five things you should teach your dog

Even if you have no intention of ever attending a formal obedience competition, all dogs should be enrolled in obedience classes when they are young, at least.  Training your dog is good for you both.  Quite apart from the socialisation that your dog receives at such classes, the training increases the bond between the two of you, and it gets your dog in the frame of mind for doing as he's told.  If you're inexperienced at training, you learn how to do it, and your dog gets to learn all the basics that he needs in order to be a responsible member of canine and human society.

And even if you have never attended any kind of dog training class, there are some things every dog should do on command.  Here are five of them.

1.  Your dog should sit, lie down and wait/stay on command.  These are basic doggie manners that you will use again and again. The more impatient and fidgety your dog, the more important it is that he will respond to the basics.

Keskiyo learning to stand on command.











2.  Every dog should have a reliable recall.  Now, I can actually hear the legions of Finnish Lapphund owners howling with mirth as I type this.  You see, Lapphunds are renown for finding every person, dog, squirrell (twig, blade of grass, etc, etc) so absolutely captivating that they will leave you waiting until they are good and ready to come back.  However, if you ever plan to allow your dog to run freely off-lead, then you must have at least some prospect of getting him to come back to you when you call him.  If you are lucky enough to have a greedy, food-motivated dog, then the recall is much easier to train - and much more likely to work in practice, even when there are extreme distractions involved.

3.  Every dog is likely to have an injury during its lifetime, whether it is a major one requiring vets and surgery or just a minor one like a skin graze or splinter in the paw.  If you - or the vet - are going to be able to find the problem safely and without frightening or further injuring your dog, then he needs to be accustomed to being examined.  You should therefore teach your dog to willingly submit to being gently handled from head to toe, in his ears, nose, eyes, mouth, belly, paws, between the toes and the sensitive bits under the tail.  You should teach him to accept such intrusions while he is standing, while he is sitting, while he is lying down and to expose his belly for examination too.

4.  The instant down is one that I credit with saving Neka's life - perhaps more than once.  The ability to get your dog to immediately stop what he's doing, drop to the ground and stay there is a vital skill to keeping your dog safe.  It will also possibly keep the local squirrell and cat population safe too, as the very best instant down will even stop your dog in mid-chase.

5.  Finally, one great skill for dogs is to have what is known as a soft mouth.  This is also known as bite inhibition.  Dogs with good bite inhibition will take things from fingers without grabbing and they will hold things in their mouth without biting down hard.  It's this capability that means your dog will instantly let go when his teeth encounter human skin.  In playing with people, he won't accidentally bite, and in a scuffle with another dog it really will be all noise and fur with no actual damage done.  My favorite places to go for all things training, including soft mouth, are Gwen Bailey's Perfect Puppy and and Ian Dunbar.  Online, you can get some good Dunbar advice in a free pdf from Dogstar Daily.





 Quite apart from anything else, good training ensures you can occasionally get your group of dogs together for a photo opportunity.

 L-R: Keksi, Keskiyo, Neka (back), Maija

Already I can think of at least 2 more essential things that every dog should know.  I feel a five more things you should teach your dog post coming on...