# Heeling specifics



## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

I'll preface this with: I've read the rules!

--Attention to dog. During heeling....how desirable is it that the handler is looking ahead v looking at the dog? Obviously you need to know where you are going and don't want to lean in over the dog or rotate shoulders... What tends to be done? Are there good reasons for it? 

--Head dropping on about turns: My dog is doing this...his body is still in heel position. Should I train him to keep his head up? Any good reason to or not? He is more likely to if we are doing many in a row but not working on that skill (yesterday we were using controlled distractions, important training piece was walking past. The about turns were necessary to change direction). 

--Down to a sit in the signal exercise. Do the front legs or back legs stay in the same spot? I've been told "Back legs" so there is no question that the dog is NOT coming forward". But...wanted a few more comments on this than the survey of one person

--Front with dumbbell: Should the front be as close as without the db? My dog is almost toe-to-toe (right there, and not usually touching) without it. With the dumbbell he sits a couple inches further, easily within "petting range". The behavior is extremely likely to deteriorate. "Front with dumbbell" has not been trained, this is what I've been given and if it won't hurt us in any way shape or form I'll keep it.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

- you don't want to turn your head to look at your dog. You can move your eyes to look at them, but better not to move the head back. I use the following rule of where to look during heeling: normal pace I look 4 feet ahead, slow is 2 ft, fast 8 ft, halt look down at my toes.

- you'll hear differing opinions on this. I personally train my dogs to turn with heads up

-Front legs move to back legs is definately the preferred way to go. The other way (back legs move up to front) is perfectly legal, but more likely to cause the dog to take a step or two (or more) forward.

- The goal of fronts should be as close as possible without touching. Keep in mind that's it's not just pass/NQ on front distances. If the dog is within touching range but isn't close enough to be what the judge considers the "perfect picture" it's scoreable. Some of my dogs tend to not front as close as they could (not far enough out to be scorable though), but I always make them come in closer in training so that the distance doesn't begin to increase even more over time.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I sure don't claim to be an expert, but my opinions are in red:



RedDogs said:


> I'll preface this with: I've read the rules!
> 
> --Attention to dog. During heeling....how desirable is it that the handler is looking ahead v looking at the dog? Obviously you need to know where you are going and don't want to lean in over the dog or rotate shoulders... What tends to be done? Are there good reasons for it?
> 
> ...


Again, depends on the dog's style. When he comes back with the DB, especially on the ROH, how fast is he moving? I've seen a LOT more dogs lose points and/or NQ on the ROH for BUMPING the handler than for being too far away. 
Why would the behavior deteriorate? If he is a little further away than you'd like him on a particular retrieve, just tell him to get closer! He will quickly learn what's an acceptable distance.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Thanks for the comments. Any specifics on why attention to the dog is undesirable? That's how it's been trained....but I didn't know if it was an "unwritten rule" or the current fashionable thing to do.

On pivots he does -no- head drop. On the about turn, he will drop for a moment about halfway around, still attentive to me, still physically in heel position. I do the "little steps" as we call it, consistent pace. 

He does front feet-to-back but it's not something we've done a lot of...I wanted to be sure we were doing the right thing before I reinforced too many responses. Some of our training group are working on back feet to front for ring sport where it is desirable.

I've been told many times that some behaviors deteriorate with the stress of trials...including front distances. Ours does to the extent that he may have feet on me in training but never in formal chains. Over the last 12 months his formal-recall-chain front has always been with his toes 2-3" from mine. As we haven't had any change in that...I would not expect the front to become further way at other times. With the dumbbell the few repetitions we've done of front, his toes have been 4-6" from mine, with his head over them/a bit further forward. I could teach him to get as far forward, but I wanted to see if that was a good use of our time... 

I doubt he will actually bump me, but I might have to close my eyes so I don't flinch. We've done set ups where he's coming down hills to front and he doesn't hit me....but I can't make myself believe it!

Thanks again. I appreciate the pieces of consistency... the conflicting information on things can be hard to sort through.


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