My beautiful pup is nearly 5 month, both her parents are good examples of her breed.

She is looking good although she needs more weight, but she's not a big eater. Recently I have been encouraged to show her, I think I would like to but my worry is a family member has taught her to sit! Do you think this would be a problem? Is it too late to show (I know she can't be shown until 6 month) given that she hasn't been to ringcraft?

Not too late and no issue with teaching a dog to sit. mine all do obedience classes. they just know their commands. get to ringcraft and starting teaching the stand command too. It's just another command.  Couldn't even begin to think why anyone wouldn't teach the command sit.

So go and have some fun in the ring once you've been to ringcraft and happy:)
I've taken a dog in with no ring training and that was hard work but we managed just.. lol

I never  teach mine sit, as it's not something I need them to do, though of course they sit when they want to.

For me down is a more useful 'control' command.

It is very easy to teach stand instead by stepping back from her when she is sitting, or step in toward her son she stands up, give command stand when she stands and give a treat and praise immediately.

To get correct foot position use your body and the hand with the treat to encourage correct stance.

Can they sit?   Why not!!   Obviously they need to stand to be examined but if you lived with Bassets at all, you'd learn that in normal life, they don't stand if they can sit, and don't sit if they can LIE DOWN       And in my breed we 'top and tail' them in the ring much as some do stack reasonably naturally - and when judging, at the end of the down and back I preferred to see them standing naturally, not assisted!  But most of what I found on examination, was usually confirmed on moving.

At 5 months, get into some Ringcraft - we had to use local obedience classes but they let show people stack their dogs when the others were required to sit.

Welcome to the forum dogmad1 Dogs are intelligent creatures and can be taught all sorts of commands. I'd recommend you locate a local ringcraft class and they will be very happy to help you teach your dog to stand amongst other things. Have fun!

The only thing you don't want is the automatic sit which the dog does every time you halt, I remember my husband thinking it was clever to teach my obedience dog to "finish" at the end of a recall, she always sat crooked after that, you will easily be able to teach your puppy to show correctly.  Don't be tempted to use titbits, IMO it is not necessary and leads to the dog constantly looking and asking for them and no squeaky toys which novice show people sometimes use.

>Don't be tempted to use titbits, IMO it is not necessary and leads to the dog constantly looking and asking for them

Agree. Some dogs will start to drawl and that is very hard to stop once it starts!

Some people don't teach their show dogs to sit because there's an old wives' tale that if a show dog learns to sit, it will do it in the ring and you'll lose any chance of being placed.  because obviously, dogs aren't capable of learning to stand on cue, or learning how to behave in different situations!

When you look at the enormous range of things dogs can be trained to do, and all the different situations they can work in, and how they can learn different contexts, different rules for different people etc... it's not an issue in any way, shape or form to teach a show dog to sit.

Another tip would be a different collar & lead for showing.

We used to do loads of exemption shows with a xbreed and the other dogs, A friend with 2 daughters had a young Border Collie so the older girl took him in several classes, he was too much for the younger girl who was desparate to have a try so we let her borrow Freckles - he was about 7-8 and very laid back.

She kept telling him to sit in the ring - he did but then immediatly stood again - as he knew that red collar/lead and ring = always stand
Child was chuffed to bits when she got placed a few times

I've used the different collar and lead scenario too. Obedience dogs have to learn the sit down and stand commands. Halting with no command means sit, to have the dog stand or go down it's given a command or signal to tell it to do so. It's silly the way some people who compete in one dog discipline insist it is impossible to train for more than one. Many years ago I was told it was impossible to train a dog a scent for obedience, when only a certain cloth with a scent on had to be picked up, and a search for working trials, where all objects with a human scent on have to be picked up. I trained my GSD to do both by setting her up in a different way and giving different commands.

Once you get her to know the word stand make sure you use it when you give her treats. Often people will tell a dog to sit when giving it a treat/chew/toy ect in the home so the dog learns to sit for everything and will just automatically sit if it thinks a reward may be coming, which is the real issue.
Funny thing with mine growing up I always asked her to stand when I gave her things yet my mother always asked her to sit. Even now she won't stand for my mother and she stands quicker than she sits for me.

You never too late to train a dog for something. A few years ago at a breed show a new owner came with her adult girl who was a few years old, they had never been to a show before in their life and their girl one best bitch.

How else do you keep a free standing breeds attention without titbits????

Certainly you'd have a dog with nose to ground in my breed.

There is only so much silly chatter and praise from me, mine will find interesting before the more interesting choice of using their noses on the ground.

> Some people don't teach their show dogs to sit because there's an old wives' tale that if a show dog learns to sit, it will do it in the ring and you'll lose any chance of being placed.

A little truth there.  Actually it's because at many obedience classes they basically teach the automatic sit, and as the dogs sits most often, when the nervous new owner and dog venture into the ring, if in doubt the dog sits as that is what it knows best.

I have always advised owners that want to show that at obedience class they should not automatically sit their dogs when doing heel work, but do stand instead, only use sit, for sit stays and throw it in occasionally when heel working.

As others have been saying, she can perfectly well do both show and obedience, all my girls do. They might occasionally sit when the judge is taking a while to decide, but I just cue them to stand again. Their 'close' obedience work is completely different from their show trot followed by the free stand, and they've never got confused. I wouldn't teach your puppy to sit at heel after walking, teach the stand, but otherwise she shouldn't have any trouble. You might want to try some ringcraft too though, it's a good way to teach her about letting strangers go over her, walking nicely with you even with other dogs around, and you might make some friends to go to shows with!

I have two veteran dogs. My show dog also does obedience and agility for fun and fitness. My obedience dog has previously done working trials and HTM, and is currently doing agility just for fun. They understand which discipline they are doing from the location, their equipment, and by following my cues. IMO variety helps to stop dogs becoming bored with their work.

My first show dog didn't start until he was 14m and yes he had the automatic sit from obedience but with a bit of work we overcame that and he did he went to crufts three times :) sadly after a tail injury we stopped showing him and he decided the agility ring more his thing!

I have always taught my dogs sit but never the sit when I stop all the time - only when asked!   There is no reason dogs aren't able to do both - different lead different situations different commands! Mine also do agility , show and we do our own obedience training - two have reached Gold Good Citizen.

Rather than ask for sit for everything when young we asked for a stand mainly.

Good luck have fun!

It's encouraging to know! She only sits for a treat at night but does it automatically.

I practiced standing her yesterday and step back from her as Brainless suggested, when I positioned her feet she put her paws on my hand. Any suggestions how I can stop her doing this? We definitely need a lot of work, ring craft is in two weeks time so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure how I can not use tit bits at the moment though, a lot of people in my breed.

How do you stop nerves?

Thanks guys

What breed is she. In my breed you do not position the dog by hand, they  are shown free standing, and it is best to teach a free stand, even with a stacked breed.  You do this by lead and your body movements until she stands square.

Miniature schnauzer. As you can probably tell I don't have much of an idea. I dont have a show lead yet.

Well if in doubt teach your pup to freestand ( in my opinion  all breeds look much better free  standing).

The aim is to have them looking alert and standing  square, lead and titbit will get you there.

Try  Googling for UK videos of the breed being shown (not US) also you will need to look at videos for correct BRITISH coat presentation for the ring, this will entail hand stripping.

> practiced standing her yesterday and step back from her as Brainless suggested, when I positioned her feet she put her paws on my hand. Any suggestions how I can stop her doing this?

You can try lifting the legs from higher up, some I've seen don't even touch the frount legs they lift the frount end up by chest then set back down, then fix the back legs. Was always taught go fix the frount first then the back. Although if yours Is a free standing breed rather than a stacked breed what I did was to train and reward any stand no matter where the feet were. Then once she knew that stand ment stand I started only rewarding when her feet were right. If they were out I would step into her so she stepped back then moved her toward a bit and said stand.

Looking at Crufts 2014 video it shows the breed as freestanding,  for titbits.

I think more of an issue will be correct coat preparation, and I hope pup hasn't been clipped by a 'pet' type groomer yet.

I'm hoping to visit some shows and get a 'feel' for it.

Thankfully her coat has only been hand stripped, in my opinion they look much nicer. She has such a great coat. I'm hoping someone would be able to help me with prep for and at shows.

Normally that would  be your breeder, or sires owner, or someone local to you they can recommend.

Have you joined the National and/or regional breed club? Members can help and advise you.