Sitting pretty - never thought of it

[INU]

I was talking to a friend who is a dog trainer by profession yesterday. I was telling her how Cooper (lab)has more difficult time doing a sit-stay. Since he was a pup, he always sit with one leg shifted and we thought it was just the way he sat. He didn't show any signs of hip dysplasia so we weren't too worried. I thought because of the way he sits, it was harder for him to stay sit for a long time. After a minute or so, he'd collapse and get in down-stay unless he's told not to. I've seen many labs sitting this way so I didn't think much of it. Jazzy on the other hand, always sit nicely and she can stay sit for as long as she has to.

 

This trainer told me that obedience trainers try to fix this when the dogs are very young or it becomes a lot harder to fix. I never thought of fixing postures of dogs before because I am not into competition obedience or show ring. She told me that you can put a pup or a dog on a small raised area like a tree stump and the dog would correct its posture himself.

 

Again, I don't care how he looks when he sits or downs as long as he does when he's told. But if correcting his posture would make it easier for him to stay sit, I might consider it. Have you heard of this method? Have you had a dog sits like him and you were able to adjust?

 

 

 

 

[Barb Scott]

I always thought those crooked sits were a sign of displasia!

Barb S

[Guest WoobiesMom]

Level 1 of our obedience class included teaching a dog to sit on a "climb". Some sort of elevated surface where they are required to stay until released. This can be used to keep the dog out of your hair and off visitors. They use a narrow stand from Lowe's that's sort of like small scaffolding. There's just enough room for the dog to sit or down correctly or they fall off. Never thought of it correcting posture, but now that I think of it, Woobie and the other dogs never slouch or lean over that way. But I wonder if that would hurt a dog that already has hip dysplasia?

[Journey]

Again, I don't care how he looks when he sits or downs as long as he does when he's told. But if correcting his posture would make it easier for him to stay sit, I might consider it. Have you heard of this method? Have you had a dog sits like him and you were able to adjust?

 

Well, it depends on what you call "easier".

 

Yes, we do teach our competition dogs a proper "sit" to the extent of them learning that "toes" means to tuck the rear feet in so your toes are not pointing out like a frog! If you start early it can be accomplished easily. If you look at the posture in picture 1 his rear is rolled and his front right leg is bearing the weight. I've found in "Labs" it's just a lazy sit as they have to deal with the "tail" issue in a proper sit (Labs for some reason have a thicker stiffer tail) Also we teach them that each leg has to bear equal weight, well, they are taught and proofed that "stay" means all 4 feet don't move in the sit position. We do it by opposition, with hand on shoulder holding them in position we then try to press the front leg forward (from behind it) and their natural opposition, and your hand on shoulder, will help them "win" and learn (when we really proof it we even try to lift the rear (which makes them "sit" that much stronger)..Probably more info than you wanted

 

As for it being a sign of CHD, you have to X-Ray for that.

 

Karen

[INU]

Couple of weeks ago, I went to my vet to get his x-rays done because he had been limping on his frong legs for a while. The vet told me that shouldn't be necessary and prescribed some anti-inflamatory meds... I've seen dogs with hip dysplacia and he doesn't walk/run like that. But I am really considering to take him to another vet for further exam on his joints. I'd be really scared to find out if there is anything wrong with his joints.

[Root Beer]

A sit like that could be a sign of hip displasia, but it could also just be habit left over from puppyhood.

 

I do some work with the different ways for the dog to sit to build muscles for Freestyle. Dean tends to flop himself every which way when he sits, but it's getting less and less.

 

The exercise I do is to lure the dog into a good sit and then lure the dog into a down. Then I use a treat to cause the dog to "pop" back up into a sit. The idea is for the dog to pop up in one motion instead of easing his way up. By doing this, I am seeing some nice muscle development in Dean's back end.

 

I don't really do it to teach the dog to sit a certain way, but it's a good hind-end exercise to build strength for future hind-leg work.

[Aussie_Dog]

Jake hasn't been able to sit pretty for a long time now, but I don't think that's unexpected: he's 9 years old now, and arthritis began kicking in at age 6 (fortunately it seems to be well controlled now). And when he was 7, he tore his ACL and had surgery for that. It was around 6 or 7 that we noticed he was sitting "on his hip" instead of having both legs under him, but I just took that as an age-related thing. He can't do beg anymore either, unless you hold out your arm and he can prop his front legs over it. And heck, he deserves to sit however he wants nowadays, plus it just looks so cute when he does it (sometimes the "floppy" leg sticks right out, or it'll be tucked in and his "thigh" will flop outwards)

 

But I guess that if Jake were younger, I'd be worried too.

[caveninit]

My puppy, who is 4 months old..sits like that...I call it her "sloppy sit". I asked her trainer in puppy class about it because I wanted to work on correcting it with her, and she told me not to worry about that right now, as long as she "sits" on command. I wasn't too thrilled with that advice and have been correcting her because it's harder for her to do a "high five" with me or "give paw" when her weight is shifted to one side. She get's no reward for that sloppy sit...but when she shifts her position and sits up nice and tall, I reward her. Lately she has been correcting herself with no prompt from me, but she does revert back to that posture sometimes.

 

Janet

 

[jamesqf]

Is there anything wrong with sitting like that? Seems to me that most of the dogs I know sit that way at least some of the time, just as I often sit curled up in one way or another.

[Allie Oop]

Well, Inu, I would be very interested in what you find out. Rusty sits just like that and never puts his paws flat like Allie does. He also runs a little differently and I have wondered if he has some hip issues. The vet did manipulation when I asked her about it, but didn't think he had a problem. I haven't yet gone so far as x-raying them, but that may come.

[INU]

I went to a new vet this afternoon and asked her about his lazy sit. She told me that it CAN be a sign of hip displacia or arthritis but she told me the dogs with hip displacia would stand and walk differently. We are going to watch him carefully and in the future we will have the full x-rays done. She said that in order to get very clear x-rays of hips, they will need to sedate him. I try to avoid sedation as much as possible....she said they need to kind of twist the legs to get the right angle so it can be painful plus most dogs wouldn't be able to stay completely still in that kind of position.

 

She suggested not trying to correct his sit unless that's necessary. Our stay can be either in sit or down so I think I will continue using down-stay.