Hi Lyn!

I do both agility and in the past couple years started doing Rally-O with my two dogs...so maybe I can help.  My dogs have been taught rearend awareness exercises..various things you can do but might be really tough now that your dog is a Tripawd are:

1) Teach dog to back up - Maggie can still do this as a rear tripawd

2) Teach dog to read your body language of shifting your left shoulder back and holding up your right arm(see videos for examples of this)

3) Teach dog to pivot around on a perch...but again, may be tough for your dog being a rear amp...but again, Maggie can still do this as a tripawd BUT she was taught all this before being a tripawd.

The biggest things I can offer you is yes, go the speed your dog wants to go and two, use exaggerated body language for your dog to read the turns...

Check these out...maybe they'll help?

Tracy, Maggie's Mom

Thanks Admin 😉

Lyn,

Glad the videos helped...much easier to show rather than to try to explain in words..  I don't think I'd put a treat in my RIGHT hand, however...  I might put one in my left though...do you clicker train?  If so, I'd put my clicker in my right hand, treat in my left(hidden in a fist)...I would then raise my right arm as I have done in the videos, push my left shoulder back and push my right arm into the dog's space all at the same time.  As/when the dog moves away from this pressure(each dog has a varying amount of pressure they allow...some dogs are harder to move from pressure than others), I would click the movement BACK and away from you and then feed with your LEFT hand.  Takes some coordination 🙂  If you put the treat in your right hand, I can only assume that would draw your dog TO your right hand...not what you want...you want him to move AWAY from your hand.  Make sense?

A little game was taught to me once - it's called the "Space Game"....with your dog in front of you, step into their space, when they back away from you stepping into their space, click and treat that movement backwards...then YOU back away from dog and dog will then gravitate toward your space...again, click and treat(or you can use your reward marker word such as "yes" if you don't clicker train).  Do this 'give and taking' of space back and forth between you and your dog...this might actually help what you're trying to achieve, as he'll learn to give to pressure?  But again, might be tougher due to being tripawd...but perservere! 😉   Doesn't have to be a full step back just leaning backwards when you put pressure into his space will do too...

I don't always use that right arm for turns...I often can just use my exaggerated left shoulder pulling it back...use your hips too...left hip back...  BUT when the dog isn't giving me good eye contact, I opt to use my right arm as it is more of an attention getter 🙂

Regarding your 'look' command...I have that too.....use it when I need to...but my dogs have been highly rewarded for eye contact...no verbal cue for it...they just do it alot cause I've rewarded for it...Maggie is better at it than my other dog, Haley.  Try this:

Have Tres stand or sit at your side/heel position...either way...you look straight ahead...but you can see him out of the corner of your eye...put treats in your left hand in your fist...when he even glances up at you, say "yes"! (or click) and give him a treat.  Just keep doing that for a couple days a few times a day..no movement...just him glancing up at you and reward!  Yum!  I can guarantee, the attention will get better if you do this 🙂

Hope this lengthy post is worthwhile to you! 🙂

Tracy, Maggie's Mom