Teaching dogs sign language can enable specially-abled dog owners to communicate effectively with their pets.
Many people train their dogs using both sign and verbal commands to ensure clear communication.
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Dogs often have excellent vision, making sign language a useful backup if verbal commands are misunderstood.
Recently, dog trainer Laura London took on the task of helping Igor, a hearing-impaired individual, by training his dog, Susie, in sign language.
London aimed to help Igor by turning Susie, a rescue dog he had adopted, into a service dog. She aimed to teach Igor how service dogs operate and to train Susie to assist Igor in everyday tasks.
For instance, Susie needed to alert Igor when the doorbell or his phone rang. The training began with Igor learning the basics first.
The main objective was to transform Susie into a reliable service dog for Igor. To facilitate the training, an interpreter named Jack assisted, as Igor had hearing and speech impairments. Jack translated everything London taught. The key technique used was “The clicker.”
London instructed Igor to hold a clicker and press it with his finger. This exercise helped Susie associate the click sound with a reward, indicating she had done something right. Igor then practiced these steps with Susie under London’s guidance.
Next, London taught Igor specific dog-sign commands, such as “Sit” and “Lay down.” She recognized the challenge of training a dog to assist a deaf owner, but she provided Igor and Susie with some homework and promised to return with more advanced training soon.
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