Now i know you probably know a few of these like sit and down, but the rest of these are so much more important. I am going to show you how to do it and explain why you should learn them. Lets start with the basics.
Sit
Difficulty level: It is an easy command and almost natural for the dog.
Method: Luring
How to:
Take a bite-sized treat in the palm of your hand
Open palm facing the ceiling hold the treat to the dog's nose
Once the dog starts sniffing, lift your hand above the dog's head
The dog will look up and its butt will hit the floor, Say your reward marker (YES!!!)
Give dog the treat
Down
Difficulty level: It can difficult for some dogs and easier for others. Just keep practicing and they will get it. In my experience, the huskys and German Shepherds down easily and the pit bulls sometimes take a little longer.
Method: Luring
How to:
Have 2 pieces of bite size treats in your hand.
Get the dog to sit , say reward marker (YES!!!) then give the dog a treat
As soon as the dog takes the treat take the other treat and put it right in front of the dogs nose
Lure the dog by bringing the treat straight down the dog's chest to the floor in between the dog's paws
Dog ends up in a hunch over position and so their butt slids out and their stomach hits the floor
Say reward marker(YES!!!) then give the dog the treat.
Leave It
Difficulty level: This depends on the dogs energy level and how bad they want to get to an object or person. Hyper dogs take longer to get it and need to work more on having a calm state of mind, which is a topic for another post.
Method: Catching the dog in the act by creating the scenario
How to:
Take a treat and place it on the floor in front of your dog and a treat behind your back
Instead of letting the dog eat the treat you are going to cover it with your hand palm down so that the treat is no longer accessible to the dog.
Most dogs will immediately go for the treat by scratching or even nibbling on your hand if they really want it
You don't do anything but keep your hand there and tell the dog to "leave it" in a strong non threatening voice. You keep telling the dog this until he looks away or backs up. Then you say the reward marker (YES!!!) then treat with the treat behind your back.
Tip: Don't give the dog the treat on the floor. We practice with treats but if that was something that was poisonous we wouldn't tell our dogs to "leave it" and then give it to them. Practice for real life scenarios.
Come
Difficulty level: Not difficult. Make sure when you're first teaching your dog that its in a very low distraction area such as in your home. Avoid outside with lots of distractions. We will work our way up to that and if you want to really get this down check this out.
Method: slight leash pressure
How to:
Walk with your dog on the leash.
Wait for dog to look the other way
Back up away from dog and give slight leash pressure towards you
Tell the dog to come as you do step 3
Say reward marker(YES!!!) and give the dog a treat once he/she gets to you.
Tip: This is the basic version. If a dog won't come to you when you have the leash in a distraction free environment then he won't come when something else has his attention. Work slow and at your dog's level. Just because you understand the exercise doesn't mean the dog does. It gets much more complicated than this and I go over this in my advanced obedience lessons.
Stay
Difficulty level: very difficult for puppies( who have a short attention span) and hyper dogs (who have a hard time sitting still).
Method: Teaching the dog what we want through baby steps
How to:
Stand facing the dog as the dog will also be facing you.
Use open palm( like telling someone to stop) and tell the dog to stay
Take a step back then return to the dog with a step forward back to the dog.
Say reward marker(YES!!!) and give dog a treat.
Next do step 1 and 2 the same, but for step 3 you will take 2 steps back then 2 steps forward.
Say the reward marker(YES!!!) and give your dog a treat again
You will work your way to the end of the leash
Tip: You must always return to your dog when you tell them to stay. If you call your dog to come all time from a stay, your dog can begin to anticipate you calling them and get up from a stay before you want them to.
Place
Difficulty level: Simple for the dog to understand. Your dog will just need time to understand how to get there from a distance
Method: Luring
How to:
Take a piece of food and lure your dog onto the place mat( their bed).
Once they are on the bed feed them a couple times and with some treats( make it so that they receive treats on the bed and don't receive treats off of the bed).
After they feel comfortable going on the bed, the next step is teach them when to go on the bed
Walk up to the bed and stop abruptly just before the bed
Say "place" and use the leash to guide your dog onto the bed.
After a while as your dog begins to understand you can increase the distance by which you stop. Instead of stopping right before the bed, you stop 3 feet away and say "place".
Tip: To break it down, the dog must first like the bed( feeding them on the bed and not off makes that association). Then you put the command "place" to it. Then you increase the distance.
The place command helps to send your dog to their bed when a guest comes over and you don't want them charging at the door.
Hope this was helpful.