# Heeling, fronts & finishes



## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I am with you, I feel like the other exercises get to a point that I can train less frequently with some occasional proofing to keep them challenged, but heeling, fronts, and finishes are trained almost daily for the dogs entire career. I dont train long heeling patterns that often but do some doodling, turns etc to keep up the dogs knowledge of proper position. Fronts and finishes are practiced endlessly. This is rarely done in a formal training time, but more like if I am walking across the room and a dog walks up to me we will work for a few seconds.

Heeling,fronts and finishes are where the true precision comes into the sport - where one inch off can make a difference. To make sure the dog truly understands the slight variaion in position I think it does take constant tuning. But for those who are not so concerned with every half point I can see where i would not be so important to focus on those things.


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## Titan1 (Jan 19, 2010)

Loisiana said:


> I am with you, I feel like the other exercises get to a point that I can train less frequently with some occasional proofing to keep them challenged, but heeling, fronts, and finishes are trained almost daily for the dogs entire career. I dont train long heeling patterns that often but do some doodling, turns etc to keep up the dogs knowledge of proper position. Fronts and finishes are practiced endlessly. This is rarely done in a formal training time, but more like if I am walking across the room and a dog walks up to me we will work for a few seconds.
> 
> Heeling,fronts and finishes are where the true precision comes into the sport - where one inch off can make a difference. To make sure the dog truly understands the slight variaion in position I think it does take constant tuning. But for those who are not so concerned with every half point I can see where i would not be so important to focus on those things.


Very well said.. That is what makes that final difference. Timing on your turns ,your footwork.. all of these little things need a little work everyday..Well with that said I better get out there and start working.. We have been off for three weeks.. and we have two show weekends back to back...YIKES..


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I was telling Michelle the other night that I seem to be a much better trainer of fronts than finishes. I can get straight fronts from my dogs much more frequently than straight finishes. I'm just starting to really work fronts seriously with Flip with things in his mouth or coming off jumps. He seems to have a really good understanding of just plain fronts so now we've got to get the kind he'll have in open and utility. Finishes, eh, we'll keep working..


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Yeah, for now since Hunt Tests don't score on delivering to front, but boy oh boy does obedience, I am having Faelan deliver everything to front - he was getting confused between delivering birds/bumpers to the heel position and dumbbells/gloves to front; since I'd like to finish his obedience up without too many 5 point no front/finish hits I figure I can always leave field so he goes to heel or side only when cued...


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

when I was doing field work with my boys I _always _put my left arm out as they approached as a signal to get into heel position. I would also do drills for the dogs to tell the difference with some bumpers - if my arm was out then go straight to heel and if my arms are down by my side they were to go to front. My dogs get confused on a lot of things but that was one area that was always very clear in their minds and I never got a skipped front in obedience from them (thankfully LOL). Actually I think the drill really cleared up in their heads what was expected of them.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

My guy has reliably straight and fast fronts and finishes (both ways). But because he is a high stress dog, I know that it would not take much for me to lose him on the heel. Especially if we are having a bad day and he isn't "on". So I'm always trying to sneak in heeling practice when he is on. And when he isn't. 

And I just have to share this, because I have no idea how I could prep for this and I can't claim it as an excuse because plenty of other dogs were working through it without any problems - but there was a malfunction in the speaker system at the trial we were at today. Seconds before we went into the ring. It was this high pitched hum from the speakers that was just horrible. And even though he was prancing and glued to me during the warmup, I unfortunately lost my noise sensitive dog before we went into the ring. :doh: 

All of the training and polishing and doodling work that we've done (and I've said on other threads that heeling is something we are strong at as a team and I love working on it with him) probably salvaged the run-through (we got fourth place). Because as BAD as he was, he still stayed with me and completed the exercises.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

My boy seems to not have figured out yet how to split brain cells between thinking about straight fronts and keeping his mouth still at the same time.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

So, I had a 2 hour rental last night with a friend and spent close to half of it working on transitions from normal to slow to normal etc. 

I have always disliked transitions and Figure 8 and am proud to say all 3 of them had beautiful Figure 8s last night (the second half of the rental we did quasi run thrus), but boy do my transitions need work. I can see where my training emphasis for the next several sessions needs to be LOL

Jodie: Does Flip bark or jump smile with the mouth wide open while fronting?

Megora: Did you get a leg? What class were you in? Loud sudden sounds are very hard to train for - one of my instructors has us banging on shelves, picking up gates and dropping them, practicing near busy roads etc It does help since you just never know what can happen. My training partners are also great about making noise on request LOL


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

As an inexperienced obedience trainer I have felt like those fronts and finishes do seem to be a deal breaker for a lot of people from getting the higher scores. They seem so hard to train perfectly--getting a dog to know where they are supposed to be and be there consistently!

Scout has had difficulty with returning to heel from field to obedience. I am starting to switch words and using front to mean a perfect front and use that in obedience. While I don't feel like i is necessary to do that, it is bothering me enough that *I* created a gray area for her that I am working on switching.


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Libs fronts were nice, tight, square, but I knew I had a problem with her understanding when I sent her to her dumbbell and as she left I turned my back to her...she promptly returned to a beautiful tight, square, front ... to my behind!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

oh I was referring to dumbbell/article in his mouth. It takes him a lot of thought ad effort to keep himself from chomping!


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## Titan1 (Jan 19, 2010)

Loisiana said:


> My boy seems to not have figured out yet how to split brain cells between thinking about straight fronts and keeping his mouth still at the same time.


Titan and I had a discussion a few times about his lack of ability to not pant with the dumbbell in his mouth which would results in him rolling it in front of me. He would never drop it or anything just when he was siting front he would open his mouth a little and pant.(Yes he was force fetched and yes I did correctly..So no I need no advice..Thanks anyway)..Took us while to be creative because I refuse to correct in the front position. My last dog for whatever reason would walk into front...it will work out..


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

A way you can really test a dogs understanding of finding front is to have the dog in heel position and give your front command, without giving ay additional body cues. Can the dog put himself into a perfect front all on his own? The majority of dogs need at least a tiny bit of help.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Titan1 said:


> Titan and I had a discussion a few times about his lack of ability to not pant with the dumbbell in his mouth which would results in him rolling it in front of me. He would never drop it or anything just when he was siting front he would open his mouth a little and pant.


okay I dont know how this little sperm mixup occurred but it obvious to me that Flip is not a pretend Titan son he has to be a REAL Titan son! That is exactly what my boy does!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Sunrise said:


> Megora: Did you get a leg? What class were you in? Loud sudden sounds are very hard to train for - one of my instructors has us banging on shelves, picking up gates and dropping them, practicing near busy roads etc It does help since you just never know what can happen. My training partners are also great about making noise on request LOL


Yep. First rally novice leg, hopefully we get the next two next month so we can get bumped up to advanced which is a bit more fun and I don't have to worry about accidentally tightening up on the leash when doing the fronts and finishes. 

With all of his forging badness he was still one point out of third place. And definitely that was pure luck. <- And it wasn't just him being bad. The handler errors bug me the most. We lost 6 points on redos alone, and I'm second guessing myself for choosing to do those. Ohm. And I even lost a point or two at the end when I saw the finish line ahead and reached down to release him. Before crossing the finish line. :doh: :doh: 

The judge was awesome though. If I see him doing regular novice in winter, I would definitely show under him again. 

At the same show I saw a golden score 200. I've seen them come close at 199, but this was the first time I saw a perfect score.  

@sounds - Jacks has been getting better about training around banging sounds. I think my instructors need to get a PA system set up and set off random electric squealing sounds while people are warming up and entering the ring. : <- And I shouldn't laugh, because my old instructor HAD a loud speaker that she used for proofing us way back then. 



> Libs fronts were nice, tight, square, but I knew I had a problem with her understanding when I sent her to her dumbbell and as she left I turned my back to her...she promptly returned to a beautiful tight, square, front ... to my behind!


This gave me a laugh this morning reading it. How sweet these dogs are<: 



> oh I was referring to dumbbell/article in his mouth. It takes him a lot of thought ad effort to keep himself from chomping!


I cured my guy of that problem... but now he brings the dumbbell back and sits there with it slackjawed. I'm hoping that problem will go away as we train...

Oh, and he will pounce at the dumbbell when he's overexcited about retrieving it. :doh:



> A way you can really test a dogs understanding of finding front is to have the dog in heel position and give your front command, without giving ay additional body cues. Can the dog put himself into a perfect front all on his own? *The majority of dogs need at least a tiny bit of help. *


We practice this for rally and I do have to say that I still need to use a hand signal for him to jump out and swivel. I've tried just doing it without and that's when I get the sideways fronts. Which I guess means that my guy doesn't know 100% what a front is if I'm not giving him that sight picture or those permitted guides/cues.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Congrats on the leg!

I know stays have been an issue for Jacks, have you considered training him for Graduate Open? No stays there, and it could be a good way for him to get comfortable showing while working on making the stays more solid.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Loisiana said:


> oh I was referring to dumbbell/article in his mouth. It takes him a lot of thought ad effort to keep himself from chomping!


When my instructor saw Scout's dumbbell (with some chew marks) she promptly told me we are not allowed to retrieve anymore! She put us on Level 0 for the formal retrieve and gave me a dowel to train with. I am going to be in BIG trouble if it gets chomp marks in it.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Loisiana said:


> okay I dont know how this little sperm mixup occurred but it obvious to me that Flip is not a pretend Titan son he has to be a REAL Titan son! That is exactly what my boy does!


I think it's believable enough, same silly heeling grin too


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Loisiana said:


> Congrats on the leg!
> 
> I know stays have been an issue for Jacks, have you considered training him for Graduate Open? No stays there, and it could be a good way for him to get comfortable showing while working on making the stays more solid.


Thanks<:

I've been meaning to look into optional classes. I know the one for novice has everything on leash, including the stays. I just haven't seen these classes at the trials I've been at and have been shy about entering them when I don't know what they look like.  

As of right now rally is our optional classes for getting the guy used to trialing. Or rather making sure *I* don't get show shy while waiting for him to figure out stays are stays no matter where we are. : As soon as I feel confident that he will stay as long as it takes for me to speed walk around the room, beginner novice will be next.

ETA - thought I'd throw this pic in... my sister had problems with her camera (she forgot to fix for the indoor lighting and didn't wait for the focus).


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## Stretchdrive (Mar 12, 2011)

I have always been good about training heeling, and finishes, but terrible about training fronts, so I have decided that I kinda need a front training journal or something. What I need is people to ask me if I trained my fronts each day. I usually just forget about training them Today we worked hard on our fronts, and both dogs did great. I could actually see the progress by the time I was done!! It was well worth it!!


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