November Is Backing Month

November is being devoted to backing on the MDSA Seminar list.

Here are the important points I came away with:

1.  If your dog's rear end is flaring away from you when the two of you back up (dog at side or heel), work on having the dog go from a sit to a stand at your side.  When your dog is consistently moving into a stand that is parallel to you, you can move on to the next step. 

Have your dog stand, then give her a back cue or command, then take one small step backwards.  Practice this until the two of you nail it before adding a second step.

2.  To help your dog back straight away from you, place a target mat on the floor and backchain the behavior.

3.  Train your dog to stand between your legs and be comfortable there.  (I did this ages ago by having Belle do it before I put down her food dish.)  Once the dog is comfortable, you can work on backing up, turning, or moving forward with the dog between your legs.

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I was being pretty diligent about spending a little time each day working on backing with Belle and Dusty.  Then a couple of days ago, I wanted to demonstrate how to stand when teaching reverse weaves.  Belle did fine starting from my left, but when we tried it starting from my right side, we encountered difficulties.  Mainly, I had a very hard time getting her to align herself in a straight line and close to me.  Time to get serious about my criteria for heel and side (heel position at my right side).

I  decided I would use meal time to reinforce the two positions.  I found that when I used a platform, Belle had no problem bringing her rear end in line.  After working on it for three meals, I can see she is much improved even without the platform.  Interestingly, both Dusty and Libby assume a much straighter "heel" position than Belle despite the fact that I don't work with them nearly as much.  Go figure.