Conventional training may not give you this idea, but the importance of a release command is almost right up there with the basics. While some owners opt never to train one because they imply it in some of the basic commands (such as ‘sit’ or ‘down’) other areas of life yield this a much more important part of training. Such as having a dog to ‘stay’ or ‘come’.

Now you might be wondering what is a release command? This is a term used to tell your dog when they are done with a certain behavior. With ‘stay’ for example, this is a behavior that most obviously benefits the most. You need to decide when the behavior is finished and then let the dog know. Otherwise the dog will decide.

When training a dog to come when called, this is one of the biggest mistakes made. Not having a release command will ruin the foundation of the command. For when is it that the dog is done being with you? If your dog only decides, then that leaves too many chances for them to run off again, come only within 5 feet of you, run right past you, take the treat and walk away, etc. If you use a collar grab(see previous post) and then a release command this will make your recall much more reliable and clear to the dog what you want.

So what is a good word to use? ‘Okay’ is the most common. I prefer to use something that is more specific to interaction with your dog, as ‘okay’ is such a generally used term even in conversation that you might end up releasing your dog without even meaning to! Choosing a different word also helps YOU to remember when you’re through with a behavior. Something such as: ‘free’, ‘break’, ‘done’, ‘finished ‘or ‘at ease’.