# "Amped-up" heeling



## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

We started private lessons with a new trainer last night and she was fantastic. She came highly recommended by someone else on this forum (thanks GoldenGirls550!!). 

She lit a fire in Kea that I didn't know was there. Our heeling in the past was just plain frumpy. I even questioned whether Kea had the "drive and focus" I've seen in other goldens. Head down, shuffling along (I should add that pertains to BOTH of us, not just Kea, LOL). We've done a few group classes, but since we're far from the worst, we don't ever get enough attention and the instructors are just too nice. I need more constructive criticism, specific directions, someone to tell it like it is. 

I decided to work with this trainer mainly to help me build my own confidence before we begin competing in obedience. Kea has her RN title, but to be completely honest, I wasn't floored by our performances and I really want to go for high scores when we start working on the CD. I wanted to work with someone who used positive methods successfully, and I wanted it to be fun for Kea. 

The lessons are very pricey, but I think we're going to do every other week for a little while and see how it goes. *sigh* I wish someone would pay me to quit work and train my dog all day


----------



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

That sounds fabulous<:

Heeling should be fun for both you and the dog. Especially goldens.


----------



## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

KeaColorado said:


> We started private lessons with a new trainer last night and she was fantastic. She came highly recommended by someone else on this forum (thanks GoldenGirls550!!).
> 
> She lit a fire in Kea that I didn't know was there. Our heeling in the past was just plain frumpy. I even questioned whether Kea had the "drive and focus" I've seen in other goldens. Head down, shuffling along (I should add that pertains to BOTH of us, not just Kea, LOL). We've done a few group classes, but since we're far from the worst, we don't ever get enough attention and the instructors are just too nice. I need more constructive criticism, specific directions, someone to tell it like it is.
> 
> ...


Boy do I agree! So often I have thought how much I would love to stay home and just work with our dogs! Please post any helpful hints you get. The class sounds awesome! One of the main reason's I'm holding off for now on going for our CD is Finley's heeling as well. I really want the attention and focus, and good scores too. She will heel and I'm sure we could get it, but not to where I want it to be. A while ago I started using her ball as a reward, saw improvements, and then for some reason got away from it again.  I'm back to using the ball and it has made such a difference. I love it when she prances all pretty, head up and sits on a dime. She did some last night in class, which I was so happy for because it's always been one thing in the yard and anther outside of the yard. I've been really focusing on her be able and wanting to do this in unfamiliar places and am starting to see the results. Best of luck to you both!


----------



## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

You sound just like Lexx and I...head down shuffling along. I thought that was okay as long as he was "heeling". Found out quickly in our current class that is not acceptable if I plan on trialling him. Our instructor gave us a new collar and leash and a swift kick in the $#@. I see a huge difference in his "heeling" which we now refer to as "strutting". However, we still have some work to do before we hit the rings next spring (maybe earlier depending on location of trials).

Good luck with your trainer!


----------



## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

Wanted to add, besides the ball (which I leave in an area near where we're working, so she knows it's there and to get to play with it she needs to stay focused), I'm also doing more "touch" in heel position. Also have added lot's of unexpected excited releases. I throw lots of parties for her when she least expects it for a job well done. On a rare occasion, if she is completely not focused, and therefore not working, I pack up my ball and go home. I think this has happened twice at the most, but the next day she was was spot on. I start off heeling with her watching, and if she looks away, I give her a little tap on her head and a "hey!". Then when she looks back, and maintains she gets a big, "Yay, that's what your supposed to do!" This is all a little difficult in class though because our heeling there is in a group and for me to do all of that I would be in the way of whoever is behind me. I think it's all working, but playing with that ball is her favorite prize of all . (Finley is the first dog I've ever trained, so our doberman is getting the benefit of my limited experience and heeling with her is practiced with her head up looking at me and when the attention stops, I turn around and start again. She still loses all focus out of the yard though.) I did not do that with Finley. For you guys also working on this, what have you found that works?


----------



## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

MaureenM, we are now doing many of the same things. The tennis ball stays in the closet until it's time for heeling. We don't have a fenced-in yard, so we're already training in different places. There is a tennis court down the street where we went yesterday, and we have a huge park within walking distance of our house. 

For now, the instructor told me to train off-leash. I'm not allowed to do any leash corrections (even if they aren't conscious) or make any 'uh-uh' noises. Instead of touch, she has me fixing my left hand on my hip, fingers pointed down, with a treat between my index finger and thumb. When Kea sticks her nose up in the 'pocket', she gets a treat. I can hold the treats in my right hand, but I must always deliver them to the left hand first before giving them to Kea. The main motivation is the ball, and the trainer showed me how play with Kea to get her excited before we start heeling. At this point, I'm not even using the word heel. Instead, she's being rewarded for being in the correct position. Basically, I am re-training heel because right now, Kea thinks heel means that her feet are parallel with mine, we are shuffling along, and I will communicate with her using pressure on the leash. Woops. 

One other big mistake I was making was my pace. I was starting out at a slow-normal, which was un-exciting. Now, I start out at a brisk pace. 

I'm not yet sure how we will transition from all of this fun training to heeling at an actual trial (where I won't be able to pull out the tennis ball). Thoughts?


----------



## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

It will come! Sounds like both of you are off to a good start. Big thing, keep heeling sessions SHORT!!!!! Heeling is boring, don't spend a lot of time. Do short session every day. 

I have a tug that I stuff in the back of my pants, pocket or treat bag holder. I pull it out to break off and play. You might consider a ball on a rope. So you can have it to use. However the "jackpot" method with the toy does work. 

I am working on Gabby's CDX, I still if need be put a treat on my right hip to remind her where her position is. So don't worry yet about transitioning when you are ready your trainers will tell you. 

One thing, when Kea loses focus don't tap her head, try tagging her butt, you don't want them to have a reason to duck away from you. Tag her butt, back up and happily say "where were you" then re position and hopefully in a step or 2 reward for correct. I like Bridget Carlson's theory of don't correct in heel position. I don't have her timing, but heeling is boring enough, don't add corrections to it. 

Enjoy the journey. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> I'm not yet sure how we will transition from all of this fun training to heeling at an actual trial (where I won't be able to pull out the tennis ball). Thoughts?


The answer is you will not be completely weaned of using toys or treats to motivate. Ann's teacher is a fabulous trainer. I was watching her work with her 15 month old puppy at a match last week - and it was a lot of short spurts of heeling with toys being pulled out and tossed for him or treats tossed. 

With her grown up dogs who are trialing - the thing that always cracks me up when I see her at shows is her ZOOMING back and forth with the tail of one of those stuffing-free squirrels hanging out the back of her pants.  

The type of heeling work that you describe is how my one teacher starts her students off with heeling. There is no heeling command. You just start moving and have a party when the dog finds heel and the dog is only rewarded in position. 

**** This is slightly off topic. But it does show somewhat how there are different ways of tackling the same issue. With Bertie, I had some problems with him pacing. He would heel nicely and maintain heel position, but be waddling along. I did not necessarily expect him to do heads up heeling, but I wanted nice flowing movement from him - that you get with a trot. 

The conformation classes I've been taking - led me to training gaiting/stacking every morning. And the benefit is that it fixed his movement problem and it was a fairly simple thing to draw him in to a heads up heeling position for obedience. 

My teacher today was raving about the conformation classes making a huge difference. She's been working with me on trying to stop the pacing since he was about 6 months old and what it all came down to was the standard heeling patterns that I work on for obedience training (straight line heeling with halts in the middle and about turns at the end) and my constantly requiring him to adjust to my own pace - this led to his pacing problem to begin with. 

I did chuckle to her about how the conformation classes are messing up our ring set-ups (with conformation you go out there and stack your dog, no sits - so I have Bertie going out there and stretching himself out at my side instead of sitting), but at least with the gaiting - she said it was very clear that it's had a positive impact on heeling.


----------



## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I used to think of heeling as boring – so did my dogs. There might be a connection LOL

I now think of heeling as dancing with my dogs  There are many, many parts to heeling but the 2 biggest components are attitude and precision. Here is where a real balancing act comes into play. And sometimes you will need to let one slide a bit while working on the other side. My focus is to let attitude have the higher priority for my crew – but yep, they forge at times. They dance, they prance and at times seem like they just cannot possibly wait for my instructions. But we have a good time  BTW: I used to be a perfectionist with my dogs but walked out of the rings disappointed with things that went wrong rather than celebrating all that went right – this is my personality so I, personally, needed to change my focus.

Beautiful heeling is a sight to behold, and will almost raise the hair on your neck as you lean forward mesmerized – it truly is that beautiful as both members of the team float in perfect unison. But the precision work which forms the base for great heeling is very focused work and needs to be done in small increments – with physical releases and rewards to help ease the stress – which also builds attitude  but can decrease precision.

So small increments filled with beauty balanced with rewards and games would be my suggestion to you J


----------



## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

Maxs Mom, a ball on a rope. It's about to get reeeeaaaaallllll crazy up in here.  That's a great idea, especially for on-leash training in front of the house where I can't have her off leash safely. 

Sunrise, you hit the nail on the head - I was so focused on precision that attitude was not great. (Mine or hers). That is all changing now, with these new methods I am learning. I too am a perfectionist, I know I need to work on lowering my standards a little for the sake of having fun.


----------



## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I agree with Sunrise. Attitude trumps EVERYTHING!!!! I want to keep Gabby vibrant and looking like she could explode. I mix it up, but attitude is key. I also incorporate spin and lift commands just to mix things up and keep it interesting. 

I do a lot of training in front of my house. Fortunately I can still work off leash. Gabby won't leave me and leaves kids and other dogs alone too. It usually where I work on keeping her butt in and forging, by putting the leash behind me. So I do work on the leash there. It's hard to train walking up and done a side walk. 

I'm glad you folks found renewed interest in obedience. I find I really enjoy the training. Yes like I said I'm a perfectionist but I'm working on me and Gabby. I don't care about anyone else, and I am DETERMINED we both always enjoy it. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

I have an instructor who is mainly focused on handling and precision. She is wildly successful in obedience, and without precision you can't get as far as she has with so many of her dogs. As a first time trainer/handler, I do need someone to teach me how to handle and train for precision. Also, I am a perfectionist. But on the other hand, Molly is not a super confident dog and she really looks to my body language to figure out if what she's doing is right. I don't even have to tell her she got the wrong scent article, she can see it on my straight face. We did a lot of fun heeling, but not very much, and I always focused on her precision, first and foremost. And she was doing GREAT and she loved heeling, until there is pressure on me, and Molly breaks down and her heeling is horrendous. No attention, lagging, etc. I am pretty sure she thinks she's doing something wrong because she feels the pressure I'm feeling and she worries too much about being right. It's as if she thinks I am saying to her, "Now is the time you REALLY have to be right because it COUNTS". That doesn't work with Molly.

So, now I am taking a second class with another instructor who is all about the dog and their attitude. Heeling is no longer about being "right", it's about having fun!! Molly loves to spin so I spin her while heeling. She also did not like Figure 8 very much and used to lag, but I'd spin her before the Fig 8 and she's actually been forging! I also like random reinforcement, running away from her, random releases, etc. She isn't very toy motivated (unless it's a toy that isn't hers) so that makes it a bit more difficult. We do lose precision but I don't care. I used to go into run-throughs thinking "let's see you do the real thing" but now I go in and play! Yes, we're heeling, but we're playing! I love to see Molly having fun! Our instructor said she almost never heels formally and without giving her dog motivation. Make it fun all the time, and in the ring, you just have to go 90 seconds of heeling before giving them a motivational spin or a touch when the exercise is finished. Not worrying about being perfect also helps with the ring nerves.

We have yet to enter, because before I changed my attitude about heeling, we had two really bad experiences at Sanctioned Matches. We had qualifying scores and got first place somehow both times, but that wasn't my dog in the ring. That was someone else's extremely stressed out dog. That made me really sad.


----------



## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Sounds like you have found what Molly needs. 

I have Teddi.....She is the polar opposite of Gabby. She is the reason I found my trainer. I needed a motivator. Teddi does brilliant work in training. She isn't toy motivated, and not "really" treat motivated so she was a tough nut. She can't spin or lift either. Her one thing was cheese balls. LOL it made the training work. Alas taking her out of training to a trial didn't work. Started out well a year ago but each trial got worse. She has 2 novice legs but the title won't be hers. We trained for a year hoping she'd forget. Elephants never forget. Trials are not for her. That's ok too. After the next trial with Gabby (I need to focus on her) I plan to take Teddi to class to play. It will be heart breaking because she will NAIL the novice pattern. No one but myself and my trainer will see it. 

Please keep in mind through all your training realistic expectations of your dogs. It's ok to not be 200, to not be fast in agility, the dogs just want to be with us. They only need 170 and up to qualify and the titles don't list the scores. ENJOY no matter what. It's really all about the journey, and our dogs truly try hard for is every time. Teddi just can't handle trial pressure. It's ok she is still my Princess and I won't stop loving her. We will do what she likes, training.......and cheeseballs. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

Tee-hee, I remember reading about Two-Leg Teddi in another post  

The most important heeling Kea will ever do will continue to be inside a nursing home, where it is witnessed not by a judge but by a circle of sweet-natured, silver-haired folks, some of whom can't remember the names of their loved ones but can remember the familiar motion of slipping a dog's leash over a wrist and slowly clasping fingers around it. Now, if we can nail the novice pattern in there, surrounded by tennis-ball capped canes, we'll be on our way!


----------



## olliversmom (Mar 13, 2013)

My class trainer said something interesting. Said she has been doing dancing with her dogs and the heeling has gone to a new level using it in this way. Fun.


----------



## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

I actually thought about bringing the CD player outside while we're working. I love to watch freestyle and thought it might be fun to do some kind of a routine. If nothing else the neighbors can get a laugh . I chuckled when I read Sunrises' reply that she used to think heeling was boring. It gave me a quick flashback to when I first started practicing basic obedience with Finley. The first week we weren't doing much, sits and recalls maybe, and of course heeling. I remember saying to my DH this is sooo boring, and that I couldn't wait until we had other things to practice. Hmmmm, bet there is something to that . For the longest time I was so worried about her positioning that having her look at me or happily heel was really the furthest thing from my mind. I think now that the positioning is there it became more apparent to me that the attitude wasn't. Our instructor, whom I respect and really do enjoy taking classes with is definitely more concerned with position. She does strongly encourage us to highly praise any time the dogs are looking up ect, and to keep it exciting and fun, but the main focus is usually on positioning. She also encourages us to walk at a brisk pace. (One the things I forgot at the last show N go we did) Our instructor happened to be there, which was a plus as we got a lot of helpful hints...my speed being one of them. Lot's of good advice everyone!


----------



## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

This moved me into really working on "up and cheerful" heeling. I fussed with her today a couple of times, rewarding for the 'cheerful' and not a perfect position. I think this is a great idea.

I had a trainer who told me "Only work on one thing at a time. If you are working on position then only do that. If you are working on drive, just reward for that." 

It's good of you to remind me of that. I have a long, long way to go to get half-way to decent.


----------

