# Lazy sits?



## El_rex (Jan 14, 2016)

Wondering about lazy sits.
My 6 months old pup almost never sits straight (can literally count times when I caught him sitting like a decent dog), even more, he's very likely to sit spreading his legs to each side and doing indecent exposure showing of his manhood (always).. is it normal?
Well, maybe manhood bit is ok, I can live with it but what about the sit?
Also, when is the good time to x-ray his hips? Is it too early to do this now or, if there is something wrong it is better to learn as early as possible so I have more treatment options?


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

Our Molly seldom sat straight up, usually sits a bit slouchy with her legs to one side. This happened during training when she was younger and we wondered if she was bored with training and wanted to go onto the fun stuff like the agility course. Molly has had two knee surgeries (when she was 2 and 4) and now we wonder if it is more comfortable ( like she has mild pain, not enough to limp) with her legs to the side.

As far as x-rays, our vet x-rayed the hips while Molly was under anesthesia during her spay, about 6-7 months.


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## pyratemom (Jan 10, 2011)

Practice having your pup sit on a board sitting on two bricks. I use an 8 inch board about 5 feet long. Get your pup to step up on the board and then tell it to sit. He will have to sit straight or fall off the board. It takes a few tries. This is also a good way to get a good straight down. I started by walking my pup over the board a few times then when the pup is comfortable walking on the board go for the sit and when that is satisfactory go for the down. This will all take several sessions to get right so be patient.


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## Findlay (Jan 8, 2015)

I am a stickler for good posture. I am intolerant of poor posture lol
So, right off I worried about my pup's lazy sit.

When he sat, he'd shift his weight on either the right or left hip and the opposite thigh would splay out exposing his rear under-belly : ) just like your pup.

His trainer called it a "puppy sit" and thought it would correct itself. 
but he said if it bothered me (which it did) that I could correct it by re-sitting him and praising him when he was in a good straight sit.

When he lazy-sits before or after a heel,
I use the side of my ankle to push the haunch back in position and use my hand to put pressure on the opposite shoulder, which puts him in a tighter sit.

Piratemom's idea sounds good!! It makes sense. I can see how that would put the dog in a tight sit and in a tight down too.
Maybe with a lot of consistency it will work.

My pup is 21 months and although I am consistent with resitting him, at times he will still relax back into his lazy puppy sit. 
I don't allow it when he's on-leash or in training or whenever I use the sit command. 
Also whenever I see him in a nice tight sit, I praise him with "Good Sit Finn!" He knows what a Good sit is.

He still relaxes into a lazy puppy sit a lot. 
When he's resting or just hangin out, I never correct him for a sloppy/lazy sit. I don't want to nag him or make him anxious when he's relaxing.

Good luck.


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