# Basic commands



## GoldenKat (Dec 4, 2007)

What basic command took the longest to train? I can get Allie to sit, stay, come or just about any basic command but for the life of me I can not get her to walk on a leash. I've read the thread about being a tree and calling her back but it seems fruitless. I don't want to switch to a choke collar but I'm getting so frustrated! She's only 4 months old so I try to give her a little slack, but at the same time it drives me up the wall! :doh:


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## goldensmum (Oct 23, 2007)

Is she pulling or won't walk?


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## Carsonsdaddy (Nov 1, 2006)

I think "stay" was the hardest for us... he just wants to be with us all the time... It's half-way decent right now...but not super reliable...."wait" is better....


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## TheGoldenDream (Feb 25, 2008)

Come took forever! For us it was because of all of the distractions.


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Loose leash walking is a _skill_ that takes time and patience for pups to master...

_Imagine your car has been installed with a device that makes the engine stall whenever you exceed the speed limit. When you're in a big hurry, you push hard on the gas pedal to get to work faster, then the car stops completely. How long would it take for you to carefully monitor your gas pedal pressure? How many times would you test it to see if you could "trick the system"? What if sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't?_

In order for Allie to learn how fast to go...she needs to have lots of opportunities (repetitions) to practice and figure it out - so try not to think of it as fruitless....she is just learning...

The biggest hint I can give is to be consistant....and to be consistant you have to have a really concrete idea of what constitutes nice leash behavior. At a strict heel position or having the snap of her leash hanging down vertially...

If she is successful 'every now and again' at pulling forward on a tight leash...it will increase the odds that she will try it again 'just to be sure' that the rules havent changed...


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## Brady's mom (Dec 20, 2007)

We had problems with Brady pulling the leash. The problem was about 75% solved by spending 10 minutes with our puppy class trainer showing us how to handle Brady on walks. What a world of difference we had after that short lesson! Brady does have a type of plastic "puppy" prong collar--it tightens but not super tight. If you can find a trainer to give you some tips in person, I'd highly recommend it.


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## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

stay was most difficult with Sam and he is still not even 100% reliable on it. we work on it daily with him, and have even got him (the MOST food motivated dog EVER) to stay and not eat treats off his paws.... but if we are outside, he is still very shaky on it.


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## Carraig (Jan 4, 2008)

I like the book and video by Brian Kilcommons, that demonstrates heeling/walking with frequent turns, left, right, 180 degrees etc. That way, they learn not to trust you and that they should heel in the proper position or you're going to bump into them.

Not that you should turn every six or seven feet, but often enough to catch her off guard, then use your lower leg to bump into her and get her attention. I found this worked every time.

Stay was another matter. My male, Scooter, was dreadful. I couldn't so much as look anywhere near him or he'd bounce right over, the doofus.


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## GoldenKat (Dec 4, 2007)

Allie is a super puller! When I take her out for a walk, I usually tie the nylon leash to my waist so I have access to treats. The minute I feel any tension on the leash, I stop and wait until she stops pulling and looks back at me. I'll call her to come to me and once we start walking again, she's off and pulling. It takes about a half hour just to walk two houses down and back.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

LibertyME said:


> Loose leash walking is a _skill_ that takes time and patience for pups to master...
> 
> _Imagine your car has been installed with a device that makes the engine stall whenever you exceed the speed limit. When you're in a big hurry, you push hard on the gas pedal to get to work faster, then the car stops completely. How long would it take for you to carefully monitor your gas pedal pressure? How many times would you test it to see if you could "trick the system"? What if sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't?_
> 
> ...


Spoken like a true Karen Pryor-ist! I LOVE IT!

Yup. Loose leash walking and reliably coming when called (when off leash around distractions) are, IMO, the two most challenging skills to teach and maintain. Takes lots of time, practice and patience.

We TEACH dogs TO PULL by being inconsistent when we walk. Be honest --- we all have moments where we let the dog pull either b/c we aren't paying attention to the fact that the leash is tight or b/c we're too tired or lazy to do anything about it. Then at other times, we're all up the dog's butt for pulling. It's totally not fair to the dog... and that's exactly why it takes so long for dogs to learn to consistently walk nicely on a lead.


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## Old Gold Mum2001 (Feb 25, 2007)

Carraig said:


> I like the book and video by Brian Kilcommons, that demonstrates heeling/walking with frequent turns, left, right, 180 degrees etc. That way, they learn not to trust you and that they should heel in the proper position or you're going to bump into them.
> 
> Not that you should turn every six or seven feet, but often enough to catch her off guard, then use your lower leg to bump into her and get her attention. I found this worked every time.
> 
> Stay was another matter. My male, Scooter, was dreadful. I couldn't so much as look anywhere near him or he'd bounce right over, the doofus.


 
LMAO  Scooter sounds like Jax :doh:

Been doing down/stay, and he'll crawl towards me, lol, so he kinda has it, being he stay in a down position< LOL, just not in one spot! :doh:


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## Judi (Feb 26, 2007)

"Down" was the hardest.
Someone told me that "down" is the hardest command to teach a dog.
It makes the dog submissive.


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

FlyingQuizini said:


> Spoken like a true Karen Pryor-ist! I LOVE IT!


Ive been out-ed!! LOL!


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## mdoats (Jun 7, 2007)

Come with distractions is definitely the toughest. Rookie is very good at coming when called, unless there's another dog that he REALLY, REALLY wants to play with. It's definitely one of those skills you need to work on constantly.


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## usmcmueller (Feb 4, 2008)

The first couple of times that I put a lead on Moose I thought I was in for the fight of my life. He would buck like a bronco. Not just pulling on the lead but jumping around like he had a little cowboy on his back. I just kept putting it on him every time we went out and like magic one day he just ignored the lead and went about his merry way. So it was time for a walk, the first one was just as bad as the first time I put the lead on. He wanted to go everywhere. I stayed consistent on where I wanted him to walk and by about the 4th walk he was fine. It's his favorite thing to do now. He doesn't like to have the latch swinging so he picks up about 4 inches higher on the lead and carries it with him, not chewing, just carries it. 

Come and stay are another animal.


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## ErikaS (Oct 1, 2007)

Roll was definately the hardest to teach Obi. When it came to trick time, he would sit, shake, other paw, lay... and when it came to roll he would jump back up and get excited. It took a couple of weeks of practice but he has it down now!


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## Deborah (Jul 3, 2005)

"Down" is a tough one for Coach, he knows what it means but he doesn't always want to do it. We are still working on "stand", I don't think he has grasped the meaning yet. He likes to jump up on the bed when I'm making it up in the morning but has caught on to "sit" and "wait". When I'm done, I say OK and up on the bed he goes :uhoh:

Lucie loves to learn, as far as basic commands, "stand" was the hardest one for her. She caught on to agility quickly (she knows "tunnel", "a-frame", "teeter-totter" etc). When she got the basics down, we started teaching her puppy parlor tricks. She "comes out with her paws up" which is basically telling her to sit, pointing a finger at her and saying "OK punk, come out with your paws up". She sits up on her haunches and puts her front paws up. I need to get a video camera for my Lou-dog.


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## Bogart'sMom (Sep 16, 2005)

Bogart learned walking on the leash really easely first walking in the neighborhood and then later I drove to a park on a daily basis were there were lots of joggers and bike riders and most people keep their dogs on the leash there. I had a lot of treats with me and so I could keep his focus on me when walking. He also doesn't like nauraly the pull of the leash on his neck. He'll stop and scratch his neck if he pulls a little. He is a softy. But he also hearned to ignore bike riders and joggers even though they couldn't ignore him and got some loving LOL. I don't know what the toughest comand was to teach anymore maybe leave it yes that's still hard for him and sometimes when off leash will ignore me convinently. He has a very good drop it though which was one of his first comands to learn since he picked up EVERYTHING! I just have to tell him to drop it and it's like a reflex with him now, hehehe!
The sit, down, and walking on the leash were and are no trouble at all I have to say leave it we still are chewing on that.


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## paula bedard (Feb 5, 2008)

have you tried a no-pull harness. This works great for us. Ike didn't like the tug on his neck either. He does a good Heel, but I know he doesn't like the leash on the neck, so on long walks we use the harmess. PetSmart sells, them.


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