On the adventures and training of Cinnamon Snapdragon, a papillon destined for greatness.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Signals from the dog's point of view

For obedience competition my dog needs to learn to respond to a hand signal to sit, down, and come to front from a distance. I've been brainstorming what use for Dragon's signals. I like to use my right arm to cue my dog, and use it 90% of the time when shaping something new. It would probably be easier to think of distinct, easy-to-interpret signals if I used both arms... oh well. I think I've decided what to use. In order to see whether the signals can be easily understood by Tiny Dog, I took some pictures from a tiny perspective.

signals: sit
I AM A GIANT.
This is the classic hand signal for "sit". My right arm will bend at the elbow and be raised straight up, with the palm facing up. This is similar to the motion I made to lure him into a tuck sit, and he already responds to it (if he is sitting directly in front of me, where the camera is).

signals: stand
This is my improvised stand signal. Technically he doesn't need to be able to respond to a stand signal at a distance for obedience, however I will teach it so that he doesn't just switch between sitting and lying down when we're practicing signals. To prevent unwanted anticipation in competition, the dog must be really watching your cues and responding to each cue, rather than doing what he remembers comes next.

Dragon already has a hand signal to stand but it is messy. I will stop using it and switch to this one.

signals: down
Down. My previous dog responded to my arm bending up and away from my side as a down signal because I would raise it up to the side and then bring it down in front to lure the down. He started to anticipate the second part and respond to just the arm going out sideways. (This is wanted anticipation!) I like this because it means that I can easily signal all three positions with just one arm. Dragon responds well to this signal. Roughly half the time he lies down when my arm is out to the side and about half the time I have to finish the signal. When I bring my arm down I also push it forward and down toward him, as this reminds him to do a fold-back down instead of crawling forward into a down.

So this all looks great, right? But then I thought about my "spin" signal:
signals: spin
Looks a bit like the "stand", doesn't it? I think this is actually a red herring, though. Dragon is very reliable with the verbal for "spin" so I don't use the hand signal that much. When I do, I keep my hand lower and make a little twirl with my finger. For the "stand", my hand will move toward my stomach in a different way and the hand will be held in a different manner. I expect any initial confusion to fade very quickly. Still, I will be ready to change the "stand" signal if it proves to be a problem.

I haven't decided on a distance signal for coming to front yet, but it will have to be with my left arm so that it doesn't mimic any of these other motions. My left arm will also be used to signal a left finish into heel position, which naturally tends to be a sort of "bring the left arm out and back" movement. My "front" will have to be clearly different, so it will probably involve raising my left hand toward my chest or my head.

Oh yes, there's also the right finish to think about. I could move my right arm backwards or, to avoid adding too many signals to that side, I could simply turn my head all the way to the right. If he's already sitting in front and looking up at my face, this will be a clear signal for him.

...Or will it? I will have to take more pictures to test that theory.

A few extras:
signals: turn
"Turn", the opposite of "spin".

signals: leg weave
Weave between my legs.

signals: jump over foot
Hop over my foot. He gets these two confused sometimes, because we had practiced leg weaves a lot before I introduced the "hop over my foot" trick, and the reinforcement history wins out. He's improving steadily, though.

6 comments:

  1. What a great idea of taking pictures!!!!

    I think your sit and down look pretty similar but from what you describe they finish differently.

    If you're planning on competing then you won't be able to use a head signal for a finish. Without looking up the direct quote from the regs, it has to be a single motion of hand and arm.

    I personally use my left hand for sit, right hand for down, and left again for the come. I use the traditional signals since I wasn't creative enough to come up with my own. I don't have a signal stand at a distance. I do ask for it sometimes (and other tricks) in between the signals during practice but I usually just give a verbal.

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  2. Hmm, I think they're different enough to be okay. My previous dog (who was also 12") never had any confusion between down and sit, and Dragon doesn't if he actually waits for me to bend my arm to about 90 degrees instead of sitting automatically the moment I move it at all.

    Thanks for the info about the head signal. That's a real shame. I'll have to think carefully, then. If I have to change my signals I'd rather do it now than when we've gotten used to something else.

    What's your signal for come? I've seen people raise their hands up to their chests, but that seems like it's similar to the sit motion.

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  3. Well the important thing is that Dragon sees the difference!

    I personally want my dog knowing at the start of the signal what they're going to be doing. So since both my down and sit use the same arm, they have to start differently in order for my dog to be already in motion before I'm half way. If they're not responding by that time I give a verbal.

    The down starts with my right hand saying close to my body and going straight up and slightly out, just so it doesn't blend in with my torso. The come starts with my hand going out wide and then I throw it back over my left shoulder. You can't see the down in this video, but you can see the sit and come, unfortunately from the wrong angle:
    http://youtu.be/ZtYno5Fh314 (starts at 43sec)

    this one at 53sec I don't go out as wide on the come as I usually do (must have been nervous!):
    http://youtu.be/rsLU63R7zww

    If you search youtube for utility you can see the common signals used! It's a little hard to find ones with the camera angle showing both person and dog though.

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  4. Love the videos! I did do a YouTube search way back, trying to see what other people used for signals, and most of the videos I watched showed only the dog during the signals so I gave up.

    I just tested Dragon's understanding of the signals so far, and you're actually right, he doesn't know the difference that well! I'll write a follow-up post about it.

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  5. Wow, I'm glad I posted video, because I clearly did not write the correction action name with the one I was describing, in either comment! Down and Come are with the right arm, sit is with the left.

    Does he know the difference up closer? If so then it's just practice! The only other thing you'd have to watch out for is how easy it is to see at a difference, especially if it's close to your body and could blend in.

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  6. Haha, I figured out what you meant!

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