Commands = Structure

Ok, so before we get into training, how to do it, and the ways to make it all happen and live a happy life with your dog; I need to say a few things about commands. They are very important and very easy to understand. You just need to know that DOGS DON'T UNDERSTAND WORDS. They associate the things you say, with whether or not you were happy with how they responded! So what that means to you, is that you need to use the SAME "phrase" every time you want that action done! THE SAME THING EVERY TIME! Don't change it, you'll confuse the dog and make it harder for both of you to communicate. That also means that you have to communicate these command words to everyone in your dogs life; roommates, girlfriends, friends, whoever! They all have to use the same commands or nothing will ever get learned.


Here's an example of how I can emphasize that dogs don't understand words. My friend, I've referred to him before with the husky, wanted to be different and teach his dog different commands. So instead of "sit" he used "chill", instead of "lay down" he used "relax", instead of "rollover" he used "O.D." (overdose, heheh). It worked great too, because no one else could communicate with his dog, unless they knew that those were his commands!  However, over time the dog did learn the "normal" words too, cause he was very smart, and it got confusing to talk to the dog in awkward wording. So that's why I say it doesn't matter what you use, just use it consistently.

So, the easiest way to do this is use the words that come out first when your thinking of what you want them to do. Another great point is that EVERYTHING CAN BE A COMMAND! Everything that you want the dog to do you can teach him, most of them over come over time with experience, but you have to use the same word over time for it to work.


For instance, here are a few good ones that I have used.

• First there's the obvious ones.... sit, stay, come, lay down, no, shake, high five... whatever

Also there are some more experienced based ones, some of these I also use "Maximus" or "Go To.." as base commands, with whatever proceeds them is what I want done.

• Bathroom
• Take a shit  (yes, i tell him both, it helps when you need to move fast)
• Down or Get Off  (like off of someone, or something)
• Up   (to get on something.. car, bed, whatever)Clean It Up    (to eat)
• Get a Drink   (to drink water)
• Get out of the kitchen  (my dog is not allowed in any kitchen any where!)
  
• No Beg  (to get away when we're eating, very awesome command, no dog should beg, I Hate It!)
• Up and Over  (to jump over anything, puddles, mud, great for keeping him clean on wet days, and he thinks its fun, can also use this for agility training)
• Get It  (you can use this for everything, I name all of his toys, so I can say, get a stick, ball, fox, tigger, rope, whatever and he'll get it)
• Bring it here   (with aforementioned toys, and also his Harness, which he has to bring to me if he wants to go outside!)
• Outside    (to go outside)
  
• Inside       (to go inside)
  
• Speak  (this takes time)
• Don't Speak  (the best part about teaching them speak is it also comes with the negative of it)
• Leave it alone
  
• Not Yours   (great for teaching him what not to touch, and what he can)
• Go say hi   (to introduce him nicely to other people, and dogs)

As you can see there are a lot of things that I have control over in my dogs life. As a matter of fact, I have control over every aspect of my dogs life, as should you. So that's why you use commands consistently to get your message across and also receive the desired response!  Another good thing to mention is that every time you teach him one command it always comes with another command. The negative of the command taught. If they have learned a command, it's very easy to for them to understand  NO, "command."  And viola you get two for the price of one!

So that is my disclaimer before I get into explaining how to actually teach the tricks. Commands and Consistency are very important. So choose your words carefully, because you'll be using them for the rest of your lives.