"How do I get them to Sit/Stay/Come?"

If you apply repetition, reinforcement and patience to these training techniques, you and your dog will achieve great results. Below are some techniques to teach sit, stay and come.

SIT

Teaching your dog to 'sit' on command is one of your easiest dog training tasks – but one that you’ll use a LOT.

First, get yourself a handful of treats to get their attention. Make sure your dog is calm and not hyperactive. Like children, they don’t learn much or pay attention if they want to play.

With him standing facing you, hold a treat in front of his nose (not close enough for him to grab it though) and then say "Dogs Name, Sit" in a firm voice while slowly raising the treat horizontally up and away from you, as if to go over his head (Not vertically raising the treat so he jumps.)

Your dog’s nose will attempt to follow the treat and in response his rear will go down. As soon as his rump hits the floor, give him the treat and say "Sit, Good boy". Let him get up and then try it again.

When you're practicing any training exercises, 3 or 4 repeats per session is usually enough for his short attention span, and 3 or 4 sessions per day is ideal.

Above all, practice patience and don’t be too hard on yourself or your dog. We all learn at different rates.

STAY

Stay is MUCH easier to teach if your dog knows how to sit.

First, get yourself a handful of treats to get their attention. Get your dog to sit. Make sure your dog has his attention on you.

With him sitting in front of you say “<Dogs Name> Stay” in a firm, calm voice. A hand gesture like a stop sign will also assist your dog to learn the command. Take one step back, and then step forward again. If he hasn’t moved to follow you, give him the treat and say “Stay, Good boy”.

If he’s still paying attention, do the exercise again and increase the steps one at a time.

If you can get to five steps, rather than going back to him – call him to you to give him the treat. (This will also assist in him learning how to ‘COME’)

COME

The come command is probably the most important obedience command you will ever teach your dog. At some point in time you will no doubt rely on it to guide your dog away from serious danger.

• Have your dog sit in front of you with a leash on and have a treat in your hand.
• Get his attention.
• Squat down slightly, pat your thighs and say "Come!"
• Pull lightly on the lead and pull your dog gently toward you, hand over hand.
• Reward with praise and the treat. Practice this for a week or so then, in a contained area such as your fenced yard, start working on it without the lead.
• Slowly increase the distance between the two of you.

COME COMMAND GAME

Make learning to ‘come’ a game. Position yourself at one side of the room and your helper on the other side. Call your dog over 'Ludo, come' (only once, but you can encourage him over), then reward when he arrives. Next your helper calls him over and rewards him when he arrives.

General Rules to Keep In Mind Never under any circumstances punish your dog when he comes back to you. Even if your dog seems to take an eternity to respond to you and you've got smoke coming out of your ears through frustration, it's important that you don't get angry with your dog. He'll associate your anger with the last action he did - which was coming to you. Incorporate the come command training into your daily activities. Use it to call your dog over for his dinner for example When you are teaching your dog the come command off leash and your dog doesn't respond, don't chase after him, first try waiting for him. Your goal is to make coming to you a more attractive option to your dog than any other alternative action. EG – remember to take treats on your walk.  Your come command should be something your dog looks forward to hearing, something he has a positive association with.Ensure you’re not just using COME to call them over to put the lead on them.