First Lured Pivot (Patreon)

When training the pivot, I like to do two things:

1) Start with luring the dog to move when I move

2) Shape movement independent of my motion.

While some purists will only shape this behavior, while others will only lure it, I like to be a PITA and do both :)

I think that luring the behavior and teaching the dog to move when you move is helpful later on once you want them to pivot when you pivot. I also think it helps show them how to move their hind end, before transitioning to shaping movement on the box.

In this video Denver is being introduced to moving his hind end while his front feet stay still. It's important that you've already build a ton of value for putting front feet on the target, as we need the dog to want to "stick to" the target before moving.

I start by warming up with just doing the front foot target. Then I hold the food at the dog's head level in the middle of my body and mark as soon as he moves.

What I notice here is that I'm probably more precise with a clicker, because many times, by the time I'm done saying yes, Denver has stopped motion. Ideally, we want to mark while the dog is still in motion for later activities. However, because I was using my hands for the food, I didn't have a hand for the clicker, plus it's super close to the dog's face at that point which I don't love. I also think watching the mirror vs. the dog would be a good idea for this because it's easier to see their hind end movement that way vs looking down at the dog, and moving myself (and not tripping over my own two feet) and not pushing into him, all at the same time. So, mirrors are your friend.

This didn't prevent Denver from understanding what he was being marked for, but just a note for those working on this exercise is that ideally we're marking while the dog is still in motion because we're marking the movement of the hind end, not the cessation of movement. Again, another reason to video your sessions, especially as I review all of this footage several weeks later - I can make notes for my training going forward!

Notice that any time I don't like his positioning, I simply throw a reset cookie and start over in a better position.

At the end I also take up the target, as you should with all new behaviors - take the equipment away when the session is over.

Happy Training!