The 10 Dog Commands

The 10 Commands for Dogs

It may sound like a list of religious standards for Dogs 😉
but it is a simple and basic way to communicate
with your Dog and to keep your Dog safe
by using these 10 commands


Basic Commands

Your Bulldog is your best friend,
but a Dog must have good manners,
so people and dogs around will enjoy it’s company
Dogs are able to learn a variety of commands
and by learning them your dog will be
socialized, friendly and controlled

Teaching your dog to understand
a vocabulary of basic commands
will go a long way towards
alleviating misunderstandings

Every dog owner should establish
a list of Basic Commands to train with
These commands will create
a foundation of communication
Read More


Stay

 

Stay

This command is often paired with sit or down,
the stay command tells dogs to relax,
and stay still for a while
It’s not the easiest command
for many dogs to learn
because they’d rather be
moving around than staying still

Training

Ask your dog to sit or lie down,
then tell her stay, holding your hand out
with your palm toward her nose in the stop position
If she holds the position for a second or two,
praise her and offer a treat
Repeat the sequence, gradually increasing the time


Stand



Stand

This command tells your dog
to quit fidgeting and be still
It’s useful for when you’re grooming him,
bathing him, checking him over,
or drying him off on a wet day

Only start with this command after
the dog has mastered the Sit and Down command



Training

Prepare for Training
All you need to teach your dog
to stand is a handful of treats
You will also want to find a quiet place
that is free of distractions
so your dog will keep its focus on you


Start off with your dog
either sitting or lying down in front of you
Hold a treat right in front of its nose,
and give the command stand
Very slowly pull the treat straight out
from its nose and toward you.
Your dog should stand up to follow the treat
The moment it is standing,
praise your dog and give it the treat


Down

 


Down

Like sit, the down command is
an essential part of doggy etiquette

Lying down is one of the harder commands
for dogs to learn, but it’s very useful
Dogs who understand ‘down’ are much more
welcome in cafes and other public places,
and much more pleasant to have near the dinner table

It’s also useful to help with social tension between dogs
when they are on the leash and
an approaching dog is scared or unsure
Give your dog the down command
This will help the other dog to feel safe and pass by

Laying down is also a good way to calm the dog
but try not to use the down command as a correction

I myself use different commands
for down and calm down
The down command should be about the position
the calming down, is not a position but a state of mind

Training

Get a nice smelling treat
and hold it in your closed hand
First ask your dog to sit, later on you can teach
to lie down from standing, but it’s easiest to start from a sit

Place your hand up to your dog’s nose
allowing it to sniff the treat
Your dog will follow the movement with his body,
lowering his head and stretching toward the treat
After your dog is in the prone position, say Down
Give your dog the treat and praise it

 


Heel

Heel


Walking is extremely beneficial
for your dog, and for you!
Teaching your dog to heel is a valuable skill
which makes everyone happier and healthier in the long run!

Heel simply means
that your dog will walk close by your side
without lagging behind or lunging ahead

The great thing about teaching a dog to heel
is that the dog is under very close control in this position
You can communicate with the dog quietly and easily
and reward him quickly and easily

Training

The most important part of teaching your dog to heel
is getting him to maintain his attention on you
For this reason, it’s best to work on this command
in short (5 to 10 minutes), frequent, intense sessions
Regular sessions will bring rapid results

Heeling is a very challenging lesson
and, more than any other,
it will require your patience,
consistency and persistence

The process of training a dog to heel
goes through four key stages

Establish heel position
Moving positions
Walk at heel
Add distractions

Establish heel position
What we want to do
is get the dog into the heel position,
let him know that this is the position
we are looking for
and reward him for being there

Start in a quiet room or yard
with no distractions,
no other dogs, no kids, no toys,
just you and the dog 

Quick Tip
If you position yourself next to a wall
with just enough space between you and the wall
to accommodate the dog, it will help to keep him close to you
and in the right position

Have a treat in your hand
and lure the dog into the correct position next to you
by moving the treat in a big circle
Make sure the dog is really close to you
before praising the dog and giving the treat

Repeat this step before starting to move
Take a few steps give the heel command and wait
for the dog to take position

Moving positions
When your dog mastered the first step
start moving around and try to keep your dog’s attention
ideally the dog will be purely focused on you and looking up

You will want to keep the dog’s focus 
so don’t be shu with treats
When you start moving around give treats every few seconds
and slowly reduce the amount of treats
Keep attention to your timing

Walk at heel
When your dog is following in position
try moving around and decrease the amount of treats
while keeping your dog’s attention
When your dog is closely following and focused
you can move on to the last step

Add distractions
Repeat all training steps but now
try to do it in an area with lots of distractions like the dogpark

When giving the treat your hand should always
be next to your leg, the spot where the dog heels
Do not reach but only give the treat
when the dog is in the correct position
the dog should focus on and follow you 


Leave it

 

Leave it

This is an especially good command for dogs
who will not hesitate to grab food
or anything they find on the ground

Dogs manage to get their teeth on all sorts of things
that can be dangerous for them, which is why
the leave it command is so important

The number one poison hazard for dogs
is human prescription medication, 
even a single pill can have devastating effects on a dog
There is also the danger of
chewing on and swallowing items
that can get stuck in their throats or intestinal tracts

Unless a dog has been taught to drop
whatever is in his mouth,
he may play keep away or swallow the item
before the owner can retrieve it
A dog that understands leave it
will leave an object alone or let go of the item,
which can then be taken away

Training

Have your dog on a leash and drop
a treat or toy onto the ground
Walk your dog past the toy
just short of where he could get it
As soon as you notice him pulling toward the toy,
sharply say, Leave it and pull him away

When he walks away
without you having to pull him,
reward him with a snack and tell him what a good dog he is
Repeat this with a longer leash and later without a leash,
until he listens to you and ignores the toy
Never forget to reward and praise

First train this with toys 
When the dog has mastered that,
try the same with food and treats

 


Out/Walkies


Out

This command is used to prepare your dog 
to go on a walk, you can use Out of Walkies
Just make sure to use is consistent

Why is this command useful?
You are letting the dog know you are going out together
and asking him or her to prepare
This means the dog will wait for you to get the leash
and sit down so you can easily put on their collars

Usually people will just grab the dog’s leash
and the dog will jump and get overexcited
making it hard to put them on the leash
also you want your dog to be happy but calm
when leaving the house

Training
Before putting on a coat or grabbing the leash
Give the command out or walkies
At first the dog will not know the meaning 
and won’t respond but it will soon
figure out this is the sign to go outside

Make sure your dog is calm and sits down
before putting on their collar/leash
Repeat and your dog will soon learn
to sit down and wait for you
to come and take him or her outside


Off

Off

Rare is a Bulldog that doesn’t prefer
an expensive sofa or chair over his own bed
Dogs that understand the command off
won’t necessarily stay off the furniture,
but at least they’ll get off quickly when they know the command 
The command is used to get dogs down on the ground

Training
When your dog is on the couch, say off
and gently get him down from the couch
Give a treat when he or she is on the floor
Repeat this until your dog will respond to the command
by jumping down on its own waiting for a treat


House Training

Dogs are instinctively clean animals. If they can avoid it, they would rather not soil themselves or their usual surroundings. Dogs naturally develop habits of certain areas where they would like to poop or pee. The key to house training a dog, is to rely on your dog’s natural instincts and tendencies. For example, most dogs will rather go on the grass or dirt than on concrete or gravel. You can use these natural tendencies for a successful house training. Here are some tips on housetraining a puppy or an adult dog and some insights on other problems with urination like marking their territory.

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House Training a Puppy

The first thing to do is to establish a living area in your home for your dog. This area can be a room in the house, a part of the kitchen etc. This will be his or hers own personal space. Next thing to do is to put the bed or crate, the food, waterbowl and toys in that area.  In the beginning, the dog may poop or pee in their bed or crate but once they realize that this is their special place, they will try to avoid soiling it.

Next thing to do is establish your dog’s toilet area.  Try to find an outside area nearby with quick and easy access. When housetraining it’s a smart thing to keep his collar on and leave his leash nearby. Now all you have to do, is watch and wait. Put your dog in their place and watch it non-stop. Most dogs express the same behaviour when they are about pee or poo. They will start looking and sniffing around for a spot to go. When you see this, it is your time to intervene. Quickly attach the leash to it’s collar and go to the toilet area. Make sure when walking to the toilet area, your dog doesn’t go on the way, keep the leash tight and keep your dog close.

To make things easier on both yourself and your dog, you should put your dog on a regular feeding schedule. What goes in on a regular schedule, will come out on a regular schedule. If you know when your dog needs to empty out, then you’ll know when to take her to her toilet area. Healthy adult dogs should be able to control their bladder and bowels for eight hours.

It’s important that you do not confine your dog without access to her toilet area for too long. If she can’t hold it, she will be forced to soil herself, her bed or her den. If this happens, it may become a habit and will take much longer to housetrain him or her. A common mistake is to punish the dog when peeing or pooing in the house. It’s very important for you to remember that you have to intervene and snap him or her out of it so you can show where to go properly. If you do punish the dog for this behaviour, your dog will be fearful to go whenever you are around and will still poo or pee inhome when you are not there or not looking.

The best way is to anticipate when your dog has to go and get him or her outside, before you have to intervene. When they do go outside make sure to reward his good behaviour exuberantly. When your dog does make a mistake inhouse make sure to clean the whole area directly and thoroughly. Use a powerful cleaner, I recommend a cleaner with lemon fragrance, an enzymatic cleaner can help break down the proteins left over from the urine, thus removing the smell as well as the impulse for the pet to urinate in the same spot again. Dogs don’t like the scent of lemon so it will not only take the smell away but it will also work as a repellent. Of course the petstores are full of anti-pee products, but water with an enzymatic lemoncleaner works everytime and is a lot cheaper.

Some people use newspapers or paper towels to make a temporary inhome doggytoilet which they will slowly move further away and eventually outside. Personally I disapprove of this method. I think a better, easier and more effective way to housetrain your puppy or dog, is to do teach him to go outside from day one. This will also exclude the possibility that your dog will keep associating newspapers or other used materials as a pee-spot.

James Shit Happens

House Training an Adult dog

Some adolescent or adult dogs urinate or defecate inside the house. The first thing you have to do, is rule out any medical problems. If it is not a medical problem, there can be several reasons for an adult dog to show this behaviour. Here are some of the most common reasons:

  • Urine Marking (marking territory)
  • Lack of house training (kenneldogs or strays)
  • A surface preference (dogs who will only pee on certain materials like beds, carpet, paper)
  • Age-related incontinence
  • Anxiety (urinating out of fear) or excitement urination

House training an adult dog is done in exactly the same way you do as house training a puppy. Let’s go over the most common reasons:

Urine Marking

If you find small amounts of urine in your home your dog might be marking. With urine marking, the dog deposits a smaller amount of urine. Marking in the house is usually done to an upright surface such as a doorway, table leg or other piece of furniture. The dog will lift it’s hind leg and mark urine on practically any object in your house. Quite often the object is something new or different with an unfamiliar smell that has come into the house but not necessarily so. He is also likely to mark items that he feels belong to him such as anything that he has become possessive about including you. Allthough female are known to mark their territory too it is more common in males.

We as humans tend to think of dog urine as something unpleasant but to a dog it is something of great interest. A dog leaves it’s scent in urine to tell other dogs a message. This message could be about whose territory it is, about the dog’s social order or advertising mating availability. Dogs use urine marking to show their dominance or to claim something. Dogs with feelings of insecurity or anxiety may also mark, as territory marking builds the dog’s confidence.
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Some facts about Urine marking:

  • Most dogs that are neutered or spayed at an early age do not mark in the house, male dogs that are not castrated are more likely to mark than castrated dogs.
  • Although male dogs are more likely to mark urine than females it is not unknown for a female dog to scent mark too. Often a female dog coming into heat or during it will mark to advertise her availability. A dominant female will also mark.
  • Small breeds tend to mark in the house more than larger dogs.
  • Two or more dogs living together in the same house may regard each other as competition and are more prone to urine marking. Urine marking can be a dominance issue.

How to stop your dog from marking:

  • Neutering will stop marking behavior in the majority of dogs. For older dogs, neutering may still have the desired effect but marking in the house may have become a habit that you will have to break
  • Supervise and break the habit (just like in the puppy training mentioned above) Close supervision is necessary. You must be dedicated to stop the marking behavior of your dog and you must be consistent

Lack of House Training

If your dog was kept in outside kennels, was a stray or maybe has an unknown history it is likely the dog was never house trained at all. In these cases you adjust the behaviour by giving them the same training as the puppy training mentioned above with a sidenote that a dog that has had a certain habit for a long time, it might take a little longer than with a puppy.

Surface Preferance

If your dog has a surface preferance, you first have to remove those preferred items from his place. The second thing you have to do is to make sure your dog knows what rooms, items or materials are off limit to him. You will not accomplish anything by taking the items away from him. You have to confronte the behaviour. So if your dog pees on blankets or papers don’t give him any in his place, but put one in front of you on the floor. Now make sure your dog knows, you own that blanket and it is off limits. Try this with all the preferred items in different areasand and repeat frequently.

Age-related or Medical Incontinence

There is not really much you can do about this problem. Just like humans these are some of the symptoms of getting old. Don’t blame your dog for getting old.  Try walking your dog more often for short periods of time. Some older dogs completely empty their bladder while others may leak small amounts of urine when they are asleep or leak continuously. If there is no medical solution and short walks are not enough, you might consider doggy diapers.

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 Anxiety and Excitement

Sometimes when a major change happens in a dog’s life (like a new family member or pet, a new house or losing a pet or family member) the dog may develop anxiety issues. This anxiety can cause a dog that has been housebroken for years to suddenly start urinating or defecating indoors. This kind of behaviour needs a different approach. You have to take the anxiety away before you can break their bad habit. A fearful or anxious dog needs a strong leader. By showing your dog that you are in charge and your dog can relax. Take him on daily walks, keep his mind aswell as his body busy and make sure your dog has a safe and quiet place to retreat.
If your dog has seperation anxiety and this results in urinating or defecating in the house it is crucial to gradually accustom a dog to being alone, by starting with many short separations that do not produce anxiety and then gradually increasing the duration of the separations over many weeks of daily sessions. In these cases you might consider getting a dog behaviourist or dog trainer involved.


What NOT to do

  • Do not rub your dog’s nose in it’s waste. First of all it does not work as a training method and second of all it is cruel
  • Do not get angry or physically punish your dog for eliminating indoors. Do not hit with a newspaper, spank or jerk on it’s collar. Realize that if your dog has an accident in the house, you failed to adequately supervise, you didn’t take her outside quick enough, or you ignored or were unaware of signals that it needed to go outside. Punishment might frighten your dog and will probably even worsen the problem!
  • Confining your dog is not a solution to the problem and is cruel
  • Do not crate your dog if she soils in the crate. This will just teach the bad habit of soiling the sleeping area and will make it even harder to house train your dog

Summary

House training is a process that takes time and patience and above all structure.  Don’t get frustrated, for some puppies or dogs it may take a little bit longer, but in my experience most dog are house trained in a few days even the adult dogs. Let’s end this blog with some related funnies 😉

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Related Blogs:

Bulldog puppy Training
Raising a Bulldog
Leash Walking
The Bulldog Hall of Shame


Stop Jumping

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Unless given a command to jump, your dog should never be allowed to jump on humans. A dog that jumps on humans on its own free will is a dog that does not respect the person it is jumping on. Even those cute little puppies or dogs should not be allowed to jump on people. While you may think it is cute, it is not cute to everyone else. Not only is it annoying to most people to have someone else’s dog jump on them, it can also be dangerous especially for little kids or elderly people. A jumping dog can knock people over, muddy their clothes, put runners in nylons and scratch the skin.

There are mainly three reasons for the jumping behaviour in dogs.

  • Excitement
  • Trained Behaviour (Your dog could be seeking your attention and has been rewarded with it by jumping up in the past)
  • Dominance

Before you start adressing the behaviour you have to know which of the reasons named above is the cause of your dog jumping. A different reason might also mean a different way to adress it. For instance a hyperactive dog is mostly helped by snapping him out of it or by redirecting the behaviour by giving it a command. So instead of letting them jump around give the dog a command like  sit and make your dog patiently wait before giving any attention. When the reason is dominance claiming your space is very important. Remember dominance does not mean agression. So your dog might be very loving and non agressive but still dominant. When a dog jumps on a human of its own free will, it is not greeting the human, it is asserting its dominance over the human, it is the dogs way of saying that it is alpha/leader/boss. Space is respect and lower members of the pack respect the higher members. Note: when a young puppy jumps on humans it is sometimes its attempt to reach one’s face. Puppies need to be taught not to jump up on humans as this behavior will manifest into a bigger problem when the puppy grows up into an adult dog.

Dogs like and need consistency, so if you are not allowing your dog to jump on you, everyone in the family and everyone who greets the dog must do the same. You, as an owner, must make sure this happens. It will only confuse a dog if you allow them to jump on some people who say they do not mind, and tell him not to jump on others.


Stopping the Jumps

It is very important to you, your dog and the people around you that your dog is well balanced. When a dog jumps up against you, do not step back or lean away, this will make the dog continue to jump. When you get out of the way the dog is claiming your space. When a dog jumps, step into the dog. Picture a sphere around you and are not going to allow anyone or anything to come into your space. You are not trying to knock the dog down you are just claiming your space. Casually and calmly, keep filling your space, not allowing room for the dog to come in. Remember, your goal is not to knock the dog down, it’s just to retain your space.

Here are some more helpfull videostips to help you solve this problem.

Now here are some approved and funny ways of Bulldogs Jumping:D