Gundog Training Forum

Breaking away from another thread, I thought I'd start one for commands that people give their dogs.

Mine are pretty basic, apart from whistle cues of course, I use:
Sit (I don't use stay)
Up/lets go (into truck)
Bring it (fetch)
Dead (dead bird here)
Get on (hunt on)
Get the f#*%*&g hell off the sofa (please get of the sofa)

Ta, (give it / dead). after all politeness and gratitude counts!
settle (get between my knees and lie down in a flighting hole)
Sit (obvious)
Stay (remain like you are)
here (sit in front of me and await instruction)
Heel (get in the appropriate position stationary or moving)
Fetch (obvious from a forward position)
Back (fetch from behind the direction your looking towards)
Get over (cross an obstacle fence or water)
Get under ( get under a fence or gate rather than over)
Get in (enter a particular bit of cover or water to search)
Jump up (get in the truck)
There ( your in the fall area)
No (don't do what your doing or about to)
Leave it ( don't pick that up etc)
Empties (collect up all my spent shells)
That seems rather a lot on the face of it but most of this can be done without verbal encouragement and mostly is, on the same count other words are known through association Feeding, fed, kennel and all the family by name

Good thread and got me thinking....

Sit (don't use stay, sit means sit till I tell you to do summat else)
Heel
Back (go straight away from me until you find summat or I stop you and.....
On (go left or right at right angles depending on which way I'm pointing)
Lost... (Search there.)
Over (get over an obstacle)
Leave that
Dead (release whatever you've got in yer chops into my hand)
Get in ( car, kennel, ditch etc.)
Get under
Bed
Dogs name when sending on a seen retrieve..
Click of my fingers low to the ground in the direction I want to cast the dog off (hunt signal)
Kissing sound (my version of a clicker sound to indicate "good dog, you made the right choice" accompanied by a treat, not always an edible one though).

Oddly enough I don't have a fetch command...

Whistle signals.....

Short pip to stop
Two pips to turn
Twit ter whooo (hunt there)
Several short pips (recall)

"Wtf do you think you are doing" generally used to interrupt undesirable behaviour and spoken in a gruff tone... "You little barsteward" is reserved for very serious misdemeanours and is usually accompanied by me approaching the dog with serious intent...

Visual cues...

Open arms accompanied to the recall whistle..
Policeman's halt sign accompanied with the stop whistle.
With the dog sat facing you right arm out indicates the dog to go to it's left and vice versa...

And Naj will love these...

From the heel position my toe pointing in front of the dog in the direction of a blind together with my hand pointing in that direction and sending the dog on a "back" command.. Or...

With the dog sat away from me right arm bowling action indicates the dog to spin on it's left shoulder and go back or vice versa.

Once these visual cues are learnt however normally me just pointing my toe in front of the dog is enough...And me putting my right hand up accompanied by the back command sends the dog spinning on the appropriate shoulder.....

Rascal

Sit = well sit!
Get out = under, over ditch, fence, river or any obstacles etc, including back of truck.
Get back = get back
Heel = heel
Hunt = cast off hunting
Leave that / gone away depending on situation at hand.
Hands used only with the get out, get back lefts n rights

Apart part from whistle of course.
Peep peep x2 recall
Single pip turn whistle (fading that out now)
Long blast = stop

That's about it!!

Oh and I forgot " shake"......

Rascal wrote:Oh and I forgot " shake"......

+1!!

I've got too many commands but my dogs don't seem to mind since they don't always obey anyway.

Sit .....to that same word and also to whistle , to hand signal, to arm signal, to flush, to shot, to fall of game (sometimes !)

Recall ...."Come" plus the dogs name. Whistle both vocal and Acme depending on what I'm doing.

Get in car .....I just open the door. If I opened the bonnet they'd jump in there !

Retrieve --- "OUT !" for any and all types of retrieve that is straight out from me. "ON!" plus arm signals for left, right etc.
"Shake !" I say the word and wiggle my arse after a dog has delivered a water retrieve to me.

Jump ....very seldom used , I don't like my dogs to jump fences, it costs too much at the vet. I just say "Out!" for seen retrieves over fences and perhaps " Over!" for blind retrieves over fences.

Hunt .... "Push! Push !" (with a long drawn out Shhhh.) I also use a "Hunt" whistle command that doubles up as a flush command with pointing dogs.

Flush command if I have walked out to a pointing dog ......Dog's name and "Get in !"

"Gerroff !" .....self explanatory and is sometimes accompanied by expletives.

"Hold" All my dogs will hold dummies or game but my Brittany is inclined to drop things at my feet unless I tell her to "Hold."
"Give!" The dog releases the retrieve into my hand.

"Leave it !" ....self explanatory.

"Heel" .....I only train to a very loose heel standard unless the dog is a retriever.

I also have quite a number of body language signal commands that I use when hunting a dog. I also use a number of body language commands when teaching a dog what my silhouette looks like at a distance during blind retrieves.

I am old fashioned and I still say "Hi lost" when urging a dog to hunt a wide area for fallen game and I use "There !" if the dog is in the area of the fallen game.

Wullie

Gosh yeah, shake - always use that one either when the dog is near somebody else or once I have stepped away following delivery LoL.

I thought we were just discussing verbal, aint dogs clever to pick up so much and the whistles and signals / body language, when you take the time to think it through. How much or little do we understand of their communication though by comparisom

Commands might be I means to an end but I see developing routines & rituals associated with the various roles you want of the dog to be of more importance, & more powerful motivators. I like to develop kennel routines, house routines, exercise routines, hunting routines, flighting routines, (picking-up & beating routines when I did them) etc. & the dogs then automatically slot into them according to the situation because they are very good at discrimination & learning in context.

Naj

Sit
Back (keep going on that line to retrieve)
Dogs name for marked retrieve.
Finger click in direction of cast to cast off hunting
Heel
Here (rather than recall if they're close by)
Over (jump an obstacle)
Lost (in a fall area)
Get in (get in the lake/river...mostly to wash them off!)
Stand up (stand still to be hosed)
Car (get in the car)
In the house (go in the house)
Shake

The lurcher also has "to hand" to tell him he must bring a bunny back to me instead of back to the car.