![]() ![]() ![]() But that’s not the main reason why they can be so useful. Hand signals are fantastic as they give your dog another enrichment and training element. ![]() Image Credit: Luca Nichetti, Shutterstock Why Should You Use Training Signals for Dogs? So, you can see how beneficial it could be if your dog were to learn. Dogs can make sense of hand signals with up to 92% accuracy. In fact, dogs can respond to visual cues more easily than auditory ones. So it’s no surprise that they can be extremely receptive to different types of training that require no voice. They communicate through a limited portion of vocalizations and body language. If you think about it, dogs don’t speak English or any other language. If you’ve already had a little training experience, you might want to take it to the next level. Utilizing hand signals can be very beneficial and it creates room for your pup to grow their knowledge. If you have a particularly calm or alert dog, they could be very receptive to hand signals, while a more energetic or scattered dog won’t as easily. Each dog will be completely different in the way that they interact and respond to your cues. If your dog doesn’t have a good wait and a solid stay, it is time to do some homework.Training your dog can be both a rewarding and complex process. And they are initially covered in the Basic classes I teach, then expanded on in the Intermediate classes. Wait and Stay are two of the basic, essential commands I outline in Please Don’t Bite the Baby, and Please Don’t Chase the Dogs. You give your dog the STAY command and she freezes in place for an interval between one and three minutes – Praise and Reward. ![]() You give your dog the WAIT command and he holds a position for a short duration – Praise and Reward. Your dog will learn the difference between these two commands because once you have an understanding of what the commands are, you will mark and reward the appropriate behaviors. Dog freezes in place for the duration of the light regardless of the distractions that go by, like bicycles, skateboard, other dogs, etc….Ask for a stay for the examination, shots, blood draws.Dog freezes in place for the duration of the ride regardless of the number of people getting in and out.Pick up toy before dog gets there, or redirect the dog with a touch command.Once Aunt Millie is in, the dog gets the go say hello command.Door opens if the dog is holding position.Door is opened only if dog holds position for a few seconds.Here are some sample situations where I would use the Wait and Stay commands differently: Wait One is much harder than the other for different reasons for different people, but in the end, the two different lengths of delay are very different demands on us. We experience differences in difficultly between a short fifteen minute wait to board our airplane, verses the delayed flight that could be hours. To understand this in terms we humans experience, we need only look to air travel. However, the Stay is harder to hold depending on how stressed or excited a dog might be. Wait is something a dog can usually achieve even when they are cranked up by exciting visitors, or stressful situations. The difference is often hard to see at first, but in the dog’s head it is a major difference in difficulty. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |