Last February we adopted Kuma - a Border Collie & German Shephard mix from Alabama. Kuma means bear in Japanese (can you see the resemblance?), so we thought it only appropriate to teach her commands in Japanese.

Basic Commands

  • iiko - good girl/boy
  • dame - no/bad
  • osuwari - sit
  • fuse - down
  • oide - come
  • mate - wait
  • yosh - ok (often paired with mate)
  • ato - heel (literally translation is after)
  • sagare - back off/leave it

Other Useful Vocab

  • gohan - food
  • mizu - water
  • nenne - sleep/go to bed
  • soto - outside/want to go out?
  • sampo - walk
  • koori - ice (Kuma loves eating ice in the summer)

And now for a lot of cute puppy pictures.

First family photo with Kuma Kuma hiding Kuma ready for a road trip

Kuma sleeping

Running with Kuma Kuma tired

Canoeing with Kuma
Kuma sitting