10 commands every dog should know
Filed Under (Behavior, Training, commands, heeling, obedience) by Lindsay Stordahl on 07-05-2008

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confused-black-dog.jpgThe following are commands every dog owner should work to perfect with his or her dog. Of course, the words you decide to use are not as important as how your dog responds to the commands. Other words could be substituted for my suggestions. For example, the word “give” would work just fine instead of “drop.” Here are the 10 commands:

1. Drop
It’s important for a dog to know the drop command so he will drop whatever he has in his mouth if he’s not supposed to have it. It could be a shoe, towel, a baby toy or any object. It’s also nice when a dog will drop his own toy on command when you are playing fetch or you simply want to end a play session or put the dog’s toys away.

2. Wait
This command is a little different than the stay command. Basically, stay means stay until I return and release you. Wait means wait until I say it’s OK for you to follow me. For example, I tell Ace to wait while I open the door before our walk. I also tell him to wait if he is in the car and I’m about to let him out. In both situations, I want him to wait until I am ready to deal with him.

3. Load up
This is a good command for when you want your dog to get in the car. My dog loves the car, and he used to bound right in as soon as I opened any car door. This was a problem when I was trying to put other things in the back seat before my dog. If Ace was excited, he’d jump in the car before I even had the door all the way open. I hate it when a dog is barging ahead of me, or practically tearing my arm off in order to get somewhere, so the wait command followed by the load up command helps to prevent this.

4. Off
This command is important to teach your dog for when he jumps up on people or jumps on the furniture. Many people make the mistake of saying “down” in these situations. This is a mistake because most dogs have been trained to lie down when they hear the word “down.” “Down” should mean lie down, and “off” should mean get off the furniture or person.

5. Stand
This command is important for when your dog is at the vet or grooming shop. A dog should be able to stand nicely while a stranger touches him.

6. Hurry up
I tell my dog to hurry up every time I want him to go to the bathroom. He will literally pee on command. I have taught him this because I hate standing outside in the cold late at night waiting for him to go to the bathroom. I tell him to hurry up, and if he doesn’t go within seconds, we go back inside. Tough luck for him if he doesn’t go, but he almost always does.

7. Leave it
Leave it is a good command to teach your dog for anything you don’t want him to touch. You can say “leave it” while referring to a stick, food, other dogs, a cat, people, whatever it might be. Leave it simply means leave it alone!

8. OK
I use the word “OK” as a release for anything I’ve told my dog to do. When he’s in a sit position, he is supposed to sit until I say “OK.” The same goes with stay, down, stand, etc. I wrote a post on the importance of the release command here.

9. Heel
This one speaks for itself. To avoid my dog pulling me down the street and making daily walks almost unbearable, I have to teach him to walk properly on a leash. Heel means walk at my side at my speed. This one is easier said than done, and I think it will be a lifetime process for Ace to perfect it, but I refuse to have a dog pulling me on a walk.

10. All of the basics
All dogs deserve to know the basics such as sit, down, stay, come and no! These commands help dogs fit into our society. A dog is not well trained unless it knows at least these five words. I can’t imagine living with a dog and not teaching it basic obedience. The possibilities for what we can teach our dogs go on and on, but these commands are something to start with.

What are some commands you have taught your dog?

(Photo by connectblogs.com)

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Comments:
12 Comments posted on "10 commands every dog should know"
chris on May 7th, 2008 at 6:40 am #

It’s not difficult to teach at least the 5 commands you mentioned, and it makes life so much easier for you and the pet. Thanks for this great info.

chris’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday


Apryl DeLancey on May 7th, 2008 at 12:56 pm #

My girl was great with the car command - I would open the door and she would wait for my hand gesture and then go in. I can’s say that I had ten verbal commands with her, but she knew expressions and hand gestures very well. I guess it came from when we lived in a crowded apartment community and needed to be very quiet for late-night potty breaks when I would come home from my college bartending job.

Apryl DeLancey’s last blog post..Wild World of Wednesday - May 7, 2008


Rachel on May 7th, 2008 at 1:59 pm #

We taught our old dog marley the command for shake, and she would shake your hand. I had to work with her on it, but I wanted her to be able to do more then shake, so I taught her how to give a high five. Everyone loved that trick so much.


Lora on May 7th, 2008 at 2:10 pm #

Great post. My dogs all know those commands. It is a great list for someone starting out to make a check list of. They are truly the top ten essential commands to teach your dog.

Lora’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday


Jude on May 7th, 2008 at 5:39 pm #

My Shadow was very smart and would listen until he saw a rabbit, squirrel or some other small critter then he had his own mind.

Potty was his cue word for taking a dump.
Move: and he gets back out of the way.
Sit: he knows
Lay: he does very well
Over: We got half way with that one and I stopped training him, but he will roll part way on command.
Car: Was his keyword for heading back to the car of course.

Many keywords you can use for many things, but they need to be simple and need to be repeated over and over so the word and tone can be associated with whatever you want them to do.

Simple common sense will guide you in training your pet and your love and patience.

Jude’s last blog post..I Hate When Everything Goes Wrong


Liza S. on May 7th, 2008 at 6:20 pm #

Those are certainly great commands to know. Keeda still has a couple to go off the list.

Oh, just a note: I deleted your blog’s URL from the last comment you posted, about the argument in a dog forum. People from that forum have been stalking my blog and I’m afraid they might try to insult everyone who agrees with me and is contact-able! I’m sorry about having to do this, I didn’t want them to attack your blog as well. To make up for it I’ll put you on my blogroll :) I hope that’s ok.

Liza S.’s last blog post..Pics or it Didn’t Happen


Liza S. on May 7th, 2008 at 6:28 pm #

Oh oh sorry I totally missed your question as to what commands we’ve taught our dogs! I’m so proud of Keeda beceause she’s made it so easy on me to teach her most things (with some exceptions).

She knows Come, Drop, Leave It, Down, Sit, Wait, Stay, Heel, Jump, Over, Across, Up, Off, Look, Eat, Easy, and Free is our release command. I’m in the process of teaching her ’spin’

Liza S.’s last blog post..Pics or it Didn’t Happen


Lindsay Stordahl on May 7th, 2008 at 6:48 pm #

Liza, of course it’s OK if you add me to your blogroll! I don’t mind about the link you had to delete.


WillThink4Wine on May 7th, 2008 at 8:26 pm #

I wish I could say I had a dog, because I miss having dogs. And I certainly wish I could say I had a well-trained dog!

I have cats now. Cats don’t do commands well, although my cats do know:

1. Who’s hungry? They run to where I feed them.
2. Let’s go to bed. They run and jump in bed.
3. Who’s ready? I use it when I unlock the cat flap so they can go outside.
4. Who wants some? I use that to tell them it’s treat time. They immediately fly down the hall to the cat condo and wait on the bottom of it for their Temptations.
5. Kitties. When it’s getting dark, or if I need them inside for anyother reason I just call them and they come. Seriously. Right away.

Don’t tell me Cats can’t be trained!

The cutest thing? When they see my car coming they run to the front porch and wait for me. When I get there, they roll over on their backs and make the cutest little “Welcome Home, Mom” sounds!

WillThink4Wine’s last blog post..Free 8×10 Print at Walgreen’s Today Only


castocreations on May 8th, 2008 at 11:45 am #

We’ve gotten pretty lazy in enforcing certain commands with our oldest two. Kodiak can’t really sit comfortably and Quinn is getting older by the second. They do still listen when we say “leave it” if we have a firm voice.

Trooper on the other hand - we try to keep a firm rule about obedience. He knows Sit, but only with a hand gesture. He knows leave it really well. He knows “up up” to get in the car and “ok” to get out. He knows “Down” (to lay down) if I point down and it helps to have food in hand.

But we’re also working at agility training and he’s doing better and better with obedience. And he knows new words like “Table”, “tunnel”, “Chute”, “Walk it” (the plank), “A-Frame”, “Tire”, and “jump”. lol

castocreations’s last blog post..I’m a Television Junkie - So What?


castocreations on May 8th, 2008 at 11:46 am #

Oh…and did you know your Entrecard link is pointing to an older post? I couldn’t figure out why you hadn’t updated your blog recently. LOL Then I realized the address was pointing to a post that was several days old. :)
castocreations’s last blog post..I’m a Television Junkie - So What?


Lindsay Stordahl on May 8th, 2008 at 11:49 am #

I didn’t know that about my Entrecard link. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks.


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