Trick - Sticking Around

[Wooferhound]

1) Begin with your dog standing at your left side. Hold the treat in your right hand and lure your dog across the front of you, around your right side.

2) Bring your dog around behind you and smoothly switch your lure from one hand to the other, keeping your dog moving, but you remain still.

3) As soon as your dog is following your left hand around towards the left side of your body, praise ‘Good Twist’

4) Encourage your dog to complete the circle around you, bringing him back to his starting position beside you, and treat. Repeat this sequence two or three times, each time praising after you transfer the lure to the other hand, but treating at different points in the circle, not just at ‘heel’. Now add in the command again ‘Good Twist’ and gradually stop luring with food or a toy, instead just making the same hand movements to direct your dog. Once your dog has learned the voice command, you can then fade out the hand signals if you wish.

Hints & Tips

* If passing the treats from one hand to the other proves tricky, try having some in each hand.

* For this type of move, using a toy can be more effective and easier than food, as long as your dog responds well to it.

* Teach this move in the opposite direction too, using the opposite hand sequence. Use a different voice command so that you can signal which way you wish your dog to move. I.E, ‘Round’

*With a small dog, it may be easier to teach this move from a kneeling position.

* Once your dog is circling well around you , you can vary the trick by simultaneously turning in the opposite direction.