Goal:

  • Have puppy move their back feet sideways, while keeping their front feet on the target.

What you need:

  1. Non-slippery floor

  2. One low, stable target

  3. Cookies

  4. Your puppy

What to do:

  1. Warm up with front feet target

  2. Put a cookie on the floor or in a bowl, away from the platform for the puppy to eat

  3. Lure puppy to put front feet on the platform, mark + treat

  4. Once puppy has both back feet on the platform, take a small step to the side to encourage puppy to move their back feet

  5. When puppy moves shifts weight to one side and/or move one back foot, mark + treat

  6. Toss a cookie away from the platform

  7. Repeat steps 3-6

What the progression may look like:

  1. Puppy looks towards you when you move, puppy does not move back feet

  2. Puppy shifts their weight a little bit when you move, puppy does not move back feet

  3. Puppy shuffles a bit to the side when you move

  4. Puppy takes a tiny step with one of their back foot

  5. Puppy takes one step with one of their back foot

  6. Puppy takes a few steps with their back feet

How many reps? How often?

  • Learning phase: 5-8 reps/session, 2-3x/week, separate sessions for clockwise vs. counter-clockwise

  • Maintenance phase: 8-10 reps/2 sets/session, 2x/week, keep sessions separate for clockwise vs. counter-clockwise