# Question about Command Meanings



## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

This is really random (sorry if it's not in the right place; I couldn't find any other place to ask this), but I just HAVE to ask this question.

If you're training your dog as a sport prospect, I'm betting you use some German commands. You may use "sitz," "platz," "fuss," etc., am I right? So here's my question...

How did "platz" become "down" and "fuss" become "heel"? I got called out in my class last night that "platz" does NOT mean "down" (I didn't feel like going into the whole "he's a working dog, and it's become German-to-English slang for 'down'" thing) and of course "fuss" does not mean "heel." Can anyone give some insight as to how these commands came about? I don't know if there are any native Germans on this site, but if there are, your insight would be much appreciated, as well. I'm just very curious.


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## MichaelE (Dec 15, 2012)

I don't know how the use of platz came about. Knowing more than a few words in German, I was a bit confused myself.

Maybe because niederschlagen doesn't exactly roll off the tongue for a dog command. It also has too many syllables.

To the dog, it doesn't matter. She just associates a word with an action. You could say 'chili' and teach her down.

Fuß is of course, foot as in Fußball and you want the dog at your foot when you give the command.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

German dog terms do not always translate cleanly to everyday terms. That became very obvious to me years ago when I asked my German neighbor to translate a breed survey.  I know when clubs have a German judge come over who doesn't speak English they have to find a translator who knows dog stuff or the translations do not translate cleanly to English. 

Fuß (fuss) is easy - foot or heel in dog training
Platz - place, spot, area, location, position, or down in dog training
Sitz - to have a seat or sit in dog training
Hier - here or come

Nice short words. I doubt there are any German speaking people on this board old enough to know when and why these particular words were chosen.


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

I understand all of that, as I know a little German myself, but I was just curious about how the associations of words came about. That's all. "Fuss" makes sense, I suppose, as you're saying foot instead of heel, but that's all part of the same body area. "Platz" is the one that gets me. haha

I just didn't know if someone knew the so-called magic behind the meaning or not. I'd particularly like to know what a German thinks about it, but that may be asking a little much on this site. I don't know how many Germans actually utilize it. lol


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

lhczth said:


> German dog terms do not always translate cleanly to everyday terms. That became very obvious to me years ago when I asked my German neighbor to translate a breed survey.  I know when clubs have a German judge come over who doesn't speak English they have to find a translator who knows dog stuff or the translations do not translate cleanly to English.
> 
> Fuß (fuss) is easy - foot or heel in dog training
> Platz - place, spot, area, location, position, or down in dog training
> ...


I agree completely! Like I said in my original post, I think that a lot of it has become German-to-English slang-type words. Thanks for the insight with the German neighbor. Did he at least understand it well enough to kinda go, "Oh, well, that makes sense, too," or did he think it was a little ridiculous?


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

I just emailed my German friend and asked. These are the words they use. They aren't something Americans made up. You can tell that to the people who were picking on you.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

When my neighbor translated the breed survey to me we had to guess at what was meant at times (especially when translating movement) since it did not translate cleanly. She is not a dog person. I now have several German speaking dog people friends so can get nice clean translations.


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

Thank you! You're awesome.  I figured that they were words that Germans had come up with for the working dog training, since they seem to be used in most working venues that I've come across. I didn't mind being told that it didn't translate directly to "down"... I just didn't like that the guy felt it was necessary to call me out on it in front of lots of people. I was thinking, What does that accomplish?! Seriously!


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Petty and childish. No purpose in trying to belittle someone other than to make oneself feel more important. Just ignore him. 

I'll let you know when I hear back from my friend.


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

That's what I thought, too... It upset me because we're supposed to be very supportive of each other in that class/club.

Thank you again for your help.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

Our trainer is from Germany. My hubby is fluent in German. These are the terms used in Germany so we use them as a convenience as most people in the sport use them. I don't really know why someone would complain about which term you use. Maybe they just wanted to sound like an expert.

Even in the sport we use some different words, we use Fass while some use Pucken for the bite. Some use Revier and some use Voran for running the blinds.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

My friend laughed and said the words used make perfect sense. She has no idea why someone would say they were wrong unless they had no understanding of German.


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## Juliem24 (Jan 4, 2014)

My parents and family were German speaking, and spoke a combination of German English idioms. ( kinda like Spanglish) Platz was frequently used, as in "he platzed himself down". Or, in my case, " don't platz down like that"...like a ruffian!
I'm sure that the dialect was Milwaukee, though! Always with a shot and a chaser within reach.


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

car2ner said:


> Our trainer is from Germany. My hubby is fluent in German. These are the terms used in Germany so we use them as a convenience as most people in the sport use them. I don't really know why someone would complain about which term you use. Maybe they just wanted to sound like an expert.
> 
> Even in the sport we use some different words, we use Fass while some use Pucken for the bite. Some use Revier and some use Voran for running the blinds.


I didn't know why he wanted to complain, either. We train at two different clubs, and this particular club isn't even for sport. I had our trainer at this club tell me that she thought my dog couldn't do CGC yet because his reward was a ball, and he is "too bouncy." Lol. I guess they just aren't used to sport stuff. That's my only guess. I think he did want to sound like an expert, too.

Those different commands were some I was thinking about earlier this morning when someone mentioned that she used "voran" to get her dog to alert/bark. I'm beginning to think it's mostly just the German-to-English slang and dependent on the person who uses said commands. They all seem to have close enough meanings, from what I've gathered from you guys.

Thank you for the input!


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

lhczth said:


> My friend laughed and said the words used make perfect sense. She has no idea why someone would say they were wrong unless they had no understanding of German.


THANK YOU and please thank your friend for me.  I'm glad to know that I'm not totally off my rocker. haha. The guy said that he was "fluent in German" and "lived there for eight years," but who ever knows who ever knows who's being honest and who's not.


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

Juliem24 said:


> My parents and family were German speaking, and spoke a combination of German English idioms. ( kinda like Spanglish) Platz was frequently used, as in "he platzed himself down". Or, in my case, " don't platz down like that"...like a ruffian!
> I'm sure that the dialect was Milwaukee, though! Always with a shot and a chaser within reach.


The last sentence seriously made me laugh out loud. I'm glad to know that that's how your family used the word, too! Thanks for your experience!


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Gosh, you just needed to spew a bunch of German at the guy. Never mind if it made no sense at all.... All I remember from my HS german is "have you gone to the post office?" Or a phrase in English that says "I don't give a rat's butt what you think about the words I use."


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## canyadoit (May 14, 2014)

Why give others the ability to command your dog ?

By using common words and phrases that is exactly the 'door' you open. The dog dose not the definition a a word . It knows cause and effect. 

For example , I caution folks on the command phrase ' Go for a car ride ' . In my opinion a easy way to get a dog stolen .


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## David Taggart (Nov 25, 2012)

GSDs have amazingly good memory. With a right training any average GSD can learn up to 300 different words before 1 year old. Here is a rule: You can use several words for one and the same thing, but should never use one and the same command for diffrent things. Sometimes it helps you to differentuate, for instance - train "Platz" first in association with laying down from sitting position, start to ask "Down" for laying down from standing position. The most confusing command for any dog is "No". It is used for too many things, and the majority of dogs understand it as "Your punishment is coming, beware!". So, you can use German word to stop your dog's intention to sniff another person, use English to stop him barking at dogs, and use Chinese to stop him chasing a cat, etc., this list might not have any end. German commands are popular because of their sound. German words are sharp and short, and by pronouncing them you learn to discipline yourself first of all. So called *commanding tone* ( that is another subject) could be acquired faster - not too loud, firm and authoritative, it should be easily recognized by your dog. Your dog knows that he hears a command by hearing certain intonation, and you control yourself by pronouncing German words. When you are outing your dog - you shouldn't yell.


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

middleofnowhere said:


> Gosh, you just needed to spew a bunch of German at the guy. Never mind if it made no sense at all.... All I remember from my HS german is "have you gone to the post office?" Or a phrase in English that says "I don't give a rat's butt what you think about the words I use."


THAT just made my day. hahaha. I should really do that if he decides to say anything else!


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

canyadoit said:


> Why give others the ability to command your dog ?
> 
> By using common words and phrases that is exactly the 'door' you open. The dog dose not the definition a a word . It knows cause and effect.
> 
> For example , I caution folks on the command phrase ' Go for a car ride ' . In my opinion a easy way to get a dog stolen .


Oh, I agree. He doesn't have any say in the words I use to train my dog, trust me. Fortunately/unfortunately, I'm typically the only person my dog listens to. It comes in handy at times (such as in the example of not having him get stolen), but it gets difficult when he won't listen to my boyfriend... We'll be working on that to an extent. I'm trying to give him some English commands in addition to my German commands so that others can command him if need be in certain situations. They would be basic commands such as sit, down, stay, etc., not serious ones like going for a ride or anything like that (I don't even use that as a command, and I'd be cautious, too!).


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

David Taggart said:


> GSDs have amazingly good memory. With a right training any average GSD can learn up to 300 different words before 1 year old. Here is a rule: You can use several words for one and the same thing, but should never use one and the same command for diffrent things. Sometimes it helps you to differentuate, for instance - train "Platz" first in association with laying down from sitting position, start to ask "Down" for laying down from standing position. The most confusing command for any dog is "No". It is used for too many things, and the majority of dogs understand it as "Your punishment is coming, beware!". So, you can use German word to stop your dog's intention to sniff another person, use English to stop him barking at dogs, and use Chinese to stop him chasing a cat, etc., this list might not have any end. German commands are popular because of their sound. German words are sharp and short, and by pronouncing them you learn to discipline yourself first of all. So called *commanding tone* ( that is another subject) could be acquired faster - not too loud, firm and authoritative, it should be easily recognized by your dog. Your dog knows that he hears a command by hearing certain intonation, and you control yourself by pronouncing German words. When you are outing your dog - you shouldn't yell.


You definitely have some information that I didn't think about. Thanks! I'm with you--I don't yell at him for anything but "NO" so that he knows I'm serious. I had someone tell me that dogs don't need for you to tell because they can hear well enough, and I agree with that completely, so there are many things that I tell him quietly enough for only him to hear.


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## zyppi (Jun 2, 2006)

FYI, as long as you're not working a dog where certain commands are part of the tasks, you can train with any commands you choose. Just be consistent.

I trained mine with German commands, but my husband tells them the same in english. I wouldn't confuse a dog with that until they already knew and obeys one set of commands.

German Shepherds are capable of quite a vocabulary.


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