Lou

What are the MOST IMPORTANT commands to train my puppy?

Ok, here we go. Im obsessed with my 5.5 month puppy! She is PERFECT!

I've had her for a little over 2 months and she already knows the commands below:

*sit -
*lay down -
*stay - (only if I walk backwards and dont go out of her site, she will stay still till I say: "ok, com on" with excited voice.
*Drop it - (with almost everything, she will drop immediately specially if we are outside. Sometimes when I dont know what she has in her mouth and I say "drop it" and its her own treat, she wont drop it, I have to open her mouth with my hands and see whats in it, then I let her know she can have it...LOL)
*"NO!" - (basically to make her stop anything she is not supposed to do, she does very well with that)
*Eat your food - (if she is being picky, she will eat some more to make me happy)
*back up - (to move backwards when crossing an invisible prohibitive line, or when she is in my way etc.)
*NO! Chew on this. - (when she picks up something to chew that doesnt belong to her, I take it away and replace it with a toy and say the command, it works, she pretty much knows now that she can only chew her toys)
*Friend - (when she sees someone or another dog and she seems tense, I let her know she can wiggle her entire but and kiss them LOL)
*It's ok - (when she is worried/tense/puzzled/unsure about something and she wonders if she is in danger or not... I tell her the command and she chillaxes)
*Calm down - (I say it veeeeeeeery slowly, when she is acting nuts/not listening or has too much energy. She usually stops and sits still but gives me a big frustrated sigh..LOL)
*You wanna go potty outside? - (She sits in front of the exit door and in front of her leash (that is always on the same place on the table) and moves her neck forward to signal "yes" and sometimes she touches her leash with her nose - I WANNA TEACH HER TO BRING ME HER LEASH, HAVE NO IDEA HOW.
*Go potty (when she is doing her business, to teach her go on cue, we are not there yet. LOL)
*Go get your ball + bring it here + drop it
*Where is your ball/toy? (for her to go find it)
*No biting (to stop luv-bites, not very successful, but in progress)

WHAT SHE DOESNT KNOW, THAT I DONT KNOW HOW TO TEACH AND WOULD LOVE FOR HER TO BE ABLE TO TO ..... LOL - of course the names of the commands sound stoopid, its cause I dont know them...hahahahha

-go lay down/go to bed (to lead her to go lay down and be quiet etc)
-come here (I know! the most important supposedly basic command. She comes 70% of the time, but sometimes she doesn't think it will benefit her to come to me, and she chooses not to. LOL)
-no jumping on people (she always jumps on people that come in the house to greet them, I have been rewarding her when she has 4 paws on the ground, but she basically cant help herself because of the excitement!)
-freeze! LOL (if I need her to stay still and wait for my "release" command, for safety purposes I really want her to know that one.)
-no biting (to stop luv-bites!, its very bad, if a 5 year old is petting her)
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Ok, whew..... I feel bad I talked too much... Im just obsessed with my puppy, I am devoted to her, and to her well-being safety, health and happiness :-)

THANK YOU!!!

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[IMG] Lou poser gorgeous girl 8mo by Louthespoo, on Flickr[/IMG] Universal Love...

sarahmurphy

Here are the words I learned for these actions.

Settle-go lay down/go to bed (to lead her to go lay down and be quiet etc)

come
You can use any recall word - Ian Dunbar has recall exercises online, I believe. we use "Come" when we really mean it. "Bring it to me", or "Over here" are sortof optional comes, but "Come" means just that - and NOTHING else. it is never negotiable and always rewarded. -come here (I know! the most important supposedly basic command. She comes 70% of the time, but sometimes she doesn't think it will benefit her to come to me, and she chooses not to. LOL)

OFF! Cross your arms over your chest and turn your back with your head held up high, not looking at the dog. Ask every new person to do it if the dog jumps. Teach them the routine before you open the screen door, and you may have to have some practice on the porch... pretty effective pretty fast. the fact of the matter is that waiting for the right behaviour is great, but this wrong behaviour is dangerous to little kids and old people. It was the first thing we taught. -no jumping on people (she always jumps on people that come in the house to greet them, I have been rewarding her when she has 4 paws on the ground, but she basically cant help herself because of the excitement!)

"HOLD" (an SCA stop the action cue) or we "DOWN" him. There is no LOL about Down. Down is for a lot of things - but mostly safety around here, and when it is safe, it is followed by "Come", but not every time, sometimes "Free" and sometimes I go to the dog - because poodles will anticipate, and if I have downed him on the other side of traffic, I do not ever want him to think running back to me across the road is a good idea- or what I want next/ -freeze! LOL (if I need her to stay still and wait for my "release" command, for safety purposes I really want her to know that one.)

We did the off maneuver, with "OUCH" instead of OFF as the command. Loudly, as if he'd broken skin and bone. the biting only happened a few times. - and -no biting (to stop luv-bites!, its very bad, if a 5 year old is petting her)
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I am sure there are people with more experience who will give you firmer ideas than I am able to articulate. Keep it to one word, if possible - come here, sit down are confusing - sit is a command, as is down, come, and here or heel...

sarah

Lou

sarahmurphy, thank you sooooooo much!! The "COME" command sounds perfect! Im going to start on it tonight! A firm "COME" will work just fine with her, I'm sure... And always reward for a long time... awesome! LOL

I also wanna try the "OFF" command the way you recommended.

And I need to find a word that would come out more natural for me for the "HOLD" one.... I will ask my husband, since english is my 2nd language :-)

Thank you so much for your help!! <VERY VERY VALUABLE INFORMATION> Truly appreciate it

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[IMG] Lou poser gorgeous girl 8mo by Louthespoo, on Flickr[/IMG] Universal Love...

Countryboy

Remember that sounds that would be meaningless to us can be used to mean something to a dog. 'Hup' can mean something... so can 'baa', or a few others u can teach them.

They could also learn commands in another language... like yr native tongue.

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fjm

The one I use most often is WAIT - it means stay where you are until I let you go. We use it at the door, getting out of the car, waiting at points on our walks where the path intesects with a farm track and cars very occasionally cross, waiting by the side of the path for bicycles to pass, waiting on lead to cross a road, waiting to have leads put on at the end of a walk ... and in an emergency, waiting till I catch up rather than chasing off after a rabbit! The reward is usually that the dogs get to do what they wanted to do - to greet someone at the door, go for a walk, etc, but I reinforced with lots of treats when they were first learning it, and still keep a few in my pocket when we are out on walks.

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To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring- it was peace.

~ Milan Kundera

Harrymummy

I tried keeping treats in my pocket but Harry can sniff them out so just gets jumpy! On a walk I used to take a small Tupperware box but it not handy and less spontaneous. Any ideas to carry treats without problems?


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free

Lou

sandwich size zip-lock bags with treats inside (in my pocket) ;-)

Lou

Yes thank you! ... I really need that command... I just cant find "the" word for it, a word I would be comfortable with, you know? (English is my second language) Actuallt "wait" is a good one, but I wanted to maybe find an "odd/but comfortable word" that will only be used when I truly mean : DO NOT MOVE! LOL - and I need to learn more about how to start the training on this command. :-)

Lou

Countryboy....now.... thats.... a .... genious idea!!!!! wow cant believe I didnt think of that...

Im going to try and find a word in portuguese or a sound to use for the "wait/freeze" command!! I will let ya know if I come up with something! ha ha!

THANK YOU!!!!
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A FEW MOMENTS LATER......

I talked to hubby, and he said is an awesome idea, but...he said: if the purpose of this command is for the dog to freeze immediately, for safety purposes, I dont want to have to remember a word in portuguese....LOL He has a point.... I think we decided on : " STOP! " (with firm loud voice)
Because if for instance my dog is about to cross the street and there is a car coming, the first immediate/natural response would be to say that.... so why not use it for every time we need her to stay put/freeze? (we also are aware that we would have to remove that word from our vocabulary on day by day circumstances....heheheh)

What are your thoughts on this? :-) thank you!

Countryboy

Well a loud, firm 'STOP' works with my grandson . . . mostly! lol He's catching on to the fact that it also means 'FREEZE' but he hasn't got that part down 100% . . . yet!

It's common in the dog world, 'specially with Attack or Guard trained dogs, to train them in some language other than English. It causes no confusion for them . . a 'sound' is only a sound . . . and they can come to understand what it means... whatever it means.

But I agree with yr DH. Save the words that don't come readily to mind for the less crucial commands.

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