Is it possible for a dog to not be able to sit?

Factual Questions
1

A dog that seems otherwise ordinary (if spectacularly ugly), I mean. Gets around just fine and at high speed. Leaps onto the goddamned dining room table. Flies like a speeding bullet to start shit with cats.

I had the great idea to trial-adopt this dog from the shelter. I was hoping Sweet Pickles would be nice to my big submissive anxious dog. (Yes, I got a pet for my pet.) She’s supposed to be very sweet, everybody at the shelter loves her, there were actually TWO PEOPLE there last night who came in to get her to foster, etc.

It’s like having a possessed Hulk cockroach running around the house. She beat poor Captain’s ass and then humped it and then started in on the cats, who keep giving her lessons she keeps forgetting. I really don’t know if it’s going to work out with this dog (the trial is for a week, though, which is a long time in animal days.)

(She is really sweet, though, all curled up on your lap.)

Among words she does not know: her name, no, come, sit, down, leave it, hisssss, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM THAT CAT YOU DUMB SHIT.

So I s

I literally just got interrupted right there by her taking a shit on the carpet. No kidding. (My fault - I was just about to take her out, and we haven’t really learned her signals or habits yet since we haven’t even had her 24 hours.)

So I says to myself, I says, this dog just needs some training, right? So I sit down on the floor in a calm room away from all the other animals and try to teach her to sit. And she WILL NOT do it. She wants the treat, she’s dancing around, but I can’t get her to sit. Not by holding her still and raising it above her head, not by pushing down on her butt - she won’t sit. I literally couldn’t get her to sit even with (gentle but firm) physical force. And come to think of it, I’m not sure I’ve seen her sitting at all since we got her. Lying down, flopping over so you can rub her belly and touch her disturbingly prominent nipples, scurrying, escaping the house between my feet and almost getting hit by a car - that she does. But she doesn’t seem to sit!

Now, this is a strangely built dog. They made her out of all the pieces at the dog factory they sweep up at the end of the day. Is it possible that her conformation is so nonstandard that she… can’t sit? (We worked on “leave it” instead.)

2

She seems too excited by your training method to sit. Also, some small dogs never take the classic dog sitting pose, they’re either lying down or on their feet. So if you’ve never seen her sit on her own, and she can’t be coaxed into doing, then maybe she’ll never sit. Not that big of a deal. If she ever does sit on her own, your best bet is to reward her for doing it, and hope that she’ll figure it out. For a dog like that I’d consider teaching her ‘up’.

3

The trouble is catching her when she is not, in fact, already “up”.

4

Here’s her page at the shelter. It does not add that her owner obviously moved to assisted living to escape Sweet Pickles.

5

Sounds like she would benefit from the Two Week Shutdown program for introducing a new dog to a household.

6

One of the photos is of her sitting! Find the photographer and ask how they got her to pose.

Seriously, she’s probably just too excited, as you say it’s less than 24 hours. Patience and perseverance. And Sailboat’s link looks ideal for your situation.

7

I suppose it is possible. Our ancient obese matriarch cat can no longer sit down. She tries, but her butt never makes it to the ground, so she ends up sort of squatting.

But I really really strongly doubt it.

Run her little butt off several times a day. Either fetch or chase or tug or walkies or whatever works for you, but give her a serious workout. A tired dog is a good dog.

Keep her on a leash and with you all the time for a week or two. She’ll stay out of trouble and won’t be able to pester the other critters, plus she’ll learn that you’re the boss.

When you’re not home, crate her up to keep her out of trouble.

Worked wonders with the [del]demonspawn[/del] doggie we inherited.

On review, just saw Sailboat’s link. :smiley: Looks like we did something right!

8

You probably already tried this as part of your “physical force” but just in case you didn’t - instead of pushing on the butt, push on the knees. Karate chop (gently) at the knees, from behind (from back to front) while pulling up on the leash and using the “sit” command.

I tried to find a video of this for you but seriously all the “teach a dog to sit” videos feature dogs that already know how to sit. WTF?

Anyway, physically manipulate their hind legs into the sitting position. Like, imagine trying to get a person down by hitting them across the back of their legs with a baseball bat versus pressing down on their shoulders. The former involves nerves and tendons or some shit - they will involuntarily bend those legs. The latter is super easy to resist, just like pushing on a dog’s butt.

9

Jeez… I’ve had “doggy style” wrong all these years…

10

My greyhound sort of does this. I do not know if it is the breed or just a quirk, but she does not like to sit, and will not do so on her own. If commanded to sit, she will squat very low so that it looks like she is sitting, but it is just a ruse–she never relaxes, only squats.

11

Some terriers and greyhound breeds too really don’t like to sit. They will hover in a pseudo sit sometimes, and will be slow to go down.

Your new cutie (what a face!) may just be so over stimulated that she can’t focus. Is she ok in a crate? She may need some quiet time. And then maybe try teaching her something other than sit. You could put a mat or towel down and teach her to go to that place and stay there, even if its just standing still there. Clicker work might help her focus too.

Good luck, I hope she works out!

12

“What a face!” is right. As in that’s what you say if you meet her. Sort of like “Well that’s certainly a baby, isn’t it!”

I dragged her along with me via a leash around my waist tonight. If nothing else it reassured the cats. We’re trying crate tonight, although she clearly is not accustomed and I hope she doesn’t cry all night. I don’t know what to do if she does - you don’t let them out if they’re crying, and you don’t want them out anyway (because dookie on the floor) but can you really let her cry all night and will she get back in it without trauma if I do that?

13

You know, one does hate to play amateur geneticist, but she was well cared for (usually dogs from people who go to nursing homes are too fat!) and was in a very good shelter but is skinny as hell. I mean, skin and bones skinny. Wonder if there might actually be a little sighthound in her?

(She’s certainly no scent hound. Captain is and I’m used to him - she hardly wants to smell anything!)

14

On the damned leash stuck to me Sweet Pickles just went after Captain again, which was like watching a fly beat the shit out of a horse. I suppose we have to go “full program” (I thought they’d at least reached a detente and that it was a cat issue at this point.)

15

My childhood dog was a standard dachshund that was on the fat side. He never squatted his hind legs to sit. Instead, it was a semi-reclining position with his hinds to one side, one rump resting on the ground, while the front quarters were upright.

16

They should have named her Kong because she has a face like a gorilla. And apparently the same temperament

17

She’s not really sitting in that one - I think she’s sort of doing that squat thing, actually.

She’s whining in the crate (she eventually quieted down last night) and it’s killing me. Partly because it’s sad as hell and partly because it sounds EXACTLY like Tickle Me Elmo.

18

Are you planning just to crate her overnight without any adjustment period? Everything I’ve read about crate training usually builds up over a period of several days to extended crating. I admit, I’m not an expert, but when we got our first dog in July, we read up on a whole mess of things, and I can’t remember anybody saying crating overnight right away is a good idea. We started gradually, and it worked out fine. It’s not his favorite place to hang out, but he will go in his crate on his own, and responds to “go to bed,” by going to his crate.

19

We got a crate for Blackjack. He was an older dog when we got him, and he didn’t like the idea. It wasn’t much good anyway after he knocked the door off it’s hinges to get out. I don’t think there’s any guarantee that any dog will take to a crate.

20

ETA: Basically, here’s the program I followed: first, make positive associations with the crate. Feed her in the crate. Secretly put treats and toys in the crate for her to discover. That sort of thing. All with doors open. Then, eventually, you get her used to having the crate door closed and being in the crate. Treat her through the crate with doors closed. Start with a very short period of time (10 seconds or so), and build it up. Then, when she’s comfortable, start leaving the room for gradually increasing periods of time. Then, when the time is sufficiently long (I worked up to three hours or so over a period of about a week), it’s time for her to sleep overnight in the crate. I slept in the same room as my dog, then eventually worked my way out of the room. That only took a couple of nights. He will very very occasionally whine in his crate, but for a minute or two, then he gives up and just plops down to sleep.

Now, I probably took a few more days than average, but it worked for me, and it seems to be what most trainers recommend, from my reading.