148. Sideways

Along with our back-and-forth cha-cha steps, I’d like to teach Gus some grapeviney side-winding.  I made a basic, ballpark start by placing three mats in a row and asking him to step onto the next mat over.  But as I feared, it’s not easy to keep his body straight; he tends to bend his spine or swing his hips so that he comes at the mats on a diagonal.  (Years ago, I taught my doggie-dancing partner Dinah the wonderpoodle to keep her body facing straight ahead while sidepassing [check it out here, starting at 1:05], but it’s easier with a 50-pound, hip-high animal than with an 800-pound, shoulder-high one.  To keep Dinah’s back straight, I just had to keep her head in place, and I did that by holding a treat right where I wanted her nose to be.  I can’t similarly maneuver my little arm and Gus’s big neck . . .)

Can't wait for the human
to join the dance...

Today, I try a device often used by Western trail riders to teach the sidepass:  a ground pole.  From our cha-cha practice, Gus already knows how to step halfway across a pole, stopping with his front feet ahead of it and his rear feet  behind it.  Now I place two mats side by side and just in front of the pole.  This setup immediately helps Gus get the idea.   If he wants to avoid bumbling and tripping over the ground pole with his rear feet, he can’t veer or turn his body.  To keep his hind end clear as he straddles the pole, he can only make a purely sideways step to get his front feet onto the next-door mat.

Also I prevent him from rushing in hopes of getting treats faster (see photo; harrumph).  Between each sidestep, I signal the-grownups-are-talking with clasped hands, and he stands still, waiting for my “sideways” cue.  

Moving to his right, he usually executes the one-and-a-half or two sidesteps to the mat quite nicely and gets a click and treat.  Moving to the left, he takes one good step and then loses his posture, swings either his shoulders or his hips out of sync, and shuffles sloppily onto the mat.  No problem:  next time, I click and treat after the very first step — which pause allows him to stay in correct alignment — and then he takes the next step and gets another click as he reaches the mat.  Soon he’ll figure out the leftward movement without as much help.  Then we’ll be able to space the mats farther apart, and then remove them altogether, and voilà:  electric-slide donkey boogie.