I HAVE A 16 WEEK OLD FEMALE WHO IS DOING WELL WITH RETRIEVING AND BRINGING TEH BIRD BACK TO ME BUT SHE WILL NOT SIT. SHE WILL STAND BESIDE ME SHE WILL COME BACK ON THREE WISTLE BLASTS AND LAST NIGHT SHE LOST A MARK IN THE GLARE ON TEH WATER AND SWAM ABOUT 120 YARDS TURNED AROUND LOOKED AT ME AND AS SOON AS I POINTED TO THE AREA THE BIRD WAS IN SHE PICKED IT UP AND SWAM BACK. SHE JUST WILL NOT SIT. I DID NOT GET HER UNTIL SHE WAS 12 WEEKS SO I HAVE REALLY ONLY BEEN WORKING WITH HER ABOUT A MONTH. IT IS REALLY AMAZING WHAT SHE HAS LEANED AND I KNOW A LOT IS HER INNATE ABILITY SHE GOT FROM HER PARENTS. ANY HELP WITH HER SITTING ISSUES WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

THANKS
JMARK

Repition and patience are a good motto for chessies

Since this is a pup and (I think) you are trying to teach the command, it's fine to offer a reward for sitting. The higher the value of the reward, the more apt your pup is to like the act of sitting. Once the command has been learned, then you can correct if you want to.

All this assumes that there is nothing about the way that your dog is built that makes sitting unpleasant or painful. The clearest signal I got that my Chessie needed a TPLO (knee surgery) was that eventually he couldn't hold a sit for very long. This had never been a problem before. Arthritic/dysplastic dogs also tend to prefer to be standing or lying down, but not sitting.

Claire