Dog commands by gesture

this thread has come about from my hypothetical dog thread, it got me thinking and analising, im not a very vocal person in general.
quote from me-
ive just been out in the garden with jake and went through some commands i got him to come i got him to sit and got him to lay, i didnt say a word, i have never thought or analized it before.
to come- i had an enviting look on my face gave a little head nod and patted my thigh,
to sit- i pointed my index finger up, like showing a 1,
to lay- i pointed down and clicked my fingers,
after each comand he got some petting and belly rubbing he new he was pleasing me without one word said.
just never noticed it before,
so i guess i have 3 levels no words said, normal speech and raised voice.
i tried it the other way round i had my hands behind my back same result,

just wonderd if anyone else does this or hasnt realised they do this or just wants to try getting there dog to sit lay etc with just gestures . i find it interesting how dogs read us,

im not silent all the time btw


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Yes...I trained Luke with hand commands as well, without really intending to. I think it can be very useful, especially in situations where the dog might not be able to hear you, but can still see your signals and understand the command from a long distance, etc. Also helpful for later on in life if your dog ever gets hard of hearing. I have a few friends online who have deaf danes, and they all use hand/body signals out of neccessity.

One of the trainers I`ve had was ex-army. Because of that, he taught gesture and voice - so he could control the dog silently if needed. I just picked that up and now my dogs are bilingual.
It`s also very good for distance control, especially in noisy places.
Dogs are very good at reading body language. Try thinking `sit` and saying Hippo instead. I bet the dog sits. because you will move your body as well, which is also the cue for the dog.

Yes, I love doing a down/stay during our daily training session,then I walk away with her ball, turn around, look at her (I'm quite a long way away at the moment too!), she stares back, I can hold it for 2 mins now, then I just bend my body a tad, I don't say a word, and she comes and sits in front of me for the ball ! We've got telepathy on the go here too! My down is usually just a hand command when out, although indoors, she gets a "down" command mostly.

I've always just pointed for her to sit and she knows that means sit and wait, but sometimes there's an "oi" in front of it.

I just met a girl up on the downs with a fantastically trained black lab, so we sat chatting and she taught me a few things. You need open arms for the "come" command, so that if ever your dog is a long way off and can't hear you, but it can see you, it will always come if you spread your arms open wide, I'm gonna be teaching that one next!

I think most people train this way without even realising - especially if they've gone to a puppy class where luring is used. You naturally hold a treat above a puppy's nose and move your hand backwards to get it to sit - so your sit command is a hand above the dog, moving up/backwards. You lure the dog down with a treat held between its front legs, so a hand moving down is a command for down. You act excited, pat your legs, for a come, so the dog recognises it even without the voice command.

I had no choice but to train Rupert with body language. He shut down at the slightest change in my tone of voice or if I tried to physically manipulate him into a position. I trained in complete silence and completely hands off except for the clicker until he became more confident.

Dogs are naturally tuned in to body language, they probably pick up on what your body is doing when you want them to do something before they pick up on the verbal command you give.

I use hand signals with voice or just on own sometimes, it just happened really, because thought one day, n sorry if this sounds odd, what happens if my dog ever goes deaf . Also seems to work very well much of the time.

i guess there wouldnt be a lot of difference in training a deaf dog commands, the use of a vibrating collar would be good to get the dogs attention, i dont no how the start of the vibrate to get the attention would begin, buzz = treat maybe?

That's absolutely spot-on, from everything I've read and discovered.

It was also very good to see at one of the training schools I went to with Merlin, the trainer instructing owners to use both hand signals AND verbal cues [as well as a clicker], as dogs do learn faster that way, and explaining the psychology behind this.

That particular trainer had special experience with deaf dogs where of course hand signals are the most important means of communication.

I sometimes do some work with Merlin using only my body language and gestures to go through his usual commands. Keeps him on his toes!

Oh and of course, dogs that do Heelwork To Music (dog dancing) at a very high level need almost no verbal signals. When I had 1:1 training with the famous Richard Curtis, he allowed me to try my routine with his fabulous dog Disco - the Portuguese Water Dog. She blew me away totally, she was so focused on my body movements that I only needed the slightest of muscle movements or twitches and she responded like lightning. Awesome dog.... equally awesome training.

thats like saying you naughty little dog, but saying it like you would when praising him, i guess the hand gestures would still work when getting dark and us the humans are struggling to see, on the fact that dogs sight is greater in the dark than ours. never tried it though