The Five Basic Commands

[DogGoneGood]

Okay, here is some information I happened to have on my Flash Drive (I'm at work at the moment). It's a couple of the lessons that I have printed up that I give to my students... I will try and add more when I get the chance

The Basics:

Each command out of the basics that we teach our dogs has its own specific meaning and purpose. Basic Obedience is essential to have a well balanced and obedient dog! In life or death situations it’s always good to know your dog knows his commands solid. For example; you’re walking your dog down a busy road and your leash
suddenly breaks! What do you do if your dog doesn’t know a simple down or stay? He could run out into traffic and be hit by a car if he doesn’t! However, the odds are slim this will ever happen to you, it’s still good to know your dog will listen when it’s really needed, as well as in your home to help contain him when you’re cleaning the house, guests are over, during meals etc.

The commands are all taught in a certain order. Heel is always taught first. This is because heel is the hardest
command to teach, as well as it is the one command that will firmly teach your dog that you are the leader.

It’s important to always expect perfection out of your dog. This isn’t just for people who plan to trial in obedience events either. If you expect perfection out of every command you give your dog you will get perfection, and your dog will respect you for it and listen better.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you attempt to read this article by scrolling through the whole post you will be completely lost. Please use the links provided below to navigate this article. Once you've completed reading you can then read the reply posts to this topic.

Thank you, and sorry for the mix up.

Heel
The Standard Sit
Down From the Side & Front
Sit From Down
Stay
Recall
The Finishes
Fun & Games with Training
The Training Reminder

[DogGoneGood]

The Standard Sit:

The definition of Standard Sit is… a sit that isn’t expected as automatic at the end of an exercise like in the Heel. A standard sit can be asked of from anywhere at any time.

Teaching the standard sit is quite easy and simple. You use your tone of voice to encourage the dog and praise when he gets it right, and use your hands to manipulate his body into the correct position.

At this point your dog should know the basic idea of what sit is from learning the automatic sit in the heel exercise. This time, manipulate his body in the same manner as you did for the automatic sit but use the command “Sit”. You should be able to do this with him at your left or right side, or in front of you. Moving him to sit from your front can be a little bit more difficult and is actually more risky than placing him from the side. This of course, depends on your dogs breed and temperament. For a headstrong or extremely submissive dog, I would suggest keep placing him at your side and using the command “Sit” until you’re sure he’s got the command connected with the action before trying it from the front. This is because reaching over a dogs head to push their butt down when they are in front of you can be seen, from the dogs point of view, as a dominant gesture. If your dog is not in the higher range of dominant/headstrong or submissive, you can try it but I first suggest using the aid of a trainer for safety reasons. If your dog has learned to connect the verbal command with the physical action already you shouldn’t even need to place his body in a sit position when in front of you

In case you do need to help guide his body into the sit position in front of you, this is how…

Place the dog in front of you, and gather the bulk of your leash into your right hand. Using this right hand, gently pull upwards a bit and over the dogs head. Keep your hand about a foot above the dogs head. If his nose does not follow your hand up and back which would cause him to automatically sit, you can use your left hand to gently push on his butt. A simple, gentle poke on the top of his hips while you raise your right hand over should do the trick and cause the dog to automatically sit. When he does sit, praise him! He’s done good! You can even tell him “Good Sit” to reinforce the command with the action being a good thing.

[DogGoneGood]

DOWN FROM THE SIDE AND FRONT:

The Down from the Side:

The definition of a Down from the Side is… your dog is laying on your left side with his spine parallel to your own. The dog is allowed to lay on the side of one hip, and even lay his head down but he must not curl around your feet in any way or lay facing far away from you in any direction other than forward.

A Quick Note:
Many people mistake the command “off” with “down”. Down is an obedience command meaning to lay down; whereas “off” means to get off something (used for when they jump on furniture, people etc). If you use “down” when your dog jumps on you it’s going to be a lot harder for him to learn the concept of not jumping on you, or when you catch him on the couch. “Off” should always be used separately from “down” to avoid confusion and help your dog learn quicker and respond better!

Place your dog on your left side (in the ‘heel’ position). This is where we will teach him the “down” command. You will most likely have to bend down to your dogs height for this, especially if you have a smaller dog.

Gather the bulk of your leash in your left hand and place this hand on your dogs shoulders. Using your other, free hand “sweep” your dogs front legs out in front of him while applying slight pressure to his shoulders and giving the command ‘down’. Once he is in the down position pet and praise him! Tell him ‘good down’, but remember to not get overly excited. If you are too excited with your praising he may pop up and out of the down.

Stand to your feet and pat your thigh while telling your dog ‘sit’. Patting your thigh will encourage him to raise to his feet. If he comes to a stand rather than a sit simply correct (as he should know the command sit by now) and place him into a sit.

Repeat the down exercise about 3 or 4 times then take a break and try something else a few times and then go back to teaching the down again. It’s important to take this short break between lessons because your dog is less likely to become bored with what you are teaching him.

Once you feel your dog is beginning to understand the concept you can stop sweeping his feet and start giving a hand signal. The hand signal for down from the side is your elbow tucked to your side with your forearm pointed out in front of you (so from the dogs perspective he should just see the underside of your forearm and the palm of your hand).

Down From the Front:

Down from the front should be taught after down from the side is relatively understood. Place the dog in front of you (about two feet in front) and tell him “down” with the hand signal. The hand signal for down is your arm raised up with your hand pointing towards the sky (you can either have your arm completely straight up or bend it at your elbow so that only your forearm and hand are pointed up). From your dogs perspective this looks very similar to the hand signal for down from the side.

Keep your leash loose between you and the dog so that it isn’t tight across but it isn’t dragging on the floor either, it should be about 1 inch off the floor. This is so you can give a “foot correction” easily enough. If the dog does not down on command (which he should understand what it means by now) you can reach your foot out, using the outside, straight of your food pull the leash down and towards you. This will pull the dog into a down. Remember; do not YANK on the leash; the right amount of pressure should be given. If the dog stands rather than downs (which can and does happen) tell him “nooo, down!” and physically go back to him and place him in a down. If you feel your dog isn’t totally getting the concept you can go back to the down from the side for a while. You can also choose to go back to the dog and sweep his feet rather than use the leash and your foot to pull him down if you feel the reason he isn’t going down is due to lack of understanding. Going back to him and sweeping his feet is like a little reminder without a correction. Once you feel he is understanding it then you can add in the foot correction.

Remember to praise your dog when he does go down on command!

[rexandbaby]

I am going to start with Heel after I finally get off this computer today. 2 times, maybe 3 a day. I have a good sit with him, but he does want to forge ahead, so I am going to follow your steps, like gospel. Wish us luck and I will keep you updated.

[DogGoneGood]

Good Luck! ;D

[mara]

How old should be a puppy to learn this? A 3 months siberian husky could be ready?

[DogGoneGood]

I believe so.

I started working with my sisters puppy on his obedience and he's about 11 weeks old You just have to remember that with puppies you have to be extra patient and let things go a little bit more because they're just babies. They're very easily distracted and training needs to be in extremely short sessions with the most patience you could ever possibly have It will probably take a bit longer and you should hold off on giving any corrections for some time because they can be so easily distracted and therefore take longer to learn, plus they tend to forget it pretty quickly until you give the next lesson which is like a reminder

[lilredridinghood]

Heel is the hardest. Man, it makes me want to slam my head into the wall. I'll keep trying though. Delilah LOVES to pull even on her pinch collar. She doesn't seem to mind she is strangling herself. What type of collar would work best for her?

[DogGoneGood]

If she's pretty good at ignoring the prong collar... well that's pretty much as high up with training collars. The Prong collar isn't generally a corrections type collar but if she's really pulling her way through it maybe try giving a quick snap of the leash and see if that smartens her up any.

Also, do a LOT of left hand turns, speed up your pace and then slow it down to a snails pace. Keep her guessing on what you're going to do next and eventually she'll learn she HAS to slow down her body and mind and pay attention to what you're doing

[anti]

Maybe on-leash recalls? I used them with odie my border collie with a love for pulling.

An on-leash recall would be walking and as she she gets a bit ahead of you stop and call her back walking backwards as you do it for about six feet.
Praise her and have her sit about a foot in front of you.

If you want to get really fancy you could have her 'finish' (return to the heel position) which would be to tell her "finish" and coax her either around and behind you, back to heel or coax her to the left side of you, pivot and sit. TaDaa!

[DogGoneGood]

I was working with Linkin on the continental finish tonight he's been slacking in his obediencel lately so he kept doing it real lazy-like where he'd swing around but sit with his butt still sticking out to the side lol

[anti]

haha, When I do finishes, annie is to go behind me and come around... but she likes to stop directly behind me... She is the only dog I have ever had do that... she sits perfect and everything... she just won't come all the way around.

[DogGoneGood]

lol awwwe. Have you tried pushing her bum in place with your opposite foot? I had to do this with Linkin for a while... he was so bad for straight sits. First he sat with his butt too far out, then he sat basically right behind me. He does okay now, though he's not perfect lol

Coal does this "go behind" thing. Actually before i even knew what a finish was I taught Coal "Left side" and "right side". When I tell him "left side" he goes behind me at my right and then sits at my left and vise versa for "right side". I wanted to teach him the continental but his hips are in rough shape these days so I really don't want to ask him to be doing any circles

[anti]

That's what I do... use my right foot and kind of nudge her with it till she sits in the right spot...

The hardest part when she started finishes was correcting her lazy hip... I don't know what it is about bassets but they always seem to roll on to their hip when they sit.

[DogGoneGood]

HEEL:

The definition of heel is; walk with me stride for stride, turn for turn, and sit automatically when I stop. This is the heel exercise as a whole which means you use one command when you begin it and that’s it. There is no “heel, turn, heel, sit”.

The position is the dog at your left side walking evenly with you, with his eye aligned with the seam of your pants. Don’t allow the dog to walk in front or behind you. He doesn’t have to have his eye aligned absolutely perfect with the seam of your pants, but don’t let him forge more than a couple inches ahead or lag more than a couple inches behind. If your dog is too far ahead of you, you will trip over him when trying to make a turn or he will be pulling you down the road. If he’s too far behind he could get lost; he’s out of your line of sight (in a blind spot) and could take off without your knowledge, and you have less control over him.

The heel is the hardest command to master and takes the most practice. Keep this in mind while you’re training your dog; the perfect heel will not happen over night, nor will it happen in just a couple weeks. It takes practice every single day! Once it is mastered it is a delight to watch however, and all other commands seem to fall into place once this one is accomplished.

The Automatic Sit is when the dog sits automatically at your side when the heel is completed. No extra commands should be needed to teach this (do NOT use the command “Sit”), for the automatic sit is part of the Heel exercise. The dog should sit when you stop, at your left side, his eye even with the seam of your pants and his spine parallel to yours (a straight sit). If your dog is sitting crooked (his butt is either sticking out too far to the left or right) it isn’t correct. Remember to expect perfection! Crooked sits not only look sloppy, but it’s also teaching your dog that it’s okay for him to slack in his obedience!

Training the Heel and Automatic Sit: To train the heel and automatic sit, you first start with the dog on your left side, with his eye even to the seam of your pants and his spine parallel to yours. He should be on leash, with a training collar. Place him in a sit by pulling up on your lead with your right hand and pushing gently down on his butt with your left hand. Measure your lead like it was described under “5-6 Foot Leash” before you give a command or begin to walk. Tell him “Heel” and begin walking by leading with you left foot. This is important to get into the habit of doing because if your dog isn’t paying attention to what you’re saying, he’s still paying attention to what your body is doing. Your left leg is the leg closest to the dog and he will see this and take it as his cue to begin walking. If he forges ahead simply give a little tug on the leash (not a correction) and tell him “heel”. If he lags behind give a tug forward and tell him “heel”. At this point, in the beginning of training, you can keep a tight leash if you would like. It is best not to get into the habit of keeping a tight leash though once your dog starts to understand the meaning of heel. The reason for this is because you want him to make his own mistakes (lagging or forging) which you can correct to teach him exactly what you want.

Make sure to start with more left turns than right, this will keep him focused on you better and also prevent him from forging ahead too much. You can also pat your leg with your left hand and use your voice in a chipper tone to motivate your dog into the proper position, and I suggest you do so!

When you stop; place your dog in a sit just like you did at the beginning of the exercise. An extra command (sit) is not needed! Remember: the full exercise of heel is to walk with you stride for stride, turn for turn, and sit automatically when you stop! Praise

Keep practicing this for about 10 minutes at a time, twice a day if possible. No two dogs learn the same or at the same pace, so I can not tell you how long to teach before you add in proper corrections. You should be able to tell for yourself when your dog is getting the picture. This is when you want to give more slack to the leash and add in proper corrections when he forges ahead or lags behind.

The hand signal for heel is your left hand in a sweeping motion beside your left leg, palm facing forward.

Once you find your dog is catching on, add hand signals and loosen your leash. Use proper corrections for when he forges, or lags.

A proper correction is a quick pop and release, NOT pulling tight and holding it there! The amount of correction you use depends on your dog. If you find your correction isn’t working, that the dog isn’t learning from it you can try using a little bit firmer of a correction. You can be firm as long as you are fair to the dog!

You can try quickening or slowing your pace, add more corners and about turns (walk a straight line, then turn 180 degrees and walk back the way you came) once your dog is starting to master the command.

Crooked or lazy sits are important to fix before they become a habit. If your dog is sitting on his thigh (a lazy sit) simply pull up on the leash gently and tell him “no, heel”. You can use your hands also to guide your dog into the proper sit if he’s sitting crooked or lazy, but keep in mind that you touching him is like a massage; he likes it! So try to keep it to a minimum. You can instead use your leash as a tool. If he’s sitting with his butt way out away from you tell him “no, heel”, place two hands firmly on the leash like you’re holding a baseball bat and pull him in a circle out away from you, align him back into the right heel position and tell him “heel”. If his butt is sitting too far behind you, you can use your right foot and gently push his butt back into position for a straight sit.

Remember to praise your dog when he’s done the command properly! The one thing most people forget to do is praise their dog! If you don’t praise him, he will not know when he’s done the right thing.