I’m a first year Japanese language student in college. I’m learning quickly, but my knowledge, especially in everyday Japanese, is limited.
Anyway, I have a puppy that I adopted a few months ago. It is my intention to train her as a psychiatric service dog. I have also decided to train her using commands in Japanese. I was able to look up basic commands that are most common on the internet, such as no, sit, come, good dog, etc. But as a service dog, she is going to need to learn many more commands that aren’t commonly used for regular pets. I know that I can’t just look up a translation of a certain English word, because being used in this context, a 1-2 word command to a non-human, might require a different word or tense. So I’m hoping that I can post a list of words (with context) here and receive Japanese translations from all of you. And if anyone has actual experience/knowledge with training service dogs in Japan, please let me know. Remember that they don’t have to be exact literal translations of the English word, just whatever word would make sense for a Japanese person to use in each situation for that purpose.
I don’t know all the words I will potentially need yet, so this will just be a partial list. I might update this post in the future or just make new posts, I’m not sure. But if you have ideas of words that might be useful that I haven’t listed, feel free to share. Also, my knowledge of Kanji is limited, so please stick to Hiragana and Katakana so I know how to pronounce the words. Thanks!
\-Spot and Bed: as in “this is your spot, go to your spot, stay in your spot”, same idea for Bed
\-Break or Free or End: for when she can stop doing another command, like sit or stay, and they are free to go do what they want. any word that makes sense in that context
\-Off: as in “get off me, get off the couch”
\-Chew/No Chew: to distinguish between what she can and can’t chew on
\-No Bite: to tell her to not bite anyone
\-Left, Right, Front, Behind: positions relative to myself, for when I want to tell her where to stand/sit/walk, such as “in front of me, behind me, on my left, on my right”
\-Between and Under: for when I want her to either lay between my feet when I’m standing, or under the chair that I’m sitting on
\-Walk, Run, Stop: your basic movement commands
\-Press and Top: I intend to teach her pressure therapy, so these would be for when I want her to press against my leg when I’m standing, or lay on top of me when I’m laying down. also separate words for when I want her to be fully on me or just partially on me would be good
\-Back: as in the body part, for when I want her to lay on her back, stomach and legs pointing up
\-Back: as in to move or walk backwards, the opposite of the Walk command
\-Paw: for when I want her to put her paw in my hand, i.e. for nail trimming or cleaning (not shake, I’m not teaching her tricks to amuse people)
\-Hush or Quiet: for when I want her to stop barking or whining and not make any noise
\-Lick: for when I want her to lick someone or something, instead of biting them or jumping on them
\-Jump: to tell her to jump to grab something above her/in the air
\-Fetch and Return: for when I want her to go get something, return to me, and then place it in my hand and let go.
\-Pick up and Drop: for when I want her to pick something up with her mouth or drop something that is in her mouth
Edit: I’m just looking for Japanese translations and discussions of word meanings, context, and nuances. I’m not looking for dog training advice. This is not a dog training sub. If you feel you have valuable advice on training techniques, please feel free to DM me. But know that my language choice is set. It is a decision that was not made lightly, and we are already past the point of changing it. I know that gatekeeping is very popular on Japanese forums for whatever reason, but it is not something I tolerate in any language. If you aren’t interested in answering the question asked, please don’t comment. I don’t expect any one person to translate all of these commands, so if you have an idea for even just one word, please share.
by Spark-of-knowledge