# Video: Finishes



## JDandBigAm (Aug 25, 2008)

Quiz is quite the showman. He must be wonderful to work with and his finishes look great.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Watching these videos makes me want to get out somewhere and train. Thanks for posting! You guys look great.<:

Quick question, how did you teach or reinforce "find front" ? Or is there a trick you can share? 

I have a golden who can heel backwards and curl back into heel as we rotate left. And he can also heel laterally without breaking heel position. But shifting sideways and telling him front always gets him sitting sideways in front of me instead of in front position. 

I know this means he hasn't quite figured out where his butt is supposed to be when I say front... 

So how did you get your dog so he's shifting sideways into front position?


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Here's ours. Not a training, but a test to see how our behaviors in response to the cues are.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Megora said:


> So how did you get your dog so he's shifting sideways into front position?


I don't know how Stephanie taught it, but I can share a couple of ways I've taught it. 

Both of these methods have you initially focusing on the rear and pretty much ignoring what the front does. Once the dog understand what to do with the rear it is easy to line up with the front.

First way: hold a treat at your waist in front position. Step to side, luring dog to follow. The untrained dog will follow with his front end first. Make sure you move enough that his back end has to follow. Click as soon as he steps with a back foot. Ignoring the front and clicking the back movement gets across the idea to the dog that it's the rear feet your worried about. And like I said, once they understand what to do with the rear, the two ends tend to line themselves up.

Second way: holding dowels, tap rear leg of opposite direction you want dog to move (if you want dog to move right, tap rear left leg). Click as soon as you see movement.

I tend to use a combination of those two methods to get the end result.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

I used the dowels - teaching him to move away from feeling the dowel. I kept food in my mouth to spit to him so I didn't have to put a dowel down. At the same time, I was working on rear movement to "get it" which also requires a side step. Any of the "on the pot" exercises will help with that.

I also would sit in a chair, legs straight out in front of me and guide him into the "V" of my legs. Initially it was lures all the way in with him starting in front, by my ankles. Then over time I worked on him finding the middle when coming from my right or left, so he learned to come around from the side, hop over the leg and sit in front.

I guess I did a combination of things: Several exercises to teach where "front" was, and then things to help him side-step to adjust himself to maintain front as I was moving.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

OK... that gives me something to work on. Thanks<:


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

After teaching Conner to stay lined up in front position while side stepping, that's when I found our fronts really improved. We actually went 7 Open trials in a row without getting a crooked front!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Loisiana said:


> After teaching Conner to stay lined up in front position while side stepping, that's when I found our fronts really improved. We actually went 7 Open trials in a row without getting a crooked front!


That's what I'm hoping with practice with these.... just like doodle exercises taught him the heel position. 

His fronts were getting good for a while - in fact at the trials we did last fall, the fronts were the most solid exercise. But now he's back to being slightly off center in practice.

Or actually, in the fun match we did today he was WAY off center. :doh:

I practiced a few just now and he's got the idea scooting left. Scooting right... ugh. Will have to work on it.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

I do a little front work in almost every training session. Straight fronts and straight sits are an ongoing training project...


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Love watching Quiz train! He is so fun!


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

sammydog said:


> Love watching Quiz train! He is so fun!


Thanks! He's a gamer... that's for sure!


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## FinnTastic (Apr 20, 2009)

That was a lot of fun to watch.


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