What Every Good Dog Should Know

by Bill Mutter

Do you take your dog for a walk … or does your dog take you? Jump up on your guests? Knock his food dish out of your hands? Almost knock you over by pushing past you out of the door? Challenge people, dogs and bikers during your walks? Seem out of control at times?

We all grow up with the idea that we know how to train dogs. The reality is that very few people really know how unless they have been shown how. The truth is that we have all grown up around misinformation and old wives’ tales, which makes training your dog to be a well behaved dog that much more difficult.

ALL dogs can benefit from Obedience Classes. One excuse for not obedience training a dog is “I don’t want a robot!” or “I don’t want to break my dog’s spirit!” Neither will happen. To the contrary, your dog will behave more confidently. Your dog will begin to understand his place in his human family and you will begin to learn to effectively communicate with your dog.

Professional Dog Obedience Classes are offered at many Kennel Clubs, Humane Societies and private businesses. Dog Obedience Classes do not train your dog! Their sole purpose is to train you to train your dog. They also provide social interaction with other people and dogs in a controlled situation. Do not be dismayed if the class exercises seem a bit strict and formal. These techniques have evolved over centuries and are proven to be successful. However you must practice with your dog!

Dogs aren’t born understanding English (or French or Spanish or Italian or Russian or any human language). Studies have shown that they can learn up to 300 individual human words. However, they don’t have the ability to understand sentences or phases. The sound of the word and the tone are what’s important. Obedience Classes use the following standard commands to train your dog for the reason that they don’t sound alike and therefore won’t confuse your dog. Too often people will use the commands “Lay Down” and “Stay”. The words “Stay” and “Lay” sound much alike and can confuse your dog.

Obedience Class Commands:

WATCH ME. Pay attention to me.

HEEL. Walk by my side.

SIT. Sit!

STAND. Stand on all four legs.

DOWN. Lie down.

STAY. Remain where you are.

COME. Return to me.

Other Useful Commands:

NO. Wrong. Stop what you’re doing! Probably the first word/command your dog learns.

QUIET. Stop barking, growling, making noise.

OFF. Get OFF me or the visitor or the couch or the bed, etc. Do not use DOWN for this command.

ENOUGH. Quit what you are doing, it was fine but now it’s time to stop. Such as when you are playing with your dog and but now play time is over. Use instead of “NO” which means “WRONG”.

WAIT. Stop a minute. Use when going out the door. To make the dog wait instead of rushing out the door and knocking you down.

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• Dog Training Overview
• Dog Obedience Training
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