Commands:

Speaking in Dog Language

     

       Teaching your dog words to live by can be a rewarding and fun experience for you and your pet, especially when you see the light bulb turn on, and they finally get it! The average dog is probably taught 5 to 10 commands during it's life time, the basic amount for house training and good manners. Then “the abnormal” people, self included, who absolutely love to spend hours and hours teaching our dogs as much as we can, including many silly tricks, can end up teaching their dog upwards of 30 to 50 commands. Just as people do, dogs come with different intelligence levels, some breeds are known for having a higher intelligence level, some others? ..well.. maybe not so much.

      When teaching a dog words, I use one or two word commands, such as “sit”, “down”, “stay”, or “dogs name + come”. One to two word commands make it much easier for your dog to remember the command and/or the specific sound of that command. No matter what you choose to use as a command it is very important that you be consistent, therefore, take a minute to decide what comes naturally for you to say, such as “Sheba Down” and be sure to use the same command for that action each time.

     One of the more common reasons people call a trainer is that their dog will not listen to them! When I meet the owner I ask them to show me a command to allow me to see the dog's response.. and this is an example of what follows:

 

Me:               Ms. Smith why don't you give your dog the “sit” command and let me see how you are doing this.

Ms. Smith:   “Spot, spot, come here...spot I need you to come over here and sit down, I know your a smart doggie, come over here and sit                      down and I'll give  you a cookie.”.....

Spot:             Hmmm?? There she is again over there making all those noises and babbling strange sounds again and I have no idea.....and.. OH LOOK!! IT'S A  SQUIRREL. IN MY YARD!! I CAN GET IT THIS TIME!!!

                                                                                               See Spot run!!....

       Exaggerated ? Maybe a little, however, it is not that uncommon to find people talking to their dogs in sentences! Our four legged friends do not understand our language therefore, the best we can offer them is to teach them one or two word commands with a hand signal so they can learn what we expect of them.

      Teaching your dog verbal commands is great, however from the beginning I always use a hand signal that coincides with the command given, then as your dog matures you will realize that your dog will not only respond to voice commands, they will also respond to silent hand signals. Remember, give one or two word commands and work with your dog daily.

                                                                                                                                                                                   Rae Anna Frame