Pet Talk: Commands for dogs – Lowell Sun

DEAR DOG LOVER: This month, “Pet Talk” began at the beginning, and in the last two weeks we’ve written about the best practices when it comes to adopting a young dog or cat and then bringing them home. For dogs, training needs to start early, be gentle and consistent, and reinforced. For TheraPAWS therapy pets, the commands we recommend a potential dog team have firmly are: come, sit, lie down, and leave it.

For starters: keep commands short and simple: dogs often learn “sit” first. Keep eye contact with your dog, say the word, gently push their backside down and when they sit tell them “good dog,” smile and give them some pets. Interacting with your dog is going to be physical as well as verbal (remember, they can’t answer you back except with behavior and body movements).

Because we’re human, it’s tempting to add unnecessary verbiage to these commands, but don’t be tempted. “No, don’t do that — please sit down now,” confuses your dog, whereas “Leave it — sit,” makes your desires clear.

Work with your dog while she is wearing her collar and you are holding the leash. This must be a nylon leash — never a retractable leash. Those are dangerous and teach a dog that she doesn’t have to listen to you. And when you hold onto a plastic handle, you do not have the finger control you will have with a safe, 6-foot nylon leash.

Once you have “sit” in place, work on “stay,” as you slowly walk backwards. If you hold your hand up in a “stop” command that should help to reinforce the “stay.” But as mentioned, be patient. Work on commands with your dog every day, but only for a few minutes at a time (unless you are outside doing leash work and walking and stopping). Make your voice soft and keep eye contact and pet your dog for all the hard work she’s doing!

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