@valpal1123 Thank you!
What are the top 5 skills should you teach a dog?
- Thread starter ramijj8
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imagebeastmarkbeast
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@ramijj8 First of all, good on you for taking care and responsibility of this dog!
If you want a good foundation, I’d look into the ten items on the Canine Good Citizen test; in a nutshell:
If you want a good foundation, I’d look into the ten items on the Canine Good Citizen test; in a nutshell:
- Stay calm around a friendly stranger (no jumping)
- Politely accept pets from a stranger (also no jumping)
- Accept being groomed/having ears and paws handles by a stranger
- Loose lead walking (no pulling)
- Walk past distractions (still no pulling, “leave it” is good here)
- Sit and stay
- Come when called
- Stay calm around another dog (no jumping/pulling/lunging)
- Stay calm with distractions and loud noises (no barking/lunging)
- Stay calm when separated from owner and when reunited with owner (also no jumping)
@imagebeastmarkbeast Sometimes you gotta be the change you wanna see, if I'm going to point out their negligence, I gotta make sure I'm doing something about the situation myself or I'm just as bad.
Thank you for the link/advice!
Thank you for the link/advice!
@imagebeastmarkbeast That first one is rough I have a Vizsla so I’ve trained my daughter that when people ask to pet him you say that he’s really friendly, but he’s really Wiggley and he won’t jump on you and that’s the best I can do lol
@houston84 Honestly, I don't doubt it at all! That's one of my fears and I wish i could somehow prevent it from happening.
But yes! Milo is a ball of joy, just deeply misunderstood!
But yes! Milo is a ball of joy, just deeply misunderstood!
rachelred827
New member
@ramijj8 As a person who has worked in dog kennels and daycares for over 10 years i am here to beg, to plead, to prostrate myself before you! Please, please, teach your dog this one, imperative, thing:
Their fucking name.
I can't even describe how many dogs have 0 idea what their name is. And its not just "too distracted at daycare to listen" its "literally doesn't know their name, even when no distractions are around."
Have your nicknames for your dog! God knows mine has 800 billion, but teach them whatever you're going to have other people (vets, groomers, kennels, daycares, dog walkers) call them.
Otherwise the top 5 things I taught my dog:
-Emergency heel. I say the command and she immediately gets in behind my legs and stays there until she's released. My girl is selectively reactive, some people she has 0 issues, others she's tried to lunge at. Emergency heel keeps her under my control and supervision.
-Wait command, do not cross this barrier. You can do whatever you want on THAT side but cannot come to this side. Helps with getting in and out of the car, having to have a door open for whatever reason.
-kennel training - we dont use it regularly now that she's 5 and can be trusted at home unsupervised but we stay up on it because you never know when an emergency hits and your dog HAS to go into a kennel or crate.
-Give paw, other paw, back foot. It's really nice being able to just ask for a foot rather than fight her during nail trims. Not really a MUST know, just a quality of life thing lol.
-Watch command. A command to mean "pay attention to me" this is good for teaching impulse control and working on any reactivity a dog might have.
Their fucking name.
I can't even describe how many dogs have 0 idea what their name is. And its not just "too distracted at daycare to listen" its "literally doesn't know their name, even when no distractions are around."
Have your nicknames for your dog! God knows mine has 800 billion, but teach them whatever you're going to have other people (vets, groomers, kennels, daycares, dog walkers) call them.
Otherwise the top 5 things I taught my dog:
-Emergency heel. I say the command and she immediately gets in behind my legs and stays there until she's released. My girl is selectively reactive, some people she has 0 issues, others she's tried to lunge at. Emergency heel keeps her under my control and supervision.
-Wait command, do not cross this barrier. You can do whatever you want on THAT side but cannot come to this side. Helps with getting in and out of the car, having to have a door open for whatever reason.
-kennel training - we dont use it regularly now that she's 5 and can be trusted at home unsupervised but we stay up on it because you never know when an emergency hits and your dog HAS to go into a kennel or crate.
-Give paw, other paw, back foot. It's really nice being able to just ask for a foot rather than fight her during nail trims. Not really a MUST know, just a quality of life thing lol.
-Watch command. A command to mean "pay attention to me" this is good for teaching impulse control and working on any reactivity a dog might have.
imagebeastmarkbeast
New member
@ramijj8 I have an older rescue, here is what I consider the essentials of what I taught her:
1) How to ask for things in a productive way. I did this by getting her to sit before she got what she wanted, so that she knew that if she came up to me and sat down, I would respond to her request. This has helped with bathroom breaks, cut down on demand barking, and overall meeting her exercise/enrichment needs.
2) Cooperative care and desensitizing grooming. Makes life 10000 times easier, especially if you are working with an older dog that has had bad grooming experiences in the past.
3) A fully proofed place command. I can take my dog anywhere and as long as I have her blanket, I can trust that she will stay in one place when asked.
4) A strong recall. I don't even use it for off-leash stuff often, but a really strong recall also works as a leave-it command, while being overall more useful. It's also helpful if the rest of the family is not on board and you see a situation you'd like to remove the dog to avoid them reinforcing a bad behaviour.
5) A "move" and "off" cue. I did this by teaching a classic "off" (throw treat when you say the word) and taught "move" by patting where I wanted her to go and rewarding her when she moved towards it. I use this daily and reinforce it weekly with a training session. Far more important to me than "sit" or "stay", especially if you plan on having the dog around guests who might be rude and try to pick him up instead of asking him to relocate.
1) How to ask for things in a productive way. I did this by getting her to sit before she got what she wanted, so that she knew that if she came up to me and sat down, I would respond to her request. This has helped with bathroom breaks, cut down on demand barking, and overall meeting her exercise/enrichment needs.
2) Cooperative care and desensitizing grooming. Makes life 10000 times easier, especially if you are working with an older dog that has had bad grooming experiences in the past.
3) A fully proofed place command. I can take my dog anywhere and as long as I have her blanket, I can trust that she will stay in one place when asked.
4) A strong recall. I don't even use it for off-leash stuff often, but a really strong recall also works as a leave-it command, while being overall more useful. It's also helpful if the rest of the family is not on board and you see a situation you'd like to remove the dog to avoid them reinforcing a bad behaviour.
5) A "move" and "off" cue. I did this by teaching a classic "off" (throw treat when you say the word) and taught "move" by patting where I wanted her to go and rewarding her when she moved towards it. I use this daily and reinforce it weekly with a training session. Far more important to me than "sit" or "stay", especially if you plan on having the dog around guests who might be rude and try to pick him up instead of asking him to relocate.
@imagebeastmarkbeast Thank you! I have been writing down more descriptive advice and this is definitely going in my notes!
@ramijj8 Wait. Recall. Sit. Stay. Down.
All should be done immediately on command. Recall is especially important in emergencies, such as your dog is off leash and takes off after anything (out of fear, excitement, aggression, anything) recall can keep your dog out of harm's way and keep others from being injured.
All should be done immediately on command. Recall is especially important in emergencies, such as your dog is off leash and takes off after anything (out of fear, excitement, aggression, anything) recall can keep your dog out of harm's way and keep others from being injured.
@ramijj8 Im going to pass over the obvious basic commands like sit down stay leave it and mention a few more innovative commands that truly made a difference in our lives:
- Go to your spot. Before dinner, when the mailman comes, if shes being naughty. Its so helpful to have a place to send her that resets her energy.
- Find it. This is a very mentally stimulating game that can provide both physical and mental exercise when you build up. Our dog in the backyard has transformed into a search and rescue beast. Its very helpful bc if I hide her ball really good and say find it it could be minutes if exercise equivalent to 10 fetches. It really tires her out and is rewarding.
- Wait. Before dinner before a treat before crossing the road. Our dog is very food motivated and can be a maniac but she knows the wait command and the self control is really great to see her work through. We never feed her or treat her unless she is patiently waiting for a release command
@hoshea How did you teach your dog to find things? My Pomeranian loses interest as soon as the thing is out of her sight. I'm guessing it's not motivating her enough and I need to find a different toy for this exercise? Or is there another way of keeping her interest on the specific toy she needs to find?
@wford91 Could also be a breed thing impacting its effectiveness. I have a retriever so its in her DNA to go to work finding things and seems happiest when given this task. Your pup may be motivated but something else. Cant exactly envision a pom on a search and rescue mission but you never know! First time for everything 
@wford91 Started small. With the treat in sight. Lots if that until the command always produces the result. Then started putting it in the same room but around a corner of a couch or something. Them just build up from there. In a different room, under something. Them we moved outside and started the process over. Until finally 1.5 years in I can literally hide the item to my best ability and watch in amazement as my pup uses her abilities to track it down. Its been really helpful in the cold to get her to exercise.