In another thread Goodogu wrote:

One of the purpose of the forgien language commands is that a aggressor can't confuse your dog by using a command to shut him down.

In short this isn't the case. If the dog can be called off by an agitator/attacker the dog isn't finished training. This is a proofing issue. A trained dog will not respond to anybody but their handler, unless told to. That is going to be true of most well trained obedience dogs. The reason being that there is an implied atay in any command and the dog should not break that unless commanded by the handler. Now it is worth while to teach the dog to follow some obedience commands from another person (Vet, Boarding, Groomer), but I would only allow it on lead.

There are a couple of reasons people train or work in forgien languages. One is habit. Commands need to be second nature with the handler. In an emergency, you can't hesitate to make the command to figure out what to say. A second reason is that the dog has been imported and it is easier to work with what the dog knows rather than trying to convert it (though this can be done). Third is tradition. Most protection training was based in Germany and people use German as a nod to the history. I don't know, but would guess, that in sports other than SchH the native language of the sport is often used.

Train with what you are comfortable with, and will be able to spit out on instinct. The other consideration for language is that some sports require it to be consistant throught out the compition. If that is the case, don't mix commands. I train in German (pidgeon), but use English for the watch command. If I put the dog on watch, I want the person to have no doubt that the dog is trained and watching for an attack. That watch command alone has backed people off.

I've read some where to use one syllable words for certain types of commands, and two syllable words for others. This I guess would be used to help the dog understand what you want. But I'm not experienced enough to know.

To some of the big guns in here can you explain this if possible?

Also when do some of the members bring in hand signals to their dog for commands, of course this is WAY ahead of things for me, but I would just like to hear about it for curiosity purposes.

Well said Richard.

I personally like English myself. It never have to think about what I want to say , when, where, whatever. I have had two previous dogs that were in a foreign language, but now I just stay w/ English.

Most of the handlers I train go with English as it's just easier to remember when the &%&#@! hits the fan.

As for others commanding your dogs, as Richard said, it's a proofing/training issue. One of the departments I train uses it in demos all the time. The handler puts the dog in a stay and ask for younger kids to come out and call the dog. They use his name, come, clap, whatever.... After the dog doesn't come we stop them and normally say they forgot the "magic" word..."please." When the kids use the magic word, the handler is standing behind them and gives the dog the hand signal for "come." The dog comes over...normally past the kids..but it looks good. It also helps show the point of the dogs ignoring others commands as well. Just some fun with training and demos...feel free to steal it if you want it
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Brad
Hand signals are used in the upper levels of AKC competition. As Josh stated in his post, that LEO used it to call his dog. IMO, hand signals could be very useful for a PSD.

Another good reason for using a different language for training is when you have more trouble training other members of the family than you do your dog. My husband had never had any experience with obed training before I got my present GSD. He uses words in all the wrong places. He'll leave for work in the morning and when Caleb follows him to the door, he'll tell him to Sit, Stay and take off for the day. So for formal training, using German commands would save a lot of confusion for the dog.

Often, A dog will have to learn different commands from different members of the house. example: If the dog jumps up, one member says off, another says get down, another might just say go away. These are some of the inconsistancies that makes training puppies so hard for some people, yet the dogs get through. Makes you wonder who the smart ones are, the dogs or us. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />