I've been taught to introduce sit, down and stand as a threesome. I was taught it as a lure and reward exercise, but have since learnt to use the clicker so I use that too now, as it speeds the whole process up.
Stage One - first you use the treat as a lure on the puppies nose. Have 3 treats in your hand and make sure puppy knows you have them. Slowly move hand, on puppies nose, up and back over head, bottom goes down, click and give treat. Next lower treat in closed'ish hand to floor between paws and WAIT (it can take some time, be patient) as soon as elbows and little bum hit floor, click and give second treat. Next move hand slowly away from puppies nose and up to head height, once puppy stands, keep hand still, click and give third treat. Don't give any verbal commands at this stage.
Stage Two - vary the order - mix it up a bit :wink: . Same idea as before, except you may have a few more treats in your hand (as you might want to ask for a series of 5 different positions or 7 or 3). Then ask for a sit, stand, sit, down, sit, down or whatever pattern you like. Still no verbal commands.
Stage Three - hand signals. Get the knack of holding the treat between the edge of your thumb and the side of your hand (does that make sense? :? ) so that you can hold a treat and use a flat hand to give a clear hand signal. So sit becomes a flat hand, palm facing you and bend the elbow to bring the hand up. Down is a flat hand, palm moving downwards with a straight elbow. Stand is a flat hand, palm facing puppy and moving away from puppy a bit. Once the puppy is 'getting' the hand signals, stop holding a treat in the signalling hand, and reward the puppy using the other hand. This stops the dog following your hand when you don't want and will help when you come to ask for a sit or down stay. NB You will have to decide which hand signals are going to work for you long term - especially if you think you will want to do any gundog work in the future.
Stage Four - introduce verbal commands. Once puppy is consistently responding to hand signals, introduce the words, and make sure you time it as well as you would the clicker, so that you ONLY use the word once you are sure the dog is going to do it, but not too late, it needs to be as spot on as you can get it. So for the sit for example, use the hand signal that the puppy has learnt, as soon as the bottom is a millimeter off the floor, say 'Sit' and give the treat.
Stage Five - phasing out the treats. Vary the series of positions and start to treat every other position, then every third, position, then on a random schedule. If the puppy is reluctant or less proficient at one position (down in Molly's case) I would tend to give the treats more often for an improved performance on each down and not so often for sit and stand.
Hope this helps
