# The 1st and most important command every dog should know



## GSDhistorian (Aug 30, 2014)

Video i found on youtube explaining why the COME command is the first and most important command every dog should know, and he also explains a sumple way he teaches dogs to do it, very useful video i wanted to share, worth watching! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfcRuH4ZuSs


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

Agreed....recall is a priority.


SuperG


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## Mary Beth (Apr 17, 2010)

Agree also! Recall can save a dog's life. Interesting approach to teaching it. I do like where he stresses to only say the command once.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I think the wait command can be just as important.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Slowest recall EVAR


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Baillif, your avatar's always scare me.

Recall is good, but I think a sold DOWN or DROP can be just as important. And SIT. You can see your pup getting ready to spring up to greet your ancient friend/neighbor/teacher, and give the dog a SIT, and no one gets hip. Old Mrs. Miller won't get a broken hip, and die in the hospital three months later, and you won't have to feel bad for the rest of your life. 

A solid LEAVE IT can also be a life-saver in more ways than one.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

I'd trump all that with a "No"

Whatever you were about to do stop it now or consequences will never be the same.

About to run into the road? No
About to chase a squirrel? No
About to jump on someone? No
About to run away from me to go do something? No
About to pick up my shoes/a sock/ the burger off my plate? No! No! No!

No need for a drop it, a leave it, or a sit, a down, a recall, an off or any other incompatible behavior people throw out there when you could just teach the dog to not do that annoying thing in the first place. 

A good "no" that a dog respects is the single most valuable thing ever.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

Agree re leave it. 

It once saved a little ankle-biter-dog's life when that idiot dog escaped its owner's arms, charged me and my big male on our walk, and tried to bite my foot. My male put one huge paw on it, pinning it, and put its whole head in his jaws and held it in place without puncturing it. He wasn't dog aggressive, but he was protecting me. I blurted out "leave it" automatically -- causing him to let that now-terrified dog run away unharmed. Had we not had a good "leave it" (for both him _and me), _that dog's life could have ended there. The proofing was as much about making that instinctive to say in the shocked moment of adrenaline rushing as making him leave off the behavior. 

You could use "pickle juice" as your word (or anything else!) to make the dog stop doing what it's doing -- as long as YOUR automatic reaction in a moment of panic is to say "pickle juice" and the dog will reliably stop whatever dangerous thing it's doing.


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## GSDhistorian (Aug 30, 2014)

Very good info and you said it well. I hate when things happened like the story you just mentioned... i was walking my female German Shepherd 1 day when 2 little dogs; one was an ankle biter, the other was about 25-30lbs came out and started circling us and barking, my German shepherd wanted them bad and would have crushed them both, but she listened well to me and kept her calm, but she had that look just waiting for 1 of them to lunge. For that reason i dont walk her anymore... i have a big fenced in back yard and play with her there. It's too bad there are people with no common sense to teach their little dogs control especially when mine is controlled. Im sure since my dog was on a leash, had she grabbed 1 of them, we wouldnt get in trouble, however, i just prefer avoid it all together and keep away any unnecessary stress.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Agree that the emergency stop is equally as important. I just use "down!"


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

Baillif said:


> I'd trump all that with a "No"
> 
> Whatever you were about to do stop it now or consequences will never be the same.
> 
> ...


+1, i was going to post the same thing.

no can be used to teach your dog not to do countless unwanted behaviors. therefore it is the most important.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

i just said that in another thread a few days. someone's dog kept barking at other dogs. my advice was tell the dog no. if it didn't know NO they needed to start training from the beginning again starting with NO. if it knew NO but doesn't listen they needed to start training from the beginning again.

rambo barked at a dog during walk at like 12 weeks, i said no, he's never done it again.


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## dhaney81 (Nov 5, 2014)

How exactly would you guys recommend teaching a reliable "NO"? Cause that's definitely not easy.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

it should be said fast and loud, like a bark. take away what they just picked up that they shouldn't like a shoe while saying no. yank back on the leash and say no when they try to chase a squirel. push their head away from the coffee table and say no when they are sniffing around by your sandwich you have sitting there. get upand chase them away from the trash while saying no when they put their head in it. 

say no while physically directing them away. they will very soon lean what no means then you won't have to physically do anything. just the NO will make them stop doing whatever it is they're doing. that's just how i've done it with my 2. i'm not a trainer though, maybe someone else can add better advice.


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## sehrgutcsg (Feb 7, 2014)

Baillif said:


> I'd trump all that with a "No"
> 
> Whatever you were about to do stop it now or consequences will never be the same.
> 
> ...


Off, Out and Here are good too..


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I prefer to tell a dog what to do, rather than just a "NO!" I usually use "EH!" for a negative marker, and it is the same as "No!" But in most of the situations called out, you are giving a type of correction, "EH!" or "NO!" before the dog ever chased the squirrel or jumped on someone. 

For dogs used to physical consequences for not listening to "No!" that probably is ok. But for dogs that generally don't need more than an occasional "Eh" to let them know that they made a wrong decision, jumping the gun before they ever did the bad thing, well, it won't kill them, but it would be just as easy to tell them what to do, SIT, and then praise them for it. 

When I had a bitch walking to the park with the girls, off lead, she was ahead of us, and a suicidal black squirrel came chattering across the road toward us. Babs definitely saw the squirrel, I told her, "Babs, Heel." And she did. There was no, "NO!!!!" Of course, if the girl needed that level of management, she would not have been leading us to the park. 

I had a bitch on leash, when a loose dog come up running and circling and snarling and barking at us. A LEAVE IT, and a Heel, kept my dog at my side and the little dog intact, all the way to my car and while I unlocked it and loaded her up. 

We do not all need strong, corrective type words, to keep our dogs in line. I prefer telling them precisely what I want, rather than a generic word that can be used in any situation to tell the dog to cease. I have that word. It is "ENOUGH!" With most people, "No!" is over used and not properly used.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

I have never met a dog or a puppy that wouldn't respond to a 'puppy, puppy, puppy.' in a slightly high pitched voice. I have never had an issue with a recall.......
until I met Shadow. 

What she does have is a rock solid 'leave it' and an instant 'stop!', both have saved her life, and my mental health. Either would take my vote as most important.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

selzer said:


> I prefer to tell a dog what to do, rather than just a "NO!" I usually use "EH!" for a negative marker, and it is the same as "No!" But in most of the situations called out, you are giving a type of correction, "EH!" or "NO!" before the dog ever chased the squirrel or jumped on someone.
> 
> For dogs used to physical consequences for not listening to "No!" that probably is ok. But for dogs that generally don't need more than an occasional "Eh" to let them know that they made a wrong decision, jumping the gun before they ever did the bad thing, well, it won't kill them, but it would be just as easy to tell them what to do, SIT, and then praise them for it.
> 
> ...



Yes, yes. So much this. My dogs rarely if ever hear "No", because they know the proper way to behave. They don't run into the road or jump on someone or steal food off my plate because I teach them what *to* do, not what *NOT* to do.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)




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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

you can't tell a dog they are in the wrong without a no marker. you can't say "please don't do that" 'cause they don't know english like that. like selzer said, i usually use "EH" to let them know stop whatever it is they're doing. i use out for sniffing at food or staring at you while you are eating and sniffing by the trash. off for jumping on people. an EH for trying to pull towards a squirrel or a bird on a walk. no for everything else. with my last GSDs they knew NO first. it really doesn't matter what no marker you use. everyone does things different. but any no marker IMO is the most important and should be the first to teach.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

also our trainer makes us use NO when they fail to perform a command. if we say sit and they ignore we have to give 5 seconds then repeat the command again with more balls in the voice and this time it's a "NO SIT" then when they do it the good marker is a "good sit"


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

I use a version of eh for changing a behavior I don't want a dog doing in that particular moment but isn't specifically a bad behavior. If it doesn't get a change in behavior a no comes next and a consequence. No is followed by consequence almost every single time.

There is no reason to give an alternative behavior when you can teach them what not to do. I don't care if my dogs sit in front of new guests I just don't want them jumping on them. I don't care if my dogs sit in front of an open door before getting permission to go through I just don't want them flying through. Teaching alternative behavior means you have to add the extra teaching step of the alternative behavior and then you still have to add consequence for when that inevitably fails.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

scarfish said:


> you can't tell a dog they are in the wrong without a no marker. *you can't say* "*please don't do that*" 'cause they don't know english like that. like selzer said, i usually use "EH" to let them know stop whatever it is they're doing. i use out for sniffing at food or staring at you while you are eating and sniffing by the trash. off for jumping on people. an EH for trying to pull towards a squirrel or a bird on a walk. no for everything else. with my last GSDs they knew NO first. it really doesn't matter what no marker you use. everyone does things different. but any no marker IMO is the most important and should be the first to teach.


 Actually you can.

If you can find them read the books by Charles Eisenmann. His dogs were brilliant and no 'commands' were used. 
And Sabi knew exactly what please don't do that meant. I talk to my dogs, just talk. Buddy prefers defined, direct commands but he understands when I say 'could you bring that to me please'.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

Scarfish, you are talking about two different things. NO is an aversive command that you have trained. I have done the same to a few of my dogs. A no reward marker is NOT the same thing, it is just a word that means "keep trying, that wasn't right so you aren't getting a cookie" -usually used to prevent superstitious behaviors. You do not have to tell a dog it's doinf somethung wrong at all- you can just prevent unwanted behaviors by icing alternate good behaviors and using a high rate or reinforcement to make the new behavior the default, or by preventing bad behaviors in the first place. Through positive reinforcement training


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

A no reward marker and a no aversive marker can be essentially the same thing as they both signal punishment one is positive punishment the other is negative punishment but both are still punishing.

When used like that it isn't really a command at all it is a marker as DJ pointed out


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Sabis mom said:


> Actually you can.
> 
> If you can find them read the books by Charles Eisenmann. His dogs were brilliant and no 'commands' were used.
> And Sabi knew exactly what please don't do that meant. I talk to my dogs, just talk. Buddy prefers defined, direct commands but he understands when I say 'could you bring that to me please'.


A command is a signal saying anything to a dog they've been trained to recognize as a signal is essentially commanding. Otherwise you're insenuating dogs understand human speech and if that's the case then I'm not even going to go there.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Baillif said:


> A command is a signal saying anything to a dog they've been trained to recognize as a signal is essentially commanding. Otherwise you're insenuating dogs understand human speech and if that's the case then I'm not even going to go there.


Dogs are generally accepted to have an intellect on par with a 2 year old human child. I don't think any being with that intelligence could live 10-15 years hearing human speech and *NOT* come to understand it, as least as far as it applies to them.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Go do a little research with credible sources and don't just assume what you think is generally accepted is true.

People are so quick to reject wolf vs dog comparisons but jump all over the human children vs dog comparison. They're not even close to similar.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Baillif said:


> Go do a little research with credible sources and don't just assume what you think is generally accepted is true.
> .


So university research articles that disagree with you are automatically rejected as not credible? Interesting but okay.

I'm really more interested in your rationale for how any marginally intelligent creature can live a decade or more listening to human speech and observing human behavior and not come to comprehend it as it affects the animal except as a series of trained commands.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

Baillif said:


> Go do a little research with credible sources and don't just assume what you think is generally accepted is true.
> 
> People are so quick to reject wolf vs dog comparisons but jump all over the human children vs dog comparison. They're not even close to similar.


 When I say "I don't mind if you get on that couch, but please stay off the new one" without pointing or otherwise indicating and the dog complies I assume that it understood. When I say "stay out of the garden please" and the dog again complies, I assume it understood. 
I don't equate my dogs with children, I treat them as intelligent beings with thoughts and feelings of their own.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

Sabis mom said:


> When I say "I don't mind if you get on that couch, but please stay off the new one" without pointing or otherwise indicating and the dog complies I assume that it understood. When I say "stay out of the garden please" and the dog again complies, I assume it understood.
> I don't equate my dogs with children, I treat them as intelligent beings with thoughts and feelings of their own.


Your first thought is that your dog understood English that it wasn't taught to comply with, not that they didn't want to get on that or go in there that moment? :crazy:


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

DJEtzel said:


> Your first thought is that your dog understood English that it wasn't taught to comply with, not that they didn't want to get on that or go in there that moment? :crazy:


 That may be the case, if I had to repeat it. I don't actually analyze much if they seem to not understand, I simplify it for them. If they comply we move on. 
I am of the opinion that sometimes we make things harder then they need to be by over thinking.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Dogs understand way more than we give them credit for. Yes you can talk to your dog using regular English, and get pretty good response most of the time. When I tell he dog to go to bed, or go to the study, she definitely knows the difference and does what I want. When I tell her what I have isn't for her, she will walk away, knowing that it's no use. Sometimes it is the words they have learned to identify, Study, Bed, Mine, Not this, etc. Some of it is our tone of voice and body language. 

It is kind of like me. When I see a human face I can't recognise it for the life of me. I think I have the same thing Ronald Reagan had, they call it something, (not alzheimers) where you cannot recognize faces. If I have the height, the walk, the clothes and the hair, I can recognize the person. I don't need all of that if I have the voice. I think dogs are similar to that. They do not understand the entirety of human speech alone. But when you put it together with tone and body language and repetition, dogs can understand way more than commands barked at them and precise motions. 

How much they understand, I really don't know.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

In IPO, two things to train for is a down and a recall....so in real life that does carry over when the foundation is set. A dog that hears the down command will do it spot on where-ever when-ever. Same with the here(come)and out. 
Even if it is 'sport' training those words carry over when necessary in real life scenarios.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

Sabis mom said:


> When I say "I don't mind if you get on that couch, but please stay off the new one" without pointing or otherwise indicating and the dog complies I assume that it understood. When I say "stay out of the garden please" and the dog again complies, I assume it understood.


you assumed wrong. trust me your dog didn't understand. if these stories are true it was a fluke. dogs don't speak or understand human language. 

if your dog can understand full sentences like that you better call the news. this could be the story of the century.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Dogs can understand many words, full sentences included. They live with verbal communication on a daily basis. Of course key words play into the blah blah blah. I think the word NO is often blocked out because many handlers use it for everything. 
Whispers are listened to way more intently than yelling, tone of voice is part of the communication picture. No reason to discount a dogs intelligence. Some are far smarter than their handlers.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

When you train hundreds of dogs a year and you observe and break down why behaviors happen, why they fail, what dogs cue off of and when, the "magic" goes away pretty quickly.

They have rudimentary mimicry abilities which occasionally come in handy when teaching 
There's some social facilitation going on there too
There's some interesting cognitive ability going on there too.
The majority of the learning occurs through operant conditioning.

I wouldn't try to compare them to children though. I do sometimes make a joking comparison between dogs learning a lot like autistic kids but they still don't make a good direct comparison. 

I've made it no secret I don't agree with a lot of university studies on dogs particularly Brian Hares research at Duke. Beware any research done by someone trying to sell you something.


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## G-burg (Nov 10, 2002)

All these years I thought dogs picked up on body language first, way before the verbal stuff.. who knew they could carry on a conversation with us! 

I don't really have 1 important command, because I think they are all important..


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Reminds me of a story of a horse in Germany that a person claimed could do math. The trainer would ask the horse a math problem and the horse would stomp the correct number of times to get the answer with its foot.

Turns out the horse couldn't do it when the horse couldn't see the handler because the horse was watching the handlers expression on his face and when he got the right answer the handlers face lit up and then he stopped stomping and would get his food reward.

The horse appeared to be able to understand math and human language but that's not what was going on. The horse was watching for a signal. It performed a behavior and it got a desirable consequence.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

scarfish said:


> you assumed wrong. trust me your dog didn't understand. if these stories are true it was a fluke. dogs don't speak or understand human language.
> 
> *if your dog can understand full sentences like that you better call the news. this could be the story of the century*.


 Very well documented interview with an owner and some very famous German Shepherds indicates otherwise.

In 1972, Eisenmann conducted a demonstration for the benefit of the psychology club at the University of British Columbia, as recounted in _Weekend Magazine_.
He commanded his dog, London, to jump into the air.
The dog jumped.
“This time, London, when I say ‘jump’ it will mean lie down and put your paws over your eyes ... London, jump!”
The dog dutifully lay down before covering its eyes.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

Sabis mom said:


> Very well documented interview with an owner and some very famous German Shepherds indicates otherwise.
> 
> In 1972, Eisenmann conducted a demonstration for the benefit of the psychology club at the University of British Columbia, as recounted in _Weekend Magazine_.
> He commanded his dog, London, to jump into the air.
> ...


the dog was pre-trained certain cues to do that.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

Sabis mom said:


> When I say "I don't mind if you get on that couch, but please stay off the new one" without pointing or otherwise indicating and the dog complies I assume that it understood. When I say "stay out of the garden please" and the dog again complies, I assume it understood.
> I don't equate my dogs with children, I treat them as intelligent beings with thoughts and feelings of their own.


this is exactly what happened in your case.

when you said "I don't mind if you get on that couch, but please stay off the new one". the dog was about or looked like he was about to jump on othe new couch when you said that and the dog heard "bla bla bla bla bla bla OFF bla bla bla bla" and then chose the other couch.

when you said "stay out of the garden please" the dog looked like it was about to go in the garden (same as dogs to us, we can pick up on dogs body language and anticipate what they are about to do) the dog heard "bla OUT bla bla bla bla" and it changed it's mind.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

My dog is so smart. Her mother, we all said was half human. She could understand sentences. Of course, she was telepathic and would do what I wanted before I even told her to. She was so in tune with me, I think there is a reason we call them our heart-dogs if you are blessed enough to get one like that. And Babs is 9 now, and we have lived together for nine years, and she has my number and I have hers, and I can pretty much talk to her like I would anyone and she is successful most of the time. 

But ask that bitch to go find my brace when I am dead tired and don't want to try to sleep without it??? Yeah, no way hag, go find it yourself. 

Arwen would have gone and gotten it. 

They are smart, but they are dogs. They can learn COME is the same as HERE, is the same as "Get in here", is the same as "BABSY!?! Where are you!" They can understand that in all those situations, just coming to where you are is good enough, while in the ring when your hands are down at your side, they better come and sit right in front of you. They can understand that in training classes they had better come close enough for you to touch their head and play with their collar, while at home, going through the door into the house, or through a kennel gate is fine. 

Dogs are smart. Really smart. And if we work within their intelligence/comfort zone, etc, then we can have a pretty awesome relationship with the critter that grows continually. We can also wow people by what they can do intuitively, and by what they can be trained to do.


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## GSDhistorian (Aug 30, 2014)

I am with you here! I seen so many dogs that are smarter then lots of people,lol


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