Transition to Verbal Commands

[Georgygirl]

Joey is doing pretty well with his commands and tricks, but no matter how much I work with him, he won't listen to my verbal commands. He'll follow my hand signals perfectly, but if I just say the command I really don't think he understands. Is this normal? What should I do to get him to understand the verbal commands?

[Maxy24]

Make sure you give the verbal command and then do the hand signal so he learns that command=signal=sit. If you do Signal=command=sit (I'm just using sit as an example of a command) he will only listen to the signal and kinda ignore the command because he was already in the middle of responding to the signal when you gave the command. Don't rush and try over and over if he won't listen to the command without the signal or you will start to over use it and it will loose it's meaning. If he does not do it the first two times without the signal than go back to using the sign with the verbal command. I hope that helped a little I'm sure some more people will be along to help soon.

[mdelacruz]

Hi guys,

Let me add a question to this issue, I know a dog receiving commands in english and spanish, is it possible to apply the same signal to different language commands?

[sam]

Hand signals are far easier for dogs to learn- they have very little cerebral cortex and language aquisition isn't their forte.They are masters however at reading our body language and facial expressions.
I agree with the poster who said add the verbal cue BEFORE the hand signal then gradually fade it out if you like.

[Georgygirl]

Thanks for the advice Maxy. So far it's been working! He's finally sitting and laying down just on the verbal commands. Now I've just got to work on the rest of his commands. Another problem I have is having him do his commands outside or on linoleum. I think I'll just have to keep working on it though. I'm signing up for an obedience class this summer, so that will definitely help us out.