JJ: Daddy, can we take tonight off? We’re dogs! We can’t be typing up blog posts every night!
Alanis: I concur. My paws and claws hurt. My back, left pad is all worn out!
Me: OK, take this one off – but don’t get used to this!
Teaching dogs some commands is an important part of being a dog owner. Depending on the breed (and the dog’s personality!), some commands could be harder to teach than others It has been my experience (with our four Goldens!) that this breed is good at learning commands and it is easy for us to turn the “serious” stuff into a game for them. Here is the list of commands I think are important to know:
Leave It!
It is no accident that I have this one listed first. Imagine this scenario: You are out for a walk, paying close attention to your dog and your surroundings. However, you miss that piece of hamburger meat that someone threw in the road. You have to act quickly, because you have no idea where the meat came from, how long ago it was thrown there, etc. This is where “Leave it!” (in a stern voice) can really come in handy. If your dog has this command down to a science, they will stop in their tracks the moment they hear it. This doesn’t only work for food – a dead animal in the road. An approaching dog or human. A raging fire on your lawn. OK, in that scenario, you have more things to worry about than simply telling your dog to leave it. But you get the drift: This command can save your dog’s life. That is not an exaggeration, and it is one of the first behaviors I would teach a puppy.
Stay/Wait/Come
I taught Jeter both commands. JJ is pretty good with both, but not to the extent Jeter was. Josh didn’t really know the difference between the two (and the same is true for Alanis)
Essentially, “Stay” means “STAY RIGHT THERE UNTIL I COME BACK AND GET YOU!” while “Wait” means “WAIT UNTIL MY NEXT COMMAND!” Jeter was so in tune with these commands that I couldn’t trick him. If I told him to “Stay” and followed it up with another command, he wouldn’t budge. If I told him to WAIT and followed it up with another command, he would do the command. That is just how he was built as an obedience dog.
WAIT is a strong word to teach your dog when it comes to walking out the door for a walk, for example. STAY is a strong word to teach your dog if you accidentally open that door and get the sudden fear that the dog will charge outside the house. You can see where the two words can intersect and how teaching only one command could be sufficient.
COME is a word that you need to reinforce with your dog. You never want “COME” to be optional – you need to embed it in their brains that when you say “COME”, they MUST come to you – whether they are outside running around, sleeping on a chair, or eating their meal. The reason why I emphasize those routines is because if something “bad” happens in your environment, you want your dog to be able to stop whatever it is they are doing – even if it is something as pleasurable as eating a meal – and coming to you IMMEDIATELY.
Touch
Touch is a fun command that can also be a life saver. If you teach your dog that “touch” ALWAYS means to come back to you and touch your hand, you can see how this can have major benefits if your dog were to ever get loose. This is one that I teach with plenty of treats because I want my dogs to think that touching my hand is the ULTIMATE celebration. I want the treats to be more rewarding to them than running across the street if it ever came to that.
Watch/Focus
You can call this whatever you like, but the key is that you want your dog to zone in on your eyes when you issue the command. This can be very important if your dog is looking too intently at something such as another dog on a walk. In my experience, Goldens have this “staring” thing that they do which other dogs could take the wrong way. There may be a time when you want them to quickly shift their eyes towards you. This can also be a good command for competitions, if you want to go in that direction. Focus on me, not on the dog in the ring – don’t even allow them to have the temptation to run off and distract other dogs in their training or in the middle of a competition.
Heel/Release
I don’t really have a release word, though I probably should. Heel is the command to make sure your dog is walking right along with you. This obviously has many benefits – a dog that gets ahead of you on a walk is a dog that is vulnerable to a speeding car, a loose dog, a 5-year old child who runs out because they love how cute your dog is, or a rabid animal. This can also be useful for those areas where maybe you don’t want your dog to pee or poop. If you don’t allow them to “break free” to do those deeds, then they can’t do them!
That said, dogs love their walks and sometimes want a little freedom – whether it is to do their business or just not be restricted in their walking. Some teach a “RELEASE” word for this purpose. I simply change my body language which they seem to understand as the point they are allowed to be a little freer.
Remember!!
By teaching your dog the basics (and the above commands are the basics that you should learn within the first weeks of your training classes!), you can set the foundation for your dog to become a valuable member of your community. If you want your dog to get into therapy, these commands will be essential. If you want your dog to be able to say “Hi” to the 5-year old child that lives around the corner, these commands can help make sure your dog doesn’t bulldoze them!
They are dogs. They aren’t perfect. When a kid says “Hi” to JJ, it is often hard to get him to not want to run over and say “Hi” back. If a parent is around, it is easier to make sure the interaction goes well. If a parent is not within sight, I have to be both the dog handler and the parent (given I have no children, the role of “parent” is not exactly an easy hat for me to put on!) Alanis heels well when asked, but when she wants to get somewhere (especially the front door after a walk is over), she will pull you hard towards the door. She once dragged my wife to the ground with her brute strength.
Jeter once ran out of the house on Halloween to greet people, and he was Mr. Obedience. Josh was our first dog, and we learned a lot from him as he snuck out of our backyard a few times.
I am telling you all this because even our best intentions don’t guarantee 100% success. However, if you do nothing, you are guaranteed 0% success. If you work at it, I can guarantee you that you will have an incident where you are thankful you taught your dogs the basics.