advanced commands for your dog

As awesome as it is to own a dog (and we all know it really is awesome!) one thing you need to understand before you become a dog owner is the fact that training a dog will take a fair amount of time and effort. Obviously when training your dog to respond to commands, initially you’ll start with the basics, i.e., sit, stay, down, and come, but as your dog becomes more responsive you may want to take things a step further. Dog commands don’t necessarily have to be voice comm [...]

advanced commands for your dog
As awesome as it is to own a dog (and we all know it really is awesome!) one thing you need to understand before you become a dog owner is the fact that training a dog will take a fair amount of time and effort.
 
Obviously when training your dog to respond to commands, initially you’ll start with the basics, i.e., sit, stay, down, and come, but as your dog becomes more responsive you may want to take things a step further.
 
Dog commands don’t necessarily have to be voice commands, they can be hand signals or even a combination of the two.
 
To help you train your dog to be more responsive and obedient you might want to go with more advanced commands, which is what we’re going to look at today.
 
Here are 3 advanced commands for your dog that are sure to impress.
 
Speak
 
There are a number of reasons to teach your dog to ‘speak’ and while it would be awesome if you could teach your dog to actually speak, the speak that we’re referring to today will come in the form of a bark.
 
Whether you want to teach your dog to bark on cue simply as a cute dog trick, or perhaps for safety reasons like a warning, or to alert other people that something is amiss, if you invest the time in teaching your dog to bark on command, he or she will pick it up quicker than you think.
 
To get your dog to speak, repeat the command over and over until he or she barks, when they do, reward them with a treat and plenty of attention and repeat over and over.
 
Eventually, when you give the speak command, your dog will be bark when asked.
 
Leave it
 
Next up, the “leave it” command is one you will want to teach your dog for safety reasons.
 
Dogs are inquisitive animals and will often go exploring things which they really shouldn’t be near.
 
It could be that your dog is sniffing around a dead animal, or something more dangerous such as a live venomous creature which is where the leave it command will prove so useful.
 
To teach this command, begin by placing an item of food that your dog isn’t fond of on the floor and ensure your dog is paying attention to it.
 
Next, give the “leave it” command and cover the item to ensure your dog can’t get near to it.
 
Soon it will lose interest. You should repeat this process over and over until your dog is familiar with the command and knows to leave things alone when it hears it.
 
Bring it
 
If you want to teach your dog to bring you items, such as an early morning newspaper for example, “bring it” is a great command.
 
Give your dog something to hold in its mouth, and then give the command and beckon for your dog to come.
 
When it does and releases the item, you can reward him or her with their favorite treat.
 
Some dogs have natural retrieval instincts such as Golden Retrievers – hence the name, which is why they’ll likely master this command quicker than other dogs.