About Turns

How do you teach about turns? How are your results? Here is what we do:

1. The dog must be heeling in straight lines and in a large circle.

2. I use a chair or a couple of cones (depending on the size of the dog) to turn around. This makes for a wide about turn in the beginning. 

3. I use a toy to throw as I come out of the turn to teach my dog to drive around me and accelerate through the turn. 

4. As my dog progresses with the wide turns and toy, I slowly shrink down the turn until I am turning only the length of my foot. 

5. You should never stand still in the turn, your feet should always be moving, even if it means taking tiny steps. 

6. Your shoulder and the dog's shoulder should stay even throughout the turn. 

7. Once your dog has this game, I do it at a fast speed with the toy for fun and to encourage the dog to keep moving quickly around the turn. 

Here's a brief video. The first is Soda doing about turns. The second is Soda doing an about turn from a stationary position (so he really has to move to accelerate around the turn). The last part is Roo playing the game in warp speed. 

About Turns