SpinDog turns in a full circle following a hand lure
A crowd-pleaser and a useful warm-up before training sessions. The lure path is a tight circle at the dog's nose height. Most dogs have a preferred direction. Teach both, but name them differently.
Also known as: Twirl, Around
At a glance
- Tier
- 1 · Basic
- Time to fluency
- 1–3 weeks
- Practice
- 4× per week, 5 min each
- Equipment
- Small soft treats
Prerequisites
Your dog should know these words first:
How to teach spin
Lure
Draw a circle at nose height with a treat
- Start with a quarter turn and reward, then half, then three-quarters, then full
- Keep the lure at nose height. Too high and they jump, too low and they down
- Go slowly at first; speed comes from confidence, not from you moving faster
- Reward the completion, not the start
Hand Signal
Small circular motion with index finger
- Shrink the lure circle over sessions until it is a finger twirl
- Reward from the other hand so the dog follows the motion, not the food
- Teach both directions with different cue words or different hands
Verbal Cue
Name each direction separately
- One word for clockwise, another for counter-clockwise
- Say the word, give the hand signal, then fade the signal
- Add speed once the direction is reliable. Many dogs love spinning fast
Success criteria
- Unlearned
- Does not follow a circular lure
- In progress
- Spins the correct direction on the word alone
- Mastered
- Spins both directions on verbal cue, including in new environments
Common mistakes
- Moving the lure too fast so the dog loses it and gives up
- Only teaching one direction
- Luring too wide a circle. Keep it tight to the dog's body
- Expecting a full spin before rewarding partial turns