Obedience -Back Turn.. how to?

Moss, who is doing his bronze test next week is coming on great with his obedience but i cant get him to go back(left). With me others i taught them by putting my right foot infront of them and turning left, this isnt working with Moss his bum hits the floor and theres no moving it. Any ideas on a way i can teach him?

I am assuming that you mean a 180 degree left about turn, rather than an ordinary left turn. It depends on how you want to handle. Do you want to do it by having the dog move round behind you on his way to heel position? Or, do you want the dog to remain in heel position and skip back beside your leg as you turn?

For the latter, which is the way I do it, I pivot on my left foot and keep moving so that the dog does not have the chance to sit. To teach it I use exaggerated body language, i.e. left shoulder dropped, and lure with the treat on the dogs nose. He gets the treat as we come out of the turn and take the first steps forward. I also use the command ' left' when the dog is first learning, but that, like the exaggerated signals, is phased out and dropped once the dog understands the behaviour.

I have never practised, or taught, the 'round behind' movement. I don't care for it as the dog is technically breaking from heel position, but here is a quote from Bauman, 'Beyond basic dog training':
Quote
1. Walk briskly with your dog in heel position.
2. Pause & pivot 180 degrees to the left (in towards the dog) by shifting your weight to the right leg, which will be your lead leg.
3. As you make your pivot to the left, be sure your lead is in the right hand as you turn inside of the dog, not circling in front of your dog. As you start your turn, pass the leash, behind your back , from the right hand to the left hand.
4. Encourage your dog verbally as you step forward again on the right foot as you bring your dog up to the heel position on your left.

The key to performing this exercise correctly is in the pivot to the left and the passing of the lead behind your back. Try a few left abouts while standing in place with the dog in heel position before you attempt the maneuver while walking. Once you are able to coordinate these two movements, everything else will fall gracefully into place. End Quote

I would stay with the right foot indicating the turn. There are a couple of ways I teach the left turn.

1. Teach it on the spot and as you turn, pull the lead in front of you in a straight line, the dog will back away from the pull, which should put him in the correct position.

2. On the move, do the same as above and throw in a backward step or two as soon as you have turned.

Practice the static turn until he understands before moving on to the second one.

Good luck with your bronze, they won't worry too much about his left turns on that.

finally cracked it, i stopped everytime he went ahead and bought him back in, he now occationally sits on my left foot but he's more focused on being on the left and is starting to turn with me instead of going through my legs. Hopwfully he'll improve the more i do it.

ohhh glad u got it all sorted , its great when things go right isnt it

i lead with my left foot,so to turn left i put my left foot heel against the side of the right foot (like a T -sideways)