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As we’ve discussed up until this point, dots are extremely flexible and a very important thing that we always need to do with dots before beginning a session is to set the scene of how we are going to use them. We’ve practiced this by setting up various manners of using the dots.

So now let’s put that to the test by first setting the scene and then following through on teaching a whole new behavior!

To do so, we are going to going to teach the behavior of backing up through your legs. If you have already taught this behavior, you can teach any other backing up behavior that you would like using the same method. The difference will just be that you will need to adjust your dot placement slightly. But this can be replicated for any backing up behavior. (You do not need backing up as a foundation for any of this if you have not yet taught it.)

As we’ve discussed, we are going to begin by setting the stage of how we will be using our dots. So, let’s jump in!

Setting the scene:

For this training task, we will be utilizing two dots.

• The first dot should be placed between your feet or just slightly ahead of your feet. The second dot should be placed about five or six inches away from the first dot, in line with the first dot.
• Begin by verbally cueing your dog to go to the first dot.
• When your dog gets to the first dot, reward your dog so that their back is to you.
  • You can do this by throwing a treat behind you and then luring your dog between your legs.
• Feed your dog for targeting the first dot.
• Now say dot again and immediately hold a cookie between your dog’s legs or off to the side of your dog to help lure them to step back to the dot between your feet.
• Once you dog steps back to the dot between your feet, mark and place the cookie down on the dot.
• Now your dot cue again and your dog should move ahead back to the further dot.
• When they do, reward them on that dot.
• Now say cue dot again, and once again, lure your dog with a cookie between their legs or off to their side to help them get them back to that dot between your feet.
• When they teach the dot between your feet, mark and reward them on it.
• Repeat this pattern, going back in fourth for three to five repetitions.

Now that we have the basic criteria set, it’s time to start to really build the behavior! That should go as follows:

Step one:

• Begin exactly how we did in the set the scene session.
• Once you have that behavior loop set, it’s time to start fading out the lure.
• The way I like to do it is to start to insert the lure later and later over several repetitions. So, say dot as you normally would to cue the dot between your legs and initially have your hand there immediately. Then on after two repetitions of this, say dot and bring your hand in now a second later instead of immediately. That way your dog has a second to process what they should do before your hand comes in.
• Continue working to delay your hand coming in by a second every other repetition, until you can have a good-sized delay between saying dot and your hand coming in.
• By this point, you should start to see your dog at least looking towards the dot or weight shifting back toward sit and when you say your dot cue and before your hand lure comes in.
• So now when you see these weight shifts or looks to the toy, you should mark and then bring the food in and reward on the dot.
  • You can still lure a bit if you need to here, but try to less and less as your work this stage.
• Continue like this until your dog is starting to offer backing up to the dot on their own.
• When they are, take your hand out of the picture completely and make sure that your dog can continue to replicate this.
• If your dog is struggling at all with this, try placing the dots even further together so it’s a smaller transition moving from the further dot to the dot between your feet.

Step two:

• Now that your dog is backing up between the dots on their own with just your dot cues, it’s time to increase the distance.
  • I like to make sure that we have a really strong behavior of backing up and that your dog is comfortable doing so between your legs before we ever add in a verbal cue, so we’re going to wait until step three for that.
• Begin the exact same way you ended in the previous step.
• Then, as you are working, slowly start to move the further dot further and further out.
• So, every other repetition, move the further dot an inch or two ahead as your dog is eating on the dot between your feet.
• Then as soon as your dog has finished eating on the dot between your feet, verbally cue your dog to go to the further dot, then backwards to the dot between your legs as we were previously doing.
  • The rest of the pattern should look the same aside from the further dot moving further and further out, so your dog will always be moving forward to the dot away from you, then backwards to the dot between your feet.
• Continue moving the dot ahead of you (so slowly that your dog barely notices that it is moving) until your dog is easily backing up about four steps to get between to the dot between your legs.
• If at any point your dog starts to struggle with this, move the dot back to where they were successful and then move it back much more slowly over more repetitions or session to build their confidence back up.

Step three:

• Once your dog has gotten to the point of being able to back up between your legs, it’s time to insert a cue!
• I like to do this with a simple cue transfer of saying your new cue followed by the dot cue.
  • I like to do the cue transfer this way because when your dog continually hears the dot cue right away after your new cue, your dog will start to anticipate moving back to the dot every time they hear the new cue almost right away.
• To do the cue transfer, start with your dog on the further out dot with their back to you as you have been doing, then work the pattern from step two for at least two repetitions.
• Once your dog is solid on the pattern, insert your new cue right before your dot cue.
  • For the video example, that cue is “scoot.”
  • That means it would sound like: “scoot, dot.”
  • The dot cue should follow the “scoot” cue as closely as possible, so your dog has no questions.
• Work this with your newly inserted cue for at least three to five repetitions.
• When you see your dog start to anticipate moving backwards on your new verbal cue instead of your dot cue, it’s time to start spacing out the cues.
• Now instead of saying dot directly after “scoot” (or whatever cue your choose), have a small delay.
  • So that should sound like “scoot” pause “dot”.
• Continue like this for another three to five repetitions.
• When your dog starts visibly moving on “scoot” before you ever say dot, you can space the dot cue out even further so that you are waiting until your dog is actively backing up for a couple steps before you say dot.
• And after three to five repetitions of successfully working this, start to delay saying your dot cue to when your dog is already all the way to the dot.
  • So say “scoot”, wait until your dog backs up to the dot, then say dot when they get there, and mark and move in to reward.
• Work that for three to five repetitions until it is solid.
• And finally, it’s time to stop saying dot entirely.
• So instead of saying dot when your dog reaches it, just mark and reward them on the dot instead.

Note: you do not have to do this entire step in one session and many dogs will work better if you split it up over several sessions!

Step four:

For this final step, we will be fading out the second dot.

• Begin exactly as ended in step three.
• Now, you are going to start moving the further dot out inch or two at a time to get you away from the dot between your feet.
• Cue your dog to go to the further out dot.
• Mark and reward when your dog gets to that dot.
• As your dog is eating off of that dot, take a step forwards, away from the dot between your feet.
• After your dog is finished eating off of the further dot, cue them to “scoot”.
• Your dog should back up between your legs and likely get all the way to the dot that is now a bit behind you.
• When they do, mark and reward on the dot.
• As your dog is eating off of the dot, move your further dot up and couple of inches.
• Cue your dog to go to the further dot.
• Mark and reward when they target the further dot.
• As your dog is eating off of the further dot, take a step forwards.
• After your dog finishes eating, cue them to “scoot”.
• Your dog should back up between your legs and this time when they do, mark and reward them on the ground ahead of your dot.
• Continue doing this, rewarding them on the ground behind you.
• After you’ve gotten far enough away from the dot that your dog isn’t noticing it anymore, you can either continue to reward behind you on the ground, or you can reward your dog to mouth.
  • If you don’t care how far between your legs your dog backs up, rewarding to mouth is fine.
  • If you would prefer your dog to back as far as possible between your dog, keep rewarding to the ground or tossing the reward back behind you as needed.
• By this point, you should be able to remove the dot behind you without any issues!

And that’s it! Your dog should now be easily backing up between your legs without the help from the dot.

If you want to take this a step further, you can also teach your dog to spin so their back is facing you on the first dot, and then back up between your legs. But for the sake of this initial learning stage of setting up the dots and then teaching something new with them using that specific dot picture, we’re going to end the behavior here.

Remember, keep sessions short and successful here! And if you ever run into trouble, don’t be afraid to go back a step and split things down much more finely before continuing.