Dog training touch hands signals how to#

When you’re starting from the beginning, especially if there will be multiple people working with your dog, you need a cohesive and unified set of hand signals.Īs long as everyone responsible for caring for the dog knows to use the same hand signals, your dog will have a functional hand signal language they can understand no matter who is commanding them. You don’t necessarily need to use specific training signals if they don’t work for your dog. Do I Have to Use Specific Training Hand Signals?ĭog trainers don’t have a cohesive hand signal lexicon like American Sign Language.

Reward your dog with treats for responding correctly. When starting from the ground up, use only the hand signal. Your dog is likely to interpret that each command is two parts, with both a hand signal and a word. If your dog isn’t familiar with a particular verbal command (or with verbal commands at all), don’t try to teach them both at once.

Dog training touch hands signals how to#

Once your dog has built the association between what your hand is doing and your mouth is saying, your dog will understand how to interpret the signal and the verbal command independently from each other. Give your dog some time to build an association. If your dog already knows verbal commands, it may help to correlate those commands with hand signals. A clicker or buzzer will make the situation less confusing by drawing your dog’s attention without spoken language. Saying “pay attention” or “look at me” is a verbal command.

You can use a training clicker to get your dog to focus on your hands, as hand signals can only be taught if your dog is actually looking at your hands. It may help to direct your dog’s attention. Blocking out competing points of interest will encourage your dog to pay more attention to what you’re doing with your hands. Your dog might think you look strange at first, naturally misunderstanding the point of what you’re doing with your hands. Outside noises or distracting visuals can easily draw away your dog’s attention, causing them to miss the message. Hand signal training should take place in a room with just you and your dog. You’ll need to set aside some time to work with your dog, and remaining consistent is key to helping your dog memorize new information. Hand signals aren’t something you can practice in the middle of a busy day. How To Begin Teaching Your Dog Hand SignalsĪn effective training session with your dog requires a conducive environment and a concise approach. This is great mental stimulation for your dog, giving them a new goal to work towards and encouraging them to explore the world and their environment in a different way. If you’ve already trained your dog with verbal commands, you can train your dog with hand signals as well. Dogs can clearly see hand signals and will interpret them differently from spoken language. Dogs understand and interpret in a way that makes sense to them, and some dogs aren’t strong auditory learners. Your dog may have a general idea of what you’re saying, but you and your pup will always speak different languages. Sometimes, dogs who can hear cannot understand. There is no other way to give these dogs commands. In these cases, hand signals are absolutely necessary. Dogs that are hard of hearing or fully hearing-impaired won’t be able to understand verbal commands. There are several great reasons to use dog training hand signals. Hand signal training can be a productive and rewarding way to bond with your dog while providing mental stimulation and enriching your dog’s life. Try teaching your dog a few training hand signals. In many cases, dog training hand signals can resolve a communication gap between you and your dog.

This often works well, but some dogs may not get the message so clearly. Most dog owners use verbal commands to instruct their dogs to sit or stay.