Come and stay
 

I would say Come and Stay are the most important commands.

example there are two dogs in our neighborhood Westie and Jack Russell terrier well the people have them outside off leash without an electric fence. Well there dogs always run out towards people and other dogs and normally get into fights. There jack russell terrier runs around the neighborhood in the street and I have almost run over her because she was in the middle of the road, I am very surprised that she has not gotten hit by a car. About a month ago she ran out and sniffed Polo and then crossed the street and then the school bus went roaring by I was so afraid that she was going to hit and she is not even my dog and the owner was at home calling here but of course the dog paid no attention to her. But there dogs are terribly behaved dogs they sometimes come to there owners when they WANT to. There owners are not very responsible and they have three crazy kids. But my point in all of this is if there dogs knew stay and come it could safe there lives. But since they are not trained they should not be aloud outside with out a leash since it is dangerous getting hit by a car or attacking someone. I just wish the owners would realize that. I know that my yorkies if they are off leash they might not always come back so I never take the chance of letting them off leash unless there are in an inclosed area or on a long leash 20ft or 50ft leash or like in the dog park and they listen when I call them there:)

Drop it is a good one! My pup knows "leave it" but I dunno if she'd do it if she found something tasty on the floor! Thankfully I've trained her that she cannot eat ANYTHING off the floor. She's pretty good about that.

I do believe come and stay are essential!

Alaska...thanks for the detailed training tips. Dori and I will be using them soon.

Case in point today:

I had Jackson in a new just plain nylon step-in harness outside (in our 90 acres of land behind our house) but he was only on a 26ft flexi as we were about to go out to dinner... so quick potty break. He was about to roll in something and as I pulled the leash forward... off went the harness right over his head! He immediately realized he was no longer attached and I snapped my fingers and said "stop!" and he stayed put right where he was and I was able to leash him up again. Whew! Then we went inside and had a huge party that he obeyed properly, LOL. We played a game of "chase me around the house" and he got a piece of cheese. He's not really a darter anyways, but I wasn't in the mood since we were about to leave the house for him to decide it was time to have fun!

I think there are three commands, and boy have they helped me with Teddie...

Leave it--what they put in their mouths and bite is never ending.

Come--obvious! I am having to work hard at this one as Teddie is a social butterfly. :rolleyes:

Stay--Same as above!!