Training with Hand Signals

A trainer that I went to for private lessons with Ace (my third GS) taught me about training with hand signals which I thought was wonderful and led me to the belief that hand signals and voice commands be taught at the same time. My last 2 dogs (Ginger and Magnum who are both GS and were both brought home at 7 weeks old) were taught hand signals and voice commands concurrently. Both Ginger and Magnum were able to sit on command by 12 weeks old using a hand signal only. Not every command has a corresponding hand signal, but most do.

 

To Ginger and Magnum, a hand signal and a voice command carried (and still carry) the same weight, and both responded to either voice commands or hand signals at any time.

 

We had to put Ginger down in July of 2019 at 14. She lost her hearing at about 11 and even though she could no longer hear a voice command, she still responded to hand signals, and we could still communicate with her until the very sad day when we had to put her down. Because she understood hand signals, she was still a productive and happy member of our family until her last days.