# Need some advice



## ataylor (Dec 28, 2008)

When I was competing with Kailey in Novice A, most of the points we lost were from her being to far behind. She walks too slow. I need some advice on how to get her to get into a trot and stay in the trot when we are competing.

Thanks


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Can you give us some more details....how do you teach heeling? Does she lag in practice or only when competing? What have you tried to help?


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Does she just do this in shows? <- Keep in mind this is the reason why I avoid summer shows, because my goldens do not show very well outdoors in hot weather. 

If she's doing this at home, put your dog back on leash and do not let her get away with lagging. This means that you have to pick up the pace and give a quick pop on the leash the instant your dog tries starts dragging her feet. Reward often - and I usually do this by doing straight line heeling with a couple sits+reward (and make these instant sits) thrown in. Or you can do quick heel bursts with frequent release+reward. 

Do not over train. At this point the sessions should only be as long as they are when you are in the ring (5- 10 minutes top).

I know some people who have this problem put their dog on a training collar (choke or pinch) if the dog is really lagging bad and not responding to the corrections. 

If your dog is training well at home or at class, then you need to start building up her conditioning by training her in conditions (hot, crowded, after a long drive) similar to what she'd be showing in. <- Just remember to keep the training shorter.


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## ataylor (Dec 28, 2008)

She mostly lags at shows. She does a little better when we are training. I do give her a pop on the leash when she lags and then she is fine. I will sometimes use bait to keep her up to pace when we are training.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

ataylor said:


> I will sometimes use bait to keep her up to pace when we are training.


That's most of the problem right there. If she can't stay in heel without bait in training, she's sure not going to be able to do it in the stress of a trial.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I recommend the book _Building a Bridge from Training to Testing_


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Without more detail, things I can suggest are walk faster, don't look back at her (causes more lagging) and while retraining, you can even try moving your left shoulder slightly forward; fade this quickly though.

When she catches up with you and heels a step or two break into a game, a song, feed from your mouth, release her to something she really loves etc. Slowly build the time she maintains heel position. 

If you train on a choke or prong and use collar corrections, personally I would get rid of it and make heel position a great place to be (see also Choose to Heel books and tapes). If she is lagging because she does not want to be with you, correcting will make the problem worse. If she is lagging because she doesn't really understand where heel position is, going back to kindergarten as above will retrain her.

If she is lagging because she is not focused on you - start working attention games and watch me games.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Sunrise said:


> Without more detail, things I can suggest are walk faster, don't look back at her (causes more lagging) and while retraining, you can even try moving your left shoulder slightly forward; fade this quickly though.
> 
> *When she catches up with you and heels a step or two break into a game, a song, feed from your mouth, release her to something she really loves etc. Slowly build the time she maintains heel position.*
> 
> ...


I absolutely agree with this... 

One thing I was thinking about after I posted my previous comment... sometimes we over-rely on the leash and this leads to problems when we get into shows and it's taken away from us. So it makes sense to do more heeling off leash during training time and get to that point where it doesn't make any difference whether you have the leash or not. :curtain:

If the lagging is really bad, I would still go back to the beginning with the leash on and re-teach the heel position. Do not allow any lagging whatsoever in training sessions, and try to keep the training short as sometimes dogs who lack the conditioning are more likely to drop back into lagging mode. You want training and show time to be a positive "play time" experience - it's hard to keep that deception going when your dog is tired and not having fun. Once you have the groundwork (on leash) done, then go back to off leash and try to do the majority of your proofing (anywhere, anytime) off leash. 

I assume you have your CD on your dog and are going for open... right? I'm not sure how this may affect the sits/downs, but with some dogs it works to hand them to somebody else until two minutes before you go into the ring. And keep your distance and avoid eye contact with your dog. It prevents you from overtraining before entering the ring and it kinda makes them anxious to be with you and giving you their full attention. <- In theory. My one sister had to use this technique when she showed her golden, as he was a habitual lagger.


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## Titan1 (Jan 19, 2010)

Okay , we kind of talked briefly about this at the show. My advice is you need to pick up your pace. You are walking too slow, you need to move right out and not wait for her. I really think you need to get back into a class and let your instructor help you. It really won't take much and it will help your nerves too! Classes are a great help when you are new and trying to learn everything. There are tons of classes out there all within driving distance and make sure you take a whole session and not just a couple classes here and there. Let me know where looks best for you and I will get you the right instructor to help you get where you need to be. I teach two classes on Monday's that you could jump into. Obedience and then rally. 
Michelle


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Popping a lagging dog is a self-fulfilling prophecy and absolutely demotivating to the dog. It doesn't work. Motivate the dog to go faster, don't punish her for going slower.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

K9-Design said:


> Popping a lagging dog is a self-fulfilling prophecy and absolutely demotivating to the dog. It doesn't work. Motivate the dog to go faster, don't punish her for going slower.


This depends on your timing and your technique...

You do not nag (pop, pull, pop-pop, tug, pull). <- This is demotivating.

Same thing with reaching back and grabbing, smacking, or pinching your dog. <- Stuff that I've seen other trainers do and it scares the heck out of my dog when their critter lets out a yelp. *I don't train that way.* 

You pop - which is catching the dog RIGHT when he's starting to drop out of that perfect heel, and immediately reward and party when the dog reacts appropriately. That is turning a correction into a motivating and positive reinforcement. 

The other thing is to smile and give your dog a pleasant face when he's doing what he should. When I look down at my golden, I expect him to be right there and looking up at me the entire time. If he's not, then I will correct him. At this point, it's just me coming to a complete stop and running off on him. That is all I need to do to keep him on his toes. 

If you are still back at the beginning and your dog is not understanding the heel position, you have to take your training back to the beginning. That means the leash goes back on and you are correcting (verbally or with a pop correction) the instant your dog thinks of dropping out of heel position. These are shorter training bursts and you reward your dog overboard when he does it right.


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## ataylor (Dec 28, 2008)

Titan1 said:


> Okay , we kind of talked briefly about this at the show. My advice is you need to pick up your pace. You are walking too slow, you need to move right out and not wait for her. I really think you need to get back into a class and let your instructor help you. It really won't take much and it will help your nerves too! Classes are a great help when you are new and trying to learn everything. There are tons of classes out there all within driving distance and make sure you take a whole session and not just a couple classes here and there. Let me know where looks best for you and I will get you the right instructor to help you get where you need to be. I teach two classes on Monday's that you could jump into. Obedience and then rally.
> Michelle


I remember that we did talk a little bit about that. I have been picking up my pace since then and she has been keeping up with me a little more now than she was at the show. I noticed that weekend (the weekend of the show) that Kailey walks slow in the obedience ring, but in rally, she picks up her pace a little bit. I am guessing it is because I can talk to her in rally. I am looking into putting her into a class again, but don't know what type of obedience class to enroll into. Where do you teach classes at?


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

- Gradually work up to heeling in high level distractions. Success rate should be well over 90%. 
- Regular casual off-property on-leash walks in varied settings.
- Train in different locations.
- Monitor stress level with other body language. 
- Be aware of your timing and placement of reinforcer. ONLY bring out food when she is next to you. Feed either right where you want her head or toss the food ahead {my preference for lagging dogs]
- If you have used a pivot box exercise with heeling....do so! I find this to be super important!

Heeling is one of my favorites to teach...other than the duration aspect!


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