# Agility Question



## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

We are about seven months into agility training and have been doing competition obedience for seven weeks. I'm working on heeling with Logan and have been really working with him getting into heel position. At agility today when I said "Let's Go" which is not my command for heel position (that's "Heel"), Logan got into heel position on my left (it was real pretty lol) when I needed him on my right. He adjusted three times when I tried to move him -- and went back to heel position. I know this can be an issue when working on two different disciplines. If you've done both at the same time, do you just put a right side position on cue to remedy that? I'll ask my agility instructor next lesson. My obedience instructor will just tell me to stop taking agility.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Also, here we are practicing agility. He’s 30 minutes into class and we had back-chained the course. He paused after the dog walk because his target plate treat was stuck in the instructor’s shoe. 😅 We are fading the target plate, but if it’s there he expects a treat. He can move faster, but I don’t blame him as it’s getting up to 90 today and muggy. We have 100 coming up in a couple of days. Yuck.


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## pawsnpaca (Nov 11, 2014)

LOL! Yeah, this ("heeling" on left vs right) is just a training thing. My dogs will right side heel or left side heel because we practice both. He's going to left side heel because that's what has been differentially reinforced. In theory, you won't ever need him to actually "heel" on your right, you just need him (I assume) to be comfortable setting up and/or working on your right - correct? I usually just work with a hand touch to set my dog up where ever I need her. Though to be honest, it's rare I "set up" my dog on my right... I usually set her up in heel position and then tell her to wait while I move where I need to be to start a run. BUT... I know there are times when it's helpful to have them comfortable moving on my right. 

If you look at post #57 on this threat Novice Agility you'll see me doing an exercise with my puppy to teach her "switch." It's a foundational move to start work on back crosses, but it's also a way to teach them to be comfortable moving from left side heel to right side heel. Obviously, this exercise starts slowly with luring with a treat, but my dogs always catch on pretty quickly.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

pawsnpaca said:


> LOL! Yeah, this ("heeling" on left vs right) is just a training thing. My dogs will right side heel or left side heel because we practice both. He's going to left side heel because that's what has been differentially reinforced. In theory, you won't ever need him to actually "heel" on your right, you just need him (I assume) to be comfortable setting up and/or working on your right - correct? I usually just work with a hand touch to set my dog up where ever I need her. Though to be honest, it's rare I "set up" my dog on my right... I usually set her up in heel position and then tell her to wait while I move where I need to be to start a run. BUT... I know there are times when it's helpful to have them comfortable moving on my right.
> 
> If you look at post #57 on this threat Novice Agility you'll see me doing an exercise with my puppy to teach her "switch." It's a foundational move to start work on back crosses, but it's also a way to teach them to be comfortable moving from left side heel to right side heel. Obviously, this exercise starts slowly with luring with a treat, but my dogs always catch on pretty quickly.


Thank you! I'll practice that with him. I've done a similar drill using a toy going back and forth, but have not given it a name. I didn't even think of using a hand touch to move him today. I think I was laughing because he decided to offer up three perfect examples of getting into heel position. 😅 Generally, if I point he'll go to wherever I'm pointing. I guess this just shows how much I've been working on heeling with him lately. lol


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

diane0905 said:


> We are about seven months into agility training and have been doing competition obedience for seven weeks. I'm working on heeling with Logan and have been really working with him getting into heel position. At agility today when I said "Let's Go" which is not my command for heel position (that's "Heel"), Logan got into heel position on my left (it was real pretty lol) when I needed him on my right. He adjusted three times when I tried to move him -- and went back to heel position. I know this can be an issue when working on two different disciplines. If you've done both at the same time, do you just put a right side position on cue to remedy that? I'll ask my agility instructor next lesson. My obedience instructor will just tell me to stop taking agility.


Absolutely no reason to give up either one. He's just working it out. I get my best heelwork out of Winx during Agility class. I have used agility training as a reward for obedience training while she was learning command discrimination, which is her favorite obedience exercise now!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I use 'place' for right heel position (moving into or stationary) and 'strut' for right side movement


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

pawsnpaca said:


> Though to be honest, it's rare I "set up" my dog on my right... I usually set her up in heel position and then tell her to wait while I move where I need to be to start a run.


I remembered you said this and this morning at agility when he hopped into heel position, I told him to wait and got on the other side. Worked like a charm. Thank you!


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