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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on April 15, 2011 at 12:10pm

I haven't heard of it but I do have signs for stay,wait,sit and down that I made up.

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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on April 15, 2011 at 12:20pm

Same here. This type of training would be to teach your dog ways to communicate with you. To teach them a signal for food, water, play, potty, fire, and a handful of other things.

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Permalink Reply by Jane on April 15, 2011 at 1:36pm

Oh god, I think I'd have to leave the food one out. I don't think Luke would ever do another behavior again! haha

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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on April 15, 2011 at 4:02pm

One thing she mentions is teaching the concept of "later," which would really come in handy after you teach your corgi the food paw-signal. =)

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Marie O'Bryan on April 15, 2011 at 1:46pm

i have actually taught teddy to use hand signals rather than just words. its really easy. give them a command,such as sit along with a hand signal. after awhile he will respond to your hand and the word. now i can make the hand signal for sit,lie down,paw, etc and not have to say a word and teddy does what i ask:)

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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on April 15, 2011 at 4:01pm

Hand signals are really important. This article talks about training your dog to use "paw signals" to communicate with you.

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Permalink Reply by Emily & Scout on April 15, 2011 at 4:40pm

Hand signals are coming in handy for me and my mom.  I taught Hershi, our now 14 year old, hand signals for sit, laydown, shake, and come as a puppy.  Now she is deaf, and she can still do the basic commands when she is able to see us. 

Needless to say, if we go for a walk and she is not looking at me, she will not know to come when I call her, but she remains a safe distance nonetheless. 

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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on April 18, 2011 at 11:28am

*** Update *** I taught Baxter the K9Sign for food on Friday. He totally gets it and now loves to do it anytime he sees food. The book is pretty interesting and the basic concept is that dogs can be taught a way to effectively communicate with people through "signing." Dogs already communicate in their own ways, this just standardizes it.

 

So far, so good. The interesting part will be to see when he really makes the connection and starts telling me he wants food by using the new sign.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on April 18, 2011 at 1:13pm

Jack is so bossy, I'd be a little afraid of what he'd say.  And how often he'd say it! 

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on April 18, 2011 at 5:13pm

Too funny Beth. So what kind of a sign does Baxter use for food...this seems interesting!

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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on April 19, 2011 at 10:48am

The sign for food is the raising and lowering of the dog's left paw. It's a really interesting concept because when you're teaching a dog a trick, it is you communicating with them-- sort of a one-way communication. Teaching a dog to sign is like teaching them a trick that they will have to realize how to use to communicate with you. So starting out, you get your dog to mimic your movement. I sat in front of Baxter and moved my right hand up and then down and he mimicked me using his left paw. I praised him and treated him. Then we added the "Sign Food" command to the motion. After we got that down pat, I had to teach him how to use it. I would put some food on the floor, point to it and say, "IS food." Then I would point to the food and ask, "what IS that?" I'll be damned if that dog didn't reply with the food sign. The plus side to this is that the training works. It can be said that this sign training, is really only just that, it's just another trick. However, the idea is to keep up the work and eventually the dog will be able to respond to you using the signs unprompted. There are other signs to learn too, such as play, toy, water, fire, how to count, a sign for other animals, and even learning other peoples' names and rooms in the house. Although the rooms in the house I think is done by assigning each room a number. The woman who wrote the book also developed "EquineSign," sign language for horses.

 

Here is a link to the book, "Dogs Can Sign Too."

 

The other interesting thing about this training is the concept of using "Na" in place of "No" and using "Yah" "Yeah" and "Yes!" for the positive reinforcement. Because you are trying to communicate with the dog, using "No" is not an option because you do not want to discourage the dog from out right performing an action.

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