#LearnToPawStand

Many of you have asked how we learned to do the #SuperBPawstand on our own, so we’ve put together a little How To instruction guide for you! Keep in mind that some dogs learn differently, so you might need to tweak a few of the steps along the way, or you might need to take it slower. The most important thing to remember is to keep it fun! Set your pup up for success, give lots of treats & praise and always end on a high note! And, when you accomplish it, be sure to take a video and share it with us!

The first step is to learn how to walk backwards. Having back-end awareness and control is crucial to success.

This can be taught in two different ways:

Option 1: Your pup knows how to heel.

While using a wall, you can put them in heel position, and with your body pressure and the wall, they will not be able to turn around, but will instead have to learn to walk backwards.

Option 2: Walk into your pup slowly

Position you dog standing in front of you and slowly start walking into them. You might have to dodge back and forth to keep them going backwards. Just don’t let them turn around.

Once they have mastered the art of walking backwards, we want to start teaching them to walk backwards up an incline. You’ll need a board that you can place against a wall at different angles. Preferably, something that isn't too wide so they won’t be able to turn around. We also added shelf lining paper to the board to give them more traction.

Start out with the board at a low angle. Put pillows or other obstacles on either side of the board, so that when you ask them to back up, they only have the choice to go up the board, not beside it.

Once they have mastered a lower angle, just keep increasing the angle of the board higher and higher.

Eventually, the board will be vertical. You can decide when to remove the bumpers on either side of the board. If your pup is going straight back, then you can take them away before you get completely vertical. If your pup tends to veer, keep them in place until your pup has mastered the vertical board.

For the last step, take the board away and just use the wall. Just like with the board, a textured wall will give them more confidence and traction.

Some pups may need to walk backwards into their pawstand. Other pups may be a little more flexible and be able to just pop those legs straight up in the air, landing on the wall. Again, we’re each different. We learn differently and we execute differently. Work with whatever works best for your pup...and have fun!!

Keep in mind, most of these videos were created after we had mastered our Pawstands. We wanted to show you what the goal was for each step! While we were learning, we walked off the board, missed the board, sat and stared at Mom, turned around and went up the board forwards. You’ll make whoopsies & mistakes along the way. That’s okay...just keep at it!