How to Teach a Dog Rear Leg Awareness for Agility

Weave poles

Teaching a dog rear leg awareness is very useful for agility training. Dogs don't naturally think about how they are placing their rear legs, and in agility they have to learn not to hit jump bars, to navigate narrow planks and maneuver through weave poles. These exercises will help them build rear leg confidence and agility.

Things You'll Need

• Cooler or small table
• Clicker
• Treats
• Toy
• ladder
• poles, broomsticks, etc

Instructions

How to Teach a Dog Rear Leg Awareness for Agility

1. Scatter about six poles flat on the ground in a random fashion. These can be extra jump poles, broomsticks, extension poles, anything like that. With the dog on leash, encourage him to walk over the poles. You will notice that he will avoid them with his front feet, but will tend to step on them with his rear feet. This is because he isn't as aware of his rear foot placement. Make this a fun exercise with lots of encouragement. After a few tries, he'll stop stepping on the poles at all. Give him praise and treats only when he walks over all of them without hitting any. Keep this exercise short and fun, and as he gets more proficient you can work on speed.

2. Lay a ladder flat on the ground. This exercise may not be as useful for a very small dog unless you have an old style wooden ladder with a single set of rungs. With the dog on leash, have him walk over the ladder. This is more difficult for him, but if you do the pole exercise first, he will have a better understanding of what's expected. Some dogs will be very reluctant at first so use lots of happy talk and praise. It's fine to lure him with treats to get him going at first. Soon you'll have your dog prancing over the ladder without touching any of the rungs.

3. Get your dog used to a clicker by priming it for the next exercise, unless he is already used to a clicker. To prime the clicker, get about twenty small yummy treats. Hold the treats in one hand and the clicker in the other. Click once and immediately treat. Repeat. By the time you get to about the tenth treat, your dog will be looking at the clicker hand instead of the hand with the treats in it. He has made the connection that "click" equals a reward. You are now ready to use the clicker for shaping behavior.

4. Use a weighted cooler or large plastic container that won't slide, a small table or anything else square your dog can get his front feet up on to. This exercise is called perch work and works best with a clicker. Encourage your dog to put his front feet on the perch. Immediately click and reward by putting the treat on the perch between his front paws. Remember to click for action and treat for position.

5. Stand next to your dog while he is perching and gently nudge him sideways. If he gets off the perch, just encourage him to get back in position. Gently nudge again. The minute he moves laterally by sidestepping with his rear feet, click and treat as before. This feels awkward for many dogs at first but he should quickly get the hang of it. Have him sidestep around the perch while keeping his front feet up, and then reverse direction. It shouldn't take long before your dog is quickly sidestepping around the perch without you having to nudge him.

6. Look online for DVDs on agility foundation exercises like these. While it takes a little extra training before working on actual equipment, a dog who has done foundation training, like working on rear leg awareness, will be much more confident and sure footed on equipment later. Even if you have started to work on courses, it helps to do these exercises to build your dog's surefootedness and agility. This also helps with safety on equipment.

Tips & Warnings

• Clickers and treats are just used to shape behavior when starting out. As your dog gets proficient in the training exercise, you phase out the treats and clicker.

• A clicker isn't mandatory although it helps dogs get specific behaviors very quickly. You can use treats and verbal praise instead.

• Use toys during or after training, if your dog likes chasing or playing tug. Try to make all training "structured play time."

• If you find yourself getting frustrated or impatient, stop the training session and play with your dog. Whenever your dog has a hard time understanding something, switch to an easier exercise. Your dog learns from succeeding, so help him succeed.

Resources

• Agility DVDs and seminars