Rear end/back legs tricks

How fun and good job! I want to train Bailey to rotate. Were you luring her at the end or was she rotating on her own?

I was rotating slowly with her, sort of putting pressure on her with my body.

I tried luring her when I first started, but she didn't seem to get it in her haste to take the treat I was putting in her face. It worked a lot better to shape leg movements.
 
I just taught Domino to move his back feet around an object with his front feet still (the third one on your list). I found this one fairly quick to teach and he seemed to pick it up pretty quickly....hopefully Lexi will do the same! My suggestion is to get a solid front feet on an object first. I used a book and shaped Domino with a clicker to a stand with his two front paws on the book facing me. The steps were as follows:

1) Look at book
2) Move toward book
3) Paw toward book
4) One paw touching the book
5) One paw on the book
6) Second paw moving towards book
7) Second paw on book
8) Both paws on book for varying lengths of time

Once he was readily putting both paws on the book and keeping them there while he was facing me I started to move myself around the book in a circle. I found that I had to move a couple of steps to get any sort of movement from him but once I did I tried to click and treat the following progressions:

1) Any sort of tiny movement in the back legs
2) A small step or lifting of at least one leg
3) A full rotational step of one leg
4) Movement from both legs
5) Varying amount of movement from both legs to build duration

I hope this makes sense.

I have also taught a back up and I did this purely by capturing and clicking the movement when he naturally did it. I found that he would quite often back up if I positioned him in front of me in a stand and then just stared at him. Once I had a small back up movement being offered I shaped it into a longer duration.

Good Luck!

The details in the instructions are amazing, this is absolutely the process I went with Precious when starting early on to teach her backhind awareness by using small objects she could turn around on like books. I definitely recommend this as well, click for every small baby step :)
 
I was rotating slowly with her, sort of putting pressure on her with my body.

I tried luring her when I first started, but she didn't seem to get it in her haste to take the treat I was putting in her face. It worked a lot better to shape leg movements.

Thanks, that was really helpful! I did this last night it went really well. Bailey was standing on the plastic bowl with her first paws and when I would circle towards her she was start to move her back feet and rotate a little. How far should I go? Is the goal to make her walk a complete circle?

I'm going to try to train her to put her all 4 paws on a book tonight.
 
Thanks, that was really helpful! I did this last night it went really well. Bailey was standing on the plastic bowl with her first paws and when I would circle towards her she was start to move her back feet and rotate a little. How far should I go? Is the goal to make her walk a complete circle?

Yep, I'd like a full, independent circle...don't know if I'll get it from Lexi or not.
 
Silvia Trkmans video

I taught Kyara how to turn around target using similar tactics.

I based my teaching on Silvia Trkman's "heeling is just another trick" method. http://www.lolabuland.com/training-videos/heeling/ (the dvd is quite expensive so I was lucky to know someone who has it but if you look in the comments you can see some dogs trying it out).

It is basically what Goggle described above. But I just wanted to add that I strongly recommend using Shaping which does take more time at first (and lots of patience) but once your dog understands what you want through shaping, it really sinks in and they seem to really get it and not forget it after. Also, I find that since I used shaping, Kyara really seems to learn other tricks much faster.

So at first be very patient and just sit and stare at your dog until she actually starts showing interest in the target (I use a circular cake pan placed upside down on the floor). Click and treat as soon as she looks at it. Once you see your dog understands that you want her to pay interest to the object, wait longer, eventually wait until she touches it with her paw. Gradually go up the other steps described by Goggle. She might get frustrated at some point, whine but that means she is thinking. You'll see her start to offer various positions she knows, lying down, give the paw, etc, but just be patient or move down one step if you seem to be stuck. Also keep in mind to practice this often and only a few minutes at the time. Always make sure to end on a positive move on her part and when she still seems to want to keep training.

The only part where I got really stuck and used some luring was getting her to turn while keeping her front paws on the pan. I just put the treat right beside her nose making sure to stay above the pan, and clicked and treated as soon as one of the back legs moved eventually clicking only after more and more steps.

But after that it was very difficult to get her to turn correctly without a treat... until one day, when I was just sitting with friends not paying attention to Kyara, she suddenly stepped up on the pan (it had been on the floor since our last training session earlier that day) and completed a full circle both front paws on the pan, proudly looking at my face once she completed.

Good luck :wink2:!

Ashley I have this video.I bought it this year.But I downloaded it to my computer.I wish I knew of a way to share it.It was 53.00 USA money.If I can get someone to burn me a copy I will make you one.
 
Awww what a cutie! She's done amazing progress!

Also a cool thing about this trick is eventually using it to get an awesome sit in a heel position.

I'm not sure how to explain it correctly but for example, when you call the dog to sit on your left side and he's in front of you, he does a cool pivot with his back legs to come and sit beside you, glued to your left leg.

I haven't gotten to that point yet but it's one of my objectives. Our agility trainer gets her dog to do it and it's just so adorable and also useful to position the dog well for some agility training.

Once you get the full circle done well on both sides (clockwise and counterclockwise) you eventually start placing yourself halfway in the circle and once the dog hits your leg, try to lure the dog in a sit.

But that's where I'm having problems... Kyara just seems annoyed I'm in her way and squeezes herself to avoid me and complete her full circle. I think I'll need to modify the timing of the clicking to break down the whole stop-when-you-touch-my-leg-and-sit-down part.

(This is the next step for the way this trick is taught in Silvia Trkman's heeling if just another trick video.)
 
Ashley I have this video.I bought it this year.But I downloaded it to my computer.I wish I knew of a way to share it.It was 53.00 USA money.If I can get someone to burn me a copy I will make you one.

That would be great! But, no pressure. You are definitely the library of DVDs around here! You have a ton of stuff!
 
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