Unique commands
Hi there! I'm new to this community. I have 3 dogs right now, all spayed females: Vixen, a 9 yr old Carolina Dog and Chow mix, Anita, a 7 yr old mix with maybe some Rottweiler and some kind of terrier (we joke that she's an alien), and Kala, a 2 yr old Beagle.
I was wondering about the commands everyone uses with their dogs. We all use the standard sit/stay/heel commands, I'm sure, but I'm curious about the commands we invent on our own. For example, my neighborhood only has sidewalks on about half the streets, so it's sometimes necessary to walk my dogs in the road. And I work them on and off leash, so I needed a reliable set of commands to let them know where they were supposed to be, and to keep them safe from cars.
The default walking state, on or off leash, is to stay on the sidewalk. I never gave that a command, it's just the normal way we do things. And they stop and sit at all crosswalks. I taught the girls the command "cross" whenever we're on a sidewalk and simply crossing the street. Off-lead, this functions as a release command from the heel position - they cross the street as fast as possible and wait for me on the other side. When we're going to walk on the road itself, I tell them "road", and they stay on the pavement, not wandering up into yards. If a car turns onto the road, I call out "street!" and they dash for the nearest yard, where they sit and wait for me.
The "street" command is a potential lifesaver. Since my dogs are worked off-lead, I can't always rely on my ability to physically pull them off the road. But if I see a car, I can just call out "street" and they will get to safety.
Does anyone else use these commands or their equivalents? And do you have other commands you've invented to deal with specific situations? I'm interested to know.
I was wondering about the commands everyone uses with their dogs. We all use the standard sit/stay/heel commands, I'm sure, but I'm curious about the commands we invent on our own. For example, my neighborhood only has sidewalks on about half the streets, so it's sometimes necessary to walk my dogs in the road. And I work them on and off leash, so I needed a reliable set of commands to let them know where they were supposed to be, and to keep them safe from cars.
The default walking state, on or off leash, is to stay on the sidewalk. I never gave that a command, it's just the normal way we do things. And they stop and sit at all crosswalks. I taught the girls the command "cross" whenever we're on a sidewalk and simply crossing the street. Off-lead, this functions as a release command from the heel position - they cross the street as fast as possible and wait for me on the other side. When we're going to walk on the road itself, I tell them "road", and they stay on the pavement, not wandering up into yards. If a car turns onto the road, I call out "street!" and they dash for the nearest yard, where they sit and wait for me.
The "street" command is a potential lifesaver. Since my dogs are worked off-lead, I can't always rely on my ability to physically pull them off the road. But if I see a car, I can just call out "street" and they will get to safety.
Does anyone else use these commands or their equivalents? And do you have other commands you've invented to deal with specific situations? I'm interested to know.