Spin & twist

Draw the circle, his nose glued to your hand

Stand facing him, one step away. Hold the treat against his nose, then draw a full horizontal circle with your hand, about the width of a dinner plate: your hand moves some twenty centimetres away from his nose, no more. That circle heads towards his right shoulder, his right: since you are face to face, your own hand therefore travels towards your left. Keep your hand at nose height for the whole turn, never higher, or he will jump instead of turning; he pivots to stay with your hand. Mark with a “yes!” exactly as he closes the circle and faces you again, then reward. Start over until you get four or five successful turns in a row before moving on to the next step.

If he stalls: bring the treat closer, shrink the circle

If he does not move, backs away or sits instead of following: take the treat closer to his nose, smellier if need be, make a smaller circle, and pick a calmer moment. If he stops after a half turn, your hand has gone too fast or too far from his nose: slow down, bring it closer, and mark that half turn as a win before aiming for the whole circle. If he lifts his head and loses the circle, your hand is too high: bring it back down to nose height.

Empty your hand

Once you have four or five successful turns in a row with the treat in your hand, draw the same circle with an empty hand: the treat waits in your other hand, at your waist. Your dog will hesitate the first few times, since there is nothing left to follow, and that is normal: mark and reward as soon as he completes the turn anyway. Stay at this level until you get four or five empty-hand turns in a row.

Shrink the gesture, keep it low, and add “spin”

Shrink the circle, session after session, down to a small twirl of the finger, but always keep it low, at nose height: this is still the moment when he jumps if your hand goes up. Say “spin” once only, just before you make the gesture.

Raise the gesture bit by bit

Once the turn is solid on the word, you can lift your twirl a little each session, up to hip height. Go up slowly enough that he keeps turning without jumping: if he starts leaping after your hand, you have gone up too fast, so drop back down a notch.

Move away

Step one pace back before giving the word and the little twirl, then two or three paces. Your dog should turn even when you are no longer right above him.

Draw the circle the other way round

Dog standing, facing you, treat against his nose. Draw the same dinner-plate circle, but this time towards his left shoulder, his left: since you are face to face, your hand therefore travels towards your right. Mark with a “yes!” as soon as he faces you again, then reward. This direction often takes more sessions: just like you, who may well be right-handed or left-handed, your dog has one side he finds easier than the other, and it is not stubbornness. Work on it all the same, at his pace.

Empty your hand and add “twist”

Same sequence as for “spin”: an empty hand after four or five successes in a row, then a circle that shrinks down to a small twirl, kept low at first and raised only once the turn is solid. Say “twist” once only, just before the gesture.

Alternate the two words in the same session

Once both directions are learned separately, mix them up: “spin”, reward, “twist”, reward, in random order. That is how you check he is answering the word, and not always his favourite side. If he keeps setting off the same way every time, that word is not settled yet: go back to that direction on its own, with the little gesture, before mixing again.