What command do you use for the release? Also, I'm re-teaching the heel exercise to my dog because the first time around I didn't get the results I wanted and I don't think my training approach was very clear. Should I keep the same command or change it?

I use the word 'free' as it doesn't come up a lot in general conversation... especially in the goofy high pitch happy tone I use for it... others I know use 'ok' and the dogs end up confused. Another club member uses OK in OB and then wonders during protection when the TD tells her to do somethign and she says 'ok' to the TD and then the dog then decides to do something else... Like go take a cheap shot <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

What exactly are you looking to change about your heeling? Remember re-training something takes twice as long as teaching it the right way in the beginning and you have to remember that the dog will revert to its foundation when stressed...

Commands to a dog are just a word association. If you teach your dog that the word stand means sit,then he will sit when you say stand. If you want to say house for the release command, thats the word he will connect with being released. Are you sure you want to retrain the heel, or just polish it up?

Well I'm re-training using attention, teaching him to keep his eyes on me. Right now I've gone back to the basics. He looks at me and gets a treat. This is the second day we've done it and he understands that treats come when he looks at me so he'll stare for 8-10 seconds. Its building up in the amount of time he stays focused on me.

His heeling as it was before, was mediocre (my fault). I was tying exercises together too much...asking for the sit at the end of the heeling pattern, and doing turns, and different speeds before he was really understanding the concepts. So he often lagged on the turns, sat slowly, etc. I was trying to fix all the problems at once and my thinking then was that if I put the different components together it would keep it interesting for him. I should've broken up the exercises. I just got the book Schutzhund Obedience: Training Thru Drive, and have gotten a part of the way though it. Now that I know what I bad handler I've been I want to go back and fix it (its too late to do it right the first time).

I know dogs revert back to their foundation when stressed (from the book mentioned above) ... but is there any other way to fix it? I'm thinking that if I associate a new command with it, he'll think of it as a different exercise.
Maybe?

I think you hit on your own answer. Trying to do to much in one exercise. Tom Rose heeling tape(Ed has it) shows how to break it down one step at a time. When he gets a few steps in a straight line, that's all he does for that exercise. Left turns, right turns, about face, all taught as seperate exercise. Changing the word could help avoid confusion.

You could change languages, some people do it... I don't see a need to.. but I could be in the wrong. New guy just joined our club with a really nice 2 yr old rottie, and he didn't teach him attention in the beginning either. The dog is picking it up fine without a command change. Of course, it kills his owner when the dog works better for me or Darcie. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> What can I say, the dog just likes women... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You just need to remember patience when retraining, it will work eventually. On the other hand I do use "heel" instead of "fuss" when heeling in town, but that is because we are not doing attention heeling, and because the schnauzer uses heel so two dogs with the same command makes walking two dogs MUCH easier...

One thing Deanna touched on. You don't want your dog doing a formal heel every time you go for a walk. This will bore the dog sensless after a while. I use heel for formal obedience. For every day walking,rarely on leash, I just say get over here, or slow down, or far enough. When walking off leash,informally, even saying hey, reminds them where they should be. I still think, in your case, changing the command might cause less confusion for the dog. Saying "fuss" just sounds impressive to me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Yeah, my in-town heeling is more or less, stay on my left, don't drag me, and stay out of trouble... sometimes I just revert to 'come with me' depends on how much proximity I am looking to maintain...

One thing the book touched on with the commands was that using them for everyday use can destroy the meaning. Like asking for a sit for nail clipping, etc. I'm thinking if I switch the commands over to German, it would prevent this from happening. I also have a problem of my family using our training commands for their own devices....I think it could only lead to more confusion if I don't change the commands over.

The one thing I'm not sure about, is I've gotten Zak to do a really nice finish. Is it OK to keep the command for this (heel) so I don't have to reteach it? Or should I start over and use the german word for it?

Thanks for your help <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

- Dana -

I use 'take a break' for my release.

Also, I feel the only way the dog is going to get bored using the commands everyday, is if the everyday person forgets to give a reward. This can be a simple good dog on up to a treat or throwing a ball. People forget to PRAISE more often then anything.