The Benefits of Basic Obedience Commands

By Darian Smock ZimmVet Daycare Professional

While watching obedience competitions is fun and impressive, your pup doesn’t need to be at that level to be a pleasant companion in the home. Teaching your dog a few basic, but essential, obedience commands can build a strong foundation for reliable and compliant behavior. Let’s check out our four core skills every dog would benefit from knowing.

“Sit”

Sit is a basic positional command that puts your dog in a controlled position that gets their attention back on you. Having your dog’s attention is the first step to building up to a series of commands. “Sit” is a good way to get your dog under control and is also a good pre-cursor to more complex commands such as “Stay”.

“Come” or Recall

Having a strong recall is a life-saving command and is an essential on your obedience check-list. The “Come” command keeps your dog safe and under supervision. Reliable recall is one of the most valuable commands your furry family member can know.

“Leave It”

Leave It is an essential command that can save your pet’s life. This command tells your dog not to pick up something in their mouth. At a convenience level, “Leave It” can keep your dog from eating your sandwich or something icky on the side of the road. On a more essential level, this command can keep your dog safe from potentially harmful objects such as prescription medication, chemicals, and allergens.

“Drop It”

Drop it is a command that works in tandem with the Leave It command. Drop it is telling your dog to release something it already has in its mouth. While challenging, this is an import command to have in your obedience repertoire because it is very common for dogs and especially puppies to pick up inappropriate items in their mouths. Like the “Leave It” command, “Drop It” is both a command of convenience and safety. A fun game of Fetch is a great way to reinforce a strong “Drop It” command.