Gun Dog Commands

I pondered which commands to use for some time when we first got Uly. I knew we had to have a set of words and signals that Uly would come to understand and respond to, and that everyone in the family was going to have to use the same ones.


Fortunately Claire at Gun Dog training knew the best words to use and set me straight by kindly writing down a list one evening. I've made a few minor changes to those original words to reflect what I have found works best for us, so here is the list of 'Uly-language'...


Basic dog commands every dog should know:

'Sit' 
'Come'
'Heel'
'Down' (lie down)
'Wait' (wait for a command)
'Stay' (until further notice/I return)
One word that wasn't on the original list and that I've found really useful is 'No!'.

More specific Gun Dog commands:

'Leave'
'Back' (go away in straight line)
'Out' (go right or left)
'There' or 'Lost' or 'High Lost' or 'Find it'
'Close' (come in closer to me)
'Go-run' (release word to say go and run around - you're a free doggy!)
'Load-up' (get up into car)
'Hold' (hold thing in mouth – dummy, ball, pheasant, whatever)
'Dead' (or 'Give') (dog to let go of what it has in its mouth)


Whistle Gun Dog commands:
One peep = 'Stop'
Three peeps = 'Come'
Two peeps (peep-peeeeeep) = 'It's There' (use when dog is very close to prey/dummy).

And...

There seems to be quite varied commands to tell your dog to empty its bladder/bowels. I caused some amusement at training by using the most basic, namely...

'Wee-wee'

'Poo-poo'

It's up to you!