Which “commands” Should You Teach Your Dog?

This topic came about because of one of the first behaviours that I teach to new puppy and dog clients: Touch. Nearly 100 percent of my new puppy/dog clients ask why teaching their puppy to target a person’s hand with their nose is useful—and it is SO useful.

All the cued behaviours (we don’t use the old-fashioned word “commands” anymore) I teach have some use. Many times more than one use or they are useful in a variety of situations. I’m going to try not to get bogged down in examples here because that’s a topic for another post.

My puppy clients learn a lot of behaviours. I do my best to prioritize those that I think will be most important for that puppy and its guardians because not every puppy needs to learn every behaviour, or to the same degree of difficulty. Ultimately, the puppy’s guardians get to choose what they use.

Communication

Part of the attraction to living with dogs is developing a bond and working as a team, and that takes communication. If you’ve ever seen a dog agility competition or watched the Superdogs Team, then you’ve witnessed top-notch canine-human communication.

Most of us don’t need that level of communication, which is great because that takes hours, days, weeks and years to reach.

We don’t need ESP-level communication to build a bond, thankfully. Using your cued behaviours helps your dog understand what you’re trying to communicate, and it can also sometimes help your dog communicate with you. Think about dogs using their noses or paws to beckon us to follow them as they take us to the door because they need to go outside to potty.

Lifestyle

So what behaviours should you prioritize teaching your dog in order to build your bond and work well together? My suggestion is to think about the life you want to have with your dog and then work backwards and decide what behaviours are needed.

It’s also really worthwhile to look at the behaviours your dog has already learned and ask yourself how you can use those cued behaviours in a given situation.

Got a dog who goes to work with you? You probably need to prioritize settling (if you work in an office-type environment), which includes a Down-Stay.

Got a small dog? All little dogs should be taught a “pick up” cue so they don’t just get scooped up off their feet without notice. Using a Touch cue or a “look at me” cue can be a big help for this.

Want to run with your dog? Gotta walk before you can run, right? Teaching really good loose-leash walking will be critical.

Ask me!

Got a question about how to teach a specific behaviour, or how to use some of the behaviours you’ve already taught your dog? Ask me! I love answering these types of questions. If you taught your dog a Touch cue, for example, but never use it, I can probably come up with several ways you can incorporate it into your dog’s daily life. By the time I finish working with my clients, they are amazed at how useful a Touch cue is!