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heeling excercises

sunshinekisses

sunshinekisses

Well-known member
So I am fairly confident on training a big dog but this small pup has got me confused. How do I teach heel with treats without bending down?
 
I'm afraid that bending down and having a funny walk is what you have to do, especially if you want a competition level 'close'.
 
Bending down, patting your leg..I have seen some use a tool like a back scratcher or other type of long thin item to use like a hand to direct the back end so they don't have to bend over..also a wooden spoon with some peanut butter or squirt cheese on it to reach down to treat or bring them up to position..it is difficult to transition from a big dog to a small dog.
 
We are working on heel too, for rally. My trainer suggested working on heeling with your pup next to a wall. This will keep his back end in while he is learning without having to bend down. I just wish we had a longer hallway!!!
 
I'm not sure about this, as |'ve never done it, but I imagine that a dog trained with an implement, would not then look to your hand, which is what you want.
 
Barbara Nixon said:
I'm not sure about this, as |'ve never done it, but I imagine that a dog trained with an implement, would not then look to your hand, which is what you want.
Click to expand...


You can hold the implement in your hand in front of your stomach or wherever you are placing your hand and hold it down to get your dog into position or for a reward then bring it back up to where you are going to the midsection...who do not need to keep down at the dog's level all the time..
 
Thanks for the idea Debjen...I might try to wooden spoon. I was trying to do attention heels without tug for attention. With my bigger dogs I always did the run away and reward (if that makes sense) but I didn't want to tug the leash with Sunshine...I was hoping to completely treat train and add clicker later for speed.
 
babara, I am not sure about implement is this any reward? I will be working on the watch command to get her to look at me. I do this with lure reward (food treat).
 
No. What I meant was : If you have a treat on the end of, eg, a stick (you can buy special pointing sticks for heelwork to music ), the dog will focus on the end of the stick where the treat is, rather than on your hand. You could, of course gradually raise up the stick (implement0, but i would find that clumsy.

When I moaned about having to bend to Izzy and Joly, my trainer used to joke that it served me right for having little dogs--He is over 6 feet and has shelties !

The bending down doesn't last long, with a willing dog and there would not be a need to retrain to hand watch. An afterthought: You could train 'Watch me' while sitting on a chair.'
 
oh, okay. That makes more sense now...so expect some bending over and then transitioning. I think I will go hardware shopping for a suitable "stick".
 
Yep, when I started off with Beau I learned the bending down & funny walk too :D but within a very short time, I could straighten up and just keep a treat in the fingers of my left hand.
 
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