Handstand!

What it looks like: Your dog will do a “handstand” against a wall, with their back paws against the wall.

You first have to teach your dog to walk backwards

You will need to make a makeshift “hallway” i have used crates, the wall, and chairs. This keeps the dog confined and walking backwards towards a wall and not turning every which way.

start by placing treats in your hand, start off with your hand against your dogs nose and walk into them, when they take even a half step back click and reward.

If they sit (which the probably will) just reset them (toss a treat out, or walk backwards and then try walking into them again. Once you have your dog taking a couple of steps back you can go on to the next step. Use something not too thick, and with a wide surface, i use a purple foam mat and place it against the wall at the end of your “hallway”. when you walk into them make them walk backwards until their back feet are on the mat and click and reward. Once your dog is understanding to walk backwards towards the mat try not to walk into them but let them make the decision to walk backwards on their own. Now start to stack other object i.e books on top of the mat to increase the height they have to get their back feet on. Always click when their back feet touch the objects. Once they are excelling you can take away the books and mat and use a stool or something higher than the books and mat were but not by much. The goal is to have them slowly (as this trick takes a lot of practice and muscle conditioning) put their back feet up higher and higher. I used a stool then one cinder block then a stool and two cinderblocks. Once you get to this point your dog will eventually start over shooting the objects and touching the wall behind it. You can then click and reward only when the dog over shoots and touches the wall with their back feet. Once your dog is steadily offering this behavior start to take aways the objects slowly, so if you are using a stool and two cinderblocks on top of it remove the top cinderblock and do a few sessions. Remove the second cinderblock. Now you can begin to name it. Say handstand and still with treats in your hand in a fist by your side walk into your dog (not pushing him/her) and then your dog with put its feet on the wall you click and reward. Remove the treats from your hand. Eventually remove all the objects your dog was once using i.e the mat, stool