What rules do you have for your dog?

[BoysRule]

We are getting a puppy on Sunday and I am currently reading everything I can on training etc.

However, one thing that seems to be personal to the owners is what freedom they have around the house: can they go on the sofa? upstairs? when should they be told to go into their bed etc?

I don't want to make things more difficult by changing rules later on but at the moment I don't feel I am worried about it going on the sofa or upstairs. Does anyone have any thoughts they could share?

Basically my 'hard and fast'rules are based around having trained them rock-solid recall, stop, wait, leave, give and off commands.

They get 2-3 hours off-lead exercise every day but must always stop when whistled and come back when called.
They are allowed on the furniture but must always get off immediately when told to.
They wait when the car boot is opened before jumping in or out.
They wait at doorways/gates if told to.
They leave anything that I tell them to (applies to stuff on the floor/ground) or give anything that they are holding in their mouths if I ask them to. They're trained gundogs so this is very important.

The other one is that they don't steal each other's food - one of them is a total gannet and the other a soft touch so she would neck her dinner and then his given half a chance and he'd stand there and let her!

DP's rule is to stop feeding them bits of cheese when he's making sandwiches!

We have a 12 year old Yorkshire Terrier, so the 'rules' have laxed over the years. He's a very gentle old man and he is very good.

He has excellent recall (which I think is the most needed thing a dog must have!) He will wait when we say 'wait'. Those are the only things I need.

He's allowed upstairs and sleeps at the end of our bed. However he's tiny - weighs about 4lbs. He's delightful.

Meadow training is a never ending process if you want to continue to have a well behaved dog.

You start with sit, down, recall and toilet training and then you build from there. If you take your dog to a good reward based training class it will equip you with the skills to teach your dog almost anything.
I say almost anything after 6 years my dog still doesn't get that whilst Bowing starts a game as a dog it is an angry pose in a cat. I suspect the fog/cat language barrier will never be overcome in my house.

Our dogs are not allowed upstairs.

Not allowed on the furniture (though I sometimes catch one sneakily jumping off a sofa).

They must 'go to bed' when told.

Tawny we have two Caucasian Ovcharkas and a Fila Brasiliero, they are all large even for their breeds, but not and ounce of fat on them, solid muscle and fluff in the case of the CO's. I have always trained based on absolute respect and trust, but it takes a lot of training, and continued training.
Our dogs were all death row rescues and their bond with me is iron cast, absolutely nothing is more important to them than protecting DH, DS and I, so I used to feign getting hurt of they didn't respond first time. It was an important lesson for them, that unless they are told they are "off duty" then they need to be watching and alert as we do rely on them for protection and them being distracted or not doing as asked could be catastrophic. It takes time and patience, and their breeds help, they tend to be more serious in nature and don't mess around or go silly (thankfully), they're very very calm dogs.

MeadowHay I didn't take ours to training classes or used a trainer, I trained them myself. For a start we live in an extremely remote location in South America, and more importantly, our dogs barely tolerate anyone telling me what to do now, when we first got them they would all have had a trainer on their back and pinned by the throat in two seconds flat. Likewise they would have killed every other dog at a training class!

I would agree 100% with teaching 'Leave it / Drop it' as a first priority alongside recall, for safety reasons, and also with teaching them not to dash through doors.

'Manners' (as opposed to safety) rules here:
No jumping up
No scrounging
No dogs on furniture
No dogs in carpeted rooms - modified now ddog is v. old to 'dogs lay on large towels in carpeted rooms'
No dogs upstairs (exceptions made for fireworks/thunder/other scary situations and flood)
Especially no sleeping on the half landing in the dark (this rule also applies to cats) - actually, this is a safetly one
No sleeping in puddles (not followed except under duress)

Forgot - No Rolling in Badger Poo

Hi hellbeasts how are you and the hellbeast I only see you on dog threads

No sleeping in puddles I think that's a given

We did a lot of training ourselves but found DDog was very good until she had a distraction while out (e.g. Another dog) then she didn't listen at all

We did training classes, good citizen award not proper obedience, to teach her to listen to us when there were distractions. We also did some fun agility which also helped.

When I say helped, I mean it helped DH to use the same commands as me and not make up his own random ones. Turned out to be easy to train a dog, more tricky to train a husband

"No sleeping in puddles I think that's a given"

You would think so, wouldn't you . . . DDog is inclined to disagree.

My dog is a rescue who was super obedient when we got her (wouldn't move around the house without being told etc). Have managed to partially untrain her of that! I have come to the conclusion (partly due to her breed) that she has had some gun dog training, as she will do things like quarter the ground on request. She is soft mouthed, but will not give things back when holding them - this must have been a disadvantage in a gun dog!

MrsJayy good thanks, and you? I know, we're very busy at the moment, we're expanding the ranch which is great and has been a long time in the planning, but lots of work .

As of today our rules also include 'no border collies on the work tops' that bloody dog has the stealth and jumping abilities of a cat.

to MeadowHay safety all round is the priority in training and you do this naturally with anything at risk, then you either find the words you want to consistently use or you get them from your dpup training sessions.

Going there will teach you timing and behaviour around dpup to manage them enjoyably. Although going to them is no guarantee of nailing the things you want to, from what i've heard off others. Make sure to hunt around and find a recommended one, even if its out of your area, it will be worth it. The breeder you buy from should know of good ones, maybe for the breed specifically.

your dpup needs to listen to you for its own safety, so instant recall/stop is vital, as it not eating anything and everything and releasing it when asked, i've known dpups eat poisonous mushrooms and all manner of stuff, and some places lay poisioned dog biscuits out and various things, including kids chewing gum in parks and gawd knows what else.

most of rest of the stuff comes from people's own talking to their ddogs, and not always done formally

I do spend time training mine regularly, and right from just weeks old before they leave they already have whistle recall.

I have a big husky cross. Downstairs is vinyl and upstairs is carpet.... He's banned from upstairs! Lol I couldn't cope with the additional hoovering on top of the hair that's dragged up by our socks.

• Not allowed on any furniture.
• Has to sleep in a crate (or will chew random items mainly the flooring ).
• No human food except DD's toast crusts when I don't catch her! Haha
• No jumping up on anyone or anything. We call it "paws to the floor" and stop everything until he's 4 paws down.
• No licking faces Because I watch him ram it in his bum too much Urghh

You should hear how crazy he goes when he catches sight of Dcat going upstairs, licking a plate or getting on the sofa I always imagine him in Kevin's voice from Kevin&Perry shouting "it's not fair!"

Mine depends entirely on the dog lol. I was a lot stricter with my old staffy boxer than I am with my current JRT x chi.
The staffy cross:
Sit, stay, leave, off, down, move. Immediately. He was too soft for his own good but loved kids too much so the down command was particularly useful to get him to lay down so he could have his much loved kid cuddles without knocking them over. He wasn't allowed in the kitchen as he was a serial thief and would steal anything. Even when I was in with him. "Road" meant he stopped dead as he didn't have many brains and would of just dived under a car without it. He waited til I was in bed til he got on. Crate trained for his own comfort - seperation anxiety meant trashed house but he loved his crate.

My current one. Sit, stay, shut up & leave. He doesn't steal, doesn't take over the bed and tends to hide from over zealous kids. So I'm not too fussed. He also stops for the road without a command - sensible pup. Wouldn't know what a crate was for, isn't destructive at all, and will take himself off to his pillow (he's little so it's his bed) when he wants one chill time.

I started off super strict with both, and the rules relaxed a little as I got to know them.

Oh and I've never fed from the table/straight off my plate. They must behave when I'm eating.

.. and many ddogs, especially the working lines, really do need the brain activity of training/working to keep them stimulated/occupied and happy.

Our dog is a fully grown black lab who we got from rescue less than a year a go. We don't think he'd ever been in a house before and he definitely had no proper socialisation so he still thinks he's a puppy, but being a fully grown Labrador we had to decide on quite strict rules and stick to them straight from the start.

Some rules he has picked up straight away, some we're still learning but are strict with it.

He sits and waits for his dinner and he doesn't touch it until he is "released"

He stays on his bed while we are eating

He doesn't jump on anyone but especially not the kids

In his crate overnight and when we are out (he loves his crate and takes himself off there at 10.30pm on the dot for bedtime)

No going in bedrooms, we are a single story house though so he's quite happy laying in the hallway outside bedroom doors if we're in there. He particularly like resting outside the dc's bedroom doors as they are opposite each other so he can watch them both at the same time.

5 mins in his crate to calm down if getting too excited

We have a boundary line in the lounge that he isn't allowed to cross, this is the dc's safe spot where they can read/play Lego without worrying the dog will jump on them/steal Lego etc. The dc can play with the dog in the rest of the room if they want.

No going into the kitchen but that applies to the kids too, it's a small kitchen and I hate people/dogs under my feet

Sit and wait at doors until given a cue to come through (more for safety)

Not allowed on sofa (shedding but also because the sofa is in the kids "safe space" so he can't get to it anyway)

No begging/scrounging/human food due to his allergies

No pulling or lunging on lead, has to sit next to me and wait if other dogs are walking past, he gets far too excited and loses all his manners, he's also still too boisterous with smaller dogs

If not on short lead, always on long lead while we continue recall training. He's allowed off lead for a play with a certain group of dogs if we bump into them (guide dogs in training, owners happy to help me work on his recall around other dogs by letting mine play with theirs)

It probably sounds strict but he is now turning into a amazing family dog considering his life before coming to us, he is very loved and gets lots of attention, walks, training sessions, cuddles and treats.

The rules for the kids around the dog are just as strict.

Hellbeasts wow, those are some serious dogs! Just what you need to keep you safe in a remote place, by the sounds of it. Have you ever posted pics of them on here?

I'm fine ta Hellbeasts diddling along

I suggested a Hellbeasts blog but she was having none of it life on the ranch sounds amazing