If I tell cody heel, he will come into the heel position at my side, (I believe he understands it) leaving the pad and sits by my side. My ultimate goal is to perfect his turns in heeling. He pivots well, but like I said, when I come up along side of him to move around the pad with him, he turns himself out, with his back feet, and that brings his face staring right at the front of my shin. When I try and get him back into heel position, he again comes off the pad and goes in front of me. When I say the heel command, he steps of the pad and comes and sits at my side in heel position.
Aside from the pad, Cody heels well and prances right next to me on my left side. In the back yard and in the house he will heel without a leash and do very well, sitting immediately when we stop. When on his walk he heels very well also, but on lead.
I am new to training and my skills need work.
What i would like to do is to have cody in heel position, with his feet on the pad and then move around the pad with him, the whole time he would stay in heel position. I think Cody is confused. All this time when I have said heel, he has moved to my side, both feet on the floor and he doesn't understand why that has changed.
So i understand I should get a new command for the heel position when Cody's front feet are on the pad, correct? I do believe he understands the heel command.
Am I understanding you correctly. Sorry if I am frustrating you, it takes a while for me to get it, but when I do, I will really get it. Sorry, I really do appreciate your help.
Cody is in the place now where I should move on, but I do not want to mess him up by my training being wrong.
Sharon

I was not giving the heeling command when he stepped on the pad, because he didn't know how to pivot and heel too. sharon

swimming.
we have a slow moving not too deep or wide creek. Pinker likes to swim but sometimes scares himself. I'm trying to build his confidence.

Sharon;

You don't need the second command just yet. You don't want to give the heel command while on the pad, if that's confusing him. His heel command should be solid enough that he understands what it means when he is in the right position. I also like for the dog to know it well enough that he naturally sits at heel when not moving. I rewatched the video, and that trainer is not working in the sit position.

When Cody is used to staying on the touch pad when you pivot, step away from the pad and put him in the heel. Heel him to the pad and stop when his front feet are on the pad. Give the touch command if you need to. Present the lure just in front of his face and slightly higher than his nose and turn to the left (you will have to step around the pad). If he steps off, give the touch command. Do not hold the lure too close to your side, causing him to twist toward you. Hold it out further from your side if you need to. If you have reinforced the pivoting behavior enough, he should move his rear enough to keep focusing on the lure while you move around the pad. Make sure you are moving such that he will always be at heel without giving the heel command. As he moves to stay in position, mark each time he swings his rear.
Unlike the trainer in the video, I like a round pad because I don't have to make such a big step to move around the pad. A very slight step around the pad makes the dog readjust, while it requires a larger step to move around the square pad.
You may need to work some more on luring the pivot before you try to do it in position. Try doing it enough so that you don't have to constantly face the dog, but that you can move the lure in a large circle and move the dog at arm's length while staying still. ALSO, Cody doesn't have to be in perfect heel position. If he will stay on the pad and move his rear to stay at the leg, you can work on position after you're able to pivot without the pad.
The main thing he needs to know to progress is how to move his rear end. If his heel is good enough, when you turn 90 degrees to the right (which is easier than left), he will have to swing his rear to the left to keep his body properly aligned with your leg.

When I started this with Sadie, she was solid at the heel AND solid with the touch pad. When I heel her to the pad, she naturally works to stay at heel and stay on the pad at the same time, without any command. Don't get frustrated. Keep working on the individual components and eventually Cody will be able to coordinate them into a single exercise.

Another quick question; when Cody sees the pad laying on the ground, will he go to the pad and wish for a treat? When he starts offering the behavior, you know he knows the game.

yes when Cody see the pad ( i call it "mark") he runs to it and stands with his two front feet on it. He loves the game we have where he moves around the pad and then also the game where we run between the pad and the mat. He has tons of energy so I do this to get some of his energy out.
He is very eager to learn and will even try and get the other dogs outside (by pretending he has to go out and they all run to the door with him) As soon as I get to the door and they have to sit, and I release them, he runs back to the living room and lays down and waits. As soon as I get to the living room, he is very excited to play! (we call training play.) I am blessed that way. It's me that needs instruction.
Thanks for all your suggestions I will copy them and keep them to go over until I get this down.
Thanks again. sharon. cody is the little black dog in the picture. He is a parsons russel mix.

First introduction to a real world water source! Duke went into the river on his own, shallow at first, gladly chased the tug in a bit deeper and willingly went in to swimming depth for short periods. And now he's passed out.

Tracking with the club this a.m. Sixth week.

I had a 3 legged Harley this morning. I found an abcess in the webbing of his front paw.

So I worked on soaking his paw and leave the antibiotic cream alone.

Worked on improving the out and find your toy to keep him bussy. He still want to run and play but not his normal drive.

Housemate's father arrived to play with his new chainsaw today so I thought it would be a good chance to work Gambit around a completely new loud item wielded by an unfamiliar man throwing logs....

Gambit was quite interested in the strange man walking on to the property with a large object in his hands but greeted politely on command. He was completely unphased by the chainsaw or flying logs when the action started and gave me some nice heeling and focus and some awesome downs in motion (one which has resulted in some scrapes on his elbows, goofy puppy....so we also got to work on not licking ointment off of scrapes). Also working on cute tricks "sit pretty" which is still having some balance issues (noodle butt!) and "gameface" which is a cute snarly expression he makes with half his face if you scratch his left ear....trying to mark it and get the command on it.

Ryuk did speed OB. It occurred to me just how many commands that dog knows so we tried out some older ones I haven't asked for a in a while which was fun. Turns out he remembers take a bow, spin, twirl, yield (jump sideways), jump (jump invisible jumps), and "stack up" (but your front feet on any indicated item) with no problems. He still remembers that "roll over" is a command that is ignored when on an undesirable surface which is annoying -_-

All we had time for today was "Sit" and "Look".

http://s1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee371/gustim/?action=view&current=Picture004.jpg