OK so my boy heels, he sits when I stop - but I'm trying to teach him that if he is sitting in front of me and I call him to sit at heel, he comes to me, walks around MY left, walks around my back and sits at my RIGHT - he is taught to heel on the right, I know it's not the "proper" way to do it, it's the way I like it, eventually I will teach him "heel left" - anyway not the point <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Right now I have him on a 6ft line with a prong and a piece of hotdog - I tell him the command and guide him into position, he "kinda" gets it, we've done about 60 repetitions of this, but sometimes he'll sit at my left facing the wrong way, or he'll sit behind my back, so I correct him verbally n continue to guide him into place with the lead. Usually if he's sitting ALMOST in position but a little too far behind me, I correct him verbally and re-issue the command and he moves forward n re-sits in the correct position. As soon as he's in the correct position he gets praise and the piece of hotdog.
Should I continue training it this way? Is there a more logical way to train this? I assume he will get quicker at this once he understands the concept better, but right now he kinda walks up to me n needs guidance, I tried it ONCE off leash n he just sits in front of me waiting for his hotdog. If he sits on my left facing the wrong way, he resists guidance from the leash, so I correct him verbally again and continue guiding him into position.
For some reason my boy doesn't like being behind my back - if we are playing tug and drive building games, he will go nuts for the prey item when it's in front of me, but for some reason, if it's behind my back, I have a hard time getting him to go behind me and try to take it - its like he thinks he's not allowed to grab something that I'm hiding behind my back. Maybe this is what's causing him to not wanna walk around my back to sit at heel.
Also on a somewhat related matter - in my neighborhood his heel is perfect - but when he is in new surroundings he constantly sniffs the ground while we are walking - should I correct him when he does this? Or is it ok for him to be totally focused on the new smells?
Mike,
Why do you want him to go around your back to get into heel? I would just teach a flip heel and then go to heeling patterns to reinforce the position.
Why do you want him to go around your back to get into heel?
It just seemed like the simplest way to go, I saw it done once in a while n thought it looked like a nice way to do it and least likely to cause me to fall over my dog lol.
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I would just teach a flip heel and then go to heeling patterns to reinforce the position.
What's that? Walk up to your heel position then turn around on the spot? I have a command for "lay down at my feet" but whenever I use it, he lays down in front of me instead of by my side - I figured by making him go around my back I can guide him in a more understandable way so he understands where he's supposed to be facing.
Even now I often find that when he sits when I stop walking, he'll kinda shift his butt over to the side so he's sitting almost facing my leg, I move his butt over next to my feet but he doesnt quite get that concept either, so I figured if I can guide him into a position rather than repositioning him after he's already sitting maybe that'll be simpler.
To teach a flip heel start with him in heel command stay then walk around him and stop when you are facing him. (I'll explain this using standard left side heel position you can reverse it to do right side if you like)Tell him to heel, take hold of his prong collar by putting your left hand thru the chain part of the collar, with your palm facing out keeping the outside of the dogs face inside of your left leg bring your palm to your thigh, this will pull the dog into position. Forcing him to swing his butt around and "flip" in to heel position. Once you repeat that until he's got it you can start doing heeling patterns. You can start with a flip heal then tell him to stay and take a step to the right, have him heel, stay take 2 steps forward, have him heel, stay turn around, have him heel. Just mix it up stand behind him or over him then have him heel. Hold a prey item with your right hand up near your left shoulder to keep his head up and looking at you. Make a game of it and keep it fun.
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