Anyone who owns a dog will agree that training your four-legged friend isn’t as easy as it seems. While enrolling your dog in doggy training school might seem like the easiest solution, it is possible to teach the basic commands yourself. These basic commands will help you and your furry friend to tackle possible problem situations that might occur in the future.

The easiest dog obedience command to teach your dog is ‘sit’, so it might be a good idea to start there. Grab a treat and hold it close to your dog’s nose. When you move your hand upwards, its back will automatically lower. Once it sits, say ‘sit’ and give him/she the treat and a pat on his head.

‘Come’ and ‘Down’ Commands

After you’ve successfully mastered the first step, you can start teaching your dog to come to you. This will help you to avoid sticky situations should your dog slip out of the leash. Put a collar and leash on your dog and kneel down to their level. Pull the leash and say ‘come’. When your dog successfully obeys the command, give it a treat and affection.

The ‘down’ command is the most difficult one to teach your dog because it’s a submissive position. Put a treat in your fist and let your dog smell it, then slowly move your hand downwards. When your dog’s nose follows your hand, slowly move your hand along the ground. Your dog will follow and, when it is down, say ‘down’ and provide a treat.

‘Stay’ and ‘Leave It’ Commands

Your dog should be a expert at the ‘sit’ command before you attempt the ‘stay’ command. Grab the treat, get your dog to sit and then open your hand and tell it to stay. When your dog has noticed the treat, take a few steps back and wait a few seconds. If your dog successfully stays, reward it with a treat.

Dogs, especially pups, are curious but the key to the ‘leave it’ command is to reward your pup with something better if it ignores the other item. Put a treat in both hands and let your dog lick and sniff one hand, but ignore it. Say ‘leave it’ and if your dog obeys, give it the treat in the other hand.