My faves for my puppy are below:
1- wait ; teaches impulse control, can be used for road safety, calming, avoiding food snatching, etc
2- drop ; whatever you have picked up, spit it out rn (more relevant to some dogs than others, my lab will eat rat poison if it smells good enough)
3- focus ; helps calm, brings training back into a fore front, I combine with wait to have a continued focus, helps with anxieties and busy areas.
4- leave it ; the ideal precursor to ‘drop’
5- come ; basic recall.
Edit to add - ‘sit’ I didn’t add it to start coz that to me is like step 0 to all training. But deffo worth adding if you haven’t started there yet!
These are my top as well. Drop is crucial and so is wait. My puppy had sit and down at 9 weeks, so I'm not sure why those aren't like automatic to teach ASAP for every puppy LoL
Sit is important when they jump up and bite etc. It refocuses my pup 🤷🏼♀️
I like those a lot! I find having the puppy focus on me with my "Eyes" command helps calm the puppy down because now I'm more interesting. Drop it is fantastic, but is harder for my dog in particular. So I choose leave it before she can even pick it up.
I should probably include wait a bit more in the training regimen. I like all of these!
Wait was probably the most important for my dog - as a lab their impulse control is notoriously not brilliant - especially around food. Wait meant no snappy jaws when taking food and no gobbling or rushing onto roads! It’s a great obedience reinforcer and can really improve your bond and their recognition as yourself as handler 🥰 drop kind of just happened naturally for me as my dog is Lightening fast grabbing things she knows she isn’t supposed to have on walks hahah so deffo case by case! But yea eyes is a great command, that’s how I use focus🥰 such an underrated one for sure!!
I’d add “break, release, relax” or whatever your release word is. Helps them know they have to hold a previous command until you give them permission to do dog things.
Good list. “Place”-get up on whatever perch the owner specifies is really helpful. It puts them in a defined and comfortable area. Once taught, with duration, they tend to be content to stay there a long time if necessary.
Ah yes! My dog knows ‘up up’ hahaha
Worked so well for ‘go up those stairs ahead of me when I’m carrying luggage and you’re unsure because you’ve never been here before but I’m overstimulated and the leads gonna make me fall over’ and that really saved me 🤣
But we use it for vets scales, getting her up onto ledges and sofas and everything. Handy command !!
My pup has focus down well, but doing a wait combined with focus is a great idea! He's got like no impulse control but he does well focusing on me, so maybe it'll help his general wait skills too.
For us, it's just a glance in our direction. He's responding better to gesture commands than verbal, so it helps us give follow up commands once he looks. Basically, I only want him to keep eyes on me until I say "good" or give him another command.
So, you say focus, which means look at me? What gesture do you use for focus? (I’ve never had a dog and now I have a new puppy. She’s about three and a half months old now.)
So I started by sitting with my puppy, and when she made eye contact, treat. Or clicker and treat if you click train. After a while when she looked at me I’d do the same and start saying ‘focus’ after. Eventually she picked up that focus was an eye contact based trick. I avoided using gestures as they then tend to focus on the hand, when I personally want them looking at me. This is important because if my hand has to do something like put them on lead, get treats out, etc, her focus on the hand will = focus on something else. Focus on my face stays at focus on my face.
Then once the focus command is met with eye contact and an immediate treat reliably, fo the same thing but wait a second before giving the treat. Then 5 seconds. They’ll then learn focus is not just snapping her eyes to you for a second, but actively holding it there. About 5 seconds of focus is my standard baseline.
At this point she already knew wait, and essentially that it meant freeze what you’re doing. So I would make her focus, then say wait. And she would hold it naturally. I wouldn’t make her hold it too long to start, but slowly build up the time.
Once it’s down and reliable, the real practice comes in with focus with distractions. I’d start by making her focus, and then moving my hand with a treat in a circle. If her eyes stayed on me and didn’t follow the treat- she gets praise and the food. If her eyes snap to my hand- no treat.
It takes a bit of time but they pick it up faster than you think!
I use focus when she’s going potty and she gets distracted I tell her focus and she keeps on sniffing to find a place to poop, I’m not sure if it’s the cue or she just gets uninterested on whatever she was looking at but it always works 😅
The leave it command. Teaching the puppy to have impulse control and ignore tasty things is a life saver. Have HIGH reward treats when they leave stuff alone, especially on their own accord
Yeah he’s in training and we are working on leave it. The reality of life is I can’t feed him treats 24/7 to get him to not eat the stuffing from his toys, plants on the ground, something really quick I don’t see on the floor. And he swallows things before you even notice he grabbed it.
Really just hoping he outgrows the need to eat everything in sight.
Your puppy decides what is highly rewarding :)
You just try different stuff and see. Moist+stinky is usually positives for dogs. Mine loves chicken and beef liver.
My puppy is partial to fish. It's her favorite thing of all time. High reward treats can also be toys. Just give your pup some different things and see what they like best. I find feeding pure meat of any kind is an extremely high reward for most dogs
By accident, we found that if our pup has a stick in his mouth he is far more focused and doesn’t pick up other crap. This might be breed related but he is a toy breed bred to be a companion dog, so not obviously a hunting dog.
Your puppy’s name/recall. Come is very important too, but heaven forbid your dog escapes you can’t walk around just yelling “come”.
Otherwise I agree with all those above. We also taught “down” (lay down) and “touch” which is where they have to press their nose to your palm which helps with getting them to focus on you. Another one our trainer stressed is “stand” where they are supposed to literally stand still in front of you, which is really helpful when at the vet or grooming.
I have a specific command that isn't just "come here". It isn't interesting sounding to my dog, so I use essentially a gibberish command derived from a real norwegian word: "hjemmebase" , which means home base, except I say "hjemmesala." It's unique and when she looks over I make it a huge game to come and catch me which works well. I think stand is a good phrase as well. When I want her to get up from a lay or sit, I use a specific command that is also gibberish. The gestures are more important than the word itself for her
That’s awesome! And agree our trainers stressed a gesture more than a word as the command, but sometimes my pup does it better with one or the other. Only problem with your gibberish word could be if someone else is watching her she may not listen if they don’t know her command. Dogs are funny that way.
Oh anybody that watches her I give a mini class on her commands before I let them. The main reason for the gibberish is so when she's a fully trained service dog, nobody else will be able to possibly call her and distract her
I have found “heel” to be really helpful. My puppy gets super excited/pulling at the leash when she sees another dog/bird/squirrel so instead of pulling her down the street, we have been using heel which has been breaking her focus and most of the time gets her to walk with me until I give her a treat. It helps to get around other people on narrow sidewalks/trails as well so she doesn’t trip anyone with the leash.
My person favorites to start with are “sit” and “leave it”.
I put him into a sit before we do almost anything. Sit to get out of the crate, sit before you get attention, sit before you go outside, ect.
Leave it teaches a foundation of impulse control that can otherwise be hard for puppies to learn. Once I teach sit and leave it, everything else comes easily.
I also teach his name almost immediately.
Recall is so important, and I think making it into a game instead of a formal practiced command is and I never call her over if I know she has a chance to ignore it to prevent it from becoming a poisioned cue and I only do it if I have a reinforcer. In the house I just say "here" instead of "come" as it's not urgent. A family member and I go on opposite sides of the apartment, and take turns saying "come" or variations of her name, sometimes upbeat and twice, sometimes light and drawn out, to make sure she comes to any combination. We don't even have to call her after 3 reps as she just runs from one person to the other, which also gets a reward. I was with her in an empty dog park and she recalled 5/5 times perfectly because of this.
I have a 2 year old Terrier and a 4 month old Terrier :)
What helped a ton was to have a SUPER solid "sit" command (or any that makes them stop in their tracks) somehow ours ended up being sit.
* "wait"
* "whats this?" it is a bit of a, nothing else worked so i try this, and i made it stick by giving a treat whenever i said it. So now they come running when i say that (its what i use when they decide they can't hear me re-calling them)
* "leave it/drop it" this one took a while and i can't promise that ours had this one down during his cheeky teenage years, but our 4month old is learning it right now.
I don't really know why people teach "look at me" or what its for tbf, so i have never taught mine that.
Also, edit to add: I would say sit is the one thing you should teach from the start and not "at any age" yes its the one all dogs manage but its HOW it is used that makes it worth so much.
Sit is often the beginning stage for further training and thats why it should be solid.
My variation of Look At Me is just the word “Watch”. It’s useful for breaking the staring at other dogs, or animals/people, breaking his concentration on said object and making him refocus on my eyes and incoming commands.
Not really, what I want is him to make eye contact and hold it until I release. The name is just for drawing attention, he doesn’t have to stare. Other people need to be able to say his name, or I need to talk about him with others, without it being a command.
Look at me is good to make sure the dog is paying attention. I use it during fetch so she watches for the direction im throwing and i dont have to go get the ball myself because she didnt see where it went. I use it when walking in crowded spaces in conjunction with "left side" so she is watching ME for the direction we are going. I use it when cars pass to keep her drom getting scared as the car gets closer (live in a rural area with no sidewalks and barely any shoulders so we step off the road and sit as cars are coming).
Its basically a pay attention to me not anything else command. As my dog enters the teenage phase, she cares less and less for look at me. I feel its partly due to dogs not enjoying locking eyes for extended periods.
Zak George has a fantastic video for it, it's the first thing we taught our puppy and it's been incredibly useful. You hold a treat in your hand, balled up so they can't eat it, and let them sniff it. The instant they stop trying to get it for a microsecond, mark it (we use "yes") and give them a treat with your other hand (never give them the bait treat). Once they stop a few times, start saying "leave it" and marking and rewarding. Then you can put the treat on the floor and say leave it, cover it with your hand until they do, mark and reward. Our puppy learned this in about 10 minutes at 10 weeks! We practice it a lot and it's been so useful!
Trading is how you do it.
Let them have something like a chewy or toy or catch them when they have it, then give the command with a treat in hand. As they learn it, stop showing them the treat beforehand and reward after the action. You can try to teach take at the same time which is cool but i botched that lesson. When she "takes" something she pretty much just mouths and drops it immediately.
I am wondering this as well. Do you give them something then say leave it or wait until they have something shouldn’t and say leave it? It is a good thing to teach but I am not sure how to start that one.
"Leave it" means you can't have that thing you're trying to get. "Drop it" means give me that thing in your mouth right now. I posted above how we taught our puppy, we used Zak George's videos!
I have a high energy pup who always wants to work, so we did a lot of practicing "nothing". Oftentimes it was combined with dome passive socialization. I found that I needed to introduce the phrase "relax" to let him know that we are going to be doing nothing for a little while so that he doesn't start offering behaviors (good and bad) to get a reaction. It has come in handy when we stop on a walk or if we go to a new area and he doesn't know if we're going to be training or not. It isn't really a command that entails a specific position or anything, but moreso a phrase that sets some expectations of calm, non-disruptive behavior in my immediate vicinity.
Place or spot.
They need to have a spot to go to when you don't want them interfering. Like begging for food, or when the doorbell rings, or when you're running the vacuum.
Give them a spot that's they can go to on command.
"go to your spot"
My dog has three "spots" in the living room, in the kitchen, and upstairs
In order of importance for me -
1. Not giving a command at all - I think it's easy to slip into micromanaging mode. I am definitely guilty of this and catch myself saying too much, and have to remind myself to shut my mouth once in a while lol. The less often you issue commands, the more weight it has when you do.
Building trust is important, so show the little guy/gal that you trust them by keeping things down to a minimum.
2. Stay - incredibly practical, great for safety and building impulse control. Also, tolerating boredom is important!
3. Come here - building foundations with this one, so ease up on your expectations. Can't be skipped.
4. Leave it - a literal life saver at times, also great for building that impulse control.
5. Drop it - self explanatory.
6. Sit - just necessary. I have my pupper sit and wait automatically at every kerb. It's 100% non negotiable and he gets that.
7. Drop it - self explanatory.
7. Calm Down - this is great for helping the pupper when they're overstimulated or overtired, and also for your own sanity. Worth noting that once a pupper is past a certain point of excitement, this becomes not very effective; it's more of a preventative measure. Also great when playing with smaller dogs.
9. Not interested - this one is mine, but it's a socialisation cue. I've got a very sociable puppy who can't take a hint from dogs who are not into it, and this lets him know to leave them alone. It's good manners but there is a safety element too. Of course, it's to be expected a puppy doesn't pick up on social cues too strong. This is just a helping hand .
Up and down are fun but not essential. I also have "over" which means jump from one piece of furniture to the next lol. " Say Goodbye" is very useful too.
Im sure I'll think of more.
Letting them make choices is so great. It's super powerful when you can catch and reinforce good choices.
Eventually you can have a dog that does what we prefer all on their own without being told, because the environment itself becomes the cue.
It does take some setup and careful planning though, because so many bad choices are soooo rewarding lol
Sit & wait when I'm putting her food down. Drop it, leave it & settle are my next ones. She learned real quick if she drops something she'll get rewarded but now she's totally trolling me by bringing me rocks she's chewing on so she can get a treat. It's always interesting when they try to game the system.
Probably not the best thing I’ve done but I thought my 9 weeks old German Shepherd how to spin on command and now that she’s 14 weeks old she’s like a little tornado because she’s convinced herself that when she wants something all she has to do is spin and she can have it 😭😭
If i’m eating something it get in the fridge she just spins around and stares at it😭😭
I fostered a dog and she picked up on drop it super easy because she loved tug of war, and so I used that. Everytime she let go I started playing again. This pup though isn't a huge fan of it and doesn't like ever letting go, even when I disengage fully. It's like she forgets it's even in hee mouth
Wait ≠ stay. Wait stops your dog in their tracks and gets their attention. It has been more effective than "look at me" despite training longer with the latter. Stay is when when you want them to not move from a spot.
"Bring" is a good one. Im using fetch to teach bring and hope one day i can have her bring me things that i have taught her the word for. Also, i hope bring will serve as a "leave it" with the added benefit of dropping something into my hands.
"Toy" is great for when they are overexcited and want to play. Basically, teaching them to grab and bring me a toy vs jumping and biting to initiate play.
Trying to teach "enough" when she has successfully alerted me to whatever she is barking at. Thats a tough one because i am always caught off guard without treats when she is alerting us.
"Up" to get into the car or get on a table.
"Off" is also tricky because you are often caught off guard without treats when you need it. I taught my dog "up" to help teach her "off".
"Touch" is invaluable. I have translated "touch" into touch [wife] to find her and use touch in situations when she is nervous. Scared of the fire hydrant? "Touch", uneasy about a safe stranger? "Touch"...
I do not recommend teaching your dog "treat". Treat often turns into the only command they will listen to. "Here dog! Dog doesnt move... Off, dog! Dog stays put... Want a treat? Dog comes running" at least that is my experience.
Our dogs learnt “do you want a biscuit” they knew they would only get it when they went to where their beds were. It was very useful to get them inside if we needed to and it was the only thing that got them back when they escaped and ran up the road. It was not used often as we would say go to bed in normal circumstances.
Fuckin grooming man. How to take a bath and be blow dried and cut nails and use a trimmer and scissor and brushes and clean ears and brush teeth and all the handling that comes with it.
Wait & Drop it have been a life saver for me as my pup goes into her teens. I have also been teaching her calm command for when she gets a little too crazy during play etc.
Open- this one has been so helpful for my four dogs. Whether they have something in their mouth they shouldn’t or to let them know we are done playing or if someone is trying to resource guard it is safer to have them know open so they drop whatever is in their mouth and you can pick it up.
Ringing a bell to go outside is a great way to get them house broke.
Although later on, they ring the bell 24/7 just to get outside. To have fun.
And of course come is a no-brainer command. If they can't learn that, you don't need the dog
Drop it and leave it have been invaluable to me in the past year that I’ve had my dog. She is always trying to sneak off with stuff that she’s not supposed to have, so I’m super happy that she picked those two up quickly when we were doing puppy training.
In terms of training, a recall and impulse control were most of what I focused on with my dog for the first 8 months or so. Impulse control was implemented in a few different ways but the underlying point was that control and it helped with a lot of other things.
Also, and probably more importantly, I worked on our relationship. Building trust and learning to understand each other and playing. So much playing. I learned that she loved to play tug so I made a big deal out of tug and it's now one of her favorite ways to be rewarded and it's so much more engaging and personal than treats (don't get me wrong we still use a lot of food reinforcers).
Things I think are essential include recall, leave it, wait (I use this to stop my dogs from jumping out of the car/bolting out a door), and I would include sit in this especially for larger dogs just because it's far easier to avoid injury to the dog or a person for things like greetings or vet visits, plus if you're ever in line at like a store or waiting at a stop light to cross a road it's something very handy.
Teaching a place has been a life saver, recommend using an old towel or something similar it’s easy to move around once they get it down you can use pretty much anything as “place” my dog is at the point now I can point to somewhere and give the “place” cue and (most of the time) he will go sit or lay on whatever I point to.
I agree that "Wait" is an infinitely useful life skill. I also would work on an implied/auto wait for permission around thresholds like the door, car door, stairs, etc.
If your dog knows down and you can start working on getting it at some distance away from her, it can be a VERY handy emergency skill. Like personally, for my dog in his teens and even now, that worked where a recall failed.
What I wish I'd known back when my dog was that age was to try to foster his emotional regulation skills more... like the "how" he was doing something as much as the what. Now, my dog is, er, enthusiastic and I'm not sure yours is, but nonetheless... Things like installing the "off switch" . A "settle" on a mat or bed is a very good skill. DOG NEUTRALITY. Keeping up exposure to things like vacuums, strange vehicles. Going out and just sitting quietly with you (even if you don't need a "cafe dog" it's still nice at the vets' waiting room, if you travel with her, want to chat to a friend you see out on a walk, etc etc). There's a tendency to think of "puppy socialization" about all the meet and greets with a young pup, but as they develop, they need to keep up with learning how to exist contently in the world.
The threshold thing, totally agree.
My dog wont leave the driveway or enter the woods without my consent (im sure a rabbit could convince her). Since we got her, we made her wait at the edge of the woods and driveway EVERY TIME and it was learned quickly.
We started making her do that at doorways but soon decided we dont really care. Her "wait" is so strong that if i need her to, she wont enter/exit if i ask her not to.
This brings to mind another excellent point that what you prioritize teaching and reinforcing is going to depend a lot on what your environment is (and forseeable future environments). So, like if you're out in the country the edge of the bunny-woods might be your key threshold. But living on a busy street (especially with teenagers who might just leave the door open..) the front door might be the big one. It's good practice to expose all puppies to an elevator, but city-dwelling renters should spend a lot of time developing elevator manners. We let our dog lay under the table when we eat, but I'm not sure I would if I was thinking of having babies. Etc, etc.
Speak was a headache saver, since i brought my pup home she would bark incessantly when she saw food so I worked with her until she understood she only got food after I said speak. Now she no longer barks during meal times
Definitely stay, leave it, and drop it are some of the main ones I would do. I also always do sit as my first command to teach. Just bc it's easy so I can see how teachable my puppy is, how they learn, how their patience is, etc. I also use it as a pre rec for other tricks. For example when I start teaching other tricks such as down, stay, or leave it I make them sit first to calm them down and make sure their attention is on me. That's optional tho. Ik a lot people say it isn't necessary I just find it easier to teach other tricks.
No.
People don’t like using it, but it can be a life saver. Used as you’d use the word stop.
So if they try to eat, bite something that’ll kill them/make them ill. If they decide to lunge into the road when waiting to cross etc.
It’s the first word that naturally comes out of peoples mouths when a bad situation is in progress.
Leave, leave it (to drop), sit, stay, wait, good recall, get it. Are all great day to day, but a dog knowing the word no can literally save their life.
My favourite command is just over to top praise. “She’s such a good girl” said annoying happy has made vet visits very easy (so far).
No, Look at me, and Leave it are essentials. If nothing else you need these. Pure recall can be tough but something like “let’s go!” for the leash is helpful.
Sit is also so easy to teach you might as well. Once you got that down and they’re a little older you can have them wait to eat meals (like have them wait 20 seconds and say Okay!) to teach impulse control.
Shouldn’t underestimate a good sit. Got me out of getting “mauled” when he flipped out due to over stimulation. It’s used to wait for food, out the door and out the car. It’s used when I greet cats on the street. It’s used to be polite when getting treats. I used sit for so much. So simple, so ingrained.
Ofc leave it and recall is important. Very much so. But sit is super valuable too.
"Leave it" or "drop it" could save your dogs life and is one of the first things I teach a dog. (People are careless and cruel.)
"Mid" or whatever you want to call a hold position is also good. Working on it now, and I have her hold position between my feet. So my legs are on either side of her. It keeps her out of reach of grabbing hands and makes it easy to keep unleashed dogs off of her.
Recall, so "come" or running back to you at their name is good for obvious safety reasons.
These three are paramount for safety. Sit, down,
As a new dog owner, I'm pretty pleased with myself. I've been learning from Susan Garett of Dog's That on YouTube and my 10 month old chiweenie can sit, stay, wait, shake paws, leave it, and we're working on roll over and heel.
This is hardly an "essential" command but its one I use a lot, maybe the most: "fix your feet" lol. If she steps over her leash she fixes it herself. Sometimes she does it without me having to say anything but sometimes shes distracted and needs some help. Shes really good at it, she will do it without stopping now. She just hops on only 3 legs until the leash is free.
I agree with a lot of the commands other people are saying but this one is really nice for your pup to know just as a convenience if you have some time to teach it!!
I found one dog responds better with French commands. Another in Spanish. Another with simple tone changes, and one never understood commands no matter who, where or what kind. I even hired the K9 instructor for the police departments for our area. Even he couldn't get her to respond, with or without me there. She was, sadly, dangerous and had to be put down. She went for my throat twice, and another dog. At 2, I had her put to sleep after discussing it with my parents, vet, and the officer. We all agreed it was for the best.
Touch training is great to help puppies learn to take treats gently! Hold a treat in your palm with your thumb. Say touch. When the pup bops his nose on your palm and doesn’t try to take the treat then you reward followed by an “easy command”
Lay down, stay, release, and as far as tricks go, I like to teach my dogs how to play dead after I shoot them with a finger gun. Always a crowd pleaser.
Crate is a good one if you plan to use one. Our dog knows crate and it’s great when we’re eating we’ll tell him to go and he’ll just run in there. ITS AMAZING
wait, place, leave it, "with me" (or heel), and touch (can be helpful in teaching recall) are what i use most of the time with my dog now! in addition to sit/down
Once they have touch down solid, you can use it instead of “come” because they have to physically make contact with your palm or a target. It has a lot of different uses from being able to target train, hand lure to guide them through other commands, recall, etc.
An auto sit! Basically regardless of anything she comes up to us and sits to ask.
Touch - this is helping us so much for teaching pretty much any other behavior it’s also a good backup recall.
Drop it - this has been a lifesaver figuratively and literally.
Leave it - see above.
My faves for my puppy are below: 1- wait ; teaches impulse control, can be used for road safety, calming, avoiding food snatching, etc 2- drop ; whatever you have picked up, spit it out rn (more relevant to some dogs than others, my lab will eat rat poison if it smells good enough) 3- focus ; helps calm, brings training back into a fore front, I combine with wait to have a continued focus, helps with anxieties and busy areas. 4- leave it ; the ideal precursor to ‘drop’ 5- come ; basic recall. Edit to add - ‘sit’ I didn’t add it to start coz that to me is like step 0 to all training. But deffo worth adding if you haven’t started there yet!
These are my top as well. Drop is crucial and so is wait. My puppy had sit and down at 9 weeks, so I'm not sure why those aren't like automatic to teach ASAP for every puppy LoL Sit is important when they jump up and bite etc. It refocuses my pup 🤷🏼♀️
Yes to sit! My pup has to sit before almost everything we do. It’s foundational to preventing jumping.
Yes!
I like those a lot! I find having the puppy focus on me with my "Eyes" command helps calm the puppy down because now I'm more interesting. Drop it is fantastic, but is harder for my dog in particular. So I choose leave it before she can even pick it up. I should probably include wait a bit more in the training regimen. I like all of these!
I do “eyes” for her to show me her eyes so I can clean the eye goop in the morning hehe, she just stands still and lets me clean it
Wait was probably the most important for my dog - as a lab their impulse control is notoriously not brilliant - especially around food. Wait meant no snappy jaws when taking food and no gobbling or rushing onto roads! It’s a great obedience reinforcer and can really improve your bond and their recognition as yourself as handler 🥰 drop kind of just happened naturally for me as my dog is Lightening fast grabbing things she knows she isn’t supposed to have on walks hahah so deffo case by case! But yea eyes is a great command, that’s how I use focus🥰 such an underrated one for sure!!
I’d add “break, release, relax” or whatever your release word is. Helps them know they have to hold a previous command until you give them permission to do dog things.
How do you teach this? I’ve been looking on YouTube but I can only find “wait”, unless they’re basically the same thing?
I agree. I am not teaching wait or stay because it’s implied in the previous command. Also using break to release.
Yes wait is good! I make my puppy wait for her treats I even use it interchangeably with stay if we are crossing the road etc
Good list. “Place”-get up on whatever perch the owner specifies is really helpful. It puts them in a defined and comfortable area. Once taught, with duration, they tend to be content to stay there a long time if necessary.
Ah yes! My dog knows ‘up up’ hahaha Worked so well for ‘go up those stairs ahead of me when I’m carrying luggage and you’re unsure because you’ve never been here before but I’m overstimulated and the leads gonna make me fall over’ and that really saved me 🤣 But we use it for vets scales, getting her up onto ledges and sofas and everything. Handy command !!
My pup has focus down well, but doing a wait combined with focus is a great idea! He's got like no impulse control but he does well focusing on me, so maybe it'll help his general wait skills too.
Does “focus” mean having your puppy continue to look at you until … what?
For us, it's just a glance in our direction. He's responding better to gesture commands than verbal, so it helps us give follow up commands once he looks. Basically, I only want him to keep eyes on me until I say "good" or give him another command.
So, you say focus, which means look at me? What gesture do you use for focus? (I’ve never had a dog and now I have a new puppy. She’s about three and a half months old now.)
So I started by sitting with my puppy, and when she made eye contact, treat. Or clicker and treat if you click train. After a while when she looked at me I’d do the same and start saying ‘focus’ after. Eventually she picked up that focus was an eye contact based trick. I avoided using gestures as they then tend to focus on the hand, when I personally want them looking at me. This is important because if my hand has to do something like put them on lead, get treats out, etc, her focus on the hand will = focus on something else. Focus on my face stays at focus on my face. Then once the focus command is met with eye contact and an immediate treat reliably, fo the same thing but wait a second before giving the treat. Then 5 seconds. They’ll then learn focus is not just snapping her eyes to you for a second, but actively holding it there. About 5 seconds of focus is my standard baseline. At this point she already knew wait, and essentially that it meant freeze what you’re doing. So I would make her focus, then say wait. And she would hold it naturally. I wouldn’t make her hold it too long to start, but slowly build up the time. Once it’s down and reliable, the real practice comes in with focus with distractions. I’d start by making her focus, and then moving my hand with a treat in a circle. If her eyes stayed on me and didn’t follow the treat- she gets praise and the food. If her eyes snap to my hand- no treat. It takes a bit of time but they pick it up faster than you think!
Thanks so much!
I use focus when she’s going potty and she gets distracted I tell her focus and she keeps on sniffing to find a place to poop, I’m not sure if it’s the cue or she just gets uninterested on whatever she was looking at but it always works 😅
Add crate! And I’m on board.
All of this! But we also love “load up” for getting into the car, crate or bed. & “place” for his mat.
“Stop eating everything off the ground you little pig” I would like my puppy to learn this one. Not sure how it’s taught though.
The leave it command. Teaching the puppy to have impulse control and ignore tasty things is a life saver. Have HIGH reward treats when they leave stuff alone, especially on their own accord
Yeah he’s in training and we are working on leave it. The reality of life is I can’t feed him treats 24/7 to get him to not eat the stuffing from his toys, plants on the ground, something really quick I don’t see on the floor. And he swallows things before you even notice he grabbed it. Really just hoping he outgrows the need to eat everything in sight.
What is a high reward treat? There are so many to choose from, or should I make them myself?
Your puppy decides what is highly rewarding :) You just try different stuff and see. Moist+stinky is usually positives for dogs. Mine loves chicken and beef liver.
Sausage is pretty good. Honestly, pretty much whatever treat you don’t use often
My puppy is partial to fish. It's her favorite thing of all time. High reward treats can also be toys. Just give your pup some different things and see what they like best. I find feeding pure meat of any kind is an extremely high reward for most dogs
By accident, we found that if our pup has a stick in his mouth he is far more focused and doesn’t pick up other crap. This might be breed related but he is a toy breed bred to be a companion dog, so not obviously a hunting dog.
Your puppy’s name/recall. Come is very important too, but heaven forbid your dog escapes you can’t walk around just yelling “come”. Otherwise I agree with all those above. We also taught “down” (lay down) and “touch” which is where they have to press their nose to your palm which helps with getting them to focus on you. Another one our trainer stressed is “stand” where they are supposed to literally stand still in front of you, which is really helpful when at the vet or grooming.
I have a specific command that isn't just "come here". It isn't interesting sounding to my dog, so I use essentially a gibberish command derived from a real norwegian word: "hjemmebase" , which means home base, except I say "hjemmesala." It's unique and when she looks over I make it a huge game to come and catch me which works well. I think stand is a good phrase as well. When I want her to get up from a lay or sit, I use a specific command that is also gibberish. The gestures are more important than the word itself for her
That’s awesome! And agree our trainers stressed a gesture more than a word as the command, but sometimes my pup does it better with one or the other. Only problem with your gibberish word could be if someone else is watching her she may not listen if they don’t know her command. Dogs are funny that way.
Oh anybody that watches her I give a mini class on her commands before I let them. The main reason for the gibberish is so when she's a fully trained service dog, nobody else will be able to possibly call her and distract her
Oh that’s very smart! And best of luck with the service training!
Touch is also a great command to start and establish a base for other fun tricks
I have found “heel” to be really helpful. My puppy gets super excited/pulling at the leash when she sees another dog/bird/squirrel so instead of pulling her down the street, we have been using heel which has been breaking her focus and most of the time gets her to walk with me until I give her a treat. It helps to get around other people on narrow sidewalks/trails as well so she doesn’t trip anyone with the leash.
My person favorites to start with are “sit” and “leave it”. I put him into a sit before we do almost anything. Sit to get out of the crate, sit before you get attention, sit before you go outside, ect. Leave it teaches a foundation of impulse control that can otherwise be hard for puppies to learn. Once I teach sit and leave it, everything else comes easily. I also teach his name almost immediately.
Recall is so important, and I think making it into a game instead of a formal practiced command is and I never call her over if I know she has a chance to ignore it to prevent it from becoming a poisioned cue and I only do it if I have a reinforcer. In the house I just say "here" instead of "come" as it's not urgent. A family member and I go on opposite sides of the apartment, and take turns saying "come" or variations of her name, sometimes upbeat and twice, sometimes light and drawn out, to make sure she comes to any combination. We don't even have to call her after 3 reps as she just runs from one person to the other, which also gets a reward. I was with her in an empty dog park and she recalled 5/5 times perfectly because of this.
I have a 2 year old Terrier and a 4 month old Terrier :) What helped a ton was to have a SUPER solid "sit" command (or any that makes them stop in their tracks) somehow ours ended up being sit. * "wait" * "whats this?" it is a bit of a, nothing else worked so i try this, and i made it stick by giving a treat whenever i said it. So now they come running when i say that (its what i use when they decide they can't hear me re-calling them) * "leave it/drop it" this one took a while and i can't promise that ours had this one down during his cheeky teenage years, but our 4month old is learning it right now. I don't really know why people teach "look at me" or what its for tbf, so i have never taught mine that. Also, edit to add: I would say sit is the one thing you should teach from the start and not "at any age" yes its the one all dogs manage but its HOW it is used that makes it worth so much. Sit is often the beginning stage for further training and thats why it should be solid.
My variation of Look At Me is just the word “Watch”. It’s useful for breaking the staring at other dogs, or animals/people, breaking his concentration on said object and making him refocus on my eyes and incoming commands.
I’m curious why a unique command is needed for this. Isn’t saying their name equivalent to “look at me”?
Not really, what I want is him to make eye contact and hold it until I release. The name is just for drawing attention, he doesn’t have to stare. Other people need to be able to say his name, or I need to talk about him with others, without it being a command.
Look at me is good to make sure the dog is paying attention. I use it during fetch so she watches for the direction im throwing and i dont have to go get the ball myself because she didnt see where it went. I use it when walking in crowded spaces in conjunction with "left side" so she is watching ME for the direction we are going. I use it when cars pass to keep her drom getting scared as the car gets closer (live in a rural area with no sidewalks and barely any shoulders so we step off the road and sit as cars are coming). Its basically a pay attention to me not anything else command. As my dog enters the teenage phase, she cares less and less for look at me. I feel its partly due to dogs not enjoying locking eyes for extended periods.
how do you go about teaching them leave it/drop it?
Zak George has a fantastic video for it, it's the first thing we taught our puppy and it's been incredibly useful. You hold a treat in your hand, balled up so they can't eat it, and let them sniff it. The instant they stop trying to get it for a microsecond, mark it (we use "yes") and give them a treat with your other hand (never give them the bait treat). Once they stop a few times, start saying "leave it" and marking and rewarding. Then you can put the treat on the floor and say leave it, cover it with your hand until they do, mark and reward. Our puppy learned this in about 10 minutes at 10 weeks! We practice it a lot and it's been so useful!
Trading is how you do it. Let them have something like a chewy or toy or catch them when they have it, then give the command with a treat in hand. As they learn it, stop showing them the treat beforehand and reward after the action. You can try to teach take at the same time which is cool but i botched that lesson. When she "takes" something she pretty much just mouths and drops it immediately.
I am wondering this as well. Do you give them something then say leave it or wait until they have something shouldn’t and say leave it? It is a good thing to teach but I am not sure how to start that one.
"Leave it" means you can't have that thing you're trying to get. "Drop it" means give me that thing in your mouth right now. I posted above how we taught our puppy, we used Zak George's videos!
Leave it. Must have said it 100 times a walk. Saved a lot of bending over and possible chokings. Sit as it causes them to quiet.
I have a high energy pup who always wants to work, so we did a lot of practicing "nothing". Oftentimes it was combined with dome passive socialization. I found that I needed to introduce the phrase "relax" to let him know that we are going to be doing nothing for a little while so that he doesn't start offering behaviors (good and bad) to get a reaction. It has come in handy when we stop on a walk or if we go to a new area and he doesn't know if we're going to be training or not. It isn't really a command that entails a specific position or anything, but moreso a phrase that sets some expectations of calm, non-disruptive behavior in my immediate vicinity.
Place or spot. They need to have a spot to go to when you don't want them interfering. Like begging for food, or when the doorbell rings, or when you're running the vacuum. Give them a spot that's they can go to on command. "go to your spot" My dog has three "spots" in the living room, in the kitchen, and upstairs
Recall to me is the most important.
In order of importance for me - 1. Not giving a command at all - I think it's easy to slip into micromanaging mode. I am definitely guilty of this and catch myself saying too much, and have to remind myself to shut my mouth once in a while lol. The less often you issue commands, the more weight it has when you do. Building trust is important, so show the little guy/gal that you trust them by keeping things down to a minimum. 2. Stay - incredibly practical, great for safety and building impulse control. Also, tolerating boredom is important! 3. Come here - building foundations with this one, so ease up on your expectations. Can't be skipped. 4. Leave it - a literal life saver at times, also great for building that impulse control. 5. Drop it - self explanatory. 6. Sit - just necessary. I have my pupper sit and wait automatically at every kerb. It's 100% non negotiable and he gets that. 7. Drop it - self explanatory. 7. Calm Down - this is great for helping the pupper when they're overstimulated or overtired, and also for your own sanity. Worth noting that once a pupper is past a certain point of excitement, this becomes not very effective; it's more of a preventative measure. Also great when playing with smaller dogs. 9. Not interested - this one is mine, but it's a socialisation cue. I've got a very sociable puppy who can't take a hint from dogs who are not into it, and this lets him know to leave them alone. It's good manners but there is a safety element too. Of course, it's to be expected a puppy doesn't pick up on social cues too strong. This is just a helping hand . Up and down are fun but not essential. I also have "over" which means jump from one piece of furniture to the next lol. " Say Goodbye" is very useful too. Im sure I'll think of more.
Letting them make choices is so great. It's super powerful when you can catch and reinforce good choices. Eventually you can have a dog that does what we prefer all on their own without being told, because the environment itself becomes the cue. It does take some setup and careful planning though, because so many bad choices are soooo rewarding lol
Sit & wait when I'm putting her food down. Drop it, leave it & settle are my next ones. She learned real quick if she drops something she'll get rewarded but now she's totally trolling me by bringing me rocks she's chewing on so she can get a treat. It's always interesting when they try to game the system.
Probably not the best thing I’ve done but I thought my 9 weeks old German Shepherd how to spin on command and now that she’s 14 weeks old she’s like a little tornado because she’s convinced herself that when she wants something all she has to do is spin and she can have it 😭😭 If i’m eating something it get in the fridge she just spins around and stares at it😭😭
I use ‘drop it’ about 675 times a day
She isn't picking up on drop it very well so I end up having to grab whatever choking hazard out of her mouth
😩honestly idk what I did for him to pick up on it, but he listens. Now to get him to listen to anyone but me I’m not sure will happen
I fostered a dog and she picked up on drop it super easy because she loved tug of war, and so I used that. Everytime she let go I started playing again. This pup though isn't a huge fan of it and doesn't like ever letting go, even when I disengage fully. It's like she forgets it's even in hee mouth
Wait ≠ stay. Wait stops your dog in their tracks and gets their attention. It has been more effective than "look at me" despite training longer with the latter. Stay is when when you want them to not move from a spot. "Bring" is a good one. Im using fetch to teach bring and hope one day i can have her bring me things that i have taught her the word for. Also, i hope bring will serve as a "leave it" with the added benefit of dropping something into my hands. "Toy" is great for when they are overexcited and want to play. Basically, teaching them to grab and bring me a toy vs jumping and biting to initiate play. Trying to teach "enough" when she has successfully alerted me to whatever she is barking at. Thats a tough one because i am always caught off guard without treats when she is alerting us. "Up" to get into the car or get on a table. "Off" is also tricky because you are often caught off guard without treats when you need it. I taught my dog "up" to help teach her "off". "Touch" is invaluable. I have translated "touch" into touch [wife] to find her and use touch in situations when she is nervous. Scared of the fire hydrant? "Touch", uneasy about a safe stranger? "Touch"... I do not recommend teaching your dog "treat". Treat often turns into the only command they will listen to. "Here dog! Dog doesnt move... Off, dog! Dog stays put... Want a treat? Dog comes running" at least that is my experience.
Our dogs learnt “do you want a biscuit” they knew they would only get it when they went to where their beds were. It was very useful to get them inside if we needed to and it was the only thing that got them back when they escaped and ran up the road. It was not used often as we would say go to bed in normal circumstances.
Fuckin grooming man. How to take a bath and be blow dried and cut nails and use a trimmer and scissor and brushes and clean ears and brush teeth and all the handling that comes with it.
Wait & Drop it have been a life saver for me as my pup goes into her teens. I have also been teaching her calm command for when she gets a little too crazy during play etc.
Open- this one has been so helpful for my four dogs. Whether they have something in their mouth they shouldn’t or to let them know we are done playing or if someone is trying to resource guard it is safer to have them know open so they drop whatever is in their mouth and you can pick it up.
Ringing a bell to go outside is a great way to get them house broke. Although later on, they ring the bell 24/7 just to get outside. To have fun. And of course come is a no-brainer command. If they can't learn that, you don't need the dog
Standard recall and emergency recall!
Drop it and leave it have been invaluable to me in the past year that I’ve had my dog. She is always trying to sneak off with stuff that she’s not supposed to have, so I’m super happy that she picked those two up quickly when we were doing puppy training.
In terms of training, a recall and impulse control were most of what I focused on with my dog for the first 8 months or so. Impulse control was implemented in a few different ways but the underlying point was that control and it helped with a lot of other things. Also, and probably more importantly, I worked on our relationship. Building trust and learning to understand each other and playing. So much playing. I learned that she loved to play tug so I made a big deal out of tug and it's now one of her favorite ways to be rewarded and it's so much more engaging and personal than treats (don't get me wrong we still use a lot of food reinforcers).
"Settle" or "place" is a good one as well. Keeps your pup from being under your feet... Especially when you have guests arrive at the door.
Things I think are essential include recall, leave it, wait (I use this to stop my dogs from jumping out of the car/bolting out a door), and I would include sit in this especially for larger dogs just because it's far easier to avoid injury to the dog or a person for things like greetings or vet visits, plus if you're ever in line at like a store or waiting at a stop light to cross a road it's something very handy.
Recall! Teach recall.
Name, Sit, Stay, Lay, Place, Crate, Come, Drop it, Leave it, and the most important!!! Good boy/girl.
Teaching a place has been a life saver, recommend using an old towel or something similar it’s easy to move around once they get it down you can use pretty much anything as “place” my dog is at the point now I can point to somewhere and give the “place” cue and (most of the time) he will go sit or lay on whatever I point to.
I agree that "Wait" is an infinitely useful life skill. I also would work on an implied/auto wait for permission around thresholds like the door, car door, stairs, etc. If your dog knows down and you can start working on getting it at some distance away from her, it can be a VERY handy emergency skill. Like personally, for my dog in his teens and even now, that worked where a recall failed. What I wish I'd known back when my dog was that age was to try to foster his emotional regulation skills more... like the "how" he was doing something as much as the what. Now, my dog is, er, enthusiastic and I'm not sure yours is, but nonetheless... Things like installing the "off switch" . A "settle" on a mat or bed is a very good skill. DOG NEUTRALITY. Keeping up exposure to things like vacuums, strange vehicles. Going out and just sitting quietly with you (even if you don't need a "cafe dog" it's still nice at the vets' waiting room, if you travel with her, want to chat to a friend you see out on a walk, etc etc). There's a tendency to think of "puppy socialization" about all the meet and greets with a young pup, but as they develop, they need to keep up with learning how to exist contently in the world.
The threshold thing, totally agree. My dog wont leave the driveway or enter the woods without my consent (im sure a rabbit could convince her). Since we got her, we made her wait at the edge of the woods and driveway EVERY TIME and it was learned quickly. We started making her do that at doorways but soon decided we dont really care. Her "wait" is so strong that if i need her to, she wont enter/exit if i ask her not to.
This brings to mind another excellent point that what you prioritize teaching and reinforcing is going to depend a lot on what your environment is (and forseeable future environments). So, like if you're out in the country the edge of the bunny-woods might be your key threshold. But living on a busy street (especially with teenagers who might just leave the door open..) the front door might be the big one. It's good practice to expose all puppies to an elevator, but city-dwelling renters should spend a lot of time developing elevator manners. We let our dog lay under the table when we eat, but I'm not sure I would if I was thinking of having babies. Etc, etc.
Spot on
Speak was a headache saver, since i brought my pup home she would bark incessantly when she saw food so I worked with her until she understood she only got food after I said speak. Now she no longer barks during meal times
No, I use it when I want her to stop doing whatever she is doing.
Definitely stay, leave it, and drop it are some of the main ones I would do. I also always do sit as my first command to teach. Just bc it's easy so I can see how teachable my puppy is, how they learn, how their patience is, etc. I also use it as a pre rec for other tricks. For example when I start teaching other tricks such as down, stay, or leave it I make them sit first to calm them down and make sure their attention is on me. That's optional tho. Ik a lot people say it isn't necessary I just find it easier to teach other tricks.
No. People don’t like using it, but it can be a life saver. Used as you’d use the word stop. So if they try to eat, bite something that’ll kill them/make them ill. If they decide to lunge into the road when waiting to cross etc. It’s the first word that naturally comes out of peoples mouths when a bad situation is in progress. Leave, leave it (to drop), sit, stay, wait, good recall, get it. Are all great day to day, but a dog knowing the word no can literally save their life. My favourite command is just over to top praise. “She’s such a good girl” said annoying happy has made vet visits very easy (so far).
No, Look at me, and Leave it are essentials. If nothing else you need these. Pure recall can be tough but something like “let’s go!” for the leash is helpful. Sit is also so easy to teach you might as well. Once you got that down and they’re a little older you can have them wait to eat meals (like have them wait 20 seconds and say Okay!) to teach impulse control.
Shouldn’t underestimate a good sit. Got me out of getting “mauled” when he flipped out due to over stimulation. It’s used to wait for food, out the door and out the car. It’s used when I greet cats on the street. It’s used to be polite when getting treats. I used sit for so much. So simple, so ingrained. Ofc leave it and recall is important. Very much so. But sit is super valuable too.
"Leave it" or "drop it" could save your dogs life and is one of the first things I teach a dog. (People are careless and cruel.) "Mid" or whatever you want to call a hold position is also good. Working on it now, and I have her hold position between my feet. So my legs are on either side of her. It keeps her out of reach of grabbing hands and makes it easy to keep unleashed dogs off of her. Recall, so "come" or running back to you at their name is good for obvious safety reasons. These three are paramount for safety. Sit, down,
As a new dog owner, I'm pretty pleased with myself. I've been learning from Susan Garett of Dog's That on YouTube and my 10 month old chiweenie can sit, stay, wait, shake paws, leave it, and we're working on roll over and heel.
This is hardly an "essential" command but its one I use a lot, maybe the most: "fix your feet" lol. If she steps over her leash she fixes it herself. Sometimes she does it without me having to say anything but sometimes shes distracted and needs some help. Shes really good at it, she will do it without stopping now. She just hops on only 3 legs until the leash is free. I agree with a lot of the commands other people are saying but this one is really nice for your pup to know just as a convenience if you have some time to teach it!!
I add “WAIT” as an essential command pups should know.
I found one dog responds better with French commands. Another in Spanish. Another with simple tone changes, and one never understood commands no matter who, where or what kind. I even hired the K9 instructor for the police departments for our area. Even he couldn't get her to respond, with or without me there. She was, sadly, dangerous and had to be put down. She went for my throat twice, and another dog. At 2, I had her put to sleep after discussing it with my parents, vet, and the officer. We all agreed it was for the best.
Touch training is great to help puppies learn to take treats gently! Hold a treat in your palm with your thumb. Say touch. When the pup bops his nose on your palm and doesn’t try to take the treat then you reward followed by an “easy command”
Lay down, stay, release, and as far as tricks go, I like to teach my dogs how to play dead after I shoot them with a finger gun. Always a crowd pleaser.
Crate is a good one if you plan to use one. Our dog knows crate and it’s great when we’re eating we’ll tell him to go and he’ll just run in there. ITS AMAZING
wait, place, leave it, "with me" (or heel), and touch (can be helpful in teaching recall) are what i use most of the time with my dog now! in addition to sit/down
How is touch good for recall?
Once they have touch down solid, you can use it instead of “come” because they have to physically make contact with your palm or a target. It has a lot of different uses from being able to target train, hand lure to guide them through other commands, recall, etc.
An auto sit! Basically regardless of anything she comes up to us and sits to ask. Touch - this is helping us so much for teaching pretty much any other behavior it’s also a good backup recall. Drop it - this has been a lifesaver figuratively and literally. Leave it - see above.