There are several ways you can teach your dog a moving stand. One way that tends to work well is using a front foot target.

I start by warming up the dog on the front foot target. In order to use this training method, your dog will need to have value for going to and staying on the target.

In this video, I'm working on a few positions, and also working on Excel holding the stand until I cue a behavior.

In this video I'm specifically working on stands. I'm luring him into a sit and verbally cuing the stand. I'm also adding some distance.



When I said sit, he was already anticipating coming to front, so you can see how I handled that. No big deal, just throw a reset treat, and look how nicely he did the next time! He's also learning how to find stand on the target on his own, without me being right there to help.

Adding Movement to Your Moving Stand

The next step is to add some movement.



I use the front foot target initially when I add movement, but Excel responds so well to the wait that I don't really even need it. When you're first starting this, go slow and cue the dog to stop when the feet are on the target.

And finally, we get to the beginning of the final picture! This was Excel's first time working on moving stands, and I quickly discovered that he responded better with saying "wait" instead of "stand."

The first step is getting the dog to stop in a stand instead of a sit, with you pausing next to the dog. Once your dog can do that, you will slowly start to move away. You can see that was hard for Excel at first, but he got a whole lot better when I started saying wait.

My reward marker "yes" means come to my hand to get the treat, so when I say "yes" Excel is leaving the position to come to my hand.

Additional tips and tricks for the Moving Stand

Notice how slow I'm going as I'm working through this. You can also see that I'm giving the hand signal high and Excel is jumping up towards my hand and landing in a stand, which is my preference. It's certainly not necessary for all dogs to do that.

As he gets more solid on the stand cue, I will start to speed up to normal pace.

After the dog is doing well at this step, I will vary what I do after the stand. In obedience I need to walk forward 10-12 feet and turn
around to face him. In rally I will need that skill as well, and I'll also need to be able to circle around the dog while he maintains the
stand.

If you take the time to break this skill down, it shouldn't take your dog very long to master the moving stand!