How To Teach Your Dog The Walking Handstand

There are many cool tricks that you can teach to your dog. One of them is the walking handstand which is good for building your dog’s front end strength. This trick requires your dog to put his hind paws on something progressively higher such as one or more books. It is important for your dog to learn this trick to get his balance right and to gain enough strength on the muscles he needs.

You can begin this training by having your dog step backward onto something such as a book. Click and reward as soon as your dog’s hind feet are both on the book. If your dog is having difficulty locating the book, you can use something larger such as a towel. Some dogs might be tempted to step around the item so you need to put a blockade while doing the session.

If you are training a small dog, you can initially use a magazine where he could step backward. You can add more magazines on until the pile reaches the height of a book. The training should be done slowly with one book added per week. According to the video, the trick is about building the right muscles in the right strength for your dog to be able to hold his weight up.
There are several factors that matter when teaching this trick to your dog. They include your dog’s health, fitness, and breed. Once your dog has mastered doing the handstand, you can start removing the books or any items you will use as ramp support.

It is also important to teach this trick in different locations for different surfaces. You can try having your dog going up against the door or on your leg, arm, and hand. You can also use different items as the targets of your dog’s handstand including a stool.

You need to reward your dog during the initial stages of the training. As your dog gets better and better, you can proceed to use a variable rate for reinforcement. You can do it by asking your dog to do the handstand several times before you reward him.

Timing plays an important role in this training. Clicking should be done at the height of the behavior. Your dog’s head should also be held low by holding the treats near his nose to keep his head down.

images – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Lb9b9sGw0