just starting out training, it takes awhile for both you and the dog to learn to work together.

"Sit" was the very first thing I (purposely) taught my puppy, and it took us weeks to get it right. That was 7 months ago. I just recently decided to teach Snoopy to target my hand, and I was able to communicate what I wanted him to do in one session that lasted about 15 minutes. My point is, it's much easier to teach him something new than it was when we first started out. So try not to get frustrated. You'll get it if you keep trying.

I can't remember who said it, but I read a theory somewhere that if you train a behavior daily for 42 days (6 weeks), the dog will remember it for the rest of his life. This helped me to remember that even once a cue and behavior pair is understood, it still needs to be repeated many many times before it enters long-term memory. So once you get him sitting on cue the way you want, don't stop rewarding it too soon, and don't stop practicing it.

 

[hanksimon]

I agree with Snoopy, but I want to repeat it with different details:
1. For a treat, use a small taste to mark correct behavior, not a large reward that takes time to eat. I use something the size of a fingernail for my 60 Lb dog.
2. Don't use the clicker for Sit, unless you feel you are making progress. You can capture many behaviors without using the clicker - Sit, Down, Stay, Drink, Turn, Shake, and so on. A clicker can make it more precise, but you may need someone to show you how to get the timing right.
3. Don't touch the dog, if possible, to guide him to learn any behavior, you get a better response, when the dog does it himself.
4. Dogs see more of our body language than we do, but they still have to understand what the expressions and gestures mean.
5. Right now you want the dog to learn behaviors and you want him to learn that each word has a different meaning... when he learns the second point, the first point is much easier and faster.... but the first one comes first
6. There are two simple ways to teach Sit - Luring and capturing.
Luring: While the dog is standing, take a small treat and hold it about an inch over his nose, then slowly move it back towards his tail. Just like you might fall backwards following me if I moved my finger from your nose and up over your head ... then your dog will "fall" backwards into a Sit, as he follows the treat. However, he may jump up (lower the treat ... don't raise it), he may lick it (raise the treat), and he may back up (train him in a corner - with a wall behind to stop him from backing up.)
I prefer the capture method, because i think it makes the dog more independent and a little more receptive to learning.
Capture: Wait for the dog to sit, while you're in a boring situation (for him). When his butt hits the ground, Say: Sit! praise and treat. It is OK if he gets up at first. After you praise and treat, then ignore him and wait for another Sit!. You can do this anytime, but try to set aside 10 min. a day, two times a day to focus on this. A dog needs to sleep on his training to begin to understand, so it may take him 2 - 3 days to begin to get it. When you notice that he sits, then looks at you expecting a treat, it is time for the next step.
Capture2: Wait for the dog to sit, while you're in a boring situation (for him). When he starts to Sit, Say: Sit! then praise and treat, when he places butt on ground. Be careful... because you may teach him to squat rather than Sit (I did this with my dog, it's funny). So, you cannot praise and treat until butt hits ground. Continue doing this for 2 -3 days. On the second day, you may see him start to understand. Practice in many, many places and situations, as well as with distractions. .... When you understand this method, you can try it with Down (just wait longer, because after he gets bored, he will Sit... then he will lie down, ... then he will go to sleep )