I appreciate this is a really dumb question but have managed to thoroughly confuse myself!

When adding a cue word to 'left' and 'right' and the dog is coming towards you do you use 'left' to get him to go to your left or his?

Sorry but it's been a long week and my head hurts..

What are you training for? In agility it would be his left, because the dog will normally be ahead of you, so you would normally share the same left :) Not sure about working trials or other areas?

If my dog was doing a search, and I spotted an article before he did, I could assist him with a Left or Right command - that would be my left or right. The same command would apply whether the dog was working ahead of you, or coming towards, because the dog has no concept what is left or right actually means, it is just an instruction to move in a particular direction.
Think of the command as an outstretched arm signing the way to go.

> I appreciate this is a really dumb question but have managed to thoroughly confuse myself!

It's definitely not a silly question :-) I taught my oldest dog left and right when he was coming towards me - so it was actually the opposite way round to my left and right when he was facing me. This was fine on walks but when I started agility with him it was so confusing because then I needed to turn him left or right as he was going away from me so I had to say the  opposite to the way I wanted him to go because that was how I had taught it to him. Complete and utter confusion.

I solved it by training him left and right (his) by using new words but those words weren't second nature to me and I would forget and revert to the old left and right which was incorrect for him.Luckily he is a very clever dog and picks up things really, really quickly and also responds to hand signals and body movement and he can also read my mind and knows that when I say left I mean right

. Not made that mistake again and all my dogs are now trained to turn left or right with them facing the same way as myself.

Thanks both of you,am aiming for agility so killing time with (hopefully) useful basics until he's old enough to train.Weirdly (as am pointing at mo) wouldn't have thought of that way of thinking of it-what an easy way to remember!

Am not going to use left and right though as right means 'something is happening and it means I might get to go for another walk or we might be going somewhere exciting' have never known a word to wake a deeply sleeping pup as quickly as that does..

Some people in agility use the word "back" for a left turn - but I use that word for something different. Whatever words you choose make sure they are words that you will remember and use automatically.

I use the word leave when I ask the dogs to ignore something so when training weaves I had to use the word "poles" rather than "weave" because the two words were very similar for very different actions.

Rock solid waits and instant downs will make life much easier when you start agility training as will teaching your dog to drive to a "dead toy" - a toy that is on the ground ahead of your dog rather than held in your hand. If you get the chance to attend foundation classes for agility then I would highly recommend them - so many things can be taught without even sight of a piece of equipment that will stand you in good stead once your dog is old enough to start full training at around a year old.

Some years ago I went to some 'fun' agility classes during the summer. The trainer there didn't want us to use words as it was easy for us to say the wrong word in the heat of the moment and confuse the dog. Instead we had to use hand gestures to direct the dog or a sort of body language - turning in the direction we wanted the dog to go, being in the right place to direct over a jump.

Definitely the dogs right or left for agility. If the dog is running in the same direction as you it will be the same as your right or left but the dog may be running towards you so their left will be your right but the dog needs a left command. I used to use back for left and turn for right until I got Fleur. She heard the T of the turn command and legged it to the nearest tunnel so I changed the command to right. Jodi. Hand signals and body language are important but in competition agility the dog is often a head of you and you wouldn't want it to keep looking back to you for a hand signal so verbal commands are also necessary. I agree strongly with Harley foundation classes are of huge benefit

shepherds use Come by for clockwise and Away to me for anticlockwise. The it does not matter where you are in relation to the dog.This might not be what you want though.

Need to get back in touch with the club I want to train at,have been in contact with them for some months,last time I spoke to them got a message back saying they didn't do anything for puppies apart from kc good cit (which we are already doing at local trainers and love them so don't want to move him somewhere else for the same courses). Have been looking at other clubs but as yet am to find one that does training towards competitive agility within a distance that will allow me to get home from work,pick up dog and get there before it starts.Was considering showing but there's also a distinct lack of ringcraft classes in my area (nearest one that's any good is about 20miles away and fear it's too late now anyway).
His wait is pretty good even when there is a tasty treat on the floor in front of him.
Down-well he's reached that age and has decided to see if he can get away with a 'sit'-NO he can't!
Will try some work with toys, thanks. He does love to play
Thanks for the pole tip,we too already use 'leave'.
Have done some front paws on stool using back end to circle it anti-clock or clockwise-again no verbal cue on that yet as need to decide on words-theres 3 of us that need to learn them so no pressure on me at all to get it right/make it easy at all!!!!

If you look on the website agilitynet you will find a list of clubs all over the country. What area are you in?

If you want to work towards competitive agility I would definitely choose a club that teaches in the correct manner right from the start. Some of the fun clubs teach agility but not always in a way that is best suited to competing. Getting the right training right from the start is a must.

leave when I ask the dogs to ignore something so when training weaves I had to use the word "poles" rather than "weave" because the two words were very similar for very different actions

She heard the T of the turn command and legged it to the nearest tunnel

Similar thing, I used a clicker to teach Zuma to bark on command, began using 'speak' but rapidly changed it because as soon as he heard 's' he sat, his word is now talk