canine freestyle moves database

Teaching position using a pivot platform

Dog Moves Around the Pivot Platform

Dog Moves Around The Pivot Platform

This is the exercise that teaches rear end awareness and enables the dog to practice it with enthusiasm. Some rear end awareness is learned whenever the dog moves just the back legs to correct a position, eg front position, but the dog needs to practice moving the rear end.  

At the end of this page are some video links for your reference. You may wish to view them before reading on.

 

Aim: Teach the dog to move clockwise (CW) and counter-clockwise (CCW) around a pivot platform equally well in both directions with the handler
stationary. 

If you have taught the Front position and/or done front side-passes you will notice that the dog is better side passing in one direction than the other. This too will happen around the pivot platform. With sufficient practice the dog will learn to pivot around equally well in both directions. Always generously reward when the dog moves in the direction that is the more difficult for the dog.

With this exercise the dog is being prepared for left side and right side heeling. 

If the dog is not magnetized to the platform it does not matter because he will become magnetized during the training process.

If the dog is magnetised to the platform he will quickly learn that you are clicking for rear end movement. 

Get your         -   training area ready,
your clicker and treats,
    the pivot platform and finally
    the dog. 

Place the pot on the ground between yourself and the dog and click the instant the dog puts his front paws on the pot. 

Toss the treat out to the side. The dog should leave the pot, get and eat the treat, turn around and return to the pot in a straight line. This means the dog will mount the pot at an angle to your front and start to move his back legs around to be in front of you. As the back legs are moving click and toss the treat out to the side again.

After a few moves in one direction, toss the treat out to the other side so that the dog will return to the pot and move his back legs in the other direction. This is where you will discover his weakest rear end movement.

Moving Around the Pivot Platform

NOTE: Only click while the back legs are moving. You are clicking movement. Once the dog has stopped moving, it is too late. You still have to treat, because click = treat, but try getting the timing right. 

When the dog is comfortable moving his back legs to be in front of you, start working on one direction only.

                        For a CW pivot, toss the treat to your left.

                        For a CCW pivot toss the treat to the right. 

Now we want the dog to move all the way around the pot. 

Decide which direction you want the dog to move in and know where you will toss the treat. Many people have problems with their own “left” and “right” let alone their dog’s “left” and “right” when the dog is in front of them.  

Get ready for the training session, put the pot down and click as soon as the dog has placed his front paws on the pot.

Toss the treat out to the side.

The dog will go out, get and eat the treat, return in a straight line to the pot and move his back legs to be in front of you. As the back feet are moving, click and toss the treat out to the side again. 

After a few of these, withhold the click to see if the dog will give you an extra step around the pot.

One Direction Around the Pivot Platform

….. If the dog offers another step in the right direction (ie the direction you are training) click and reward big time on the pot. Toss the treat to
the side again to reset him.

….. If the dog hovers CW and CCW in front of you, click at a point when he is moving in the direction you are training and toss the treat to the
side to reset him. 

You want to get the dog to a point where he understands you want rear end movement in one direction only.  

Don’t be disheartened if this takes a long time. Be patient. It will happen.

Eventually the dog will get to a point where to continue in the direction you are training he has to move his rear end past you and during this he cannot see you. I will refer to this as “the blind spot”. He may hover around this point for quite some time (possibly weeks), returning to front position and then back to this position. 

To help the dog get past this point you can:

a.      Quickly touch his outside hip to encourage him to keep moving past you or

b.      If you have a small dog and can reach over the length of his body, using a food lure you can turn his head in the direction you are teaching so
that the back legs continue to move around.

c.      Use an assistant to quickly step near the dog’s outside hip to prevent him from pivoting back the way he came.

 Outside hip definition: If the dog is pivoting CCW, his back legs are moving to your left and his right. The outside hip is the left hip.

If you train alone (a) and (b) are your only options. You may find that as you move towards the dog to touch his hip or block his return path he may become suspicious and start hovering in that position because he does not know what you are going to do. Once you have achieved the outside hip touch he will keep moving in the direction you are training. When this happens, reward big time. Further pivots around the pot will become easier and easier.

Using an assistant is good, because the dog will be focused on you and most likely will not see the assistant step near him, so when he moves his rear end to return to front position he will be surprised that he cannot and will quickly move on in the direction you are training.

When you get your first revolution, reward big time.

You may find that for quite a few session he will pivot to “the blind spot”, stop and then move on. 

As confidence builds, click at various points in the pivot before and after completing the full revolution. Build up to getting multiple smooth pivots in one direction. You can put this direction on cue (stimulus control). Also place the treat such that the back legs move a little further around the pot for him to get the treat.

The Full Pivot

 Then work on having the dog pivot in the other direction.

You can free shape this as described above or you help the dog with turning the head to get the back legs moving in the other direction. 

Caution regarding the full pivot 

If you have a large dog whom you are trying to lure turning the head to get the back legs to move, be careful so the front paws stay on the platform. If the front paws come off the pot you could end up with a spin as opposed to a pivot. This can easily happen with a bigger enthusiastic dog and you will end up clicking when the front paws are no longer on the platform.

 Using lured head turns to elicit pivoting.

Free shaping can take a while whereas luring a head turn gets the back legs moving earlier in the process. You still have to fade the lure, but it gives you something to click more frequently and hence a higher rate of reinforcement. 

The following clip shows a dog that does not pivot around the pot. This dog took many sessions (2 weeks) to accept having an arm over her head and a person behind her. A food lure was used to enable clicking anything the dog offered, head turn, foot movement, weight shift and rear end movement. Due to the size of the dog it was hard to keep her on the pot. You can see from her body language she is still not comfortable with the situation.

Luring Head Turns to Elicit Pivot

Note: Silvia Trkman on her DVD “Heeling is Just Another Trick” recommends rewarding when the head is facing the same direction you are facing to get the dog used to the direction he will be facing when in heel position and his rear end near you.   

She also states, “When you have reached the point where the dog will circle the perch equally well in both directions and you can reward with the dog near your side and facing away from you, you are ready for the next step. Do not continue until the dog is fluent at this point.”

 Remember, the dog should be pivoting on his own, while you are stationary.

reference video links

Here are some links to videos showing various methods. They make it look “easy”. These video clips lead to heel positions. Notice the pivoting techniques.

Here the handler uses treat placement to turn the dog’s head to encourage him to continue the circle and to ultimately have him circling independently. This video shows full pivots in both directions.

Dog Training Pivot Platform--Foundation of Heel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sO91PB-Z9s

This method is unique.
At around 2:11  the handler is standing to the side of the pot (book in her  case), the dog has front paws on the pot with his left shoulder against her left leg, facing backwards. With her left hand she places a treat in front of the dog’s mouth, moves her hand counter clockwise behind her and at the same time walks into the dog’s left hip area. Her body provides a barrier and through judicious treat placement/luring the dog moves the back legs to get the treat.

How to train a dog Pivoting- for Heel, Rally, Freestyle + more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsvNvK8T1z8

Here the dog moves around the pivot platform through luring to turn the head to make the rear end move. This is easy with a dog whose body length is shorter than the handler’s outstretched arm. Notice the high rate of reinforcement in this video.

Silvia Trkman Heeling
https://youtu.be/sVh9c0V7dqU