Ok, so I really have a hard time saying the word pivot without thinking of an old episode of the tv show “Friends”. They were trying to move a couch to Ross’ apartment and they were going up some stairs and he just kept saying, “pivot, pivot, pivot”. Just makes me laugh everytime I think about it.
Anyway, to get back to the subject at hand. Dawn and Ricky wanted to know how I taught Dare to pivot. So I went out and attempted to get a video showing what we did. The problem is that since she already knows the game, she kept offering it with or without me asking. LOL So, this was our best attempt. I will forewarn you that it’s not great. You have to keep in mind that I’m not a teacher by any stretch of the imagination, and Dare kept wanting to just give me the finished skill. I still think that the video on youtube of Kikopups was probably better. 
A couple things to keep in mind if you do want to use a dowel instead of the perch box. Some dogs don’t like the dowel at all initially. If that’s the case and they are worried about it, I would do some work with them to get them comfortable with the dowel separately before you could even start using it in combination with teaching the pivot. The other thing is that if you are as uncoordinated as I can be, you may want to practice using the dowel without the dog there at first too. Just see if you can keep your hand with the treats were you want the eyes to focus and still move the other hand in the direction you’ll need it to direct the rear end. It might sound silly, but I know that I find that sometimes my hands don’t follow the plan that I had in my head. LOL Anyway…here is the video.
Comments (11) »
Ok, first of all, mom just totally lost it remembering that episode of Friends! It’s nice to start the day laughing out loud!! She is totally picturing Ross on the stairs with the couch!
Thank you so much for making that video!! We really appreciate seeing how you taught the pivot with the dowel! It is a great video – you might have opened up a whole new world now – maybe I can get you to make training videos of tons of stuff!
I have seen kikopup’s video with the perch (book) and that didn’t seem to work for us for some reason (maybe we didn’t give it enough time) so it’s very helpful to have an alternative method in mind!
I’ll give you time to recover before I ask my next question!
What I want to know is how you get your dogs to focus on you so well! Dare is so attentive! Do you use treats all the time or do they just love working and making you happy?
Ricky,
Glad your mom got a good chuckle from the pivot episode of Friends too.
Thanks for being so kind about our training videos, I always feel silly. Let me know if the dowel method works.
Lindsay,
Yes, when we train we almost always have both treats and toys for rewards. I have been really trying with both Layla and Dare to use both, rather than just getting stuck on the food reward like I did with the older dogs.
I think part of it too is that the herding breeds are usually very interested in having a job to do. They like to learn new things and working with people, so I find that keeping their attention is easier than when I’ve tried to work with some of the other breeds that are instinctively more independant.
Well we just tried a little of the dowel – LOL – two problems – one, I already know cane tricks like put my paw around the cane, etc. and two – I keep wanting to do my backwards circle trick or my boy dog trick!!! Trying to get me to pivot had mom laughing and laughing! Who knew my tricks would get in the way! We’ll try again though. And we’re working on “watch me” and you wouldn’t believe how hard it is for me to take my eyes off the treats in mom’s hands!!!
Ricky,
I got a good chuckle imagining you trying to figure out what in the world you mom was doing with the dowel. I can see how you are having some confusion. I would say that you could use the corner of the wall as a guide for the pivot in place, but I’m afraid that you might try the boy dog trick or trying to start the handstand. LOL Hmmm….I’ll have to think about this for a while and see if I come up with anything that might help. In the meantime, thanks for the update.
Great video, great explaination of how you taught pivots, thanks for posting that!
Kathy´s last blog ..That Greener Grass!
Great video, great explaination of how you taught a pivot, thanks for posting that.
Kathy´s last blog ..That Greener Grass!
I think we somehow have made a little progress – haven’t taped it yet – but today we realized that from my backwards circle trick and my flip (flip around and back up between mom’s legs) I have the basic movements I need. So mom switched to using the rod from some window blinds to kind of encourage my backend to move, and all of a sudden I was going from front to heel position (quasi heel position because my position is not too great). We haven’t tried to have mom move in circle and have me pivot and sit each time – that’s next! This is fun – thanks for all your help! It’s like having a private tutor in our own house! And I love Dare in the video – she is so good and excited about doing her pivots!
Great episode of friends! Thanks for reminding me!
Very clear process on the video. Great job!
Jason´s last blog ..Dog Bully
Thanks Kathy and Jason for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed our video.