where I take my boys training they have a slippery floor (like plastic tile things) ive always had problems getting Fagan to sit on it as he just either slides backwards into a down or his front legs slide forward into a down the trainers tell me to hold up his lead to stop him doing it but this practically stangled him so I started doing stands instead of sits because im also worried about what affect it would have on his hips.  I started Alfie there yesterday and he also is having problems sitting upright and keeps sliding, is this normal ? no ones elses dogs seem to do it I did think about taking a mat into class but this would be a bit awkward, I know im going to be showing Alfie but I would still like him to learn a sit stay / wait.

Does anyone have any suggestions ?

i always leave flynn sitting against a wall if its a slippy floor,so he cant slip back.
dont keep correcting him as its not his fault & he may loose confidence.

also you may want to try some paw wax that claims to stop slipping

good luck

I tried the paw wax and it didnt work, if I sat him against a wall he would just slide the other way :rolleyes: I think I will just stick to stands at training and practice sits at home on the carpet :)

A club who I used to train with had a highly polished wooden floor which new dogs found difficulties with. An old feller (Possibly 10 years younger than I am now ;) ) told me the tip of licking my fingers and putting some spittle on my dog's paws. This gave just that little extra grip needed. I must say though that no dog, once it was familiar with the floor had the slightest difficulty with it even though it shone like glass. Usually when a dog slides from sit to down it is caused by lack of confidence rather than the floor. They just use their muscles to "Lock" their legs in position.

Regards, John

hi john,at our club the hall was a bit slippy,but generally 99% of the dogs were fine on it....BUT dont know what has happened over the xmas break because now it is just like a ice rink. even my old bitch tara,that i sometimes work for a laugh is slipping,shes never slipped in her life! hopefully next week we will have the mats down so they can work properally,bless em!
good tip about the spit,will try that.

BB do your dogs have very hairy feet?

Im trying to think if their feet are hairy underneath or not :rolleyes: yes I suppose they do, I trim them but they still have hairy bits inbetween their pads.

Im not sure if it is a lack of confidence because Fagan does shuffle his front legs for a while to stop himself slipping then he just seems to give up, I will practice some sit stays at home and see if it build his confidence up on it.

i must say all of the dogs at are club are at the moment sat against the wall,& they dont slip the other way,so it may be worth a try.

id try to sort it out,or he will get into the habit of breaking stays.
although if you dont intend to do any obedience,does it matter if he changes position if he dosent leave the spot?

failing all that,dont do the sits in club if he cant do them (as you said)

Our club has nice rubber matting which they put down covering most of the hall :) Before they got bigger matting, Tara had problems if she had to sit in the centre of the hall where there was no matting. I used to stand next to her with my foot behind her bottom, preventing her slipping :) Not necessary now, fortunately. Try persuading your club to get some matting :)

Daisy

we do have matting,but 4 classes, & the first two classes never seem to put it down. they dont do as much as the top classes though

BB try daisys tip of puutting your foot behind fagans bum....good tip! ;)

hmm, my obdience club doesnt have matting like they do at ringcraft - tight buggers :p

I would like to do some obedience with Fagan one day (when he learns what the word close means :D :D ) so it would be nice for him to be capable of doing a sit stay, I will have to see how he goes.

in that case then dont let him do it wrong!!!

are you at crufts on thursday? as there are two irishes working in the interegional obedience comp

Thats a shame, im not going until the Saturday I would have liked to see that :(

I think I will have to do lots of practice with Fagan - I swear he is just lazy :rolleyes:

My two both do this - but it's worse when I have trimmed the fur from between their pads underneath their feet.  Also they have no tails, so I don't know if that makes a difference or not!  Anyway, I went to the local carpet shop and bought one of those old sample mats they sell for 50p - just take that with me to club and use that for the dogs to do a sit on!  If I forget the mat, I will sit dogs against the wall as well.
  Hilda

I help out a training class and we nearly get at least 2 in each class that do it.  We ask people to bring a blanket or towell or the like to do sits and downs on which seems to work.