Boy howdy, did a recent talk I gave generate some feedback and fascinating stories of other dog owners' trials, tribulations and triumphs. The most intriguing discussion after each presentation had to do with which words to use for which commands, and why. Compare my ideas to yours, and of course, your particular situation, and then let's talk in the comments section.

First, in my mind simple is better. While your pup could conceivably understand over 200 different commands according to the U.S. Army, I give my dogs easy to yell names . . . one or two syllables.  That way, they learn their unique signal faster.

And here was the major bugaboo in Madison: watch for conflicts.  Many of our commands can sound like names. Call your setter "Beau," and he might whoa when you want him to hunt on. Rover sounds like "over," a common command among retriever handlers. And "no" sounds like Beau or whoa, adding to the confusion. Momma dog uses "aagh" when she disapproves . . . why not take advantage of genetics? One behaviorist has recently advocated for "wrong," which also makes some sense for its uniqueness and harshness.

"Here" is easier to yell loudly than come. But "heel" and "here" sound the same to dogs, so my "heel" command is "walk."  I don't use "over" when I want my dog to change direction, I use "way" as the command, often accompanied by a hand signal. So my release command can't be "okay," or there'll be more confusion. And he might think I'm asking him to hold still ... "stay."  "Alright" is safe and sounds like nothing else in the lexicon.

I have a theory that most times, most dogs simply detect the vowel, and ignore the consonants. Testing this theory on Buddy probably doesn't prove much besides I'm a bad trainer, but it seems to ring true. At Pheasant Fest, one of my new friends disputes this theory and offers various command words and tricky situations where he has tested his dogs (clay-play-stay-hey) and they have learned the difference. More power to ya, Andy.

But as I said, for me and Buddy at least, simple is better. How about you? Do you have any unique command words that we might want to try?