The early education of Outlaws Cobalt Gambit; I need suggestions for creative vocabulary.

[summer_jackel]

The wee sheepdog parfait and I are in week 3 of basic obedience, and I have a request.

In a week or so, we are getting to the "heel" command. He already understands that this word means 'don't move out in front of me, pull or switch sides and stay on the side you know you are supposed to be on, but you can sniff or pee if you need to.' I obviously use this one daily, and it keeps a nice cohesive, mannerly pack at my heels when we walk.

What I need now is something different; the conformation ring or competitive obedience 'heel' in which the dog is perfectly close to my left heel, attending my every move and focused happily on me to the exclusion of all else. He has not yet learned that thing, and I will need a term for it.

I am now seeking suggestions for this term. It should be 1-2 syllables, reasonably easy to say and shouldn't sound like any other commands or words he hears all the time. It doesn't need to actually mean heel, as he's, you know, a dog, and doesn't actually understand English. EXTRA BONUS POINTS for clever, interesting or unusual words which will make me smile a little inside every time I say them. Come on guys, it's a challenge. Give it your best shot.

(Runners-up may be selected to mean something else later on. For instance, if I do ever show obedience, and why not if I'm going to be at dog shows anyhow, he will need a 'finish' command, in which he returns to heel position from wherever he is).

The non-dog-geeks in the audience can pat me on the head indulgently and move on at this point, but caninophiles may be interested in what Coba (and usually, the other three) already know, and what I'm teaching him.

Commands he already has/is learning:

"Sit" (includes 'stay.' The other three have these as separate commands, but I agree with our current trainer that it makes sense to combine them).

"Down"

"Come"

"Paws" (untangles himself from his leash. One of the most useful things you can ever teach a dog, for reals).

"Off" (get your filthy little paws off of my person).

"Get" ('go away.')

"Load" ('get in the truck.' He won't do this yet).

"Focus" (Look at me and pay attention).

"Let's go!" ('We are moving out now.' This was the 'start pulling' command when the wolves were young enough for mushing).

"Heel" (already explained)

"Heel left/right" (Tells Coba which side I want him on. Rogue is and Fen was trained to always be at my right, Pryde and Jez always at my left, though I am training Jez to switch a little. Pryde and Fen knew to turn "Gee" and "Haw" when I was mushing).

"Stand" ('From a sitting position, stand up.' It isn't too late to change this word, which will ultimately be the command to collect himself in the ring. I've thought of using "collect", "pose" or "show off" but I bet you guys can come up with something creative).

"Up" ('sit up cutely with your forepaws in the air.' This was awesome with Pryde, but I don't make him do it or any of the sit/down type commands anymore as they are hard on his hips).

"You're done" (dog is still on leash but is released from the command. Mosty this applies to Coba; I'm sloppy with the others and either let them go off-command on their own or use 'go run.' I am not 100% happy with the phrase and may use a runner-up clever term in its place; suggest away).

"Go run". ('You're off leash; go do anything you want to.')

Commands I plan to teach are "Jump," possibly 2 different ones for over a hurdle and boinging in place. Into my arms would be awesome, but I don't know if Coba, who is a somewhat shy and thoughtful beastie, will be interested in that. I may teach him to herd my ducks around. Various tricks would be nice. Fetch would be awesome. Suggestions, dog people?

Comments

[camelai.livejournal.com]

I don't have any suggestions for you. Well, I could suggest "follow" but that's not very fun. :P
I just wanted to let you know that this post was interesting. I'd love to see the result! And I'd love to read more posts about the training and showing stuff. :)

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll try to note when anything interesting happens.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Hmm, words for commands that will make you smile when you use them...
"smile" comes to mind
"trot" or "march" actually would have a sensible meaning, much like the "follow" suggestion
"stalk" ... after all, he's following you obsessively
"shadow" same idea
"engage" (perhaps I watched too much Star Trek)

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I love "Stalk." I totally would have used "Engage!" when I was training my first dog, back in my late teens. "Go Run" was "Free Bajor!" when I first trained...

[noahbrand.livejournal.com]

Stormi is teaching our wee little wolfpup commands in Japanese, so that when we're around other dogs and dog owners, she doesn't respond to the wrong ones.

So far she's working on iku, or "come", and chaku, or "sit", but she's like two months old, so that's as much as her tiny brain can handle right now, especially given she's also having to learn the list of things she's allowed to chew (limited) and the list of things she's not allowed to chew (everything not on the first list).

[aris-tgd.livejournal.com]

... I will not be an ass and point out to Stormi that those are not conjugated as commands, but the anal retentive person in me needs to point out "itte" and "suwate" are the command forms of those verbs. Well, er, not of "chaku" but of the command that my Japanese teacher always gave the class.

As for commands... well, in my tap class, we had a step called a "Fred" after Fred Astaire, and we never did come up with anything for "Ginger". I suppose teaching a dog to follow in your footsteps might be a good use? Though Eleanor Powell (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRrx7CsTO9U) might be a better role model...

[feuervogel]

I'll be an ass and point out that informal Japanese speech uses the infinitive form as commands all the time. As in 'kuru!' or "kuruna!" (being the negative, an informal "konaide") These are generally male speech patterns.

[aris-tgd.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. That actually helps my anal-retentive neurosis a lot.

[feuervogel]

It's the type of Japanese they don't teach you in school XD They teach the -masu forms, which people hardly ever use except in polite situations (and half the time then, it's "ikunda" or "iku no desu.") Actually, it seems like casual Japanese uses the infinitive form for just about everything. iku can mean I'm going or go (command), depending on context. "iku ze" (m) or "iku wa yo" (f) mean I'm going.

And if I think about it more, the "ike" form is also used very commonly as the command (even though it's the truncated 'able to' form.)

What I know about colloquial Japanese I learned from watching cartoons. ^^;

(Sorry, Jackel. Finer points of Japanese grammar probably bore you to death.)

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

hah, please don't apologize. Peculiar little events like a thread examining Japanese grammar arising from a post about dog training are one of the reasons I love communication via EllJay.

[feuervogel]

It's true, the random digressions are what make LJ fun! I just never know who's OK with massive sidetracking and who isn't.

Though the finer points of German grammar are something I'm more familiar with and have been known to rhapsodize on periodically.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

This conversation amuses me greatly.

I'd love to teach him commands in Shetland, only I think I'd forget the words and butcher the pronunciations.

Still way nifty. http://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/view/675

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I would totally use commands that referenced dancing if I was training musical canine freestyle...

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I must see photos of this puppy, I simply must.

Good luck with the chew thing; if pattern holds with my wolfdogs, this will be a life-long debate on some level, though it peaks in intensity in the second and third year. You remember Chewy---I certainly didn't name him that, but he did earn it as a pup.

[troubleagain.livejournal.com]

"velcro"

[oldewolfe.livejournal.com]

This!

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes.

[oldewolfe.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to see the commands different trainers use with their dogs.

For myself, 'Heel' is obvious, and Reid always starts on my left.

'Change' will switch her from one side to the other.

'Straight-on' will have her go out to the end of her leash with me behind her. (This is nice for people on bikes or with baby strollers sharing the sidewalk.)

'Hold-up' Plant your ass where you're at. Dad ain't as young as he used to be and needs to catch-up.

'Beat it' Go away.

'Inside' Go through any door, gate, hole, whatever that we happen to be interacting with. On our property it means the wolf run.

Then there're the usual 'stay', 'sit', 'down' and 'up' commands.

[troubleagain.livejournal.com]

I'm Southern, so Jasmine gets "wait a minute" when I need to breathe, or untangle the leash or something. :D

[a-rowan-dryad.livejournal.com]

Ahhh puppy love! What about... "pose" or "lovely" for finishing? Something egocentric I think would make it a little more fun. Perhaps even the word "Ego"?

[troubleagain.livejournal.com]

or "vogue"?

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I like those, especially "pose", for the stand command---i.e, be still and perfectly stacked up while the judge pokes at you. The finish is more active, a 'get back to heel position.' /ponders/

[a-rowan-dryad.livejournal.com]

There are times with my four year old when I want him to pick up toys or somesuch and of course he will try to stall because he doesn't want to do it. Which in turn tends to make me snap my fingers and say "NOW" at him in the mom voice to which he moves! What about using "now" for finishing?

[bloolark.livejournal.com]

You'll actually need two commands. Confirmation ring heeling is very different from obedience heeling. In the first one, the dog must look straight forward and not at the handler at all, and in the second, it's usual that the dog stares up at the handler. :)

As far as words go, most of Crow's commands are the typical Schutzhund commands in German (okay, only two -- sit and down), and all of Noire's are in French. Maybe look for a different language?

Oh, and to release them -- 'free' for Crow and 'fini' for Noire.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Oh, useful to know! Competitive obedience is something I've never looked at with any depth. We're definitely focusing on the conformation ring for now; his wee puppy brain already has enough to cope with right now.

I've thought about training him in Shetland language words, actually, but I'm sure I'd slaughter the pronunciation. (Bad enough that I pronounce Pryde's name "Pride-AIR-ee" rather than the proper Welsh, which is "Pruh-DARE-uh."

Cool Shetland language site nonetheless: http://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/view/675

I really like the idea of different release commands for different dogs. Mine are 'name of dog+ release command' but I've let them get so sloppy with it as they've aged.

[kynekh-amagire.livejournal.com]

"Free" or "be free" or "glorious freeeeeeeedom!" (in a ringing voice) was always the release command(s) for my dogs.

Having already taught my saluki the command "heel" as "stay in my vicinity, and don't dash over the horizon just because you can", I had to teach him another cue when we started doing competitive obedience. "Velcro!" was the signal to glue himself to my thigh, although (being a sighthound, and all), he always took it as more of a suggestion than an actual command, especially when other people were watching. If you use a non-standard command in public, it makes it just a little bit worse when your dog decides his priorities are different than yours. :D

("Did she say Velcro? Why would she say Velcro?" "I don't know what that's supposed to mean." "Neither does her dog, apparently.")

Whistle cues are where it's at. My herding dog, "special" though he is, is a thousand times better at differentiating those than my hound or retrievers ever were. If Coba's a clever sod, you should have no trouble training him to verbal cues, whistle cues, AND hand signals.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

LOL!!!!!! "Velcro" is definitely in the running. I'm probably going to stand out, anyway.

Coba already does whistle cues and hand signals rather well for his age, and I'm trying to teach hand signal along with the verbal one for a few commands. The sheepdogs really, really like to take direction compared with any other breeds, I think.

[zrath.livejournal.com]

(I hope this works. Our Internet out here is crap right now!)

Our family SuperActionYorkie, the late and lamented Elvis, responded to commands in French, because, well, we're French! :D
In addition to normal stuff like "viens ici" (come here), "au pied" (heel) and others, he responded to the all-purpose action command "hop". If you pointed somewhere and said "hop!", Elvis would jump there. It also worked without pointing. If you were sitting down and you said "hop!", Elvis would come over and jump up to be in your lap.
Elvis was not a yapper, he was French, so he said "ouah!".
He was so awesome.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

What a great story. :D
The toys yap a lot less when they are given training; they need something to think about and a means of communication like any other dog. He sounds very cute.