26/10/2026
Does your puppy know what “sit” means, or are they waiting for your hand to move? 🐶
Here’s a little dog-training fact that might change how you look at your puppy’s responses.
Dogs are brilliant at recognising patterns. And because body language is such an important part of how dogs communicate, they often pay close attention to our movements and gestures.
This can mean your puppy learns to respond to your hand signal more reliably than your verbal cue. In learning theory, this can happen through a process called overshadowing.
For example, you might say “sit” while raising your hand. Your puppy sits, gets rewarded, and you repeat the process.
Eventually, you try saying “sit” without moving your hand… and nothing happens!
But raise your hand, and suddenly your puppy remembers how to sit.
They may have learnt to watch your hand rather than listen to the word. They were so focused on your hand while they were learning it that the word “sit” probably didn’t register.
So how can you improve this?
Next time you practise a familiar cue, say the word just before giving your usual hand signal.
“Sit” → hand signal → puppy sits → reward →release.
With repetition, the word will become a predictor of the hand signal your puppy already understands. As your puppy starts responding to the word, reduce the hand signal.
You might even notice,and this is common, your puppy starting to sit as soon as they hear the word, before your hand has a chance to move. They’re recognising the pattern and anticipating what comes next- without needing to fade out the hand signal!
This is one of the many reasons continued training matters. Even when your puppy knows the behaviour, there’s a difference between performing it with your help and responding reliably to the cue itself.
Sometimes, a little adjustment to how you practise can make all the difference.
You can apply this concept to test and strengthen all their commands.
Learning is a continuum; it doesn’t just stop. Dog training has a lot of nuances and little moving parts that come together to create great results. Often, it’s the small adjustments we make along the way that make the biggest difference. This is where a professional dog trainer can help. Understanding canine behaviour and how dogs learn allows us to identify those little details and make adjustments that help you and your dog keep progressing. Keep learning, keep practising and keep building on what you’ve already achieved.
