Standard training commands in german?

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Hello all,

I've been trolling here for a few months, and am planning to move somewhere near Zurich around December. I have a Big (~75lbs... 34 kg) Yellow Dog and a spunky cat who are my fur-kids and really need to come with me (although not immediately). I'll probably post more at a later date as I continue to muddle through all the federal and cantonal rules (and I know there are a lot) of how to make this work, especially on a PhD student salary... But for now, I had a few simple starter questions.

My dog is 4.5 years old, and I've had him since a puppy. We did 3 six-week training classes in the U.S., and while training is a lifelong endeavor and we have a few things we're definitely working on, I have a lot of trust in our general relationship, socialization, and command vocabulary. He also passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen test a few years ago. That said, while I'm still trying to figure out how to learn some basic German, I'd like to convert all his major commands to German too, even while we're still in the U.S.

I think we'll have a big responsibility to navigate all the dog-fear I've read about on these boards, and so I'd like to show up with a dog that already is familiar with the commands he might commonly hear, and is responsive to them.

Basically what I have on the list at this point are on this page: http://german.about.com/library/blhkommando.htm

But, they list two options for 'stay'? I presume 'Bleib' is more appropriate (I never tell my dog to 'stop' in place of 'stay'?).

And a special request: How would you say 'sit pretty!'? This is my dog's absolute favorite trick, and he offers it anytime someone even hints at giving him a treat... Google translate gives me 'sitzen ziemlich'...?

Any other tips in the realm of (pre-)training (knowing we'll be taking the theory and practical SKN courses when we arrive anyway)?

2
"Beiss"

3
" Schoen Sitzen" or just "Sitz"

4
Hah! I think that might undo a lot of the need to learn any of the rest in German...

I'm not sure what 'schoen' means... but this is definitely distinct from 'sit'. Its kind of just a trick that we initially learned for fun, and it helps inspire some giggles from kids (and an opportunity to teach kids how to properly give a dog a treat without fear of an accidental nibble). Anyway, it involves sitting on the hind legs and front paws in a cute begging position. I suppose I could not use it, but problem is, that's his favorite, so he does it anyway...

5
Schoen means pretty or nice in the context you will be using it. Funny. I have two labs. One trained in the uk and one trained by my Swiss partner. We had our dogs separately then came together. Now when I'm commanding the dogs I have two speak two languages English and German. Unfortunately the English speaking dog just hasn't quiet grasped the words/tones in German.

Good luck.

6
Lol, that's because the german verb "stoppen" has far more meanings than the English verb "to stop". Bleib! is correct

Sitz aufrecht!

You are giving orders (Befehle) to your dog, hence you cannot use "sitzen ziemlich" as this is the 3rd-person plural or the formal "you" of present form.

7

"Schön sitzen" This is infinitive, you need to use the imperative form

"Sitz"

8
My dogs mother tongues are/were English, Chinese, Spanish, French, Italian, High German, and Whatever-in-heck-they-speak-in-Valais.

I use hand signals.

Seriously, all my dogs were adopted as adults and regardless of their 'mother tongues' I teach them all commands in English, as that is my default language and likely to come out first in an emergency. I then taught the dogs the basic commands in the language of the country we were living in. And as above, hand signals.

Learning the commands in the local language is really for the benefit of passers-by, a bit of theater so that folks who are uneasy with dogs can see that mine are under control. But it's also useful, as your dog sitter or vets might use the German.

So commands I use regularly:

Fuss - general heel, specifically heel at left side

Hand - heel at right

Rechts/Links - left, right

Bleib - stay

Warte - wait

Sitz - sit

Platz - down

Drehen - turn

Rund um - to go around

Ruhig - quiet

Kom! come

zu mir - to me

Front - front, oddly my trainer uses this in English

Voran - sendaway

Apport! - Fetch

Pfötli - give paw. I do not use the gib Fuss that your site suggests, as it is too close to the heel command.

Steh - stand. (I only use the English 'stand', as the German 'steh' sounds too much like the English 'stay', confusing to the dog)

Stop! - stop

Peng! - Bang, play dead - as in roll over belly up. (A trick that can be very useful on the exam table)

Lass - leave

Pfui! - the general Swiss-German 'stop that!' used in emergencies. A gentle 'Ah' is preferable for everyday correction.

Genug - that's enough.

Frei! - free, as in the exercise is over.

Oh, and the Jöööööö... fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine Hündli! which you will (hopefully) hear from pasers-by as your dogs are sitting pretty.

For complicated commands I use the English. So for sit pretty I'd say just that.

I actually use hand signals far more than verbal commands, as dogs are more attune to body language/visual than the verbal. And I had a deaf dog. All the other dogs picked up on his 'canine sign language' very quickly - and hand signals are universal, not dependent on local language skills.

But at the end of the day, none of this matters. Anything we humans say is a foreign language to our dogs, the words have no inherent meaning to them. We simply teach our dogs to associate a set of sounds with a desired action. I know a trainer who uses vegetables and fruits. 'Broccoli!' means heel, 'Tomato!' means sit, etc.