River's Vocabulary

Although much of my communication with River is through body language and gestures and quite a bit of it is through my tone and intention, there are a number of words that it is clear that he recognizes and responds to, even out of context.



RIVER - he recognizes his name, but his response is not prescribed

SIT - he sits

LIE DOWN - he lies down

GO LIE DOWN - he walks over to his bed (usually used when I’m at the dinner table)

HERE - he knows I have something in my hand



COME - he immediately walks to me



STAY - he stays where he is



STOP - he stops walking and sits down



WAIT - he stops walking but doesn’t have to sit



HUNGRY - indicates food is imminent

FOOD - same as above

GET YOUR _________ - he’ll go and retrieve the item indicated. Items he can ‘get’ are:

    KONG - feeding toy
    TOY - rope used for tugging
    ROPE - another word for ‘toy’
  
    BEAR - stuffed animal
    BONE - a bone

TOUCH - he’ll tap my outstretched hand with his nose

KISS - he’ll tap my face with his nose



HUG - he’ll press his body against mine

SPIN - he’ll make a 360

JUMP - all four legs, or at least his front legs come off the ground, depending on his excitement level 


BE RIGHT BACK - he knows I’m leaving him alone

SAY HI - he’ll walk over to someone else with their hand outstretched, tap their hand with his nose and then return to me

HEEL - he walks at my right side



BACK - he walks backwards into the ‘heel’ position

GO HOME - he goes into his crate



SHAKE - he puts his paw into my hand



PAW - he presents his paws to me, one at a time (usually for drying after a walk in the rain)

GO - his signal to chase or fetch something

OK - he is released from his ‘heel’ or ‘stay’

LEAVE IT - he ignores whatever he’s been focused on, even if it’s food

CIRCLE - going outside just to pee on the nearest tree and then come right back in

WALK - walking on leash



UP - he’ll jump up on a bench or a wall, etc



OFF - he’ll jump off same



TUG - he’ll grab the other half of what I’m holding and pull

PUSH - he’ll charge at me, pushing his chest into my outstretched hand

ALL THE WAY UP - he’ll run up the stairs and wait for me at the top

THIS WAY - when we’re walking or running together, he’ll change directions toward me

NO - he’ll stop doing what he’s doing. it is usually followed up by a suggestion for what to do instead

GO AROUND - he’ll walk toward me, walk past me on my left, walk around behind me and end up on my right side facing the same direction as me

ROLL OVER - he’ll roll over

READY - he’ll be on alert that a command is coming and wait for it

OW! - if he puts his teeth on me during playtime, this ends the game.

FACE - he presents his nose to me so I can slip a leash over his head



POOP - he will immediately start looking for the right spot

WANNA GO TO THE ____? - it doesn’t matter what the last word is, he wants to go anywhere I suggest



EXCUSE ME - he'll move out of my way

GO TO YOUR PAD - he'll go to sit on a bath mat near the front door

 
There are probably more, but this is all I can think of at this time.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Fantastic.
March 20, 2014 at 11:53 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Food Purist

Image
I tell people I’m a food purist. And I say I’m gastronomically conservative.  Sometimes these terms are misunderstood. These terms that, as far as I know, I’ve made up; I don’t see them commonly used this way, but I could easily have picked them up subconsciously and adopted them. When something is so universally true, as I think food purism is, you often see the same or similar permutations of the concept showing up in different places. Anyway, being a food purist doesn’t mean that I only eat the foods that offer the best nutrition per calorie, or the foods with the highest antioxidant levels or the most enzymes or the least fat or the lowest glycemic index, etc. etc. That’s all popular science and I don’t get bogged down in it. All of that is changing constantly, anyway: One day eggs are good for you, the next day, you can only have whites, then they’re good for you again, then you find out they’re bad for you. Not that I’m saying anything about eggs right now, but this is
Read more

Routines From the Vault

Image
I’ve been teaching Nia for 16 years now. And most of those years, I’ve gotten four new routines from Nia. That comes out to over 60 routines over the years. I’ve also created quite a few of my own routines. And along the way, certain routines have fallen out of favor for one reason or another.  For example, a great routine called Commitments, which uses the music from the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, is one of my first ones. I learned that routine so long ago that I have the music on cassette tape and I watched the routine on VHS. It has been retired “To the Vault” for many years. Ditto for routines called Genesis, Roots and Adagio. Some routines have been taken apart and used to build other routines. For example I took all of the Angelique Kidjo songs from the classic, Agolo, and put together a routine using only songs from her album, Aye (which means "LIFE" and is the name of the routine as well.)  I split up the songs from the repetitive routine Fi
Read more

Nude Stretching

Image
I never thought I’d do something like this. But over the years many people have suggested that I make a Nude Stretching Video.  I guess the fact that I’m comfortable with nudity and with my body and that I’m a fitness pro with a passion for helping people made it seem like a no-brainer that I create something like this.  But I’ve been resistant to doing it for a long time; for fear (I guess) of what the more conservative people might think.  Now, finally, I’ve succumbed to the requests and put something together.  You conservative people will just have to look the other way. :) Now, I haven’t made an X-rated video here; I'm just nude and I'm stretching.  It's completely natural. This video blends a smart, educational stretching session with  “Warhol-like” video interludes accentuating an eroticized appreciation of the male form.  My intention was that it could be enjoyed on two levels. The free-style, hand-held segments demonstrate the positions from all angles and create a
Read more