You cannot deny the fact that making your dog spin around is one of the most tricky and difficult commands to teach him, especially if your dog is quite stubborn at times.
But with time, patience, and some treats, you will most likely succeed in training your dog to spin around. Here are the following techniques that you can try in training your dog to turn around whenever you want to.
1. The luring method
The luring method is one of the most commonly used when it comes to training your dog to turn around 360 degrees in either direction. Here are the following steps to perform the luring method and have your dog to turn around as you wish.
Now that you catch his attention, you can slowly move your hand into the direction that you wanted him to spin. He will most likely follow your hand because of the treat. Just make sure that you introduce one direction at a time to avoid confusing your dog.
Once the dog had turned full 360 degrees into the direction that you wanted, you can now praise him and let him have the treat. He will soon follow your directions in the near future because he knows there is a treat waiting for him once he successfully follows your command.
2. The hand method
Now that you had successfully trained your dog to turn 360 degrees using the luring method, you might want to move into the hand method as soon as possible otherwise you will get stuck with the luring method.
Your dog will not follow your directions anymore unless you have some treats to offer. Here are the following steps in training your dog to turn around without using any treats.
- Do not use a cookie anymore, or if you can’t, you can now start moving it farther from your dog’s reach. Your hand will now serve as the signal of your dog to spin around. Once your dog had successfully turned around without the use of rewards, let him know that his behavior was good.
- As much as possible, your hand should be at least one feet above your dog’s head in training him to turn around. While your hand is still just above his head, your dog should be able to turn around completely. But it works differently on dogs. If you notice that your dog responds if your hand is just above his nose, then so be it.
- If your dog does not follow your hand in turning around, he is still not ready for this level. You can go back to luring until he finally gets the message.
- If he follows your hand without the use of treats, tap him and reward him. Once you repeat the process of placing your hand above, your dog will most likely follow you in the hopes of getting some treats afterward.
3. The verbal method
Once your dog is following the signal of your hand in turning around, you can now move on to the verbal method. In this method, you will be using words or phrases to signal your dog is turning around.
The dog spinning verbal method can be quite tricky; you need to choose your words carefully. You can use the “left” or “right” or if your dog doesn’t respond you can try other words such as “frenzy” or “crazy” as long as there is an indication that your dog should go left or your dog should go right.
Here are the following steps in performing the dog spinning verbal method:
- When your dog starts on following your commands with your hand signal, you can introduce the word or phrase to him.
- If your dog responds to your verbal cue, slowly back it out. You can start saying the word even before you give the hand signal.
- Watch how your dog responds carefully. If he starts in response to your verbal cue even if he didn’t saw any hand signal at all, he now understands the meaning of it.
- Do not expect that your dog can catch up in no time at all. If your dog is ignoring the verbal cues three times in a row, you should go back to the hand signal again because he is still not ready for this level.
This video shows you how to teach your dog to spin around.
4. Spinning method
The spinning method is best for pups and dogs in early ages. You might need a clicker on this method, but it depends on your preference on how you should perform this. Here are the following steps to execute this dog spinning method:
- Your dog should be in standing position. If you’ve been training him, you must be able to have the standing command done already.
- Just like the luring method, you should place a treat just in front of his nose and let him sniff it. Once it catches his attention, slowly turn it around so that his head will follow.
- As you pull it into a circle, your dog’s body will begin to move. Once he successfully turned around, you can now praise him and give him the treat he deserves. If you have any clicker, you can also click it as well.
- Repeat the process for several times, and then you should add the word “spin” before you lure him with treat again.
Making your dog spin is so much fun, you can get him to spin on a chair, spin around your body, or make some dance moves with spinning. Follow the guidelines, and you should be able to make your pet dog spin around anytime you want. With enough patience, time, and knowledge, making him follow your “spin” commands have never been easier!
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