This makes sense because they have evolved from pack hunters who needed to coordinate their movements. We always knew the dogs were masters of interpreting body language. How to Tell if Someone Is Interested in You But what about in those situations where there are no environmental distractions and the dog's attention is directed to you? Do you yell "Down!" or do you raise your hand above your head to signal the dog to drop into a down position? Which command is the dog more likely to promptly obey? ![]() Alternatively, if your dog is looking away and not making direct eye contact with you, it seems reasonable to use a voice command. If you are in a noisy setting then perhaps it is better to use hand signals since your voice command may get lost in the ambient sound. Most dog handlers will tell you that which set of instructions you should select depends upon the situation. But when you have to choose just one form of command, matters become a bit more confusing. It just seems as if the combination of a verbal command and a hand signal seems to produce the most reliable performance in dogs especially when they are first learning. From their very basic beginning training sessions most dogs are taught to respond to both our voice and our hand gestures. It is one of those issues which can trigger debates that can go on interminably among dog trainers and obedience competitors. Remember, your dog only understands a sharp word or praise as being attached to the last behavior that he has performed.While the question seems like an obvious one, the answer is not. Then ask your dog to come to you, and praise him for that behavior. When your dog is misbehaving (barking, digging, chewing, licking, etc.), say “no!” sharply, try to make eye contact with your dog, and make a fist in front of the center of your chest. The hand signal for no is the making of a fist. Hold your hands around torso level, elbows in toward your body and hands at a 45-degree angle, fingers apart, and wave your hands back and forth as you say “OK” or “free,” or whatever verbal release cue you’ve chosen. Over the years, I’ve used a variety of different hand signals, but I’ve settled on “jazz hands” as my favorite. The release cue ensures that your dog will only break the sit, down, and stay when you ask. Sit, down, and stay are useless without a release command. Don’t ask your dog to hold the stay position for very long at first - just a couple of seconds - and then use a release word and hand signal (see below) and call him to you. Stay is a tough command to learn, since it involves inaction rather than action. Start with your dog in a sit position and ask him to stay, holding your palm away from your body, facing your dog. This hand signal is typically taught in conjunction with the command, so most dogs have seen it before, but it’s a good one to reinforce. ![]() The hand signal for stay is a raised palm facing toward your dog. Woman giving the down command by Shutterstock. ![]() This hand signal tends to be easy to learn because most people training down initially train by luring the dog’s nose to the ground with a treat, so there’s sort of a hand signal already associated with this command. Again, you can hold a treat between your fingers to gather his attention onto your hand. ![]() With your palm down, move your elbow from about chest level to mid-thigh (depending on your dog’s height - lower for shorter dogs). The hand signal for down is the opposite of the sit signal.
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