Hand Signals for Hunting Dog Training

Scott Linden • March 25, 2024

What if when your dog was disobedient, it was your fault?

It’s a train wreck at dog level. Wind, distance, panting, brush, collar tags, beepers, all block his hearing like a boulder blocks his vision. We learned this on my TV show long before GoPro … when we were the first put a camera on a bird dog. Besides the video making us seasick, the audio was so full of extraneous noise, it’s no wonder he was confused when I tried to call him.

He zigs when you want him to zag, stops when you want him to go. I’m reminded of that scene in the movie Cool Hand Luke, where inmate Paul Newman’s character Luke is banished to the prison’s “box.” Prison warden Strother Martin says to Luke “what we have here is a failure to communicate.” I doubt you ever use as drastic a measure as the warden, but we often have a similar problem with our dogs.

That’s the irony – it’s probably not disobedience … unless it’s my dog. So, what can you do to ensure he’s following your direction? Try these three other ways to communicate that work for me, and maybe for you.

Hand signals are obvious. Just like other training, overlay clear hand signals with the spoken command, then drill them in. Just be careful your gyrations are being seen … no brush or boulders in the way. And don’t speak a foreign language by cluttering your hand signal with another limb … an errant arm or shotgun turn your well-intentioned signal into gibberish.

And here’s a trick. Dogs see moving objects much more readily than stationary ones. So, add a little wiggle to your hand signals. Just don’t go all Broadway on him. Pro trainers use this trick to fire up puppy retrieves – move your hand at his level and he’ll come running … most of the time.

What about in the woods … where neither of you can see the forest, let alone the trees … or each other? Train him to whistle commands. Be consistent, and limit your vocabulary to a few, carefully-practiced directions.

Here’s something I learned the hard way: sounds will carry far beyond your dog and bounce off rocky cliffs. He might hear the echo and head in the exact wrong direction. So, turn around and aim away from your dog – don’t worry he’ll still hear it, and even the echo will be coming from the right location – YOU.

And you can reach out and touch someone – or some dog – with the miracle of electronics. At long distance, even a whistle is hard to hear and hand signals are hard to see. But the tone and vibrate buttons on your e-collar are right there under his nose … literally. Overlay a few simple commands with your voice, hands and whistle.

Let’s see … voice, hands, whistle, e-collar … a whole array of alternatives to avoid a failure to communicate and get better performance from your dog. Now, to work on your shooting.

--Scott Linden