The two most important commands your dog should know!

As I have stressed throughout my website and in other articles I have written "Safety" is the driving force behind these two commands. Yes it's always a wonderful feeling to command your dog to come to you and they actually do and yes it's also a good feeling to have them stay when commanded. If you think about this seriously you will see that there is a far more basic reasoning than obedience, its "Safety".

I'm going to relay a story that I have second hand knowledge of. It concerns a personal friend and one of his dogs. It's been quite a few years since I hunted or trained so this story is a little worn around the edges but its because I think it's imperative that the safety point be driven home.

It was a great fall day and my friend was out pheasant hunting. He was working a section of ground that was cleared of crops. The dogs were working great, they were covering all the waterways and hedges and just flying down the fencerows. Well he topped a hill and there in the bottom was a combine harvesting corn. He got one of the dogs to "stay" and the other just took off when it got scent of birds. The pheasants are notorious for hanging out in standing corn. Well by now you know where this story is headed. He didn't have the second dog completely broke for Whoa or Here. The dog goes down into the bottom ground goes on point, out of sight to the driver of the combine. Very tragic story but it just goes to show how important these two commands are.

I've written the steps to go through when training your dog to Come when called and Staying when commanded to do so on my website. I also am available for individual instruction when contacted through our contact us page which can be found at www.midwestgundogpetsupply.com. If you don't have time to teach your dog anything please teach these two commands. You can also have someone do it for you, however you will have to work with the dog so that they understand that the command is just that, and a command no matter who gives it. All the other obedience training is just window dressing, these two commands are lifesavers.

Also once these two commands are in place it makes the rest of their training go easier. If they are doing something wrong you can stop them immediately and make the necessary correction without having to run them down carry them back and so on. There is nothing more pleasurable than going out with your dog knowing that you have control and that you and he/she are having a great time. Whether it's going for a walk or out having an all day hunt. Both of you will be having a great time.

John

About the Author

Semi-retired factory worker. Trained, bred and fieldtrialed German Shorthaired Pointers for a number of years with young dogs being my area of choice. I like the outdoors, fishing, golf. I like travel and I like sitting on the porch watching time go by.