teaching a dog to do a backflip?

[Louise]

I saw an Australian Shepherd playing frisbee fetch in the park yesterday, and whenever the owner waved the frisbee in a certain way the dog would jump HIGH in the air and do this little backflip type move - it was really cool! I asked the man how he taught his dog to do this but he didn't speak English. Anyone know how to teach a dog acrobatics?

[BigDogBruiser]

Hmm...

I think I've seen what you're talking about with Aussies, and from what I've been told it's a natural behavior that some dogs just "have." In other words, they teach themselves. I could be wrong here, but I can't imagine how you would explain to a dog how to do a backflip if it didn't already know how. Maybe it watched another dog do it? But where did that dog learn the trick? Kind of a chicken and the egg thing.

[SCTrojan]

you could always try busting one out yourself in front of the dog. monkey see, monkey do...