The Most Commonly Used Dog Training Hand Signals

There are no universally accepted dog training hand signals but there many generally accepted. Some signals do have slight variations. As an owner consistency is the order of the day, decide on a simple hand signal and stick with it. Any signal you give should be at the height of the dog this makes it easier for your dog to see and therefore carry out the signal.
Basic commands will already be familiar to your dog as most of the early training will have been done with the use of food treats.

When training your dog all spoken commands should be used alongside hand signals. One type of signal will support and compliment the other. Hand signals come into their own when you are training your dog at a distance over which your voice may not carry. All the frequently used commands can have had signals to accompany them and you should always use them together.

Firstly the sit command. With the dog in front of you, you move a treat held in your hand in a sweeping manner from level with your dog's nose upwards. You want your dog to follow the treat and lift its head thus dropping its bottom on to the ground and sitting. You hand should finish next to your head. You will probably make the movement slow enough to allow your dog to follow the treat and say the command sit. Repeat this several times and your dog will begin to associate the verbal and hand signal to mean the same thing. The next stage is to increase the distance between yourself and your dog. When your dog is responding to the command start to fade out the verbal command and use just the hand signal. If the dog gets confused reintroduce the verbal instruction again.

The down command hand signal is a flat palm pointing toward the ground and moving downwards to the ground. Your signal starts at the dog's height and goes downwards. This should be approached in the same way as the sit by standing a couple of stride in front of your dog, using both the verbal and hand signal command. Increase the distance and then fade out the verbal command. A slight variation of this signal is to point to the ground and then move your finger downwards. All these movements are done at the side of your body, this makes it easier for your dog to see and follow the hand signal.

The stand hand signal starts with your dog at your side, a flat palm in front of the dog's nose with the verbal command stand stay. At first keep your hand in place but gradually you should be able to give the command and move your hand away. Once your dog is familiar with the stand at your side you can change to standing in front of your dog and use the same flat palm in front of the dog's nose along side the stand stay command. Gradually increase the distance between you and your dog and then fade out the verbal command. Again the signal is given at the side of your body and the height of the dog.

Go right and go left can be introduced to move your dog in those directions. Again quite close at first, using a post to be the destination. Treat when the dog goes in the correct direction and eventually sits or downs at the post. The hand signal is pointing in the direction you want the dog to move.

It is that simple. You just need lots of practice and patience and eventually you will have your dog, sitting, standing and downing in quick succession without a word being spoken.

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