It’s only just occurred to us that it would be useful to have a list of commands that the dog/s understand as not everyone uses the same vocabulary. For example is it Leave! or Drop it! I wish we’d asked the owners before they left as our charges have a penchant for eating sheep poo and carrying our shoes around the house!
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Just ask them now @Jane, especially if you’ve only just started the sit!
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I usually ask dog owners what they say after putting the food bowl down. Its often subconscious, and was by chance that i discovered that the very obedient black lab was waiting for “there you go” - she didn’t need to go hungry!
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I agree you should ask but I wouldn’t be too hopeful, though. Some owners just don’t train their dogs but you won’t know if you don’t ask.
I have found that “no” is quite a common, multipurpose command, sometimes “stop it” works too.
I did have a sit where “no” was a forbidden command, they only used “positive” phrases.
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I’ve done overlapping handoffs for dog sitting and ask then. That’s especially useful if the command is accompanied by (or entirely consists of) a hand gesture. Like my host might walk the dog and show me.
One of my U.K. sit dogs was especially clever, including knowing to jump up onto borders of a popular path during rush hours to avoid cyclists commuting for work.
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Well, it’s especially important when sitting for a dog in a non-english environment. We had once a list of commands in Hebrew and now a list of commands in Swedish. The list covers the most important terms, but I noticed that it works wonders sometimes to look up other words, too. I regularly ask the HO for new things, for example what he says when she’s digging in the garden. “Stop it” didn’t work. “Inte gräva” instead was the way to go.
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Yes but I was thinking generally that it might be a useful addition to the welcome guide.
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It certainly would be useful but I would not be too hopeful about it.
Well as a lot of people don’t bother with the welcome guide it’s unlikely. When I have a dog sit I ensure I go for a walk with the dog(s) & owner(s) before they leave and would ask the commands at that stage.
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