The Essential Dog Training Checklist: 5 Skills Every Dog Needs for a Simpler Life
What if I told you that a simple dog training checklist with just 5 skills could help you create a more harmonious life with your dog? I believe that teaching a solid down, recall, loose leash walking, place, and leave it are the foundational skills every dog needs. From my experience with Jasper, these skills have made our lives so much easier. In this post, I’ll explain why these 5 skills are essential and how you can start building them into your dog’s training routine.
Why Only 5 Skills?
The answer for this is simplicity. I believe as dog owners we can over complicate and rush things when in reality sometimes issues stem due to a weak foundation.
Working and strengthening these 5 skills will make life so much easier with your dog and below I shall explain why.
#1 – Unbreakable Down
Let’s start with the down on this dog training checklist. A down is a super versatile stationary movement.
What about a sit you ask? Yes a sit is great, but from my experience with Jasper a sit is more tempting to break. So I never ask him to sit now, 9 times out of 10 I’m fine with him standing and even when we’re stood for more than 5 seconds he’ll automatically sit anyway.
Building this around distractions and even to big distances can be insanely beneficial for the safety of your dog.
#2 – Loose Leash Walking Skills
Next on this list is loose leash walking skills. Being able to have your dog walk with you and not against you would make every owner’s life easier.
Everyone has different expectations for their walk, figure yours out and stick to that criteria. Due to his reactivity I have Jasper walk by my leg using that as a “boundary”.
Having great loose leash skills can help manoeuvre your dog out of tricky situations easily and make your daily walks so much easier.
#3 – Unbeatable Recall
Having an unbeatable recall is one of the most important commands for off-leash reliability. We’ve all heard of the dogs that have no recall and run up to other dogs despite being called. Don’t let that be you!
Whilst building a reliable recall I discovered using a long line a great prerequisite to teaching this skill. Allowing the freedom of being off leash whilst we can still gain control to help recall if needed.
#4 – Bulletproof Place
Place is life, I rave about it all the time and for good reason. Not only can you utilise place indoors but you can outdoors as well. If you end up somewhere dog friendly, having a place command can be great for giving somewhere the dog can settle.
Place is different from a down because ‘place’ is on a specific thing. If you have a reactive dog building a solid down can be so useful in situations where you have off leash dogs approaching you. You may be able to put your dog on a nearby bench or table while you intercept.
#5 – Solid Leave
The final skill that I believe to be essential is a solid leave. Leave is so versatile that it can be used in plenty of situations under different circumstances.
Dog got something in its mouth? Dog approaching dog or people you don’t want? Snake in the grass? Food/poo on the floor?
Developing this skill in a range of different situations can create a reliable leave that your dog will respond to every time. This is great for keeping dogs out of trouble.
Why Consistency Matters for These 5 Skills
While this dog training checklist focuses on just 5 key skills, the real magic happens through consistency. You might teach your dog these commands in a low-distraction environment, but practicing them regularly in real-world scenarios is what will make them reliable. The more you practice, the more confident and responsive your dog will be, even in challenging situations.
It’s about turning these skills into everyday habits. For example, your dog might nail the “down” command at home, but can they do it around other dogs or at the park? With consistent practice and reinforcement, your dog will learn to respond to your commands, no matter the environment. By weaving these skills into your daily walks, playtime, and routine, you’ll build a dog that listens and behaves in any situation.
Dog Training Checklist – Proof Is In The Pudding
As mentioned early a lot of people struggle with their dog because they have a week foundation. Many people find that they may teach a command 100 times in the house until your dog knows it, but change environment and you’re back at square one.
To really build reliability in any skill when it comes to dog training is firstly understand the four quadrants of dog training (I briefly explore it in that blog post) for effectively teaching.
Secondly is to make sure that you are proofing the behaviour. Proofing the behaviour is basically practising it in different environments slowly increasing distractions, duration and distance too.
Make sure you take it slow, sessions don’t have to be long at all and doing them
throughout the day will not only build reliability, provide the dog with something to do, but is also great for relationships and also mental stimulation too.
Final Thoughts
The majority of dogs need to have a basic foundation of skills to be able to integrate smoothly with society, some of us have those wonderful dogs that somehow know what you want all the time and deliver. However, this isn’t the majority unfortunately.
I believe working and developing these 5 commands is all you will need to get by with your dog. Of course it will take practice but it all starts with the foundation.
