Rally Moves:  How to teach the Moving Side Step to the Right.                           by Laurie Albright

I haven’t seen any Rally station more discussed, sweated over or lamented than the Moving Side Step to the Right!  If you have a couple key points in mind – it’s not as hard as you think!

First, your dog needs to understand “heel position”.  (For more on teaching an understanding of Heel, see my “What About Rally” article on the website.) 

To get full points on the Moving Side Step to the Right, your dog needs to stay in heel position, moving along WITH you, and side step as you do.  You know your dog is side-stepping when the back feet cross over as the dog stays parallel to you when you side step.  If your dog turns to the right (perpendicular to you) and then to the left (back to parallel), you will lose a point.  If the dog does not come with you at all, but ends up a foot or two away from you, the dog has not performed the station (I’d opt for a redo at this point).

To teach the side step, I usually start with the dog sitting in heel position.  (The Halt, Side Step Right, Halt is an Advanced level exercise – but I find it easier to teach.)  Put the leash around behind your back and into your right hand.  Have bait in your left hand.  Tip the dog’s head slightly to the left (away from you), apply a little bit of pressure on the leash (not enough to drag the dog over, just enough to influence the back end).  Then you step sideways – if the dog scoots over even just a little, immediately release the pressure, give him the cookie and tell him how clever he is!

After your dog is popping nicely over with you, you can name the exercise – I like “get in”, but your dog doesn’t care what you call it as long as it has only one meaning and you are consistent.  When you’ve named the exercise, and your dog is happily moving sideways with you, you can start doing this behavior while you’re moving.  I still use the leash behind my back for a while here. 

Next step is to do this exercise without a leash – tip the dog’s head to the left and step to the right (I bet the dog side passes with you!).  Then lose the food in your hand.  I’ll still use a hand signal for a while (my hand waves a little to the left over the dog’s head… it’s not elegant, but the dog understands it!).

Before you know it, your Moving Side Step to the Right will be the envy of all your friends and they’ll be asking YOU how to teach it!