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Amimad
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Location: Galway, Ireland
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 71
Female 
 
03-09-2007, 11:53 AM

Any tips for teaching Left & Right?

I'm a bit directionally challanged & really have to think about left from right especailly if my dog is facing me.

Does anyone have tips on how to teach L&R properly, should I do it over a jump ,should I stand him facing the same direction as me & turn him in circles or should I call him to me & throw food/ball to one side(while I figure out what direction it is).

Is there away to make this easier????

Oh & when do I know he's got it?

Thanks
Ami
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Lorna
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03-09-2007, 12:58 PM
I taught my dogs left and right when we were out on walks....if we were turning left i'd shout "left" for example, they soon picked up on it, and they could be quite far in front of me and I could yell the direction I wanted them to go....

Someone has probably got a far more sophisticated way of doing it though!
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Phil
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03-09-2007, 01:04 PM
We just do 'circular' walks LOL
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I-mac77
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Location: Surrey, UK
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03-09-2007, 01:26 PM
Hi,

Our agility instructor has taught us to teach our dogs by turning them round a pole. Sharply turn them using the arm you'd use to direct them left and right. They need to do a sharp about turn round the pole following a treat. Once they are able to follow a treat successfully, you can start adding the left and right commands. The key thing is to use the arm opposite to which you are turning, for example, use left arm to turn them round the pole to the right, and right arm to turn to the left. This helps them pick up on the shoulder and body language whilst turning as much as the commands.
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Shona
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03-09-2007, 01:30 PM
I guess it depends on what your doing, I have done a lot of obed, so I just use close for right and back for left when doing healwork, so dont see any reason why it couldnt be used with other things, ie back for a jump coming up to the left, close for one to the right,
then agian if your sending the dog away from you and you have trained it for healwork it would poss be confussssuld by this, so maby adding another word, away-close or away -back,,, Im sure one of the agilty folk will soon tell you the right way to do it though,,,good luck
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pod
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03-09-2007, 02:06 PM
The way I've done it. You must have a good sit/stay first.

Put dog in a sit/stay. Place a treat in a saucer (for visibility) and show it to dog. Place the saucer a couple of yards to the left of the him and slightly forward. Stand in front of him a couple of paces so the treat is on your right.

The dog has probably been glancing back and forth at the treat, so now say dogs name to get attention on you without him moving, then say "left." Wait patiently for him to look at the treat again and as soon as he does, give lavish praise and tell him go take the treat.

If he doesn't look at treat try pointing with your right arm, or have someone attact his attention that way. He should soon get the idea of moving to the left when given the command.

Make sure he has really got the left before starting on "right" to avoid confusion.
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Shona
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03-09-2007, 03:57 PM
Originally Posted by pod View Post
The way I've done it. You must have a good sit/stay first.

Put dog in a sit/stay. Place a treat in a saucer (for visibility) and show it to dog. Place the saucer a couple of yards to the left of the him and slightly forward. Stand in front of him a couple of paces so the treat is on your right.

The dog has probably been glancing back and forth at the treat, so now say dogs name to get attention on you without him moving, then say "left." Wait patiently for him to look at the treat again and as soon as he does, give lavish praise and tell him go take the treat.

If he doesn't look at treat try pointing with your right arm, or have someone attact his attention that way. He should soon get the idea of moving to the left when given the command.

Make sure he has really got the left before starting on "right" to avoid confusion.
My lot would break stays if I said there name,,, but given the method you have used I guess you could add a clicker into this, using a toy instead of food,,,you could wait till he looked at it then click, then when he repeats the behaviour you can start to add a command to it,,,this may work too,
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Louise13
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03-09-2007, 05:37 PM
Gee & Haw is taught by walking them on leads and just saying the command as and when you turn it.. they will pick it up rather quick (unless they are like my 2)
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Patch
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03-09-2007, 05:54 PM
Originally Posted by sweetveronica View Post
I taught my dogs left and right when we were out on walks....if we were turning left i'd shout "left" for example, they soon picked up on it, and they could be quite far in front of me and I could yell the direction I wanted them to go....

Someone has probably got a far more sophisticated way of doing it though!
Thats exactly what I get my agility students to do, saying their chosen cue [ left / right, close / back or whatever a handler finds the most natural so use ], when turning one way or the other with the dog on or off lead and saying either directional when their dogs go one way or the other naturally ie off lead and veering to sniff a blade of grass etc.
That way it becomes a subliminal recognition which is not being specifically trained for but utilises natural direction changes as and when they happen. Once the dogs have got used to hearing the cue going with the action they usually work to it on request very easily because of the `natural learning` aspect as opposed to a specific training task if you see what I mean
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TBBS
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03-09-2007, 08:43 PM
I taught my girls by getting them to spin, clockwise is 'close' and anti-clockwise is 'back', they are both really good at directions at agility, so if they go over a jump and I shout 'back' they turn to the left and take the jump that is then in front of them. It doesn't matter if they're beside me, in front of me facing me or facing away from me, I make sure they can do it in all the places.
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