# IPO Beginner Obedience



## JFza11 (May 4, 2017)

Hi Guys

I am new to IPO, started 2 weeks ago with my 8 month old Swiss Shepherd. I just found out that the sit I have been teaching for the past 5 months is wrong, she falls down onto her back legs instead of tucking without the front legs moving. I have started working her stand and platz without the feet moving and its going well, but for the life of me I cannot even lure her into the correct sit once, never mind actually teaching it to her!

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have see videos where people build little boxes or just use pieces of wood where the front paws need to touch that, is this a good way of doing it?

Thanks!


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

Welcome!

There are a thousand ways to skin a cat, and easily ten different ways to teach a sit  It sounds like you are looking to teach a "tuck sit". There are different types of props, typically a type of object that is usable as a perch to teach the puppy to remain stationary with the front feet on the perch. I personally like to use the small black rubber feed pans that you can find in farm supply stores -

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/fortex-rubber-pan-2-gal-capacity-black. 

You can use a perch of this object to teach many rear end awareness exercises as well as positions. The first step to teaching anything based off of perch work, is to teach the act of perching itself, before asking for any additional exercises. I'll link a video below showing a puppy demonstrating the concept. You'll see me toss the food away from her and ask her to come back and stand with the front two feet on the perch. In the beginning stages, I will usually lure with food onto the perch, and I'll repeat that exercise until I see that they have a definite understanding in that they begin to offer standing on it without influence by luring. 






I would begin teaching rear end awareness exercises at the point that they know that the game it about keeping the front feet on that perch. I encourage the puppy to spin in circles, either by luring the behavior or shaping it, and waiting for them to offer just little pieces of movement at a time. Rear end awareness exercises in general will aid the clarity of your positions in the long run. I'll link a video of another puppy at the next point in progression, spinning on the perch.






As you make progress working on those rear end awareness exercises, I would begin to introduce luring her into the 'tuck sit'. First, the puppy needs to be familiar with luring exercises, and committed to following the food. Then, I introduce it by starting the dog from a down position. I will be looking to pull them up and forward from the down position. I demonstrate it in this video, around the 1:45 mark. 






I hope this makes some sense to you! Let me know if I need to do a better job explaining.


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## Casto (Jun 18, 2016)

GatorDog said:


> Welcome!
> 
> There are a thousand ways to skin a cat, and easily ten different ways to teach a sit  It sounds like you are looking to teach a "tuck sit". There are different types of props, typically a type of object that is usable as a perch to teach the puppy to remain stationary with the front feet on the perch. I personally like to use the small black rubber feed pans that you can find in farm supply stores -
> 
> ...



That was fun to watch. Awesome and thanks!


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## Slamdunc (Dec 6, 2007)

Excellent videos, super nice work!


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## Breaker's mom (May 27, 2008)

Thanks Gatordog! My Shiloh is never gonna be a anything but, this gives me some ideas to play around with. Some new things to train to keep it fun and interesting. I really appreciate it.


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## JFza11 (May 4, 2017)

Thanks Gatordog those videos are awesome! I actually made a little DIY mat last night from an old yoga mat and started teaching exactly this, a stand with both feet on the mat.

The mat is not very high of the ground though, would an actual perch be better in the long run? I just chose the yoga mat so that she has a point of reference for where to keep her front paws.


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

JFza11 said:


> Thanks Gatordog those videos are awesome! I actually made a little DIY mat last night from an old yoga mat and started teaching exactly this, a stand with both feet on the mat.
> 
> The mat is not very high of the ground though, would an actual perch be better in the long run? I just chose the yoga mat so that she has a point of reference for where to keep her front paws.



No problem! The yoga mat itself may be enough for her to distinguish. I just personally prefer something a bit higher to make the whole process very obvious to them, and I've had that same perch for upwards of 4 years now, so its easy for me to find and use ?


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## sanjo (Feb 22, 2017)

great videos! the touchpads are also a great idea to get the tuck sit/down right.


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