# Training V1 - Just Berts



## rhondas (Sep 10, 2010)

@Megora

I can't believe all the training you do with Bertie and wish I could be as diligent as you. I watched the video and here's my two cents. Bertie is crabbing most of the time. It's probably because he is not sitting straight when you start. I would suggest training your starts as thought you were going into a trial or it will become a bigger problem to solve later on. 

I mentioned this to you at another time. Crabbing can be a result of the dog wanting to get the treat. Both my dogs (adult and puppy) stopped crabbing when I stopped having food on my body. I only jackpot for heeling.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Thanks Rhonda.... we train every day. Or try to. It's tough getting everything done with 2 dogs.  

As far as straight sits.... that's not necessarily it. He has very straight sits.  The pic below is what he looks like when I start off heeling - and it definitely is something I'm anal about. I do not like crooked butt sits while heeling.  

The luring, unfortunately pulls his front end in and causes a little crabbing. Another problem is I am not walking in a straight line when I'm walking in a straight line. I'm stepping sideways into him or away from him - which causes or emphasizes the crabbing. That's where I'm sloppy. 

When I heeled him in a circle at the end and tucked my hand in at my hip, his heeling smoothed out. That's something I need to work on more and more (left and right circles) with very short stretches of straight heeling - at least until he gets out of this gawky phase.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I thought the heeling towards the end of the video was very pretty  One comment I would make is that at Bertie's age (and with my Brady), attitude rules - and it looks like Bertie has great attitude. 

I work precision in very short bursts now; something I have learned is possible even while working for attitude & joy.


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## MarieP (Aug 21, 2011)

One thought. I agree that you should do more circles. His about turns are cute, but he swings his behind waaaay out when he comes out of it. I would do more left "u-turns" and large left circles. I think that will help the crabbing some.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Will do. 

I didn't actually realize he was flaring his rear on the abouts until watching the videos. Looking down at him in heel position, I just see his front end in position. I wonder if I should guide or adjust to get him tighter on the right about turns in addition to working more on the lefts U's and circles.

I wonder if I do an exaggerated T if it would help with the abouts. Right now I mainly try to keep my feet under me and move our fast to keep drive up. But he might need something slower....


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

Yep, his attitude is super on the end heels. I'm super jealous. Wish Maddie and I could learn to do that.


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## MarieP (Aug 21, 2011)

Megora said:


> Will do.
> 
> I didn't actually realize he was flaring his rear on the abouts until watching the videos. Looking down at him in heel position, I just see his front end in position. I wonder if I should guide or adjust to get him tighter on the right about turns in addition to working more on the lefts U's and circles.


It's hard to adjust the rear end by just controlling the front end. When Riot and I started learning halts, we worked on keeping the rear in and were able to translate that to moving. Here's how we did it: treat in left hand, leash in right hand. As you are halting, treat moves the dog's head left and you pull the leash (steady pull) across your body to the right. The opposing forces keeps the rear end in and the front end straight. It takes a little bit of coordination on the handler's part, but it really helped get Riot's little butt in. Just an experiment to try out.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Have you tried the 2 leash method that Connie Cleveland uses? One leash Is in the normal position. The second leash around your back and into your right hand. Clip the first leash into the normal place of a pinch collar. The the second leash locks onto the D ring of the pinch, so they are hooked into 2 separate parts of the pinch. This 2 leash work does best with a pinch. Now you have more control and can help with the butt swing out. Have you tried this method? I'm no expert and my young girl will swing out for the treat too.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

@Stacy - what I do, and how I worked with Jacks was putting the leash behind my back. This trains the dogs to "keep close". This works with whatever collar you have on the dog.

I do not use prong collars with Bertie right now. Just choke or regular buckle collar. 

I do already work with Bertie a little bit with steering to the outside of his face with the treat hand. That's why his left pivots are pretty good. I've just been trying to get back to training with my hand on my hip and working focus (eyes) as opposed to training him to fix on my hand/treat. 

That said, I'm planning to get him out for training again this week with a camera running to see what I can do to actually help stop the crabbing. Basically do a lot of left circles, left abouts, and serpentines maybe....


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

@Kate,

Also consider the low-techie method ... simply heel against a curb  or other low lying obstacle


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

@Sharon - or hallway heeling.


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## Bentleysmom (Aug 11, 2012)

I always enjoy watching your videos! I should tape Bentley's training sessions. I notice Bertie did what Bentley does to me. When I call him he comes running at me so fast he bumps into me. I've tried to find a way to prevent that but no luck yet. I always thought it was because he's "special"  but seeing Bertie do it maybe it's just the puppy in him??


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

@Joyce - yep.  

Right now is all about motivating fast and HAPPY recalls.... they learn a little control down the road. Jacks used to slam into me the same way when he was a pup.


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