I used to use a lot of hand signals for Pereg and she understood them all. I am just starting to teach hand signals with Tikva - it has taken me nearly a year to teach her basic commands although she is still dodgy on most, but she is 95% house-trained, and if I think she has been in dozing for too long I will say "go out and make peepee" and she always goes out and performs. Mostly she is out all day and does p&ps in the places she has designated for them. She will also use a puppy pad if necessary. We are now working on hand signals for 'down', 'sit', 'wait' and 'stay, but at the moment she needs the spoken word command and then the hand signals, but she is learning. She seems to need both the spoken command and the hand signals although I do not know why, but then she is a strange puppy. The reason I was just thinking about this as I was watching the YouTube video of Andrea Bocelli at the Leicester/Eveton football match and when he started singing Nessum Dorma the crowd were very noisy, so Claudio Ranieri put out his hand, palm towards the crowds with his fingers wide open, and they quietened. That is the hand signal I used with Pereg and now Tikva, for 'wait' once sitting, and with a double 'wait' signal for 'stay'. ['Down' and 'sit' signals are with my fingers together, arm straight and my wrist then bent down for 'sit', with a double signal for down.] Are there specific hand signals for dogs as against BSL or ASL or are they ones the owner, especially someone who has a deaf dog, has made up so that their dog understands what the signals mean. The most important command though does not need a hand signal, and Tikki understands it in both English and Ivrit. And that is "come" for recall, usually preceded by variations of her name - and wherever she is and whatever she is doing, she shoots in to me!
Your raised open palm signal is my, 'stop and wait', signal for sendaway etc. I intentionally use voice and signal together - if you do one after the other it counts as an extra command in Obed. Ed will do signal only, but I would rather be certain that he has understood me, and unless he goes deaf, I don't think we will need signals only. I don't think there is an ISL for dogs, but would imagine that the military must use a universal system. I think most of us have a part copied, part instinctive set, depending on which disciplines you have trained for. One friend uses a raised arm 'Hup' for sit, whereas I use a downpointing finger for sit, and a downpointing full hand for down. It sounds as if you are making good progress with Tikva's training. As Merry had another jaunt up the road yesterday, I'm rather envious of your successful 'Come'!
'Down' as in lay down is not something Tikva does - unless she is flonked on the couch - it is more of a 'get down ya booga' when she is standing against my chair or trying to climb up my legs! But she will never be able to do Obedience [nothing like that in this neck of the woods] so it is not the end of the world. Nearly a year old and she will not even come out for a walk? Not even come out sitting on my lap?
I use hand signals on park because I don't call my dogs or forster dogs by their names, I do sharp whistle & tap leg for recall, hand straight up to stay hand in fist for sit & hand flat for down
Hi! I'm a new member here and I found your thread interesting. Is there an age for the puppy on when's the right time to teach them tricks?
Hello and welcome to Breedia from Tikva and me Normally people do not buy/rescue/adopt puppies as young as Tikva was, so basic training should start as soon as the puppy is in his/her new home. I had to teach Tikki to take puppy substitute milk from a bottle and then wean her, so even basic normal training had to wait. I do not believe in teaching "tricks". As long as the puppy learns basic commands, that is all I want. It has taken a long time with Tikva as she was so young when I was told to go and get her. She will be a year old next Monday but she is happy and healthy - and a mini monster - and I love her. However, I am definitely not the person to ask about training and/or teaching - not sure why you call them tricks? Unless you mean things like roll-over, give me your paw, that sort of thing. For me the most important thing is that Tikki comes to me when I call her, whether she is inside my home or outside on her tether. She has to be on a tether as my yard is not fenced. But I call her and she comes in. If there is anything specific you need to know, post on the Shih Tzu forum and I am sure that people far more experienced than I will be only too happy to help you.
The beauty of 'positive' training with no aversives is that you can start to teach very, very young puppies a variety of things to do from the normal every day things like giving up a toy, remaining calm etc to sit, stay, down and 'tricks' etc. The key is to have fun and enjoy and make sure pup is having fun and enjoying too
