How do I teach my dog the about-turn on a walk?

Walk in a straight line, about-turn as you say 'about-turn' at the exact moment you pivot, and reward when they come back level with you. If they don't follow, do the about-turn at a jog : the movement becomes upbeat and impossible to miss. Go back to a walking pace once they get going.

Can I use 'about-turn' to avoid another dog?

Yes, to calmly steer a dog who's already following you: it changes your route with no tension. But it isn't a recall: if your dog bolts towards the trigger, it's a recall you need, not a direction. And genuine reactivity when passing others is worked on with a professional.

From what age can I teach directions on a walk?

As soon as natural following is in place, which can start early. It's a ground-level trick, with no jumping or impact, so no worry for a growing puppy's joints. A few turns per walk is plenty, without ever turning the walk into a classroom drill.

Directions on walks (left/right)

Teaching your dog tricksPart of · Teaching your dog tricks

Directions on walks (left/right)

Q: How do I teach my dog to turn right and left?

You put a word on a turn they already make while following you. Start with 'about-turn' (the most distinctive), then 'right', then 'left', one at a time. You say the word right at the moment of the turn , you mark it with a 'yes!' and you reward when they follow in the new direction.

Q: How do I steer my dog off-lead during a walk?

It rests first on natural following: your dog follows you and keeps an eye on you without you speaking. Once that foundation is there, the directions 'right', 'left' and 'about-turn' let them take the right course on a single word, even a few metres ahead of you.

Q: My dog follows my body but not the word, is that normal?

Yes, completely, and you've done nothing wrong. Dogs read our body turning first, before they understand the word (that's the Clever Hans effect, Pfungst 1907). To make the word self-standing, say it half a step before you turn, then gradually reduce the movement of your body.

13 min read

A word placed on a turn he already makes

Good news: as far as your dog's body goes, there is almost nothing new to learn. He already walks with you and already changes course as soon as you change yours, simply because he follows you. All the work is about sticking a word and a small hand gesture onto a turn he already makes by himself. The real difficulty lies elsewhere, in his head: he has to learn to tell apart three words that sound alike, and to do it out on a walk, where noises, smells and other dogs distract him most. That is why you go slowly, one word after another.

Once it is in place, it really does earn its keep. At a low-stakes fork in the path, your dog walking a few metres ahead takes the right way on a single word, without you having to chase after him. A dog coming the other way, a bike, a noisy group: a calm "turn around" changes your trajectory, with no tension, no shouting, no lead going taut. And the more you keep a direction cue for simple changes of course, the more your recall keeps its full value for the moments when his safety is genuinely at stake.

Prerequisite: natural following already in place, that moment when your dog glances back at you and lines his path up with yours without you saying a word. This is not "heel": he keeps his freedom of pace, he can walk ahead of you, sniff, slow down. It is that spontaneous movement that gives the words you are about to add something to sit on. If he isn't keeping an eye on you yet, work on natural following first: without it, you'd be putting a word on nothing.

You are going to say the word, then mark with a short marker word ("yes!", "that's it") as soon as he commits to the turn and follows you. You can keep walking: you give him the treat a step or two further on, once he is back level with you in the new direction. Your voice is enough, no gadget needed. Everything is built with the treat and the reward, never through force: that is what the American veterinary behaviour association (AVSAB) recommends in its 2021 position statement in favour of humane training.

"right" and "left" are always said from your point of view, never from your dog's. Since you are walking side by side, in the same direction, your two right-hand sides line up: nothing to work out, no mirror image to flip. Use them the same way from start to finish of the training.

Pick a side for your dog and stick to it all the way through: let's put him on your left, with the treat between two fingers of your left hand, the one on his side. Between turns, let that hand hang relaxed along your thigh, at nose height, ready to guide. You always reward with the other hand (the right) or from a pocket, never with the hand that has just guided: otherwise he stares at the full hand instead of doing the movement. Depending on which way you turn, that left hand works in two ways: when you turn towards his side (left), it stays right by his nose and draws him into the turn; when you turn the other way (right, or turning around), it passes in front of his nose to take him across towards your right.

The progression, one word at a time

Short sessions slipped into the walk, not a school exercise. Only one new word at a time, a few turns per walk, and you let each word settle before adding the next.

Step 1 / 6

The dog follows your turns spontaneously, without you saying anything.
- Keep your dog on a lead or a long line throughout the training: you only let him off in an enclosed, safe place, never alongside a road.
- Walk and change direction several times without a word: does your dog follow your path of his own accord?
- If not, go back to natural following before naming anything at all.
Move on when: He lines himself up with your path by himself, without you saying anything.
Turning around changes direction completely: it is the easiest one to spot, impossible to confuse with a turn to the right or the left.
- Walk in a straight line, dog on your left, the treat between two fingers of your left hand, at nose height.
- To turn around, you pivot away from him: you turn towards your right, the side opposite the dog, so that he follows you and comes round you without you treading on him. As you pivot, say "turn around" and take your left hand in front of his nose, in a wide arc towards your right, to draw him around you.
- Mark with a "yes!" as soon as he commits to the turn and follows you; keep walking, then give the treat a step or two further on, once he is back level with you in the new direction.
- If he carries straight on without following you, tighten the arc of your hand right up against his nose and do the turn at a jog: the movement becomes crisp, impossible to miss.
Move on when: He pivots on the word, over a few successful turns per walk, several walks in a row.
Get one single direction in place, a few turns per walk.
- Dog on your left, treat between two fingers of your left hand, at nose height.
- "Right" takes you away from the dog: your left hand passes in front of his nose and takes him across towards your right, over to the other side, so that he speeds up and comes back into position. Say "right" exactly as you turn.
- Mark as soon as he commits towards your right, keep walking, then reward a step further on, level with you.
- If he carries straight on or goes the wrong way, tighten the gesture (hand right up against his nose) and exaggerate your own turn: the more decisively your body turns, the more easily he follows you.
- One direction at a time: you are not touching "left" yet.
Move on when: He turns off with you on the word, over a few successful turns per walk, several walks in a row.
Two distinct words, not a sequence learnt by heart.
- Once "right" is nice and solid, move on to "left", which turns towards the dog's side. Here there is no need to go in front of him: your left hand, right by his nose, draws him towards your left and invites him to slow down so you can turn into his space. Treat still between two fingers.
- Say "left" exactly as you turn, mark as soon as he commits, reward a step further on, level with you.
- Only now do the two words share a single walk, in random order, to check that he is answering the word and not a sequence learnt by heart.
Move on when: Right and left each answer to their own word, in any order.
Check that the dog is answering the word, not just your hand or your body turning.
- Once the word is reliable with the treat in hand, make the same gesture with your left hand empty: you reward with your right hand or from a pocket.
- Then say the word half a step before making the gesture, hand empty.
- Gradually reduce the size of the gesture and the lead-in from your body, over several sessions: turn later, turn more discreetly.
Move on when: The dog starts the turn on the word alone, with you still going almost straight ahead.
The natural bridge towards working at a distance.
- Dog a few metres ahead, on a long line in a safe place, say the direction as you approach a fork in the path.
- At first you turn your body too, then less and less.
Move on when: At a fork, the dog out in front takes the direction you called.

Directions mastered

The classic pitfalls of the turn

If your dog seems to be picking at random, or if he only reacts to your body turning and not to your word, that is a perfectly normal stage of this training, not a failure. Dogs read our gestures before our words, a genuine feat of social reading: the best-known case is still the horse "Clever Hans", who was answering his trainer's involuntary movements rather than doing any real arithmetic (Pfungst, 1907). Your dog does the same with your body as it pivots. The word only becomes self-standing once you gradually fade your gesture, as in the "Empty the hand, fade the gesture" stage above.

The mistakes that blur your three words

Launching all three words in the same week: your dog, swamped under "right", "left" and "turn around", stops telling them apart. One word at a time.
Saying the word too early or too late: thrown out three paces before the turn, or once the turn is over, it is no longer glued to the action and the link never forms.
Repeating the word over and over ("right, right, right!"): it saturates the dog and drains the word of its meaning. One word, once, at the moment of the turn.
Swapping your dog's side from one session to the next: always keep him on the same side, otherwise the guiding hand changes and he loses the thread.
Testing right/left from the very first days: what you get is a dog picking at random. Each word settles on its own before it shares the stage with the other.
Using it as a recall on a dog who is bolting: a direction cue steers a dog who is following you, it does not bring back a dog who has gone.
Rewarding absent-mindedly: the reward comes when the dog is committed to the new direction, level with you, not thirty seconds later, and not for a turn he never followed.
Confusing it with "heel": this trick does not ask him to stay glued to your leg, only to turn with you. He keeps his freedom of pace.

Do you have the foundation to start?

Yes, this is the right time

My dog follows me naturally on walks, without me saying anything
I have something to keep him on a long line, and an enclosed, safe place if I want to let him off
I feel like taking it in small touches, with no pressure to get results

Not yet, build the basics first

My dog goes off far away and doesn't keep track of where I am: natural following isn't there yet
I have to shout or call him back constantly to get him to come: that gets worked on first, before this trick
My dog is very reactive when we pass others: that calls for a trainer or a behaviourist, not this trick

AVSAB — Position Statement on Humane Dog Training (2021)
Pfungst, O. — Clever Hans: reading involuntary bodily cues (1907)

Going further

guidePositions and sending your dog at a distanceOnce the directions are in place, stretch the distance: your dog answers even far away from you.Read the guide guideSpin & twistA small hand gesture makes your dog turn on the spot, one way or the other.Read the guide guideWeaving between your legsA trick of connection in motion that extends the hand guiding learnt here.Read the guide guideWalking on a lead without pullingWell-understood directions make the lead lighter: your dog follows your intentions instead of pulling.Read the guide guideThe foundations: teaching a trick with rewardsThe basic method, with no equipment at all, for teaching any trick, directions included.Read the guide guide“Touch”: teaching your dog to boop your handOnce the directions are in place, a nose coming to touch your hand is another way of guiding a turn, alongside the treat.Read the guide

Frequently asked questions

How do I teach my dog to turn right and left?

Pick a side for your dog and stick to it: let's put him on your left, the treat in your left hand, at nose height. Start with "turn around" (the most contrasting one), then "right", then "left", one at a time only. As you turn, say the word and guide him with your hand: when you turn towards his side, your hand draws him along right by his nose; when you turn the other way, it passes in front of him to take him across. Mark with a "yes!" as soon as he commits, reward level with you. "Right" and "left" are said from your point of view.

How do I teach my dog to turn around on a walk?

Walk in a straight line, dog on your left, a treat at nose height. To turn around, pivot away from him (towards your right) so that he follows you and comes round you: say "turn around" and take your hand in front of his nose in a wide arc towards your right. Mark as soon as he commits, reward when he comes back level with you. If he doesn't follow, tighten the gesture and do the turnaround at a jog: the movement becomes crisp and impossible to miss.

How do I steer my dog off-lead during a walk?

It rests first of all on natural following: your dog follows you and keeps an eye on you without you saying anything, while keeping his freedom of pace. Work the words on a long line, and only let him off in an enclosed, safe place. Once the foundation is in place, "right", "left" and "turn around" let him take the right course on a single word, even a few metres ahead of you.

My dog follows my body but not the word, is that normal?

Yes, completely, and you have done nothing wrong. Dogs read our body turning before they understand the word: it is the same mechanism as the horse "Clever Hans", who was answering his trainer's involuntary movements (Pfungst, 1907). To make the word self-standing, empty your hand, say it half a step before you turn, then gradually reduce the movement of your body.

Can I use "turn around" to avoid another dog?

Yes, to calmly steer a dog who is already following you: it changes your trajectory without tension. But it is not a recall: if your dog bolts towards the trigger, what you need is the recall, not a direction cue. And genuine reactivity when passing others gets worked on with a professional.

From what age can I teach directions on walks?

As soon as natural following is in place, which can be early on. It is a trick on the ground, with no jumping and no impact, so it poses no problem for the joints of a growing puppy. A few turns per walk are plenty, without ever turning the walk into a school exercise.

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