German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[J_K_P_E]

Greetings all,
I have an 11 month male GWP "Joey" that has been at boot camp for the last month and has one more to go. Joe seems to be doing great, this is my first "real" dog I have ever had and have had no expeirence training or personally working a dog. I would like some advice on what I will need to do once he is home, Let me explain further.

I have an 8 year old daughter and a loving wife, they would like Joe to do all the things that a dog needs to when in the house, sit, lay down, go away etc. One of the first things that the trainer said that he needed to do was break him of sitting. His comment was that a Pointer really should not sit because of the tendency to sit on point. Now in my mind I would think that a dog as smart as a GWP should be able to know the difference between Whoa and Sit. Is my trainer saying this because of Joe's age? or can this really be a problem and if so what type of "House Rules" should I concentrate on? I do not want to do any damage. He is steady thruough flush and shot now and I would like him to not learn (be taught) any bad habits.

Thanks in advance for your input on this matter, I have read thru most of the posts here and can tell that this is a community of great people willing to help!

Pat

[dualgwp]

I personally do not teach my dogs to sit when they are young. They do learn not to jump up on me (well they learn not to jump up on others), they learn what "go lie down" means, and everything that they need to be good house companions.

Sit is just one of the easy things for a young dog to learn, so many teach it as a puppy. The puppy learns that if it sits, it gets rewarded for it. So....when in times of stress or uncertainty on the dogs part, they think, I don't know what to do, so I'll sit. Has always brought me a good things...

When we start steadying up a dog (breaking process) there is a lot of stress involved for the dog so sometimes they revert back to what they know. Not knowing Sit, takes away one way for the dog to relieve the stress or escape the pressure. Unteaching Sit is a pain for both dog and trainer.

Instead of teaching Sit, try teaching the dog to Stand/Stay. This plays right into the Whoa breaking down the road.... stand still, don't move.

Has worked for me, but whatever works for your family situation.