5 Basic Commands to Teach Your Dog

Dogs are right up there, along with dolphins, chimpanzees, and ravens, as the world’s smartest animals. Dogs can even be trained for complicated jobs, like firefighting, bomb sniffing, guidance for the seeing-impaired and some are even taught to smell diseases way before they can be diagnosed by a doctor. Best of all, most dogs don’t mind being compensated with lots of treats. And it’s not at all true what they say about old dogs not being able to learn new tricks. Besides the common ‘sit,’ ‘stay’ and ‘come,’ there are a number of other commands you can train your dog to do. Here are 5 basic commands to teach your dog.

1. ‘Down’ is a great command to teach your dog, especially if he has a habit of jumping up on people. If you want your dog to learn how to lie down on the floor, on command, all you need are some treats and some patience. Most dogs have a natural disposition to be obedient. All you have to do is show them the treat, say ‘down,’ and make a motion with your hand (the one with the treat in it), and they will soon enough lie down on the floor as instructed. After a while you will be able to do this without a treat, and even without a verbal common. As this becomes second nature, most dogs will respond just to the ‘down’ motion you make with your hand.
2. After you’ve taught your dog ‘down’ and ‘stay,’ you might as well teach them how to ‘release.’ Once your dog is in the stay position, or any fixed position, having a command that will release them will be a great reward to your dog for being so obedient. To make this command successful, make sure your dog was in their previous ‘stay’ or ‘down’ position for up to 10 seconds.
3. ‘Heel’ is another great command for your dogs, especially if they get a little rowdy when you walk them around the block. ‘Heel’ will essentially teach your dog to walk only a couple of inches next to you and at your heel. If you are tired of constantly having to unravel your dog’s leash or untie the leash from your hands and legs, heel is a great command to teach your dog if you want him or her to walk in line.
4. And if there is one thing about cats, and their multitude of cat accessories, it’s that you can pretty much guarantee that they won’t fetch or ‘bring’ you anything. ‘Bring’ is a great command, because you can pretty much verbally tell your dog to bring you anything you want, from getting their ball to getting the newspaper. Your dog will be happy to do little retrieval tasks for you around the house.
5. ‘Roll over’ is another command that is taught, much the same way as ‘down.’ With a few treats, a strong hand motion and some verbal tasking, your dog should be able to roll over in no time. Rolling over is actually in their biomechanics, and with a few treats your dog will be glad to show you how easy it is for them.