Good post... I am interested what others teach as well...
As for me:
- First and foremost would be the ability to get the animal's FULL attention... a good cow dog friend of mine got me to saying this to my dogs lol... "YOU BETTER HEAR ME"
...when I say each individual dog's name, they better stop whatever they are doing and look at me for direction. If not, I go get them and remind them... physically grabbing them, picking them up by the neck and forcing them to look at me in the eye as I say their name again... and again... may even give them a good shake until I get "full attention"... this is of course, a level ten response for complete disrespect of "call to attention"... IF AT ANY POINT, the dog makes a move showing attention, the tone of my voice changes and I immediately positively re-enforce the "try" exhibited by the dog... lot of timing/feel to this, but it really helps keep my animals focused on me so I may help them... It should be noted that this type of control takes a LOT of time... and, in my opinion, can be severely handicapped by "cheating" with shock collars. Great training takes time, patience, consistency,
- As I said, the previous command is a never ending process... the dog just gets better at it with time and CONSISTENCY...
- Next command that the dog sure as HELL better be able to do is... "GET'M!!!"... without this.... everything else doesn't matter..
... this "command", moreover the reaction of the dog to it, is something that I am VERY careful not to ever get in the way of... I prefer to encourage this "drive", even at the cost of control for a good bit until the dog clearly has the concept...
- "Load up"... means LOAD YOUR ASS UP NOW. (without me getting out of the truck to make you do it
) All my dogs know how to do this so I might drive on to a more productive area
- "Go ahead"... means I say it is ok to get off the truck and go back to hunting
- "Get out"/"get ahead"... means get off the caught hog and go bay up another you sumbitches
... that is pertinent commands I can think of right now, may remember more later!
