To refresh, I am working on focused healing with Marco (8 month rottie) for the purpose of schutzhund. His positioning is improving and he's not forging ahead much anymore but he doesn't stay focused on me. When I start moving he looks ahead where he's going. After a few minutes he will look back up at me when I say foose but then usually looks back away pretty quickly. After a few more minutes and many foose commands he will sometimes stay focused better. I should add that I mark and reward when he looks. Then when he focuses longer I mark and reward after a few steps. Then maybe 5 steps. I try to vary it. Should he be starting to understand that I want focus the whole yet or is it too soon for that?

The Michael Ellis video for focused healing is very good! You have to start at the start and mark/reward one step when he focuses on you (how is his focus on you in general?) then two steps etc, if he looks away correct him/ask him to look and mark/reward. If you want complete focused heeling don't move forward unless his focus is on you, he should soon get the point nothing happens unless he's looking at you.

 Quote: Brad Higgs

The Michael Ellis video for focused healing is very good! You have to start at the start and mark/reward one step when he focuses on you (how is his focus on you in general?) then two steps etc, ..... .

Terrific DVD ....here are some questions and answers about it (and a couple of short examples) that might be useful:

http://leerburg.com/flix/player.php/760/Can_I_start_out_with_the_Focused_Heeling_DVD_or_do_I_need_the_The_Power_of_Training_Dogs_with_Food_a

http://leerburg.com/flix/player.php/912/Focused_Heeling_Demo

http://leerburg.com/flix/player.php/837/Heeling_Party

http://leerburg.com/flix/player.php/745/My_dog_only_has_food_drive,_will_the_training_in_your_focused_heeling_DVD_work_with_him

http://leerburg.com/flix/player.php/528/Michael_Ellis_on_Corrections_for_%22Look_Away%22_While_Heeling

http://leerburg.com/flix/videodesc.php?id=705

Hows the focus while not moving if your dog can't focus on you while standing still he won't be able to while moving.

Thanks for the links Connie. The corrections one helped a lot.

Joe, his focus while still is very good, pretty much as long as I want it. It's the instant that I move that he looks away. Then I'll stop and try again but after watching the corrections video, I see that I'm not quite timing it right. The interesting thing is that after doing it multiple times, he will eventually do it right but obviously that doesn't work for Schutzhund. He needs to do it from the start.

Is his focus good while standing still under distractions, new places, etc?

At 8 mo old...he is still a puppy with a short attention span. Slow down & go back to just teaching the position with focus when you just move sideways, turning etc as opposed to moiving forward with steps. Keep sessions sort to accomodiate his attention span. Going too fast & creating problems will take 10x longer & harder to correct later on.

Joe, different places, yes. Haven't really tried distraction with it yet.

Anne, I didn't realize I was going too fast. I've been trying to do just a quick short step. He still looks away. If I do an immediate turn he will usually keep focus if its left directly into him. If I go right he usually looks away. If I move sideways he will keep focus but doesn't move with me. If I take steps forward he looks away, I say foose again he will look at me again. Sometimes just for a second sometimes he will stay focused. It seems to get better the longer I do it.

Kory, if you can't move & have him keep his focus...you ARE moving too fast for him...he is not ready to move forward yet.

I would forget trying to work him around any distractions at all at this point. I would only work him in a quiet place in the house. I always like the kitchen to start training anything new.

If he is looking away when you move in any direction....you don't have the focus or the position TRAINED yet. Until you can keep that focus in all directions (just turning) then I would not take a step forward.

I would just keep marking & treating when he is in position & focused. Turn if he stays with you & focused...mark & treat. If he doesn't ..used your negative marker (no, nope, whatever you use)& try again. I would keep doing this until you can turn in each direction & he will follow on your leg in position & stay focused. It could take days or weeks to get this...depending on the dog. But I would NOT take even the smallest step until I have his focus turning. If he can't stay on your leg & focused basically staying in one spot, he is not going to be able to do it moving forward which is far more distracting.

I will also add...that I would not even necesarily use the heel command until I got the turns & focus I wanted...then I would go back to useing the command. Sometimes when a command is 'tainted' you need to use a new command.

JMO... It is also what I did with my male that can be very hectic when learning something new & found it hard to focus & move. Doing this taught him to be like velcro at my leg with very good focus.