Default obedience?

[Xerxes]

I didn't really know how to title this thread.

This morning, Xerxes jumped on the bed and woke me up. I issued the request "off" and made the hand signal for "off" as well. I was lying down though, and I didn't take my body position into account, so from that angle the hand signal said "down." And that is precisely what he did, he layed down, rather than getting off.

So that sparked a question in my mind: Do your dogs primarily obey hand signals or oral signals?

Apparently Xerk prefers hand signals.

[jess2416]

Chloe primarily obeys "voice" signals.. but I only have 2 hand signals... one for stay and one for down...

[houndlove]

Hand, especially Marlowe. I am still trying to wean him off the hand signals, and my body position and posture also have a lot to do with it. It's a work in progress. For so long when I taught him to sit, I was standing in front of him facing him, very close. So now if he flubs a "sit", I have to move closer to him and face his front and he pops right down. It's my fault for not doing enough work on generalizing (I was just so happy he was sitting finally!).

[malmo]

According to the book, "The Other End of the Leash," they understand primarily our body language and gestures.

[Charliesmommy]

Well Xerox,

This is a good question. I always give the verbal command and the hand signal at the same time so I will have to do a little experiment and see how he does with one and not the other.

[Doberluv]

Yes, they are very much so visual learners over verbal learners. Just think about how they are with each other. I love making my hand signals or verbal ones as subtle as possible. It's just cool to see how the tiniest thing is a cue to them. And it sure is true how they don't generalize very well and variations in our own posture can make a world of difference. With a situation like that, Lyric knows the verbal, "off" very well. I really don't have any specific hand signal. I guess I point to the floor, now that I think about it. But I think in that particular case the verbal is what he happens understands better...my other dogs too. I could fade the verbal and make the hand signal more consistant and try it from different angles and positions. But I guess I have too many other things to do. LOL.

[luvmyswissy]

All of my dogs know their hand signals without the verbal and respond well to most verbal without hand signals. But for the most part I use both together. For my Swissy verbal commands come, sit and heel are 100%. But down and stay ususally need a my hand signal for reliablility. I think because those are the hardest for my dog and the most tempting not to follow. For the most part the hand signals seem to make more sense to him than the verbal.

[jess2416]

I guess I think Chloe understands verbal more than hand signals, because when Im telling her to do something, I actually talk to her.. I dont just say "off" I'll say things like "leave that alone" or something like "get away from there"..

Who knows lol :)

[luvmyswissy]

Dogs need to be trained hand signals. Training with hand signals starts with combining your verbal command with the hand signal. Your dog will soon learn to associate your hand signal with the desired action and will respond to either verbal or hand signal.

Dogs often learn hand signals easier than words. Our language is not natural to dogs. Dogs are very observant of body language, stance and movements. They communicate with each other using body language and gestures; so it makes sense that they understand hand signals better than our language. Another benefit - hand signals work in noisy locations and work well when your dog is in view, but at a distance and verbal commands become impractical.

[StillandSilent]

Lilly responds to both, although she seems to prefer hand signals, escpecially when she is performing.
Radar...well, I'm lucky if I can get him to respond to either. It's not that he's naughty, he just isn't very bright. (He does get the basics-mostly)
When I train dogs at work, I use both but they do best with signals.

[bevolasvegas]

All of mine work better with hand signals. I use a verbal command as their recall, everything else is done by hand signals.

[Xerxes]

Yes, they are very much so visual learners over verbal learners. Just think about how they are with each other. I love making my hand signals or verbal ones as subtle as possible. It's just cool to see how the tiniest thing is a cue to them. And it sure is true how they don't generalize very well and variations in our own posture can make a world of difference. With a situation like that, Lyric knows the verbal, "off" very well. I really don't have any specific hand signal. I guess I point to the floor, now that I think about it. But I think in that particular case the verbal is what he happens understands better...my other dogs too. I could fade the verbal and make the hand signal more consistant and try it from different angles and positions. But I guess I have too many other things to do. LOL.

For the longest time Xerxes wouldn't pay attention to my left hand at all. All cues had to be made with the right. Pretty funny stuff. He'd look at the left hand with a quizzical look on his face. (I think I used the entire alphabet in that paragraph! Yay Me!!)

[Charliesmommy]

For the longest time Xerxes wouldn't pay attention to my left hand at all. All cues had to be made with the right. Pretty funny stuff. He'd look at the left hand with a quizzical look on his face. (I think I used the entire alphabet in that paragraph! Yay Me!!)

No J or V. :D

[Doberluv]

LOL Xerxes. They are sure creatures of habit. They get too use to one way and it's hard to convince them that the other letter still spells the same word. LOL.

[Lilavati]

Definately hand signals here. I keep trying to phase them out (I start with both) so that I can command her with hand or voice. But it doesn't work. She'll respond to hand only, but only for a few things voice only (sit, here, off primarily)

[Xerxes]

No J or V. :D

They were implied CM. Silent and implied!;)

[Dekka]

I can tell you on the agility course Dekka listens to my body, over my mouth :D. If one shoulder is saying push out, and my voice calls 'here' the shoulder push happens first.

I like mine to know hand signals. It makes them watch. (in obed) And then when you get to the signal exercise, its easy.

[elegy]

hand signals with the exception of sit, for which i didn't even really *have* a hand-signal until just recently.

[Xerxes]

I can tell you on the agility course Dekka listens to my body, over my mouth :D. If one shoulder is saying push out, and my voice calls 'here' the shoulder push happens first.

I like mine to know hand signals. It makes them watch. (in obed) And then when you get to the signal exercise, its easy.

I think Xerxes would be a natural at agility...he's super good at following hand signals-scary good at it actually.

We do play one game where it's only verbal cues. Since we live on the 3rd story of an apartment bldg, we play the "wait" and "go" game. And every now and then I'll say things like "gorilla" and "GOmer pyle" and "Goober peas" and "gramps" just stuff to throw him off. He thinks it's funny as heck. By the time I meet him at the top of the landing, he's all smiles and laughs.