This picture of Frica (brown) and the most submissive pup in her first litter demonstrates the inherent role of the sit command.
This was taken one the first days I took the puppies outside and allowed them to wander around the yard. Frica was confident enough in her maternal teaching and skills that she assumed the more relaxed down position to monitor the other pups’ behavior. But this more timid one planted himself next to his mother and assumed a high-alert sentinel sit position instead. It was this behavior that caused me to agree with Frica that he needed to say with her for a few weeks longer than his littermates to help build his self-confidence.
For those who believe that eliminating the sit command from the basic training line-up amounts to nothing less than blasphemy, consider this quote based on the words of Rear Admiral Grace Hopper: “The most dangerous phrase in the language is, ‘we’ve always done it this way.’”
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