I think every pet owner’s Welcome Guide should include a little ‘Doggy Dictionary’ – a list of the words, phrases and commands their dogs understand.
I’ve often found that owners will be rushing out the door and suddenly remember to tell you something like, “Oh, if you want them to go to the toilet before bed, just say… ‘Scare the tigers!’”
Or, “He won’t eat his dinner until you give the command ‘Go to!’”
These phrases are second nature to owners, but as sitters, we’re not necessarily familiar with them. Being able to refer to a list in the Welcome Guide would make life much easier and help keep the dogs’ routines consistent.
Does anyone else think this should be added to the Welcome Guide?
And have you ever been given unusual words or instructions for dogs that you would never have thought of saying yourself? I’m sure there are some funny ones out there!
Great point! I’ve taught my dog to pee on command… “pish pish” so we get it done in a timely way during “last call!” Sure wish other dogs knew about this… my last dog sit needed a full walk around a couple blocks at 10 pm before he’d do his duty….
I include such terms in my notes to the folks who care for our dog, though they’ve never been on THS and we pay them. (Our dog needs professional sitting.)
some dogs that I have sat for a few times, their bedtime pee command is GO BACK GARDEN, and when I say it, the Parrot joins in , adding “c’mon, out you go”. I love it.
I did read somewhere an owner had named his dog “ Get Down !” In a foreign language. It certainly got them noticed but probably confused the dog and delayed the training progress!
Yes, my husband speaks to our dog in another language that he’s not managed to learn well, despite many years. I urged him to stop, because no one else speaks the language with such a bad accent.
One of my sibling-in-laws imported a dog from Germany and had to speak to him in German, because that was what he was trained on.
I love this. Many owners volunteer this during my orientation, but it would be great in the WG. I had a very smart border collie mix who was well trained to “Go Pee”. One day, in a rush to go to work, I repeated this a few times while she sniffed around. She finally answered me with a very brief one second “dry squat”, letting me know she understood but didn’t need to go! I laughed and praised her and brought her in.
We sit for a dog who is told to wait, when his food bowl is put down, and then not to eat it until you say “Take”.
We sat another dog who stood and looked at us when their food was put down. We’d had no specific instructions, so I had to run through a variety of possibilities - “Go on” was the one that finally did the trick. Thank goodness it wasn’t something obscure that we’d never have guessed!
Yes I’ve come across that the final command was “ it’s yours!”
I like this rule. It reminds the dog who is in control of food and when he can eat it.. some dogs have kibble down all the time and I don’t like that system as much.
I wonder if dogs will get an automatic feeder produced for them too!
Yeah, we got our very smart yellow lab from a rescue at 3 years old, she was obviously trained, so “all” we had to do was socialize her in a group class for a year so she wouldn’t be reactive to other dogs. Still, to this day, I’ll lay her kibble down, and she’ll wait , looking at me hopefully while I say “ go for it,” which I find incredibly endearing. We still can’t believe anyone would have given her up! She’s ruined me for other dog sits, so I mostly try to do only cats now. What a great way to be spoiled, huh?
I’ve sat a few dogs who should have been taught “OhForFussSake!” , “AreYouReallyDoinThat?!” “That’sDisgustingLeaveItAlone” “NonononoPleaseNO!” or “PeeNowOrYou’llHaveAllNightToThinkAboutIt”..
