The hand signal for “stay” is often an open palm stretched out and facing your dog. Reward your dog.Īnother very important command is “stay”. Take a treat in your hand, and as you give the verbal command “sit”, raise your hand upwards from your chest to your shoulder to encourage your dog to back into a sit. You can create your own gestures depending on what works for you and your dog, but one recommendation for the “sit” hand signal is an upwards-facing open palm. It’s always good to start at the very beginning, and “sit” is often one of the first commands most dogs learn. This may take some time and multiple attempts before your dog gets the gist, so be patient. As your dog starts to get the hang of it, you should be able to give the hand signal without the vocal command. Tip: At first, it’s useful to combine a vocal command with the hand signal to help your dog create the association. The 10 Common Hand Signals for Dog Training Without further ado, let’s explore some of the most common and useful hand signals to teach your dog. Even if your dog didn’t learn hand signals as a puppy, they can still pick them up as adults with patience, consistency, and some tasty treats for motivation.

If this is the first time you’ve heard of this kind of training, don’t worry. Hand-signal training exercises are also great for sharpening your dog’s concentration and mentally stimulating them. We typically tend to concentrate on vocal commands when training our dogs, but hand signals can also come in very handy, especially in noisy environments where your dog can’t hear you or when you need to communicate with a dog that’s losing its sense of hearing.

Hand signals for military dogs