There is no doubt that training a dog is one of the most important things to do when you have one in your home. Admittedly, it is also important to feed them the right type of food and ensure that they have a warm place to sleep but that being said, training them can certainly go a long way in helping them to be an acceptable member of the family.
There are many different training techniques but most of them use some type of a cue and a verbal command when you want the dog to do something. Most people use very basic commands, such as telling them to sit when you want them to sit or telling them to stay when you want them to stay. Other people may go beyond the basic commands or they may even train them in a foreign language so that it is difficult for other people to give their dogs commands.
Regardless of what options you use for training the dog, one important factor that you may want to consider is teaching the dog sign language. I’m not necessarily talking about teaching them ASL but rather, just teaching them to hand gestures and having them understand that they also stand for certain command. There are some very common hand gestures that are used for dogs for that purpose.
One of the common gestures is to bend your hand forward at the knuckles when you want your dog to sit. When you do this regularly, you don’t even need to use a verbal command. Another hand gesture that you can use is to wave your hand in front of the dog’s face when you want them to wait. If you want them to stay, on the other hand, you place your hand in front of their eyes and hold it there for a moment. Interestingly, the hand gesture for down is to put your hand straight up over your head.
In order to teach your dog this type of sign language, you will first need to teach them some verbal cues. Once they understand what those verbal cues mean, you can begin using them along with the hand gestures until they also associate those hand gestures with the command. It doesn’t take very long for most dogs to catch on and eventually, you don’t even need to say a word and they will obey the command.
These types of commands are beneficial for a number of different reasons. Not only are they cool to use in public, you may also find that there are times when you need to give your dog the command and you aren’t standing right next to them. As a matter of fact, some of these hand gestures might just save your dog’s life if they find themselves in a situation where they need to be directed. Begin using them now and they will become a regular part training.