5 Basic Commands to Teach Your Dog

Teaching basic commands to your dog can go a long way and help you a lot in the future.

If you own a dog then you know that living with a dog is similar to living with a toddler. Both time and care are required to teach them, whether the dog is of a small breed or giant breed.

One of the most effective ways to teach your dog is through the use of positive reinforcement.

Simply put, positive reinforcement provides your pup with a treat, petting, or any sort of encouragement when he follows a “command word” and completes a task.

The concept behind positive reinforcement is to provide your pup with a treat, petting, play, or any sort of encouragement that he likes.

Avoid using punishments or yelling at your dog (negative reinforcement), for this may cause the dog to become confused and unsure of what is being said to him.

Here Are the Ground Rules (Read This First)

Before giving you the 5 basic commands to teach your dog, here are some tips that will make your training more effective.

1. At the beginning, focus on one trick at a time. You want to make it really easy for your dog to start learning. You can combine tricks and get fancy later after he gains skills.

2. Choose a comfortable place to train that contains minimal distractions. Again, you want to make it easy for your dog to start learning, so why not simplify the environment?
Later on when your dog gets more advanced you can train him to do tricks even with distractions.

3. Be consistent with your command words. If you want your dog to associate command with behavior, you must teach him consistently or he’ll get confused.

4. Pair verbal commands with hand signals. While hand signals aren’t completely necessary, they will work stronger than the verbal cues by themselves. Your dog will perceive both what you say and your body language. Using the full spectrum by communicating verbally+physically makes it clearer for him to understand.

Another option that can work is to only train verbal commands first, and then later when he gets good you can layer in the hand signal to “upgrade” the command.

5. Reward with positive reinforcement such as treats, petting, play, and love… or anything your dog really likes. In this article, I mostly mention “treats” as the reward but you can also pet him or say “good job” in a positive tone as well. Never use negative reinforcement like punishment for not doing a trick.

6. Stick to a schedule. This makes it easier to pace yourself and track progress.

7. Be patient, as it may take a lot of time to teach your pet something. Remember: Repetition is the mother of skill.

8. Have fun. When your vibe is positive, your pup will detect it and it’ll be easier for him to have fun (and feel rewarded with your excited vibe) as well.

Ok let’s go through some basic commands you can teach your dog.

Let’s start with the first which is to “come”.

1. Come

One of the most essential commands you can teach your dog is the command to “come”.

This order can prove useful when you want your dog to follow you out into the back yard (because you’re kicking him out of the house for the night)… and it can even save the day when you lose the grip on your dog’s leash and you want him to come back… or when you accidentally leave the front door open.

The 5 steps to teach your dog to “come” are…

1. 1. 1. Sit near your dog, say the command word + give hand signal, and then give him a treat.
         The command word can be “come”, “here”, it can be your dog’s name, it can be “come” or “here” in another language… it can be anything you choose… but make sure you stick to it and remember don’t mix different words for the same command.

         After you say the command, give him a treat. In this step, the dog isn’t supposed to do anything yet. The objective is to say the command and give him a treat to get him to associate the reward with that command.

      2. Add distance.

         Get farther from your dog, show him the treat, and say the command. As soon as your dog comes to you, give him the treat.

      3. Repeat the steps above a few more times, and then add even more distance.
         
         Notice if he now looks at you when you give the command from far away… or even before you show him the treat. Here you are training him to pay attention to you across a longer distance.

         Note: If you say a command and he doesn’t look at you, move in closer to get a successful response and emphasize showing him the treat. You might need more practice of the first three steps that hammer in the command/behavior/reward association before adding more distance.

         

      4. Add variations to mix it up and make it challenging.
         
         Once your dog starts responding positively, you can add variations that up the challenge. One thing you can do is retreat from your dog without saying anything, and then do it while giving the command.

         If he doesn’t follow you the first time but then comes when he hears the command… mission accomplished! He is starting to learn that he should only follow you when you say that command. (Kinda like “simon says” for dogs). Once again, when your dog catches you, give him a treat for positive reinforcement.

      5. Keep practicing these steps regularly. Repetition is the mother of skill!

      The next basic command to teach your dog is the “sit” command.

      2. Sit

      Nothing can get more basic than the “sit” command, and it can be easily taught to your puppy.

      There are two possible methods to train him to sit… capturing and luring.

      Capturing the Sit

      1. Stand in front of your dog while holding some dog food or treats.
      2. Wait for your dog to sit, then as he does, say “sit” and pair it with the hand signal (open hand palm up) and give him a treat.

         Note: From now on, saying the command also implies the hand signal. The hand signal is optional, but will work stronger when paired with the verbal cue.

      3. Repeat a few more times.

         Move backward or sideways to encourage your dog to stand back up and wait for him to sit again. Say “sit”+hand signal as he begins to sit, and give him a treat again. 

      4. Now give the command first and see if he responds to it by sitting.

         If he does, reward with a treat and some praise. If he doesn’t, try again.

         If he still doesn’t sit… you can do some troubleshooting. Maybe you didn’t repeat the initial capturing exercise in steps 1-3 enough times. Keep repeating these steps to ingrain the action of sitting with the command.

         Another thing to keep in mind is that an environment with too many distractions makes it harder for your dog to focus on what you have to say. (More: 10 Reasons Your Dog Doesn’t Obey Your Commands)

      5. Practice Practice Practice

      Luring Him to Sit

      1. Get down in front of your dog while holding a treat.
      2. Put the treat right in front of his nose, then slowly lift the treat above the pup’s head. Ideally, lift the treat palm up, so that it that matches the hand signal for “sit”.

         As you lift the treat, it will likely make him sit as he lifts his head to nibble.

         Again, this hand motion you do to lift the treat above his head can now turn into the hand signal that couples with the command to sit.

      3. As he begins to sit, say “sit” and allow your dog to eat the treat (rewarding the action).
      4. Practice the above steps with actual food, and then just use your empty hand, but continue to say “sit” as he sits, and reward him if he does the correct behavior.
      5. After a lot of practice, you can now simultaneously say “sit” and do the hand signal beforehand… and see if he recognizes the command and sits.
      6. Keep practicing.

      3. Down

      The down command is submissive and can be a bit difficult to teach… but the process to teach it is similar to that of “sit” in that you can either capture or lure.

      Here are the steps.

      Capturing

      1. Wait for your dog to lie down. As he lies down, say “down” and do the hand signal for down. Then reward him with a treat for positive reinforcement.
      2. Move around or incite him to stand back up and wait for him to lie back down. When he does, repeat step 1. Keep repeating this step to associate command+hand signal with behavior.
      3. Now it’s time to up the challenge. Say “down” and do the hand signal before he lies down… and see if he follows the command. If he does, great! Keep practicing. If he doesn’t, keep repeating the first two steps to ingrain the command with the behavior.

      Luring

      1. Hold a treat near your dog’s nose and slowly lower it to the floor to lure him down.
      2. Reward with a treat as soon as the dog’s elbows touch the floor and he is “down”.
      3. Practice this a few more times.
      4. Now try these steps with an empty hand. Say the “down” command + hand signal as he goes down and reward after each successful completion of the behavior. Repeat a few more times.
      5. Now give the command while standing up. Say “down” + give the hand signal before he goes down. See if he follows your command. If he does, reward the successes. If your dog fails to obey here, repeat steps 1-4 to establish the command/behavior association.

      4. Leash Walking

      Leash-wearing behavior is essential as it allows you to take your dog outside for its daily business, playing, and keeping healthy. While teaching this behavior, be sure to use a single word to represent the command instead of many different ones.

      The steps are as follows:

      1. Ensure that your dog is comfortable wearing a leash. In the start, the leash may feel weird to your dog. Give treats when using a leash.
      2. Stand next to your dog with a leash in a loose loop and give it a treat whenever he stands or sits near your leg.
      3. Take a single step and encourage your dog to follow you; give positive reinforcement for following you.
      4. Continue to give treats for successful attempts as you walk.
      5. If your dog runs in front of you, just move in the opposite direction. Call your dog (it helps if you already trained the command “come” here), and reward for following you .

         As you keep practicing, provide treats further apart. Instead of a treat for every step, give treats for every third or fifth step.

      6. Keep practicing while lowering the treat frequency. Eventually, your dog will learn what to do. Provide cues such as “let’s go” in a happy tone and reward them for following your cues and commands. Make sure to allow your dog to smell the path properly.

      5. Drop it

      This command can be quite helpful to you, as dogs tend to pick up everything in their vicinity, from socks to shoes to slippers to dinner. Nothing is safe from their mouths.

      It is critical from a safety perspective when your dog eats something unhealthy from his/her surroundings or when you are going for your daily walks.

      The best way to teach this is the bait and switch method.

      1. When your dog is holding something in its mouth, take a treat and hold it close to its nose.
      2. Give the “drop” command while holding a treat with your hand.
      3. When the dog drops the object, do not give the treat instantly, instead let him/her move a distance from the object. Then, provide the treat.
      4. Keep on practicing. Give the command as soon as your dog starts to drop the object in his mouth… and then make sure to reward properly.

      The Final Takeaway

      As you can see, the steps to train these commands sound almost the same for every command.

      In fact, you likely got semi-bored reading these same repetitive steps.

      And that’s good, because it means you’ve learned enough of it to go out and try it on your dog.

      Time to turn theory into practice and fun!

      If you hit a roadblock, come back to this article and use it as a reference.