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Rose

MH
Posts:362

11/29/2011 6:28 PM

In our ongoing adventure with obedience, I was curious in regards to what words I say to my dog on a daily basis and I thought writing them down would help me with consistency. Wow, I had no idea the number of words I use. Not only that, the number that he understands....

I still need to teach "Heel." Work-in-progress.

I'd love some input... Any I should get rid of or simplify? Any suggestions for hand gestures for "Focus," "Fetch" "Get" or "Ah ah", or are gestures necessary at all for such commands?

Command	Hand Gesture	Meaning
“C’here”	Right hand up in air, three whistle blows	Come here & sit
“This way”	Left or right arm straight out at 90 degrees, pointing in desired direction, two whistle blows	Change of direction
“Sit”	Fist held out	Sit
“Wait”	Hand flat, palm out	Hold position
“Stay”	Hand flat, palm out	Extended wait
“Focus”		Look in my eyes
“Okay”	Left or right arm straight out, 45 degrees, pointing in desired direction or object	Release to move forward or to move ahead
“All done”	Two hands, flat, fingers spread, palms out	Done training session
“What’s this”	Pointing to the ground with index finger	Sniff the ground here, something interesting to check out, pay attention here
“Fetch”		Fetch
“Get”		Get out, in an off bounds area
“Release”	Right hand palm up	Open mouth, release object
“Down”	Tap the ground with finger	Lay down
“Go lay down”	Point to dog bed	Go to dog bed and lay down, extended time
“Back up”	Back of hand towards dog and waving/fanning motion towards the dog	Step backwards
“Quiet”	Index finger up, held in front of the dogs nose	No barking, no whining
“You’re not going”		Dog is not joining us to leave the house. Settle down, go to bed and lay down
“Ah ah”		Non reward marker, not quite, try again
“Good”	Small treat or stroke shoulder	Reward marker, yes that is correct
“NO!”	Firm leash correction	Unacceptable behavior

Any words/gestures you guys personally like to use or work best for you?

Thanks for any input!

pixie bee

MH
Posts:4452

11/29/2011 7:31 PM
That's a lot for me to remember,never mind the dog. LOL. Smart dog!

"Time with my dogs clears my mind, renews my faith, and lets me see the world as it is. My only regret loving dogs as I do, is the misery of their early departure." Robert G. Wehle

Rose

MH
Posts:362

11/29/2011 7:59 PM
Too smart. I swear he listens to our conversations. If only he could learn the concept of "Tomorrow" and "In 30 minutes", "In 1 hour" etc.

Rose

MH
Posts:362

12/02/2011 6:30 PM
Well after paying attention to what we've been saying to Casey for the last few days, I can even add "Go pee," "Be Nice," "Where's the bird?," "Walk," "Food/Hungry/Bone and Treat" (which all seem to really mean the same thing ). We've also seem to have deciphered that I tend to use several different words for the same meaning....While DH seems to use the same word for different meanings - the best example being "Hey!" No wonder he gets confused!!!! Gonna work on this...

Texas Belle User is Offline

Austin, TX

MH
Posts:7863

12/02/2011 6:47 PM
They can learn lots of words and even different words for the same thing, but consistency is key. Don't use the same word for different things, that is confusing to a dog. I try to really keep my commands short (no double words), and consistent. Something that rolls off my tongue naturally. I also use different words for similar activities because in a dogs mind if there are slight differences in what I expect then they are different commands. For instance, I have two recall words: come and here. Come is my formal competition obedience recall where the dog has to come straight back to me and sit in front of me and wait for the next command. Here is more generic and it means no matter where you are or what you are doing drop it and high tail it back to me. They are not required to sit just come and check in with me. I also have wait and stay or whoa. Wait is used when I want them to stay, but intend to give them another command. Stay or whoa means stay until released with my release command. Anyway you will find they learn quicker and do not make as many mistakes if you are consistent on commands and everyone in the house uses the same commands.

Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna) Yellow Rose GSPs "A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato

Texas Belle User is Offline

Austin, TX

MH
Posts:7863

12/02/2011 6:48 PM
As for hand gestures, some dogs actually learn hand signals better than verbals. Dogs are visual so hand signals are fine to mix in. Just remember to be consistent with the hand signals to. Make them easy for the dog to see from a distance and remember not to use a gesture you might accidentally use as that can have interesting consequences with a dog that is trained to hand signals.

Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna) Yellow Rose GSPs "A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato

Rose

MH
Posts:362

12/04/2011 11:40 AM
Thanks Texas Belle for your suggestions. I really like the two versions of come, it makes sense. After writing things down and paying attention, I am realizing that most of the words can be grouped together into similar meanings. I see how many of these commands stem from the basics of sit, heel, come. And I'm still amazed at how many more words the GSP knows versus our other dog(Brittany).

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