When you bring your dog home and the novelty and cuteness of having a puppy wears off the next question that pops into our mind is the idea of training the young pup. But where do we start? What does my dog need to know? How do I teach this to my dog? What is the most important thing for my dog to know? These are all good questions and seem so easy when you sit down to write an article because all the infinite number of behaviors that a dog can display are not present when sitting in a quiet spot thinking and writing. When you are with your brand-new puppy or brand new to you older dog that is completely untrained and the dog is off the rails the thought of even formulating a thought in regards to where to start may be overwhelming.
My goal in dog training is very simple, but admittedly this has only happened over time including ten years of attempting to train multiple dogs and a lifetime of having and or being around dogs. My goal for a dog is to be able to be with me wherever I go and remain calm, attentive, and polite. These three words are used on a consistent basis by Stonnie Dennis from Kentucky Canine, and as I repeat them and work with dogs, they are exactly what I believe makes a good dog. Of course, some dogs with specific jobs require a skill set that is much vaster, but as a starting point, this is a good place for all dogs to start regardless of their roles.
Although this concept appears to be obvious, the number of dogs that display these attributes in all environments is very low. Yet these are great qualities for every dog to have, which brings me to the two commands that I believe will most likely help a dog owner to achieve this goal. These two commands include the heel and recall.
First and foremost a dog must come to you when called (the recall) and he must be able to stay engaged while he stays right with you at your side (the heel). Why are these commands a must? Why are they so critical? The reality is nothing will help to keep your dog more safe than the ability for you to keep them right with you whenever you need them to be. In addition, the ability for your dog to do this without the use of a leash frees you up to do whatever you need to and to keep your dog safe if needed.
The Recall – a well trained dog will always come back to you when called no matter what the distraction. So often new owners work on training positions and there is some argument to be made in regard to positioning assisting in controlling a dogs disposition they don’t do a lot. They are simply a position that the dog is in. The recall in and of itself is extremely important and if your dog knows nothing else, as long as he recalls to you when needed, you will be able to keep your dog safe, making sure you can always bring him back to you before he gets into trouble.
The Heel – The heel is the key to engagement, and “Engagement is the language of obedience” a repeated philosophy from my trainer Steven Waltrip and owner of Nitro K9 in Bothell, Washington. The heel with the expectation that the dogs focus remains on you throughout the heel is what I have come to believe is the key to all obedience. So, although not listed in this order, technically the heel is the first thing that I suggest teaching your dog. Everything you want to teach your dog can easily stem from this activity because this activity requires engagement.
I personally never really thought much of training the heel I felt like it was a level of obedience that wasn’t really that necessary. However, after struggling for seven years to train my working line German Shepherd and having almost all my frustrations and struggles disappear after three and a half months of training the heel at Nitro K9. This completely made me a believer in this aspect of training. I realize now that all the other commands that I may want to add easily stem from this very simple and basic concept yet are rarely taught to pet dogs. Sporting and Protection trained dogs seem to always possess this ability. Now I understand that this is not just a correlation but an important ingredient to ensure that these dogs achieve the level of obedience that they require. I also believe that it is an important factor in ensuring that pet dogs can achieve the goal of being calm, attentive, and polite.
The reality is that I believe a dog owner can get so much out of these two commands that I truly believe that if you teach your dog nothing else you can have a very good and well-behaved dog just by teaching these two commands to a level that the dog will follow them in any environment and at any time.
The one other command that would be a bonus and then ensure a well behaved dog even if they could not be with you in certain places would be the down stay. Which quite simply is just the “down” which a dog should maintain until released.
Now overtime I know there will always be more that you want to teach your dog. The good part is by teaching the recall and the heel. You will easily be able to teach your dog just about anything that your heart desires stemming from this foundation. This foundation will always ensure that your dog will be safe and that your dog will be engaged with you. From this starting point you have the tools that are required to ensure that your dog is set up for success and he is easy to real back in whenever a lax in judgment or distraction gets the best of him.