I taught the "GO TO" command as follows;
Put two 25' long 1/8" cotton ropes on the business end of the dogs collar. Place the person you want the dog to "GO TO" about 10' away facing you. Theat person holds the end of one of the ropes while you hold the end of the other rope. Wtih the dog at your side seated in heel position command him "GO TO persons name". At the same time you verbally command him, lunge forward with your left leg one giant step and motion with your right arm to the person. The other person should not make any gesture to the dog to come to them. The dog should be compelled to go to that person on your command. If the dog moves toward the person even one inch give him verbal praise. If he should stop and turn back, the other person should pull the the dog toward them and all the way in with the rope. Once at the other person, the person should give the dog praise immediately. That person should then put the dog in heel position and command the dog "GO TO you". You will not have to repeat this exercise very many times before the dog gets the idea. Once he goes the 10' to the other person and back to you again, increase the distance until you are at the full 25' apart. Once he does that OK, remove the ropes and see if he will do it off-leash. Once he handles it off-leash increase the distance and introduce other people to the exercise.
I taught this exercise on my own for wilderness purposes. what I found is that the dog LOVES reporting to other family members, especially the kids, and will distinguish them by name. My dog will stop at nothing when going to a family member on command. I honestly believe this a behavior connected to drive and instinct in working dogs and should be trained as a test for family type protection dogs.
The most valuable extra thing I have probably ever taught my dogs was "turn" and "tub". "Tub" is great since I am not lifting my 80lb dog into the tub, he jumps in and waits there patiently. "Turn" is where I am washing one side of him (brushing, stretching, w/e) and then the command "turn" comes in and he flips to the other side for me to work on.
Also, "on your side" for nail clips is great, too.
"IN" is a good one. its what i use when its time to go in the kennel or other place i want to quarentine them to.it also works well with bath time and truck riding time.i point to the thing they need to be in and whammo theyre in.
first couple of times i may have to help them but they usually pick it up pretty quick.my bitch however refuses to get in a running vehicle. she used to but as of about a year ago she wont.
Let's see...
My dogs know the place command, only I don't use the elevated spot idea. I can simply yell "PLACE" and she'll stop what she's doing and drop to the ground and stay until a release is given.
I've taught her a "Go to" command as well, "Go to Jacki". This is great when working in the office because I can stuff things into her collar and she can take them where they need to go. I trained her by just repeating the command, she was confused at first and she spun around the apartment a few times before she found the person she was supposed to go to. If she doesn't recognize someone's name she'll simply go from person to person (skipping over people she recognizes) until she gets the right one and is praised.
"Go home" is another favorite, if for some reason something happens (Or if she's just underfoot) I can tell her to go home, and she'll return to my front or back porch (Which ever is close to where ever she was,)
"Car" is a take off of go home, she stays mostly off leash and this just tells her exactly where we're going. She'll sit by "her" door and wait for me to open it for her.
"Look at me" is pretty self explanatory. Stop whatever you're doing and watch me until I give you something else to do.
"Go get (name)" is another command I'm working on, honestly the command started because I'm lazy and have cats. One of my cats is positive that he wants to be an "outside cat" and he attempts his escape quite often. The command is part herding and a part flushing out sort of exercise. First my dog has to find the cat/dog/person I've sent her out to get and then she has to herd them back to me. My dog is pretty good at remembering names so I can send her out to bring in a specific dog from the back yard and she's pretty much 95% accurate. Not sure if I could ever use this in a dire or panic situation, but if someone's done something similar I'd love to hear about it.
I track my PSD exclusively off the lead. At times he will get a little ahead so I taught "wait" to him which means to hold up a second. This is not the stay command in general as I want him to know he will be moving back out asap. Hope that made sense?
All great ideas, many of which I plan to employ. I particularly like the GOTO command. Now that is one I could use. Some I currently use are:
Inside: When I want him to go inside the house or other.
Outside: When I want his stinky but outside or other.
Tighten up: When I want him positioned correctly in a heel/sit.
Since my boy is only 6 months old, I'm holding off on too many extras until I talk to his trainer first. I certainly don't want to get him started on something that isn't standard to his trainer's teachings.
Feet Up: place feet on elevated object
Kennel: Go into your crate
Sit up: strengthen hind legs and develop balance
Settle: go to wherever I am pointing, and lie still
Release: Work's over, go play!
Be Easy: work is over, relax quietly(no running/jumping;stay near me)
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