I have seen videos of Schutzhund trained dogs and when they show the obedience part I've seen the dog do this thing where they come right in front of the handler with his nose on his/her belly, with or without a retrieved object. What is this called?

Sometimes the handler runs backwards and the dog stays in that position, running in sync with the nose still on the belly. What is that called?

What is it called when the dog runs behind the handler in a tight circle and winds up in the proper starting heel position?

Does Ed's video on Competition Heeling cover this stuff? It blows me away, it's really cool to watch. Is it very difficult to train?

Thanks for the info!

Sounds like they're practicing the recall/front position to get the dog in closer.
The return to heel is called a finish in akc obedience, don't know what the german term for that is...

Unfortunately the competition heeling dvd doesn't cover finishes or any extra fancy stuff that you see people do. I heard that Ed is working on a "competition heeling with Bernhard Flinks" DVD so hopefully he'll include finishes on that.

I'd also love to see the sit/stand/down in motion included... always wondered how those were trained (effectively) lol.

I have the leerburg "competition heelng with Tom Rose" DVD and I think it's great. I'm following the methods there and my pup is doing wonderful heeling. Can't wait till the Bernhard Flinks heeling version becomes available, I'll be getting it too

I just got the "Competition Heeling with Tom Rose" a few weeks ago....What a great DVD!!

Like every other Leerburg video it is as helpful for those of us who just want a well-behaved companion as I'm sure it is for others out there who intend to work their dogs.

This is a good post, I was thinking about ordering that video myself as what Sara mentioned was exactly what I think is so nifty and impressive about competition heeling.

My 14 week old Carbon can do the finish (not perfectly, but he totally gets it and I lOVE that) and I would love to do what I see in all of the obedience videos. Please, anyone, chime in with some info on how to train our dogs to do that!!

I've been teaching my dog the "head on the tummy" thing because he's hectic when returning the dumbbell, and my thought was that if he has his head resting on my stomach, he's less likely to jerk his head around saying "Take this blasted dumbbell and give me my d*** ball!!!" I haven't reached the point yet where my dog will follow me in that position, but here's how I trained him to put his head on my stomach and look up. Given that I made this up, and it's the first dog I've tried it on, I'll be glad for any pointers and suggestions. Okay, here goes:

Start with the dog sitting in front of you. Either lure him in close to you, or step close to him. Get his attention with a treat held close to your eyes. Say "Tummy" or some other command. At some point, if you move the treat down a bit, or he's anxious for it, or you step close enough to him, he's going to touch your stomach with his nose, probably unintentionally. Immediately mark it (I use Ed's "voice marker" technique) and give him the treat. Repeat this several times. If you timing is good, the dog will soon make the connection that touching your stomach is what gets him the treat. If your timing is bad, it may take a while longer. But eventually, you can say "Tummy" and the dog will touch your stomach. When that's consistent, start delaying the mark and reward by 1/2 second, 1 second, 3 seconds, 1/2 second, and so on. The idea is to get him to keep his nose there, rather than just touch and go. Build up the length of time until he can hold it for quite a while (please don't ask me to define "quite a while"!).

When he's consistently holding the position for a long time, have him do a recall, then immediately ask for "Tummy" while he's sitting in front. Practice, practice, practice, and he'll eventually do the tummy automatically when he comes in to you.

Okay, that's as far as I've gotten with my guy. I think the next step for me is to start backing up with very small steps while he has his head resting on my stomach.

Again, take these instructions with the big caveat that it worked on my dog, and I made it up because I couldn't find any instructions on how to do it, and I haven't finished the process.

Oh, and if you have a small dog, substitute "Knee" for "Tummy" in the above instructions. If you have a REALLY small dog, you might need "Ankle".

In focused fussing the idea is for the dog to be looking into your eyes the whole time. Look again at dogs that do this well &you will see they are looking into their handlers eyes, not so much putting their nose in the stomach. You teach focus before you fuss, then when fussing use a toy or tug to keep drives up. Everyone in a while as dyou are fussing forward, just back up real fast wich brings the dog back into you, also reward with a nice bite & play with either the tug or toy. I don't think I would ask for a "tummy", I would just make sure every time I called "here" I "helped" my dog into the correct postion beofre reward.

Good points, Susan. But how do you get the dog to actually rest his head on your tummy while in motion (or even at the standstill)? You said "help the dog into the right position" - do you mean, say with a leash? I taught "tummy" separate from focus/fuss/anything else to get him comfortable with having his head there and to calm him down with the dumbbell. And when he has his head there, he HAS to be looking up at me. Now when he does a recall, he's coming in close and adding the "tummy" on his own. Not all the time yet, but it's getting more consistent. I do have to say the big problem with this is he has a rocket recall and often can't stop in time, so he winds up running into me in his attempt to come fast and close. Anyone have a cure for THAT ?

You don't want the dog to be resting his head on your stomach. In fact, there is a potential for loss of points in schutzhund with the dog constantly bumping & touching the handler. You want his head turned & looking up, but not resting on your stomach. Now, if he is coming in too hard on your recall, consider a shorter distance for a while so he can't build up speed enough to hurt you or knock you down. Reward him with a food drop from yuor mouth when he comes in right. For the dog to be in the correct position while fussing or recall he must be in drive so swithc things up, back up, flash the tug, give him a bite, out & immediate back into fussing. My best advise, go back to basics & teach focus first, fuss a few steps, back up, reward, etc..

I'll definitely try the shorter distance. Will save on shirt cleaning, if nothing else, especially when it's a bit muddy out.

But this all begs the question (or at least a variation of it) from the original poster: what the heck are those folks in the videos doing? I know I've seen several stills and videos of Bernhard Flinks' dog resting his head with the dumbbell, and I could have sworn, although I can't tell you on which page, that there's a picture somewhere on this website with Cindy where her dog is doing the tummy bit (but without the dumbbell) -- or was it somewhere else?

p.s. You're dead right about working on the basics of focus, by the way. Have you been talking to my club training director?

No, I haven't been talking to your TD, but I did go to a Dean seminar this weekend! As he has said many times to me through the years, most everything in ob can be corrected by having perfect basics, so when in doubt, go back!!!OK, here is an old german trick I learned from Dean. Since your dog comes in nice & close already I bet this will work for you. When your dog comes in at the recall, lean back, arch your back & stick your belly way out. Slowly stroke your dog from the tip of the nose to the back of the head. This will make the head arch up & onto you. Let food fall out of yor mouth down your belly to the dogs mouth & calmly praise. Do this really relaxed & slow so the dog finds this position to be very safe.