I need a new exercise to teach and i think the dog heeling backwards while i'm walking fowards, like in french ring, looks like it would be fun to try and learn for me and my dogs, i watched a few videos and thought it was a very cool exercise. The incremental steps would be much appreciated, so far my biggest problem is my 9mo old flys over to my left side all happy when i try to turn around to face the opposite direction from him (in the hallway in my house), can i teach it without a 2nd person? So far, i've only managed to make my bride laugh at us <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />. Any advice on start to finish would be great, and thanks in advance for your time,
AL

Hey Al, Ithought that would be a good challenge for us also. I will be watching this thread for info. PM me if you find out anything

Use a tug or a ball first. Hold the toy at your waist in front and walk slowly into the dog. when the dog takes a step back, give the bite. After the dog is walking backwards in front of you comfortably, start moving the toy over to your heel position and reward often. If you give this behavior a command like "back", you can use the command later if you have a decoy behind you. This will create the foundation for the defense of handler exercise. And you can do it yourself. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So what do you do if your dog refuses to walk backwards, keeps trying to turn around, or just sits down everytime you walk into him n he'd rather fall over backwards than get up and walk backwards?

Alright, sounds easy enough <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />, though i'm a little concerned he might go for the waist high ball in front of me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />, i won't take my eyes off of him for a second, thanks scott,
AL

step on his toes. You can also get a handful of treats and walk it into his muzzle. He'll back up while focusing on the food reward. Whatever works.

OK so if anyone is interested in this and has the problem I mentioned above of my dog wanting to sit down when I walk into him... this is what just worked for me, and he caught on pretty quick....

1x flat collar
1x 12" traffic leash
1x hotdog

had my dog facing me, i stepped over his head so i was standing over his shoulders, my left hand on his 12" leash in front of me, his head between my legs behind me, hotdog in my right hand. He's gotten really good at trying to nibble at a hotdog between my fingers so he doesnt scarf the whole thing in one go, I keep walking forwards (backwards for him) with my hand forcing food into his teeth and my legs and the 12" leash guiding him backwards so he can't sit down and can't veer off to the left or right. I did this a 3 or 4 times over a 12ft stretch praising the hell out of him excitedly while repeating his "achteruit" command over and over, "achteruit! good achteruit! good achteruit! ... achteruit! good achteruit!", then the 5th time I stood in front of him and didn't need to guide him, he caught on to what I was trying to do... from here on in I can use the methods suggested above. Stepping on his toes just annoyed him though <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

It's amazing how stupid you can look while training your dog <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I do wood working in my garage and have a narrow passage between the wall and a rack where I store all my sheet goods. It's about 8ft long, and to narrow for my dog to turn around. I simply walk towards him and repeat the "back" command. Every time he backed up, he got rewarded with food.

Is the reverse heel covered in any training videos that you know about? I have had no luck teaching this.

I havent spent a whole heck of alotta time on this, but he kinda gets the concept without sitting now, but he wont do it unless I basically shove him backwards n reward him for taking the steps even tho he's not volunteering to do it. Is this normal? lol.