Commands

[Msmart]

I had a thread earlier about a dog heeling (sp). My gsd Tess knows the commands sit, down, off, out, heel, give it,leave it, paw, has very good loose leash walk/ off leash recall and never really ventures from my site off leash. What all commands should a good dog in general have in all of yalls opinion or what commands do your dogs know?

[Wheelhaus]

What every dog should know:
Leave it
Sit or Down, both are not necessary
Stay
Come
Go to and relax on a mat
How to walk on a leash

That is my minimum for pet dogs. Get those reliable and you can manage almost every situation. I teach touch on the way to recall and matwork, and the dog controlling himself (taught most formally with leave it) is a major theme in my classes. I've found my clients are more successful teaching a few things really well than a bunch of things halfassed.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Wheelhaus, could you go to the Introduction forum and tell us a little about yourself and your dogs?

[Wheelhaus]

*heavy sigh* Fi-ine. *eyeroll*

*stomp stomp stomp* Hello Wisconsin!

[Liesje]

In addition to what has been mentioned....

"wait" = means stay in whatever position you're in until I say "OK. I use this a lot, like when the dogs come in the door and are wet and muddy I tell them to "wait" while I towel them off.

down at a distance = to me the down is the most important command. The down at a distance is important for safety. Like say your dog crossed a street and if you recall him, a car might hit him. I've been in situations where it's safer to have my dog down and wait for me than come back to me.

[Wheelhaus]

Originally Posted by Liesje

In addition to what has been mentioned....

"wait" = means stay in whatever position you're in until I say "OK. I use this a lot, like when the dogs come in the door and are wet and muddy I tell them to "wait" while I towel them off.

down at a distance = to me the down is the most important command. The down at a distance is important for safety. Like say your dog crossed a street and if you recall him, a car might hit him. I've been in situations where it's safer to have my dog down and wait for me than come back to me.

Do you have any experience teaching this to novice owners/dogs? How would you rate it's level of difficulty?

[Liesje]

Huh? I don't teach anything to "novice owners" whatever that means. I go to obedience class or SchH club and everyone trains their own dogs. Training a down is not that hard, that's the first thing I start with at 7 weeks, but in my world down means "down until I say otherwise".

[Miss Molly May]

Living in a residential neighborhood I feel the important commands for Molly are


watch me
yard( just used this word when she gets close to my lot line)
sit
down
quiet
off
easy(calm down)
heel
leave it
come
hurry( this command is great a 4 15 am and the temperature is -25*c it basically means hurry up and do your duties it freaking cold out here)

[Castlemaid]

I'm with Lies - a very important obedience exercise that has widespread application is the sit/stay and down/stay.

You can also introduce hand signals and work on a down from a distance. Proof what your dog knows in distracting surroundings too. As always when you start, set up the exercise to be easy - set up your dog to succeed, and reward quickly. Work up to longer stay intervals and distance very gradually. If your dog breaks a stay, or ignores a command from a distance, you are moving too fast, and need to go back a few steps.

[JakodaCD OA]

I agree with all the commands listed above, the very most important one and top of the list for me is "COME"..solid solid solid