Obedience Training Checklist or Plan?

[taltolson]

We are adopting a 4 year old male in a couple weeks.  Although he is fairly well trained from what we can see, we'd like to review the basics if for no other reason that for our benefit and also for him to understand how we do commands and then work our way up to more advance commands.  My ultimate goal is to have him on voice command, or at least to the point where I can take him hiking (there are a few off leash trails nearby) without fear of him darting off, or falling behind from sniffing another dog too long.  Has anyone ever seen a new training checklist?  Something like:

1 - teach your dog to sit
2 - teach your dog to lie down
3 - teach your dog to come
etc etc. 

While We've found resources online on how to train certain tasks, I've never seen any sort of list that ranges things from basic to advance so you can monitor progress and not forget important command (like "drop it" or emergency "come now" type things).

Thanks.

[Whytepine]

I think you'll find there are as many training methods as there are trainers.    Everybody does it differently, and some dogs need different methods than another dog.  Personally, I try to teach the dog the basics of the sit, stay, down, but work really heavy on the 'leave it' and 'come'.  I do everything on leash and only start the off leash process in an enclosed area.  I also rigged up an old flexi-lead with some extra heavy fishing line and a light weight clip.  The dog hardly knows it's attached and I use it for practicing recalls outside of a fenced area once I've proofed the dog inside the fenced area. 

On my first Eskie, I taught him the 'front' for doing obedience trials and expected him, no matter where he was at, to come to the 'front' position and sit until told to move.  He learned 'come as 'come here' which was to show up somewhere next to me but not necessarily into the heel position.  That was just so I knew he was around.  But if I said 'heel', he would come into the heel position and walk nicely by my side.  But all of this took time and it was about a year before I could really trust him off leash.

You can use any terminology that you want for different commands, just make sure you and everyone else is on the same page.  Older dogs can learn just as easily as a younger dog.  Patience and practice under various conditions and places is a key.  Start out with a place with few distractions and add them after the dog gets the idea of what you want.

Good luck with your training.  Make training fun for the dog and always quit on a good note.  If you get frustrated because something new isn't catching on, then go back a step and end your training session with an exercise the dog knows well, even if it's something as simple as sitting for a treat.  Take a day off of training once in a while and just go play with the dog.  But with any dog, household manners are a must and is ongoing training for the life of the dog.  Just like a little kid, they will try to test and see if they can get away with something once in a while, but you have to remember that if you think it's cute once, it can easily develop into a bad habit.  Eskies are especially good at using their cute little smile to get away with stuff.

[courtneyrose]

From my own research, people use so many different commands and teach so many different things. For example, here is one list I came across http://puppyintraining.com/guide-dog-training/, but personally, I don't think I'll be using "get busy." You might want to check out some service dog training sites and make your own list to refer to. Maybe type it and then run it by the forum to see if there are any potentially important commands you left out.

[KelliePup]

A bit late coming into this discussion, but never late than never.

I agree completely that training methods and commands differ from trainer to trainer as well as from dog to dog. My belief is that no two humans learn exactly the same way, so why should our dogs be all that different?

I might be a bit unique in that the training methods I use depend completely on the dog, meaning I shift what and how I teach to best suite the dog's personality. That being said, I do have a small list of objectives and goals to shoot for:

I want my dogs to leave things until I tell them they can have whatever it is
I don't want to be yanked down the street
I want 4 on the floor when greeting people
I want boundaries to be respected, no charging through doors or rushing food or other dogs/people/animals
I require a solid recall, no matter what
That I can touch/groom my dogs without problems
No pottying in the house

So, as far as actual commands, I start with watch (pay attention to me), leave it, wait (looser interpretation of stay), come, and let's go (leash walking). The grooming "training" if you want to call it that, will and does vary, but it all starts with a touch that will eventually lead to total massage and the incorporation of tools. Depending on the dog, I also like the "match my energy" game since it teaches the dog to chill when I need them to calm down or not be rowdy. It's not a game I play at first with shy, fearful, or borderline and aggressive dogs.

I've found that you should start with the rules of your house first, the things that are most important to you, and the rest will come as you gain your dog's respect and trust. Roxie is a wonderful house dog, but not too keen on competition or being a social butterfly; she's happiest chilling at home, so I don't ask much more of her. Mav is happiest being with me, but only somewhat cares for the spotlight, so he goes places for moral support. Kayzie is my all around "look at me!" dog. She loves the attention, adores young children, and really just wants to show off. She's my competition dog. Rally, obedience, agility, freestyle, herding, she does it all and always gives more than 100% in whatever we do as long as we do it together. I hope you can see, based on these three different personalities, the three different expectation levels I would have in their training. Roxie is very basic, her stress levels are low and really, she just has to mind her manners; Maverick needs to mind his manners and cope in higher stress situations if he's to travel with us; and KZ, well she has the highest expectation level of all because she needs to mind her manners, cope, and perform in increasingly high stress situations.

[taltolson]

Thanks for the Ideas!

Training is sooo individual to the dog.  Sara is very mellow (sounds a bit like Roxie) and has never required much training, she seems to intuitively know what I want from her.  Khuno is going to need work. He's younger and full of energy but also challenging/defiant (don't worry, I make sure he know I WIN in the end), so we've some work to do there but I needed to move beyond the basic come, sit, etc for my own sanity! and to keep him interested.  You've given me lots of ideas or rather made me think outside the box. Thanks!

[NordicWhispers]

Keep up the great work, you two....Khuno can be very defiant as he spent most of his first 4 years getting his own way.  I'm glad to see you using these very knowledgable people on the board for reference.  They are great!  Keep us posted.