Teaching 'spin'

[KrisK]

Jazz has begun to 'spin' when catching his frisbee. He doesn't do it every time but it looks really neat. Does anyone have an idea of how I can teach him to do this on command? I tried to get him to 'spin' using a treat and a ball but he justs sits in front of me. He knows left, right and back so I wonder if I can use those commands to help with the 'spin'

On another note...the ground is almost dry enough to start building my temporary agility ring YIPPEE!! It will be fenced in, 20 m x 14 m. for now. It's temporary because I haven't decided exactly where on the property the permanent site will be. This one is in the hay field close to the house where the hay wasn't exactly good anyway. I was able to get some awesome gymnasium equipment from a closed down school which will be the frames for a dogwalk, and A-frame. I already have a tunnel, chute, tire jump and 2 other jumps, weave poles and the 'dreaded TABLE' (which Jazz HATES with a passion..I think he doesn't like to STOP I have plans to build a few more jumps if I have time. Neither Cricket nor Zachary have done any agility so it will be fun to see what they think of all this. I can hardly wait

[Bounce]

My big Sara is a "spinner". I need a command to "Unspin" for her. She is getting better with age. I also went to agility class with a BC who spun every time she heard someone clap. Great party trick, drove her owner nuts at competitions.

Do you think Jazz could be taught to spin for the clicker? Break it down into steps and reward each behaviour and assign a command to it. Spinning is cute unless they weigh 85 lbs and want out the door at the same time you do.

[Rave]

luring with a piece of food or toy works well...then fade to a hand motion. Free-shaping also works well.

 

-L

[CandH]

We taught Utah to spin by luring with a treat, then fading to a hand signal. He would only 'spin' to his right, though. After a few months, we taught him 'turn' as a completely new trick, same as spin but to the left.

 

Heather

[mbfoley]

My mom's chihuahua spins when he gets excited. I don't know, it drives me nuts, lol. I threatened to kill him when he taught my mini schnauzer to do it too, lol. So far Ebby hasn't caught on, hopefully she won't lol. On command it would be kinda cool, but incessant spinning drives me crazy. :eek:

[luvmybc's]

Using food or a toy to lure them works great, then fading to a hand signal. It's what I did with Pal anyways. I'll say, "spin around" and at the same time, signal my hand in a clockwise motion. Then to spin the other way I'll say, "spin the other way" and signal my hand in a counter clockwise direction. After a while he learned just the command with no hand signals.

[Deanna in OR]

We taught our two to "wrap" (clockwise) and "switch" (counterclockwise) as part of our early agility training--both as warm-up exercises, and later, as directionals on the agility course.

 

It was taught (as others have said) with a high-value treat lure and a clicker. It started with a fairly wide turn and we gradually tightened up the turn, fading the treat, then fading the hand signal.

 

We worked over time to get the behaviors at a distance (like making a sharp turn around a jump, just after the jump).

 

It was very easy.

 

Deanna in OR

[KrisK]

Thanks! Jazz is a therapy dog where I work so it will be fun to teach him a trick or two to entertain the residents. Spin (on command) will be impressive although I can relate to the 'spinning' dog syndrome, Cricket spins herself silly but at least she's starting to 'settle' when I tell her to!

[nancy in AZ]

First you ask him to rock his weight back over his hocks, then set your outside leg slightly in front of the cinch and use your supporting rein to...oops.

 

Nevermind

[KrisK]

Hocks????...cinch....reins....you mean I need to saddle Jazz to teach him to spin??? :eek: Hmm, seems to me, you're pullin' my leg But I will remember to contact you when I need to 'spin' a horse

[RD]

Have your dog in a stand position, off-lead, preferably in front of you or to your left. Have a piece of food or a toy in your hand, make sure the dog sees it and is interested in it.

 

Put your hand near the dogs nose, so that it follows the treat or toy around. Start to move your hand slowly in circle movement making sure so his head and eventually his entire body will follow it.

Move the food or toy slowly towards his butt. As soon as he makes a semi circle or even takes just a few steps, give him his reward.

 

Repeat this a few times. Start off giving a reward for very small movements, then hold off a bit and try to get a complete circle. Once the dog is doing a complete circle all on his own, incorporate a command word.(I use "Spin" for a turn to the right, "Turn" for a turn to the left.)

Then only reward if the dog does two full circles, once he's doing two, then move it up to three.

It can take a while for some dogs to 'get it' but I imagine a BC that spins on its own would pick it up quite quickly.

 

You can also shape the behavior, which is what I did with my BC. (Who is a natural "spinner".)