[Dailydrool] "Off"

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

We use the word "guard" when we want our bassets to lie down. We  
learned this one from a friend of ours a long time ago who decided to  
use "guard" because she felt it would look really impressive in an  
intimidating kind of way if she were to answer the door and the  
person on the other side saw her dog drop down next to her when told  
to "guard" his human.

Her dog was a big black dog. I'm pretty sure that "guard" doesn't  
have the same effect with our bassets, but using "guard" has freed up  
the word "down" to mean "get down from that sofa/bed/other piece of  
furniture you know you shouldn't be on." We use "off" as shorthand  
for "get off of me/him/her/them."

For added emphasis we sometimes follow up all of these commands with  
"damn it!" Not that it makes much difference to our Elsinore or young  
Charlie in the heat of the moment.

Elizabeth