However, it also means having a lot of fun! Talking about having fun with our paw friend, several things come to my mind- playing with him/her, cuddling with him/her, watching him/her chase his/her tail, and doing his/her “dog” stuff and teaching him/her tricks. Maybe it's about prioritising the ones that are important to be able to cue at a distance.Being a pet owner is associated with many responsibilities, as well as investing time and money. My only comeback at this stage is to agree with you that dogs do tend to respond better to hand/body signals than voice cues. Things like going to the toilet, going to his mat or crate, giving a toy out of his mouth all only have voice commands. He also learns hand signals faster than voice commands. I only use hand signals for Jedi because I can use them from a distance (not that he can do this yet!!!). Also, is there ever going to be an occasion that you tell your dog to toilet from a distance that he wouldn't hear your voice command? This might reduce your hand signal list!!! For example, if you're telling your dog to go to their crate and you're standing right by them you can probably just give a voice command. I just imagine the occasion that I would be using them and think about whether I would need a hand signal. Luke, do you *need* signals for all of that? Things like toilet, go to your crate, etc don't really (IMO) need hand signals. the classic 'raise hand, palm up, bend at elbow' sit signal, the 'palm downward' drop/down signal, the 'policeman stop' stay signal. My hand signals so far are simply stylized lure signals.

The trainer provided a list of commands I should develop verbal cues and hand signals for: My trainer has left it up to me to come up with my own signals. L: Do I only teach hand signals for a subset of commands? Which ones?Į: What hand signals has your private instructor already given you?ĭo I teach a hand signal for everything I want to have a verbal cue for? I can think of a lot more specific verbal cues than I can think of specific hand signals. although completely different signals are easier to learn and teach if it is completely different behaviours you are after (IMO)īut there's only so many signals you can give that are significantly different. L: Can a left handed chop mean something different than a right handed chop?Į: Yes. Too confusing for the dog and open to misinterpretation IMO. But he beats you to the second chop and drops instead of sits. What if you trained your dog for speedy responses (which is what I aim for). L: How 'different' do the signals have to be - eg.can a single 'karate chop' represent one thing and two 'karate chops' represent another?Į: They should be different. I don't know enough about agility to know what signals I'm going to need. I can see I'm going to end up unteaching some signals once I start agility. OK - So left for 'left', right for 'right'. One hand can become a directional signal (as they do in retrieve training/trialling) two arms stretched out)Į: Depends on what you are doing.

L: Should my signals all be one handed and can some be two?Į: Some can be two (eg. Do I only teach hand signals for a subset of commands? Which ones? Edited Jby Luke W

How 'different' do the signals have to be - eg.can a single 'karate chop' represent one thing and two 'karate chops' represent another? Can a left handed chop mean something different than a right handed chop? Should my signals all be one handed and can some be two? It seems there's a lot of commands he's going to eventually learn but I can only come up with a limited number of hand signals.īearing in mind I'd eventually be involved in trialling how should I go about getting together a list of hand signals.

I'm looking for any accepted lists of hand signals or a reference book or failing that, some advice. I hope to eventually compete in obedience and agility trials so I'd like to start off on the right foot and not have to reteach any particular signals. I'm starting to plan for my hand signals. I've got a variety of commands in the list so far.including watch, sit, stand, down/drop, stay, spit it out, walk loose, walk close, come, freeze, toilet, release, back up, get down, go to pen, go to crate, etc The trainer I engaged for some one on one private sessions suggested I create a 'training dictionary' with a list of verbal commands and hand signals.

Dog hand signal for shake