The purpose of this activity is to teach your dog how to weave back and forth between your legs in a figure-eight pattern.
In a pack, when dogs meet, play, and wrestle, one always ends up on top. The dog on top is higher in the pack. This activity places your dog between your legs, or under you, which helps establish your position as pack leader, and their lower relationship to you. It also helps create a closer connection with your dog.
Setting up for the Activity
For this activity we recommend that, as much as possible, you “ditch the bowl,” which means that you temporarily feed your dog their daily portions through training rewards, rather than in their bowl.
Use the hand/finger position taught in the Follow My Hands (Apple #3). Take several pieces of food in the palm of your hand, and dispense pieces with your thumb by rolling them from your palm to your fingertips.
If you are not feeling kind, calm, and confident, do not train your dog until you are in a better mental state. Kindness is a choice, calmness takes practice, and confidence comes with education, which will grow as you master this activity.
Activity Steps
While standing with your legs far enough apart so that your dog can weave between them, get your dog’s attention with one hand that is holding a treat with fingers pressed together.
When the dog comes to your hand, which is held at the level of your dog’s nose, guide your dog through your legs to start the pattern.
Guide him around your right leg, and as they come around the right leg successfully, use the marker word, and say “Yes!” Then treat.
Continue to guide your dog in a figure-8 pattern under your legs, around the right leg, back through your legs, and then around the left leg, so the dog is making the figure-8 pattern around and under your legs.
As your dog follows your hand, and comes around the left leg successfully, mark the correct behavior again with a “Yes!” For the first several trainings, give a food reward each time, and then stagger your treats.
Repeat the process. Play the game for up to 10 minutes, or until they struggle to succeed. Always end on a success, so you can treat and praise, always making this game a positive experience for you and your dog.
If your dog is struggles, consider the three D’s—distance, duration, and distraction. Shorten the distance between you, or the length of time you require them to obey before rewarding, or lessen any distractions (noises, children, other dogs, etc).
Training Pattern
At first, you start by using a treat to encourage your dog to perform a desired behavior. Then reward them with the marker word “yes,” accompanied by a treat.
Second, you do the same thing, but you add the command to the marker word by saying, “Yes! Legs!” This associates the command with the desired behavior.
Third, you do everything the same, except that you speak the command word as you begin. You will continue using a treat in your hand to encourage your dog. Each time they are successful, say “Yes!” (no need to add the command word here), and treat.
Finally, you will begin by speaking the command, and when your dog succeeds at the desired behavior, no treat or follow-up “Yes!” is needed.
Training Over Time
You should also vary the time and situation of the command word, so that your dog doesn’t associate the command with a specific part of the activity, but with the whole motion.
Eventually, your dog should learn to follow the position and shape of your fingers over the actual treat that is in your hand.
As with Follow My Hands (Apple #3), teaching your dog to follow this unique hand/finger position under and around your legs will be important in future activities.
As you dog gains a good grasp of this activity, consider the three D’s again. Now, increase the distance as you train, require a longer duration before rewarding, and add in distractions to help your dog succeed at higher and higher levels.
