We all love our dogs, that much could never be in doubt - and for one family, the obedience level need is different from the next - some people need a schutzhund level trained dog, and others just want a lap warmer. But all things considered, there are a certain few skills every dog should know!
1) Proper Leash Skills
Whether or not you want a structured walk or a lazy sunday stroll just for fun, every dog should learn manners when they are on leash, and all dogs should stay on leash unless they're playing. Dogs pull because humans move slower than they do, and they must learn to walk slower and that walking in front of us is very rude. Most often, the dogs that get into trouble on walks are the ones that are walking rudely with their humans. All dogs should understand that pulling is not okay, that leash pressure means move towards it, and that it is rude to walk ahead.
2) Fast Command Response
If you say sit, you should only ever have to say it once, and that needs to be it. If your dog doesn't listen immediately to what you're telling it to do, they don't respect you, and eventually they learn that "sit" means nothing and "sit sit sit sit sit" means park my bum for a half second then carry on.
3) Emergency Down or "Hit the Ground"
In cases of dogs that could be a flight risk, if you train this skill well enough, your dog will go into a down no matter what they're doing, and it could save their lives. While it is a little tricky to train into all situations, the payoff is well worth it. If trained right, if you happen to lose grip on the leash and your dog darts off to greet another dog across a busy street, if they know "Hit the Ground" or "STOP", they will cease what they are doing and go into a down until you release them.
4) Out/Drop it
If a dog is allowed to have a toy all the time and doesn't have to give it up, it creates possessiveness and toy dominance issues. All dogs should understand that out or drop it means business!
5) Crate Skills
Crates might come across as unfair but when it boils down to it, when trained properly, the dog learns it is like a little bedroom where they can be safe, secure, relaxed, and happy, away from the cat or the baby or even just away from you. Seeing as its illegal to travel in a car unless your dog is crated, happy crate skills are critical.
6) Stay
The ability to put your dog in a spot and walk away is very important, especially if you want to shower, or cook without your dog underfoot. Stay is a command that can also save lives - especially if they want to go play with that aggressive dog across the path.
7) Place/Bed
While stay is naturally included with place, a dog needs a spot of their own that they know is theirs to lay on, besides their crate. If they happen to jump on to human furniture, you can say "No, bed" and eventually they will learn their spot is where they rest.
8) How to ignore other dogs
The concept that dogs must greet other dogs all the time is a human concept based on the fact that humans greet other humans all the time. Social skills to a dog is the ability to ignore other dogs and not worry about a confrontation, and it's important that they learn this skill early, because you can't guarantee anyone else's dogs are going to be polite. In the case of fearful dogs that are scared of other dogs, the process of safe walking does include desensitizing them to other dogs by making them meet safe dogs.
9) High intensity Exercise
While walking at human speed might tire out a puppy, it doesn't do much for most other dogs. All dogs should learn skills like fetch, swimming, or some form of high intensity exercise to burn this excess energy that a walk won't burn off.
10) Proper Consistent Communication
If you don't have a proper communication system with your dog, everything else falls apart. Most people do not have a proper communication system with their dogs. For instance, do you have separate commands for training and behavioural mistakes? Can you say that you don't use the same word for many different behaviours? Dogs need every word to mean one thing, and only one thing. "Yes" should be "You did that right", and "No" should only ever mean "That was not what I wanted, try again" and not a "Stop that, you bad boy". "Sit" should only ever mean put your bum on the ground and wait, and "down" should only ever mean put your belly on the ground and wait. I can't count the times where I have met people where "down" meant lay down, relax, stop jumping, get off the furniture, drop the toy, and in a couple cases, where the dog thought "sit" meant just touch the ground with my bum and carry on. This always leads to confusion, because the dog has to stop and think and go "did they mean down as in off the couch, or should I lay down? Maybe they mean down as in just relax?" and they don't respond, which makes the humans mad, sadly caused by the human not using different terms. This is also why "No" should mean training mistake, try again, and a different sound for "You really screwed up, stop that". Out should either mean release the toy OR go outside, not both, and bed should exclusively refer to their bed on the floor, and not the crate. Simple confusions like this cause a dog to stop and think for too long, and often result in a frustrated human.
Good luck out there, everyone!
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