It’s a fact that training plays a crucial part in lost pet prevention. There are undeniable benefits of having a trained pup, such as being able to understand your furry friend better, providing them with mental exercises, or creating a strong bond based on mutual trust and affection.
As a responsible dog parent, you want to ensure your dog’s safety on walks. Dive deep into our practical guide of the most useful commands your dog should know to prevent them from getting lost.
1. Come (Recall)
This basic obedience command can save your dog from many kinds of accidents – when your dog is off-leash on the walk, you have to make sure that they will always come back when called. There might be a dog or a bike approaching their way, there might also be a fun distraction but you have to build the connection with them that strong that whatever it would be, your pup will be always happy to quickly come back to you.
To make sure that your dog always comes back to you when called, you can use positive reinforcement techniques such as giving them treats or praise when they come to you. It’s important to start training your dog on recall in a low-distraction environment, such as your backyard or a quiet park. Once they master the command in such environments, you can gradually increase the distractions and move to busier areas. It’s also crucial to avoid using the recall command when you’re going to do something that your dog doesn’t enjoy such as giving them a bath or taking them to the vet. By doing so, you can ensure that your dog associates the recall command with positive experiences only
2. Sit & Stay
It is a great cue to train your dog’s ability to focus on you and strengthen your bond. First, your dog needs to learn Sit. After they master it, you can start practising staying in one position. It can be helpful when you have to leave your dog for a moment and you want to be sure that they are safe and they are politely waiting for you to release them from the cue. This command is a wonderful training to improve your mutual trust.
3. Moving objects
Teach your dog to ignore distractions. This training is especially important when you take your dog out and they get very excited by flying birds, playing children, cars, bikes, sounds and smells. You have to compete for your dog’s attention with all of that! Sounds impossible? It requires lots of patience and effort but it is definitely worth practicing for your dog’s safety and your own inner peace.
4. Hand gestures
Introduce hand gestures instead of verbal cues. This is useful in public when it’s noisy and your dog can’t hear you properly or in office surroundings if you don’t want to disturb your coworkers. Before teaching hand gestures, make sure your dog knows a command well with a verbal cue or luring in case of a deaf dog.
Hand gestures can also be used to communicate with your dog when you’re in a noisy or crowded environment where verbal cues might not be effective. For example, you can use hand signals to tell your dog to stay close to you when you’re walking in a crowded street or to stop barking when you’re in a public place. However, it’s important to note that hand signals should always be accompanied by verbal cues initially, so your dog can learn to associate the hand signal with the verbal command. Once your dog has mastered the command with a verbal cue, you can gradually reduce the verbal cue and rely more on the hand signal.
5. Gotcha!
Many dogs dislike being grabbed by the collar, as it usually is bad news: playtime is over, another dog is approaching, confinement time. Involuntarily many of us have taught dogs to dislike it. And they might want to run away from you when they see you approaching them during their off-leash time on the walk. To prevent being hand-shy, start holding your pup on a collar and hand-feed them.
6. Hide & Seek
Playtime! How about a game that might prevent your dog from getting lost? Once your dog knows basic commands, try to play Hide & Seek with them. This interactive game is not only a great workout for your active pup but also a fun way to practice their prior knowledge, combining it with a rewarding scent game.
Not sure where to start? Good news – you will find all the commands in the Dogo App! Download Dogo and enjoy the step by step instructions. If you need inspiration, have a look at ‘’Good examples’’ of other Dogo students performing the command that you are currently training. Once your pup is succeeding, take a video exam – your pup’s performance will be evaluated by a professional Dogo trainer. Sounds fun, right? Good luck with your training!
This article was originally published as a part of Lost Pet Prevention Month in collaboration with PetHub.
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