Fern reading my hand signals.

We learnt something really interesting yesterday by accident - we have been training Fern to sit, come, drop, paw, and up, all of which he has mastered. However we realised yesterday that if we say the words on their own he just looks at us & does nothing....so I figured he must be reading my hand signals - so I tested him by doing hand signals for come, sit, drop, up then paw without saying a word and he did the lot

How about that.... will need to focus on the voice commands, people will think I'm mad hand signalling to our dog in the middle of the park to come.....

Dogs are body language animals Much easier for them to read physical cues than to associate a word with a behaviour. He will more readily associate the verbal command with the behaviour as he gets older and more practised.

You can train to respond to voice by multiple repetitions: signal & voice, signal & voice, signal & voice, voice only, signal & voice, signal & voice, voice only, etc., introducing the voice command at random in a repeating pattern of commands. (Don't do it to the stage where he gets bored with the repetions). This also works vice versa for dogs that are attuned to voice rather than signal.

The element of surprise He will obey before he knows he has done it. A special reward for the voice only command

Thanks SB

How true is that? I use both after noticing Loki obeys hand signals immediately.

Ive noticed that with my 2 I used hand signals without realising and they have picked up on them so we have made use of it.

Puppies and dogs respond so well to hand signals, but it is important to get them following both hand signals and voice commands sounds like you are doing fab ingrid!

I think hand signals are a must! I've allways used them with Jake as well as words. He does dog modelling and on a set your not allways allowed to speak if filming is going on therefore hand signals are the only option!

Hands signals are great and work at a long distances too
They also, imo, are better than screaming your lungs out

But you´re right about your dog should obey both verbal commands and hand signals. He´s still so young so dont worri Ingrid. You are a good owner and spot things fast so no prob in getting it all right

Take the time and enjoy him - please dont get too focused on him learning everything right away. TTT

You need both hand signals and vocal signals in that sort of situation. Vocal - in case they aren't looking your way. I use a high pitch dog whistle (I can hardly hear it, but Barney can).

Whistles are good, as mentioned in another thread, in that they don't give away your emotions. Also, they carry much further than most people's voices and with high pitched ones, hardly anyone will get annoyed by it.

Seems you have never been around me when my dog tries to disobey my stop whistle