Teaching the rebound help!

I'm posting here because I had the bright idea to teach my 55 pound, awkward, clumsy dog to do a leg rebound, and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. The hardest thing I've ever trained is bow, so yeah, this is new haha. Most of the videos I've watched on how to do it involve dogs that will already willing jump on their owner's lap, which Finn won't do, so I'm just sort of experimenting.

I just finished up the first session, and I took a video of it. I don't really know what I'm supposed to be rewarding for, or where I should reward, so I'm just sort of luring this. The first session was basically just me trying to get him to understand that he can jump on/off of me, and getting the basic movement down. All I'm really wanting right now is for his front paws and back paws to touch my leg.

He's still not wanting to jump on me, so right now he is just jumping beside me and I'm luring him onto my lap and rewarding when he's standing on me. It's really messy, and both of us are just sort of flailing around right now haha.

So yeah, critique for this newbie trainer would be very much appreciated! My biggest problem is figuring out how to make this into one fluid movement.

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Yay for stepping out of your comfort zone!! This is a fun fun trick and once it starts moving along it will start coming more naturally to you.

So, the biggest thing I'm seeing in your video is your not rewarding him for being on you enough. Yes, the end goal is to have them do a turn off you while standing but for dogs that aren't comfortable jumping up on you and getting in your space, rewarding them for just touching you is HUGE and will help so much more later on.

I would stop worrying about the jumping off you for now. Just work on getting him solidly in your lap. In the video he never got completely on your lap that I saw, he touched your legs with his front legs and then moved to the arm of the couch or he had his back legs on you and his front on the arm of the couch. Reward him heavily for those front feet on you and then if you want toss the treat in front of you, but really work on making him comfortable being on you.

Some dogs I've worked with or have seen have had good luck with working on a couch but most seem to do better when you start on a chair or a lower stool just because it's different and they have less options to touch things other than you (like he was doing with the arm of the chair.) I might start with a stool facing a wall with your knees against the wall so he can't go around you and just start jackpotting him for putting his legs on you. Then reset him next to you and start again. Just keep rewarding him for getting in your space and being willing to step on you.

Once he's confidently jumping up on you THEN you can worry about adding the jump off and turn, and believe me, after getting the first part down the rest will come super easy.

It'll come though! I've almost got Fergus's rebound to me in a standing position so even the goofiest most uncoordinated dogs can do it! I'm really excited you're attempting it!

Thank you so much for this advice! Super super helpful. I got so caught up in getting the motion down that I was rushing through foundations, which is a big no no.

I was trying to lure it, but honestly everything else I've taught him has been taught with shaping, which I think both of us are more comfortable with, so I think tomorrow I will just see if I can shape him to realize that it's okay to put his paws on me.

I'm really excited to try this! It's definitely WAY out of my comfort zone, but I really want to start pushing myself and getting better at this whole dog training thing

I didn't know you normally shape! Yes try just shaping it, bet it'll go a lot faster for you both that way. And you'll both be more comfortable.

Keep taking video! Helps you to get a visual

Definitely ditto Linds.

This was a super easy trick for Cajun learn, it literally took one session but she is a wrecking ball sort of dog who's thought process was basically "throw my body at you?! I thought you'd never ask!!" She's big and clumsy and I think that worked to our advantage actually lol.

Juno, on the other hand... was very suspicious about this. Because yeah, she learned as a puppy that you don't jump on people. So this whole idea of jumping on me, or even God forbid putting a foot on me, was a completely illegal idea to her.

I used a small square ottoman. And I started by just having her jump on/off that. I'm not sure if that step actually helped, but it seemed logical in my head, just to have that jumping behavior fresh in her mind? Lol I don't know but once she was readily doing that no problem, then I sat on the ottoman and tried luring her up on me. If she put a foot on me, she was the best dog ever. I wasn't looking for much at first. Once she got the idea down that putting her front feet on me was the name of the game, then I started asking for more from her, and encouraging her to get up by patting my legs and lots of "come on Juno!" If she so much as even lifted a back foot, I rewarded that. Eventually she started doing this really pathetic thing where she would draggggg her back feet up on me like she was climbing up mt everest or something, and that was kind of lame lol but she eventually started to just jump up on my lap, I think it was just a matter of her being comfortable with actually being up there.

Through this whole time, it was still just an on/off behavior. You put front feet on, yaaayyy you get a treat and then I'd just toss another treat to reset her. You jump on my lap all the way, you get a handful of treats while up there and then you can get off. It wasn't until she was good at jumping up on my lap that I started working on the actual rebound aspect of it.

And also with Juno, it was one of those things where it suddenly clicked with her after taking a break. We made no progress the first couple sessions, we took a long break and then all of a sudden she was like... oh, I got this. No biggie. And then she learned it in like a day.

I should have taken video. Sorry I suck at explaining. I'm hopeless at shaping too so I don't know about that

I feel your pain. 60 lb, long, tall, and leggy.

What I ended up doing was using a blanket as a target. I trained her to jump on and off the target first. Then I sat next to the target. Then I started moving the target into my lap. I kept the target until she was fairly consistent with me at a full stand and then I just got rid of it and she kept going.

Just updating to say that I've got him jumping on my lap now while I'm sitting on a chair maybe now I can start doing the actual rebound part

Nice! That really seems to be the absolute biggest hurdle. Can't wait to see a new video!

Here is the newest update! I've got him doing a rebound off my while I'm sitting in a chair, and I've got him doing it off the chair while I hold it tilted, so he gets used to jumping off something that is horizontal. I'm hoping I'll be able to combine the two, so he'll do it off me while I'm sitting. Is the motion right? He's kind of slow here because we've been doing it for awhile at this point (I'm keeping the reps low, because it's obvious this is new to him and he's tiring out quickly) but it was speedier the first couple of times.

Ahhh I'm so happy this is coming together! I know it's not much to most people here, but this is by far the most complicated thing I've ever taught.

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That's looking fantastic! Such a difference between this video and the last video. Exactly the type of turn you are looking for.

Have you tried leaning against a wall yet? Looks like he's probably ready for you to make a lap against a wall and slowly start standing up.

And don't discredit your work at all. This is not an easy trick and it's not something that can just be taught in one day. I think a lot of people start it and never finish it and you are doing a great job. I love it too because I think it's a really nice way to show you how you can break tricks up to do them in pieces, or how to take a really nice fancy looking trick, break it down and make it doable. Teaching you to look at super duper tricks you think you could never do and how you would train them to make them less scary to try.

So, again, great job!!

Finn learned a rebound

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Nice!