There are dozens of commands a dog can learn. Most owners don't need dozens. They need seven. Not because seven is a convenient number, but because seven specific commands handle the situations where a well-behaved dog makes life genuinely easier and an untrained one makes it harder. These are the basic puppy training commands every puppy should have before anything more advanced is introduced.
Luke Buchanan, Owner of The Toe Beans Co and Sydney's Puppy Trainer, has trained hundreds of Sydney puppies across every breed, temperament, and owner type. The seven commands below are the ones that come up in every household. They're the foundation. Everything else builds on them or sits alongside them. Teaching them in the right order, with the right method, at the right age, is what makes the difference between a dog that listens and one that sort of listens sometimes.
Why the order matters as much as the commands themselves
Commands aren't independent skills. They form a sequence where each one supports the next. Sit makes stay possible. Settle makes leave it easier. Name response is the prerequisite for recall. Teaching them in the wrong order means you're asking a puppy to do something it doesn't have the foundation for, and you'll get slow, unreliable results that frustrate both of you.
The Relational Leadership connection is this: a puppy that has a calm leader doesn't resist commands. It offers behaviours. The 5 Golden Rules create the conditions where commands land faster and hold better because the dog is oriented toward you rather than managing its own environment. You don't need perfect obedience on your first session. You need the right dynamic first, and the commands follow naturally.
The 7 basic puppy training commands and how to teach them
- Name response. This is the most important and least taught. Your puppy's name should reliably produce one thing: the puppy looking at you. Say the name once, in a neutral tone. The instant the puppy orients toward you, mark and reward. Do this ten times a day in different locations and circumstances. Never use the name in a negative context. If name response is reliable, everything else comes easier, because the puppy is looking at you before you give the cue.
- Sit. The default command for managing impulses and creating a moment of stillness before other behaviours. Teach through luring: treat at nose level, move slowly backward over the head, back end drops, mark and treat. Add the verbal cue after five reliable lure-based repetitions. Fade the lure within ten repetitions by moving the hand without the treat. Sit before meals, sit at doorways, sit to greet visitors. Used consistently, it becomes a default calm behaviour rather than a trained response.
- Settle (down/lie down). More powerful than sit for real-life management. A puppy that can settle on its mat holds that position through guests arriving, other dogs visiting, and children running around. Teach through capturing: when the puppy naturally lies down, mark and reward before it gets back up. Add a hand signal and verbal cue once it's happening reliably. Build duration over weeks: from 30 seconds toward 10 to 15 minutes with mild distractions present.
- Stay. Once sit and settle are solid, stay adds duration. Start with one step back from the puppy, return, treat. Add one step per session. Don't rush. The goal at 12 to 14 weeks is three to five seconds of sit-stay from two to three steps away. Real-world useful stay takes two to three months of consistent building. The mistake is treating stay as a separate exercise rather than the natural extension of sit that it is.
- Leave it. The command that can prevent actual harm. Teach in stages: treat in closed fist, wait for the puppy to back off and make eye contact, mark and reward (not the fist treat, a different treat from the other hand). Progress to treat on the floor covered by your foot, then visible on the floor, then dropped. Each stage requires the puppy to ignore the visible item and look at you instead. Apply to food on the pavement, items on the coffee table, and other dogs when on lead.
- Come (recall). The command that matters most outside the house, and the one that needs the most consistent work to become reliable. Foundation: say the name once, the instant the puppy looks at you, crouch down and use high-value treats to get the puppy all the way to you. Always make arrival at you the best thing that happened. Never call recall when you're going to do something the puppy dislikes. Use a long line until recall is solid under distraction. Reliable recall takes six to eight weeks of daily practice in progressively more distracting environments.
- Loose lead (heel). Not a formal heel position. The ability to walk beside you without constant tension on the lead. Teach by rewarding the puppy for walking on a loose lead, specifically for the moment the lead is slack and the puppy is beside you. Stop when the lead goes tight. Reward generously when the puppy adjusts position to release the tension. Progress from ten steps to thirty steps before rewarding. The Complete Puppy Program has a specific lead-walking module that covers the full technique from the first session.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Teaching multiple commands in one session before any of them is reliable is a pattern that produces a dog that sort of knows a lot of things. One command per session for the first two to three weeks. Once sit is solid in three environments, introduce settle. Once both are solid, begin recall foundations. Depth before breadth.
Using "no" as a command is what most owners fall back on when nothing else is working. "No" isn't a command. It doesn't tell the puppy what to do. It just makes the puppy hesitate momentarily, which most owners interpret as understanding. Redirect from an unwanted behaviour to a command the puppy knows. "Leave it" instead of "no." "Sit" instead of "no, don't jump." Replace the correction with information.
Stopping training when the commands seem solid is the most common reason dogs regress between 6 and 12 months. Commands need regular practice, not because the puppy forgets but because they need to be maintained under the increasing distractions of adolescence. Keep short daily sessions running, with emphasis on recall and leave it, through the first 18 months.
How to know it's working
By week 14 to 16 with consistent work from 8 weeks, the puppy should have name response and sit reliable in at least three environments, leave it working on stationary objects, and the beginnings of reliable recall in a low-distraction area. Settle should hold for five minutes with you present. These aren't perfection marks. They're the milestones that indicate the foundation is in place for the real-world reliability that follows. For ongoing support and community Q&A with other Sydney puppy owners, the Toe Beans Co SKOOL community is free to join.
Want help putting this into practice?
The Toe Beans Co runs a free SKOOL community where Sydney dog owners get access to training guides, Q&As, and direct support from Luke. It's free to join.
Upcoming Puppy Schools in Sydney
If you're based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and want structured, in-person guidance, Luke runs regular puppy schools across Bondi, Paddington, Surry Hills, and surrounding areas.
Check upcoming dates and book your spot
Frequently asked questions
Q: What are the most important commands for a puppy?
Name response, sit, settle, stay, leave it, recall, and loose lead walking. These seven cover the real-world situations where a trained dog makes daily life better and an untrained one makes it harder. They form a sequence where each command supports the next, so the order of introduction matters as much as the commands themselves.
Q: How long does it take a puppy to learn basic commands?
Simple commands like sit and name response are usually reliable in a low-distraction environment within 10 to 20 repetitions, meaning two to three days of short daily sessions. Making them reliable across multiple environments takes two to four weeks per command. Recall, the most complex, needs six to eight weeks of consistent daily proofing before it can be trusted under distraction.
Q: Where can I learn puppy commands in Sydney?
The Toe Beans Co offers group puppy schools across Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and Inner West, and a 1:1 in-home session as part of the Complete Puppy Program. The program's 26-module online course covers all seven foundation commands in detail, with video demonstrations and step-by-step written guides. Schools run at Paddington, Zetland, Marrickville, Alexandria, and Neutral Bay.
