German Dog Training Command Words
Here are a few dog training commands that I use. They are German commands, and used in the sport of Schutzhund:
- Achtung! (Ahk-toong’): Watch! Attention!
- Aus! (Ows): Out! Drop It! Let Go!
- Bleib! (Blibe): Stay!
- Bringen! : Bring! Fetch!
- Fass! (Fahs):Attack! Take hold!
- Fuss! (Foos): Heel!
- Gib Laut! : Bark! Speak!
- Hier! : Here! Come!
- Hopp! : Up! Jump!
- Nein! (Nine):No!
- Pass auf! (Pahs owf): Pay attention! Heads Up!
- Pfui! (Foo-ey): Shame! Stop That! Drop That!
- Platz! (Plots): Down! (Place)
- Setz! , Setzen! (Zetze’n): Sit!
- Such! (Zook): Search!
- Voran! (For-ahn): Go forward! Take the lead!
- Voraus! (For-ows): Go forward! Run out!
Not only are they “cool sounding”, but fun to use as well!
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July 22nd, 2009 at 11:08 am
Thanks for this translation guide i have a 7 week old East German/Czech Black sable male GSD who will be trained ( HOPEFULLY ) in Schutzhund in the future so i
am teaching him german commands but don’t really know how to say them properly and this helps a GREAT deal !!!
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Your welcome Robin! Your pup sounds awesome! Please send us pictures of him. What’s his name? Don’t forget the “Achtung” command
August 14th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
We have been training our all black german shepherd in german for a while.. Just forgot a couple of the words! This helped alot! Thanks!
By the way the german really helps with the bigger ones.. It makes him listen so much better in german than english for some reason.. He’s 10 months old and already 85 pounds (Not fat) and head up to my waist (I am 5’3”)…..
August 15th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Awesome Jessica! I totally agree that German, as it feels “more pronounced and heavy” -- you “feel” like they listen better
Ok, you talked the talk, “my dog is bigger than your dog!” (jk) -- so send us pictures!!!
September 28th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Hi,
Just got Jayda, an eight week old female german shepard, two days ago.
The father is a Police K-9 from Germany and the mother is also from Germany.
I just found your website and can’t wait to try some of this out.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Hello,
i was just curious if there was a command in German for “leave it”… like when u are walking the dog and it starts wondering to smell and wat not…
thanks much
November 21st, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Hey I just adopted an almost 3 year old Belgian Malinois about a week ago, She is very Beautiful. I am also teaching her in German(my boyfriend’s mom has a Malinois also and he knows all his commands in German) I have already taught her to Setz, she is a very fast learner. any tips? Her name is Atheena
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
The command I use for leave it is pfui! (fooey). It always makes my kids laugh when I use it on them.
December 9th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
@Rita -- phui is a great one! And I bet your kids get a kick out of it too lol!
December 9th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
@Melody -- I’m so waiting for TONS of pictures (yeah, I know…whe am I gonna post MY latest dog pictures?!?) of your Mal!
December 9th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
@Justin -- Rita got your answer! Thanks Rita!!!
December 9th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
@Kristine -- send us some pictures and let us know how your training goes with your Jayda! What breeder did you get her from?
January 3rd, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Thanks so much for posting this!
I haven’t had a dog in years, and just recently I received a 2 year old shepherd/keeshound mix. He’s had a tough life, much of it which is a mystery, and now I’m his last chance so I’m intent on making it work. I’m still in the process of figuring out how to train him, but he’s a pretty quick learner. Hopefully this works!
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Hey Stephanie, NICE looking dog! I’d wish you good luck with him, but with passion and determination on YOUR part, I’m sure he’s gonna be great!
January 13th, 2010 at 1:33 am
Hey Melody
I love Malinois. Use Pfui (foo-ey) with the correction. like the pulling of the leash. Then re-give the command. like sitz. never correct her with the command.
We have a Shepherd nameed Rocky.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Since I am a German-born American, I decided to learn German. I have now found the name for the family rottweiler (Konig) and will train him in German as well. We’ll be getting him as soon as I find the right dog parents to get him from. A lot of people train Rotties to be mean dogs, and I have small kids. So, when I find the right dog parents that have excellent dispositions, we’ll get our dog and We’ll train him in German. I can’t wait!
February 12th, 2010 at 10:37 am
I will be getting my rotweiler puppy in march of 2010. me and my husband currently have 2 akc registered pit bulls. and want to add a rottweiler to the family, we also want to teach him german, but will it effect my other 2 dogs english cammands?
February 28th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
The key is CONSISTENCY. Use the same command and pronunciation for each behavior you wish to train. You can Google “Dr. P’s Dog Training” for phonetic pronunciations in several languages.
When you have a choice, use commands that don’t sound similar. For example, to go to their crate either “Box” or “Zwinger” is okay (zwinger means kennel). But, Box and Platz (lie down) sound similar. Make it simple. Zwinger and Platz won’t be confused.
Also, keep in mind that besides the different dialects, there is High German and Low German; formal and daily conversational. If you’re going to learn one, use High German, it’s solid in the field and for competition. Don’t advertise not understanding the language by using Low German in competition — it’s like speaking Cockney in the UK rather than acceptable British English.
I train and cross-train GSDs, nearly all imported, for Search and Rescue, Personal Protection, and “Hard” Dogs that when sent are trained to do irreparable damage, all in German. You’ll have much better results if you learn a bit more of the language and can converse with them in German as well, but the key is consistency.
February 28th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Thank you Dean. It’s great to get a pro involved with these conversations! Do you have a site we can link up?
March 10th, 2010 at 10:39 am
Just found this website. I have a 10 week old Black and Tan GSD named Pixie. She will now be fluent in her native German!! Quick question on pronunciation for Sit….Setz, in keeping with the other pronunciation it would be Zetz? Thanks again
March 10th, 2010 at 10:49 am
@Eric: I’ve always pronounced it “S I T Z” -- and have heard my trainer friends say it that way as well. Audio on the Dr P’s Dog Training site has an audio sample that you can check out.
Beautiful Pixie by the way!
April 25th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Singular “S” is in German pronounced like an English Z. German Z is difficult to “spell,” but is pronounced something like “tz.” I hope this is helpful; in any case, most in the USA shall not know the difference.
May 16th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
how do you tell your dog to stop barking
May 19th, 2010 at 11:15 am
@tom: Check out my article on barking here: http://www.germanshepherd-breed.org/training-articles/training-dog-to-speak/
May 23rd, 2010 at 2:57 pm
hey we just got a boxer puppy and i want to be a k-9 police officer so im using my boxer as practice to get used to the commands. so thanks for this web site. it helped alot!
May 23rd, 2010 at 5:22 pm
@Sara, thank YOU for commenting
June 29th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
I just found your website and plan on putting it to good use. I just rescued this GSD from our local pound. Of course I have no idea if he is full blooded or not, but just look at how bold and beautiful he is! I knew he was coming home with me the minute I saw him!
July 1st, 2010 at 1:28 am
i have just bought my year old german shephard inmported from germany, hes already started in PP and fully trained in german but im not so this site is really going to help me out so thank you very much.
my boys name is Mulanio 1 years 130 pounds atm so hes a big boy.
July 9th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
@marvin -- Awesome boy you have! What kennel is he out of?
July 9th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
@Mark,
Yes, I would of taken him too! What’s his temperament like?
July 11th, 2010 at 12:57 am
Martin,
His temperament is very laid back! He is very good with our two boys. He has not had any kind of training, he doesn’t know any commands or anything! He was VERY easy to potty train and is taking to a leash better each day. He is happy laying on the living room floor and in the shade of the backyard but he does not like going for rides! At least not yet…
August 20th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Hi, I have a GSD that will be 2 in Dec. His parents belong to my sister. I have photos of the m&f, and pedigree. She has yet to anything w/sire due to work and things like that.I was wondering if you knew of the sires parents?Grandfather of my dog on dams end is 2x VA (USA)Gusto vom Mittelwest SCHH3/Dam is VA Zaskia von der Libeswarte SCHH3, there is not much else in dams ped. except her grandparentsINTER.CH AOE 4x select Excellent CHJoelle’s alvin v NoorbergeTC, CD ROM,that would be her grandsire, my guy “Logan” is a beautiful dog and (IMO) moves very nice. The only training problem I have with him is when people coming to my home, he wants to run out and eat them. I can take him anywhere and he is fine, with other dogs, people etc. I try to correct it, and he has gotten a bit better but….what should I do? Other than that , he is super smart. great nose. any ideas would be appreciated. I would luv to to SH w/him. is 2 too late to start?Can’t get pic right now but would like to send one in to u. Thank you, Janice
August 25th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
My girlfriend and I are looking at adopting a 3-5 yr old male, all black. he was pretty much left alone for 2 1/2 months by himself. the lady who has him now has done a remarkable job at bringing him back to being around people.And he has actually a VERY good personality and disposition. And a LONG story behind him. Trained in germany as a protection dog. Any Idea if we should expect any suprises from him in the future? And should we watch what words we say around him.And FYI we are not intimidated by him either. Im new to shepherds and she had one in the past, which she had to put down due to his health. But I have been around all kinds of animals in my life and can read body languages fairly well. Any advise will be Greatly Apperciated!
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Thanks so much, I was curious whether my rescue shepherd knew any german commands as I had heard he had some SAR training….Hah, I’ve been speaking the wrong language for a year! he’s so happy that I finally started speaking his language. We’re having great fun with your very handy commands, pretty much all of which he knows! He got so excited when I said ‘Such’…we’ve been playing hide and seek for an hour and good lord, he can find it anywhere!
October 9th, 2010 at 2:17 am
Hallo,
Ich heiße Leanne
…
I have a 6 month old Rottweiler that I have had since he was three months. He is a huge animal. I named him Rommel. He’s 103lbs already. Not sure if that is gut oder schlecht. (he thinks he is a lap dog)! I love him to death!! I will post a few pictures when I get upload to my computer.
these phrases work very well with all breeds from my experience. My favorite ist “Auf Wache” meaning “on guard” or “on watch”…very useful when you are alone and feel unsafe. Great blog!
Leanne
October 20th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Your boy sounds great! I love rotties, and103 lbs at 6 months old -- you have a monster. I can’t wait for pictures!
October 31st, 2010 at 10:06 pm
I just got my beautiful red and black German shepherd baby girl 48 hours ago. Jabari is 8 weeks and 3 days old and weighs almost 10 pounds. Her name is Swahili and I liked its meaning: brave and fearless, and also consoler and comforter. As I was driving to pick her up, I realized that Ja is yes in German, Bar is the first part of my name, and I is for the pup, so her name says, “Yes, I belong to Barbara”. How cool is that!
My dear protector, Logan, had had emergency surgery on the day after Labor Day after a massive abdominal bleed. He had just turned 8 years old, weighed 95 pounds, and was a beautiful red and black long-haired German shepherd. He lost 12 pounds with the surgery. The report came back hemangiosarcoma. Unfortunately, exactly six weeks later he had another massive bleed, and I had to put him down.
Jabari is our 4th German shepherd (after a shepherd/husky mix) and will be the 3rd we’ve trained in German. Even at this young age, Jabari came to me pretty much knowing how to fuss und hier on command, including the appropriate setz at the end without a specific command to do so.
I got her from Kathy (and Vince) Hackett of vom Kavihaus kennels, McHenry, IL. Their “real job” is First Place Dog Training, and from what I’ve seen in Jabari, I’d say they must really know their stuff!
So far, the only pix I have are on my cell phone. I’ll send some soon, when I use a “real” camera. Meanwhile, just imagine an ewock!
November 9th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Guten tag, ich bin Maddy…
Thanks for the German commands! I found out that dogs respond really well to German, so I wanted to teach my cute little dog, Scrappy (he’s a mixed-breed) some German commands. This really helped me out!
November 15th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
i cant get my dog to do eney thing she is 3 can i still get her trained
November 15th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Hello Naoh,
Yes, you can definitely train a 3 year old dog! The best thing is to enroll in a dog training class in your area. Being consistent is the key to training…that and patience. Read up on the training articles here on our site, and let me know how you are doing with your dog!
Attach a picture of your dog as well!!!
Best Regards,
Martin
November 27th, 2010 at 7:24 am
I am trying to find a female or male all white GSD. I prefer female as they seem more protective then the guys of kids. I want to train her in German as well. Money seems to be an issue as everyone wants a lot of cash. I’m not trying to get rich or breed, I just want a companion as my Onyx (black lab/golden ret) passed away and since I had my stroke he was my buddy and really helped with being there for me since I couldn’t work or have the social life I used to. I always said I would never get any other dog than a GSD, but when Onyx’s life was in danger, I took him in. He was my sister’s dog since he was born. I couldn’t let that happen. Anyway.. does anyone have any leads or anything. I am immensely lonely as I am all alone. Thanks.
February 17th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
i just got a 6 week old rottweiler. can u trian them some comands in english an some in german?heres a pic
April 4th, 2011 at 1:30 am
Hi
I have a german shepherd who is 1 year old, Now that i found this web site i stared to use it with my dog and it help alot because right away he did what i ask him to do
May 5th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Roxxy (5 months)
Just got her last week. She’s very scared of guys. ): When she see’s one she takes off running to go find a place to hide. I got her from a lady that had gotten her from a couple. She said she was soooo skinny when she went an picked her up and that they had her in a kennel all day. Guess they didn’t want to have anything to do with her. She said she questioned the girl about them hitting around on her and she quit talking to her. Hate that they treated her so badly. Now she’s gonna always remember it. Guess all that matters now is that shes in a better home and that everyone loves her. (:
May 11th, 2011 at 9:16 pm
My Jabari , a lovely little red and black German Shepherd, turned 8 months old on May 2, and she now weighs 59 pounds. She’s quite observant--lets me know if anyone is “out there” where they don’t belong, and lets me know if my cell phone is ringing and I don’t hear it--but she’s not that much into the protection mode--yet. The head shot was taken 12-24-2010 and the 2nd one was taken 2-25-2011.
May 11th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Jabari on 12-24-2010
May 11th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Jabari on 2-25-2011
May 11th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
(I don’t know why, but it seems that I am not able to send you pix. I keep getting an Error notice.)
May 19th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
I got my GSD, Jackson Von Hattrick, in April 2011.He is now 4 months old and almost 50 lbs. His parents are both from litters directly from Germany. I grew up with GSD’s but my wife always had hesitancy in getting one because they are very misunderstood. I bought her a very good book about the GSD and the outcome was my new pal, Jack. I have been looking locally for search and rescue training but there are no certified trainers in my area. Jack is one of the smartest pups I have had the pleasure of knowing and i would like to honor his breed by making him useful for personal protection, along with community service. I was looking for German language commands and this was a top hit in my search engine. I will have to re-format some pictures to share here. It is my strong opinion that the GSD is one of the top dogs to own in all catagories and they are becoming more popular as people look to understand the reputation of the breed. I enjoyed reading from all those who have shared here!
June 11th, 2011 at 8:20 am
Maybe this time the picture of Jabari taken 12/24/10 will attach. She’s just past 9 months old now, is still weighing in at 58-59 pounds, and looks just about the same as in this picture.
June 16th, 2011 at 10:00 am
We just bought a GSD on 6/11. We could tell the owner abused him and both his parents, so we couldn’t leave him. He was born on 1/29 and is roughly 35 lbs. He’s gonna be huge! He has been an outside dog since the moment he was born and was never given a name! Brought him home and introduced him to our GS/Pitt Chloe. He is already bigger than her and she is around 3 yrs old. (whom I rescued from an abusive owner about 2 years ago) They LOVE each other and we have named him Rex! He only messed in the house the first night, my guess is that he is following her lead. We have them both on a wireless dog fence which gives them about a 1/4 acre to run ( I live right next to the road and I am out in the country) He loves barking at the cows!! He is such a good boy with my kids, too! 18,11 & 7. And he is also starting to listen when I tell him to stop. I would love to introduce both of them to the german commands! Enclosed is a pic of Rex.
July 7th, 2011 at 11:49 am
I got a 5 month pure bred just after memorial day, she was 40 pounds back in early june. she knows a lot of commands in english, but she’s starting to understand the german commands after about 2 weeks. haha she still pretty stubborn tho.
July 17th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Martin,
I have sent a request to add me on your facebook. I am so glad that I have found your site it will prove to be very helpful as I am teaching our shephards in german and they are doing very well . We have 2 females as you will see them in the picture, they are 15 months old and a picture of our male we just got is to follow and he is 6 months old soon to be 7 months on the 25th he was born on christmas day! thank you for having such a wonderful site to help guide me I am sure that I will have many questions
Best Regards,
Sheila Tebay
July 17th, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Here is picture of our male
Best Regards,
Sheila Tebay
October 30th, 2011 at 7:34 am
We recently saved a 3 yr old, Bouvier Des Flounders, I was told she understood German commands. She is so smart and I feel so lucky to have her with me. I truly do appreciate your site becayse I feel like we have “language barrier” when I want her to do something. Is there a command for bed?
Thank you so much for your site!
November 1st, 2011 at 9:41 am
I have a 6mth german rottweiler, both parents are imports from germany, mother was world champ! His name is Heiko Von Haus Parsons, I am teaching him everything in german. I just wanted to say thank you this site was very helpfull!!! Heiko in german means strong ruler. He is going to be a big boy as of yesterday he is 70lbs.
November 17th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
The German command for “sit” is “sitz or sitzen”, not “setz/setzen”. The difference in German is the same as it is in English between the verbs to sit and to set. You’d never tell a dog to set down in English, without a direct object, and the same is true with “setzen” in German.
January 19th, 2012 at 11:59 am
I recently bought a beautiful German shepherd male, 2 yrs old, biggest male I have ever seen, 130 lbs!!! He can sitz and fuss, I am having trouble getting him to come to me when i call him……. any suggestions??
February 20th, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Just got a GS puppy…about when will he stop chewing on things from A-Z? Meet Blitz!
March 6th, 2012 at 6:23 pm
We just got a GS pup 11 weeks old now. I was told that they dont start teething until the age of 16 weeks…is this true and if so why does he think Im his personal chew toy?!!!!!!
March 13th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Thank you for the translations. This has helped us a great deal. We have a 14 week old Black and Tan GSD who has taken to German commands very nicely. Her name is Nadja
March 13th, 2012 at 8:40 pm
this picture is alot better
April 12th, 2012 at 3:05 am
Overall it is easier for dogs to hear the difference in a German command due to the more emphasized variety of hard consonants and strong vowels.
A dog doesn’t know human language, but can learn to associate an auditory queue to an action. To simulate how a dog might hear or understand a word -- cup your hand over your mouth and say the words “Stop! Sit! Stay” then “Halt! Sitz! Bleib”. You may realize while going through English commands and many other languages that the result sounds very similar. This is what may confuse a dog even after being well trained. Overall dogs are much better listeners to commands then people generally expect, the biggest problem is them not understanding what the owner wants.
If you don’t like German commands, you could carefully select synonyms that sounds differently from the other commands to allow easier disambiguation for the pup. For example, think about trying “quit, sit, wait” with emphasis on the first sounds. Though they all end in T and quit and sit rhyme -- the dog can hear the consonants well and distinguish easier.
Always try to stick to simple or 1 syllable words (easier to hear and understand -- more like a bark).
Overall the best tip I have ever encountered in dog training is have a distinct designated “No” word and scold/correct with that word only.
I realize I touched on a few things other people have already said. But that is because easy to understand commands are miraculous in dog training.
Most dogs are pack animals and you (hopefully) are their alpha. They want to serve and tend to your desires, but you have to give them the tools to do so.
April 12th, 2012 at 2:40 pm
I totally agree Jerad. The only reason why I settle on using German is due to the sport of Schutzhund, and it’s requirement to use it.
May 2nd, 2012 at 11:08 pm
Hello I am 12 years old I plan to get my first dog a Beagle in 2 months! My ancestry is from Germany. I want to use German commands with my dog. I was excited to find your website.
Ian
May 3rd, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Hello Ian,
Welcome to the site! Beagles are great dogs, and teaching him in German will definitely impress your friends and your dog will respond in kind!
GSD stands for German Shepherd Dog.
Please submit a photo of your new puppy when you get him or her!
Best Regards,
Martin
May 3rd, 2012 at 7:54 pm
So I have this 6 month old American Staffordshire Terrier and there is no way that he could have grown up in a German speaking house hold but ever since I started using German commands around him he listens! so, what would be used as a praise like good boy because I find the need to use that a lot now. Thank you so much for being a great resource, you may have saved my dog!
May 7th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Thank you very much William! Your boy looks awesome.
Best,
Martin