#Hand signals for a dog how to#
#Hand signals for a dog full#
#Hand signals for a dog trial#
#Hand signals for a dog professional#

If you’ve been training your dog, whether it’s basic obedience commands, tricks, or a nice ‘leave it’ cue, you’ll want to tell them that the training session is over.

#Hand signals for a dog how to#

You can then start walking again and teach them how to walk nicely or heel. Tapping your thigh or calf will likely get your dog’s attention, and when they look toward what you’re doing, hold a treat by your leg for them to collect. It might be that they’re distracted by sniffing, or they might be pulling on the lead, so the ‘this way’ hand signal teaches them ‘come on let’s go’! When teaching your dog loose lead walking, there can be times that you’ll want to signal them to come with you in another direction. You can use the wait cue before you cross the road, get on the tube or a bus, or to go and get a towel to wipe those muddy paws when you come in from a walk.

#Hand signals for a dog full#

Over time make the movement down to the floor smaller, so it ends up with you just pointing to the floor.ĭon’t let training get you down – Try our app!įollow our full guide to teaching your puppy to wait or stay, the hand signal will look like a stop sign. Say ‘good’ and reward them when they get it right. Once your dog is lying down for the food lure, take the food out of your hand and do the same motion so they’re following your hand moving down to the floor. Downįollow the steps in our article on teaching your puppy to lie down.

Hold your hand out, side on, close to your dog’s face, as they sniff it or touch it with their nose, say ‘good’ and give them a treat.Īs you practise, move the hand a little further away when you present it, so your dog learns they need to touch the hand for their marker word and a treat. Hand targets can be used to give dogs direction, but once they’ve learnt to come and target from quite a distance, it also works great as a recall. This one is easy to teach dogs, as they’re used to sniffing and licking our hands, so they’ll generally be interested in them. Hand TargetĬome and boop the snoot for a treat. Moving on, you can start adding some duration and extend the eye contact don’t forget to treat! 2. When they look at your face, say ‘good’ and give them the treat. Repeat this two or three times, then take the treat out of your hand and use a smaller hand signal instead. Using a food lure, take it from your dog’s nose up to your face, and when your dog follows the treat and looks up at your face, say ‘good’. Great to use if your dog loses their marbles around other dogs on walks. Teaching your dog eye contact is a great way for them to give you some focus, and it can also help to lower arousal and calm them down.

We believe the following list of dog commands and hand signals are useful for dogs and us, as they’re things you’re likely to use in everyday life. Many of the following hand signals begin with the lure reward method, in which we lure our dogs into the position we want them to be in, then use a marker word like ‘good’ to indicate that they’ve done the right thing.Īfter some practice, we can remove the food lure and make the luring motion more of a subtle hand signal. Photo by Evieanna Santiago on Unsplash 6 essential hand signals for dogs Hand gestures are also great for deaf dogs or for senior dogs whose hearing may be failing them. Hand signals for dogs are a great way of communicating silently when you need to be quiet, or when you’re in a noisy environment, like on public transport or during agility.

#Hand signals for a dog professional#

We have a team of professional experts to help you along the way and answer those middle-of-the-night questions, we’re worldwide, and our experts are here for you via the in-app chat 24/7.

#Hand signals for a dog trial#

Download a trial now and start your training journey. Need a hand with your training? Download Zigzag!įor much of the Zigzag training, we teach hand signals first and then transfer them to a verbal cue to learn both.