Canicross - teaching left and right

vallin

vallin

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So whilst Daisy is on enforced rest I was thinking I'd try and a) sort out her walking on the lead (ha!) and b) try and reach her 'left' and 'right' for when we can get back to canicross. Has anyone got any tips for teaching left and right?
Thanks
V
 
I'm another one following with interest as its something driving ponies know and I use it a lot. They learn on the long reins and then its reinforced with rein aids when they start to drive. Not sure how you would teach a dog that though!
 
Be consistent and they’ll ‘just’ learn if you’re lucky. I’m very lucky in that my spaniel is super sharp and driven and when I took the collie she’s super trained (thanks to my sister not my doing!). From the horses I’m pretty good at consistent voice commands, so I just applied the same logic. We have left, right, on the grass which is stand on the verge or to as far to the side as you can get, heel which means come to heel obviously, their names mean that one has to go faster and ‘hup’ which is get me up this hill! We also have ‘ok’ which signifies they’re allowed to drink and an ‘on’ which means you can’t drink here/ignore this dog overtaking. The collie definitely understands steady but not sure the spaniel does! I started off when I was following someone else (I’m not fast...!) so they are naturally following the trail.
I do think I’ve been lucky though- my spaniel is awesome! Even on really technical staggered start tracks (checkendon is well worth a jouney) he’s literally never taken a wrong turn. I’m sure he’s partly following the scent but it does work alone too. Loose lead walking however...
 
I do not do canicross and I do not teach left and right as such but my dogs have learnt to go left or right when I step slightly to one side or the other of our line of progress and say "this way". They feel the change in direction from the alteration in the angle of the line on their harness and have learnt what it means. I could introduce 'left' and 'right' as a command at the same time if I wanted to use a more precise verbal cue I should think.
 
mine know 'this way' although I got told off at canicross for doing it-Fitz very quickly caught onto gee and haw though-basically took him through very techy trees and practised it and they were solid very quickly. Think some breeds learn directional commands quicker than others.
 
I run occasionally with both dogs and I do say left or right, but think they nostly seem to go the right way as they feel a slightly pull from my body. Although they seem to get it correct very quickly now where as at first months ago they would go opposites and one would be the wron side of things like lampposts!
 
i do hand signals (no knowing my L/R haha) it works really well.
i do agility and my dogs are used to rear X`s.

there is a little excercise we do where we put the dog in a sit and stand directly behind.
then the handler takes one step to one side (or the other),the aim is for the dog to turn his head (for a treat) while still in sit position.
this helps them become aware of which side you are moving to behind them.
i am sure this helps with my running.
 
I ran with two dogs tonight and initially my most-used phrase was ‘get out from under my feet!’ 😱 After 5 miles we’d got it much better organised 😊 and I tended to say ‘over’ rather than left or right. I must get a longer lead for Millie though, she has a ‘park run’ bungee lead and it doesn’t leave enough space when she runs directly in front of me
 
No idea if it applies to dogs but a useful tip I picked up with horses from Emma Massingale is that usually animals retain the last sound of a word. So lefT and righT both end in a similar sound and can be unclear. So she uses Le (as in lay) and right to make it clearer. I guess gee and haw are also distinct in that way.
 
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