It’s quite rewarding when you’re able to teach your dog to do a trick–be it shake, spin, or roll over. Dogs are intelligent creatures and are often much smarter than we give them credit for. To take their comprehension skills to the next level, consider teaching them modifier cues. These cues specify how a behavior is to be performed; for example, loud and soft, or left and right. Here, we’ll learn how to train Fido to turn left and right.
But first, why teach them direction in the first place? It’s more than just an impressive trick to show your friends. With directional cues, you can help guide them to a ball they’ve lost sight of during fetch, instruct them to a specific side during the “heel” command, or have them wipe their paws off on a mat before coming inside with a few spins left and a few spins right.
To start your left and right training using modifier clues, the spin trick comes in handy.
- While they’re in a standing position, hold a treat in front of their nose and use it to guide them in a full circle. As soon as they complete the rotation, give them a click or a “yes” and reward them with the treat.
- Once they have followed your hand in a circle a couple times, incorporate the directional. When luring them clockwise, say “right”. When guiding them counter-clockwise, say “left”. Reward them each time they complete a rotation. Note: just like humans, dogs can get dizzy too! Stick to short training sessions for this trick to avoid a nauseous pup.
- Now that they’ve got the hang of how to follow the treat lure, begin increasing the distance away from their nose that you hold the treat. Over time, you’ll be able to make a spin motion with your hand to command your dog without relying on a treat (make sure you still reward them each time they do it though!).
If your dog already knows “spin”, you can just incorporate that command with the directional modifier. You’ll start from the beginning of spin training, but say “spin left” or “spin right”. This is actually quite helpful, because you’re showing your dog that the command “spin” alone can mean two different actions, so it’s important to pay attention to hear which one is asked.
The process of training left and right heels is similar to training left and right spins. When on a walk, tell your dog “heel left” or “heel right”. If they already are familiar with the heel command, they likely have a preferred side. Start training there by specifying which side they’re on. Then, work with the opposite side. This is a great skill, because once they are adept at it you can quickly get them to one side to accommodate passing bikers, horseback riders, or runners, regardless of which side they’re on.
Incorporating left and right into “shake” is a great way to reinforce these modifiers as well. The more you use them in your training, the better grasp Fido will have of their directions–meaning they’ll be easier to train in the future with other behaviors.
Admittedly, teaching your dog this trick would seem a bit overwhelming
