Basic Obedience Commands
photo credit: German Shepherd Central
In part one of our basic training lessons, we covered the four different training phases:
- Learning Phase
- Distraction Phase
- Correction Phase
- Maintenance Phase
Now let’s get into these cool basic OB commands individually:
- Sitz (pronounced siitz, meaning sit)
- Platz (down)
- Hier (pronounced hee er, meaning come)
- Bleib (pronounced bly’b, meaning stay)
- Fuss (pronounced fooss, meaning heel)
- Hopp (meaning jump)
Sitz
First up is the sit command. Puppies 6 weeks old can learn to sit on command, so that means your old dog can too.
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July 5th, 2008 at 4:56 am
My female GSD just turned one and I have tried to use some of the commands I remember from watching my dad but was unclear if I was using them correctly I now know. Thanks but am I to late because of her age to teach her in this form.
July 5th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Hello Melanie!
It’s never too late! Seriously. A dog can even be taught a new name for them at an old age! You can simply double the commands, then begin to lesson the use of the old one, while maintaining the new one.
Here’s a hypothetical example:
You used, “Stay!” for your command to keep put.
You want to now use, “Bleib!”
So do this:
Tell Dakota, “Stay, Bleib!” - she stays because of “stay”, but hears a new word as well.
Make it consistent for her, taking the time as when you were first training the original command.
Now lesson the use of “Stay” like this: you tell Dakota, “Bleib!” - and once she gets it (even for 2 seconds - treat/praise the heck out of her!!!)
It’s easier than it seems, and will take no time at all. I use this technique to train German commands onto the English ones a dog knows.
August 20th, 2008 at 3:22 am
How can i teach my pup to take small things to other members of the family.Cujo is 5 months old.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:53 am
Hello Ira,
You can start to teach the “Bringen” (German for fetch) command, having multiple members of the family involved. Then redirect his retrieval (trained using hand signals) to someone other than the “commander” of the fetch.
Let me know how it goes!
Martin
December 29th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
hey i just got a 6 week old male gsd…he is the first one i have ever owned and i want to start teaching him basic commands like sit stay and stuff like that..but his energy levels are out the roof and he wont pay attention to me…what should i do?
January 4th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
You should enjoy his puppy energy! Serious, that’s the life of a GSD puppy owner!
January 4th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Make sure you are the center of his universe.
January 4th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
hey martin…i get what your saying but how am i supposed to train him when he wont pay attention to me when i give him commands. I am makin sure that im the center of his world..i love all the energy he has..my father says that if i whip he when im tryin to train him that he would respond to the commands better..but i dont agree with that because if i whip him then he will be fearful of me and only do the commands out of fear and i dont want that so if you could help me i would greatly appreciate it..thanks
January 5th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
One of the best methods to “bond” a new puppy to his owner is called “tethering”. You basically tether his leash around your waist. Where ever you are, he goes.
Remember that he’s still a baby, curious about his new world at your place. So take about 2 weeks of NO TRAINING - simply spending ALL of his available time with you. Cuddle, pet - bond. Then you’ll see a dramatic change in his desire to please you when you start training.
AND PLEASE DON’T WHIP HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’d be like spanking a toddler just because…