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Advice And Information On Dog Training Hand Commands

20 November 2008 2 Comments

As well as you teaching your dog to obey you through the use of verbal commands, you can also teach them to obey you when you only use hand signals instead. When it does come to you teaching your dog about such commands you will need to use them in conjunction with verbal commands in the beginning. In this article, we look at one of the ways in which dog training hand commands can be accomplished.

Teaching a dog how to obey hand commands rather than verbal ones can be achieved very simply. It will require some patience on your part, but having a few treats available when they do react in the right way can help things progress a lot more quickly and smoothly.

As mentioned before it is crucial that when you are first teaching your dog to obey hand rather than verbal commands you use the verbal ones as well. It is important that before you start the training you decide exactly what hand signal will represent what verbal command. Only once, you have decided which signal represents which verbal command can you then start your dog’s training.

When you first start your dogs hand command training you will need to say the word and show them very deliberately the hand movement at the same time. This you will need to repeat several times to them before they start to understand what it is that you would like them to do. Immediately you notice that they have reacted as you begin to raise your hand and say the word then this is the time that they should be rewarded.

As you continually repeat the commands and signals you should very slowly you should start to eliminate the verbal commands. However, you should still use the rewards of food and praise for your dog when they respond to your hand signals only. For a while as you begin to slowly eliminate the verbal commands you should when carrying out the training, use them half of the time, and the other half of the time just hand signals.

Then when you start to notice that your dog is reacting purely to your hand commands only then this is the stage when you start to stop giving them food as a reward. However, you should never eliminate the rewards immediately from the training and if you want praise, them slightly for doing as commanded instead of offering them food.

When teaching your dog to react to hand signals it is best to start of with the most basic commands that you would normally teach them. So it is best to start with sit, down and stay. Then when you feel able to and when you feel that your dog is capable you can move on to much more elaborate ones if you wish.

When it comes to getting advice on the right ways for you to do dog training hand commands there is plenty of places where you can get help. The internet is a great source for finding advice and information on the correct dog training hand command techniques to be used.

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2 Comments »

  • Patricia said:

    Training deaf dogs is very similar to training hearing ones. The one difference and the most important is learning “Watch Me”. It is the first thing you want your dog to learn before basic commands. If your dog does not watch for a signal it will not know what is expected. You want your dog to focus on you and be the most important thing in the room! You and your dog are a team working together. It makes for a very secure, very confident dog. After a while your signals can be so subtle, folks don’t have a clue your dog can’t hear.

    “WATCH ME”

    Put a treat close and in front of your dog’s nose and bring it up to your face. Give the “Good Dog” sign (I use thumbs up) and reward with the treat. Every time your dog is looking at you, give the thumbs up. As your dog gets the idea, sign “Watch me” (I point to my left eye with my left index finger) as they are doing it, then sign “Good Dog” and reward. Doing this teaches your dog what the “Watch me” sign means. Be quick and reward immediately.

    You can also put a treat/toy in your hand and put it behind your back. Wait until your dog stops looking for the treat/toy and looks at your face. Immediately sign “Yes!” and give them a treat.

    Since your dog now knows it’s worth their while to watch, you can start teaching them basic obedience.
    HAVE FUN!!Remember your deaf dog can do anything a hearing dog can do but hear.

    Patricia / Tn Safety Spotters

  • Anne
    Anne (author) said:

    Thanks for the useful information Patricia. I’ve always been a complete advocate of the positive reinforcement method of training – rewarding the dog EVERY time it does as you require, and this works equally as well when training to obey hand signals. Dogs just love to please and will always try hard to earn your pleasure, conveyed to them in the form of treats and lots of pats.

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