Huxley Beagle's Vocabulary

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	Huxley Beagle's Vocabulary

Basic commands

Sit (***): Huxley sits at every light. He's walked to work hundreds of times and all over the city, so he's had plenty of practice.
Down (***): Lie down. Gesture: point to the floor or tap on it in front of him.
Sit up (***): Go from lying down to sitting up. We first tried using "sit" for this, but that never worked at all. Once we made up a 'new' command Hux picked it up right away.
Stand up (**): Go from lying or sitting to standing up.
Stay (**): Will stay for a minute, but not for many minutes. Gesture: open-handed stop sign.
Come here (**): Gesture: kneel down and/or stare fixedly at him. For extra emphasis, whistle high-low in the same tones as the verbal command.
OK (***): Release from "stay", "wait", "play dead", etc.

Advanced commands

Back to bed (**): Go to his dog bed.
Find Dave, Find Penny (***): Go where the other one of us is. Gesture: Point towards the person he should find, or the direction he should go to find them.
Ready? (***): Pay attention because I'm about to throw something for you to fetch or catch.
Get it (***): Fetch. Once we found the first toy he liked enough to chase, Hux turned into a great fetcher!
Up (**): Jump up onto a ledge.
Jump in (no stars): Get into his dog carrier. This one has never had a hope of succeeding, as not only is there nothing he likes less than his dog carrier, he's outgrown it.
Jump up (**): Jump up in to the back seat of the car. We're not sure why he usually hesitates and even whines when asked to do this, but he does it eventually. There's no good reason why this is different from "Up", but it is.
Look (*): Look at me so I can take your picture.
Excuse me (**): Move so that I can go where you are now.
Look out (*): Move, because you're in the way or in danger of something.

Walking around

Let's go (**): Follow me; we're going out. It only just occurred to me that we say this consistently and Hux responds to it consistently. I wonder if he thinks it's a command or whether he's just always ready to go?
Leave it (**): Don't pick that up!
Drop it (**): Now that you've picked it up anyway, drop it! Better late than never.
Easy (no stars): Stop pulling on the leash.
Wait (**): Stand still and wait for the human holding the leash to catch up. Used when walking on a long leash and about to pass something potentially dangerous like an intersection or a garage door.
Around (***): Go around a tree or pole to untangle his leash. Huxley seems to be proud of having figured this one out; he prances proudly when he does it.
Sidewalk (**): As in "get out of the street and back on the sidewalk".
Traffic (no stars): Get out of the way of other people on the sidewalk. Used when walking on a long leash. Occasional apparent successes are probably due to Hux's increasing experience on the leash rather than to his having learned the command.
This way (**): Stop going the other way and follow me.
Come on (**): Stop sniffing around and follow me. Whether this one works or not depends on what he's sniffing.

Tricks

Up (**): This means "stand on your hind legs to reach a treat in my hand", too. Always successful despite the ambiguity, given the promise of the treat.
Beg (**): Sit up on your hind legs. Only differs from "up" in that the treat is closer to the ground.
Pets (**): Stand on his hind legs and put his paws on your knees so you can reach his head for some petting. Gesture: slap your knees.
Shake hands (***): Hux learned this one fast! He actually seems to be learning how to learn. Gesture: offer your hand.
High five (***): Put up his paw for a high five. Gesture: do it yourself.
Play dead (**): Roll onto his back. Gesture: Move hand, preferably with a treat, over his head to one side.
Roll over (**): Roll onto his back, keep going, and wind up on all fours again. Hux can't really tell this from "play dead" (we've really been pouring on the tricks lately) but if the hand with the treat keeps going, so does Hux.
Go on lookout (***): Climb halfway up the stairs and stick his head through the railing. We taught Huxley this in memory of his late lamented cousin Milo. Gesture: Wave your hand to shoo him up the stairs.
Howl (**): Huxley resists howling on command. Sometimes he just makes a little noise to see if it's enough. He's less willing to do it in public than at home. He seems to think it's inappropriate, like swearing. Gesture: Blow a little air in his face.
Alley-oop! (**): Jump through Penny's arms held in a circle.

Feedback

Good boy! [chirpy] (***): Looks up to see if he's been good enough for a treat. If that doesn't get his attention, "very good!" surely will.
Ohhhhhh! [long falling tone] (**): Hux, you gave the wrong response to a command!
Off! (***): As in "get your front paws off that person" or the kitchen counter, or "get off the sofa".
Quiet! (no stars): Said in a low growly tone of voice, just like an irritated older dog. Despite the verisimilitude, Hux shows no sign of having gotten this one.
No! (***): Gets it every time, probably due to the tone of voice it's said in.
Bad dog! (***): The words don't matter much; when we say this (which we almost never have to), Hux gets the point from our angry voice.

Ratings

No stars: Huxley doesn't know this command. Only his owners do.
*: Still in training.
**: Usually gets it. Might need repetition, hand or body signals or a leash-tug in the right direction. Might blow it if there's distraction.
***: Gets it every time.

Huxley always responds best to a command when preceded by his name, and when pronounced clearly and in the tones he's used to. Every command has its correct tone, describing which correctly would really take some effort. Sometimes the tone conveys emotion; sometimes it mimics the desired motion. Many commands have gestures, to which Hux pays at least as much attention as the verbal equivalents.