Dog Training - Competition Heeling, Episode 2

[dasjazz09]

Ran out of space before to say THANKS so much Tyler- for the great work you do.

Almost ready to start entrances, but it's been 4 days. Have just been using food so far. She can be lazy w/o fresh beef heart!

Yes, attitude is EVERYTHING... Also, I've been gently introducing the tug anew, and she's already really improving. My initial mistake was in verbally correcting her for hitting my hand, and asking her to out too often (which she's good at). Now I'm making it fun for her to possess longer.

[dasjazz09]

I'm curious about your use of the ball (vs tug) for training. My 10 mo old GSD is a anemic in the tug area, but LOVES balls; Is this common, and perhaps why you use the ball here? I got Balanibov's DVD's- they're great, but I hit an impasse with a weak desire to posses the tug. She's a bit timid, so perhaps views tug as a confrontation. Despite gentle encouragement, she loses interest after a few min. Should I persist trying to engage the tug w/ pup, or just use a ball, as you demonstrate here?

[BuffaloDogTraining]

@dasjazz09 I would forget about the tug for now and just use the ball. IMO the only real advantage to using a tug in this work is that you can teach the out easier, and you can work on targeting skills. Otherwise, it is more important, if your dog show a bias, to work with the toy that your dog likes best during heeling. Separately you can do tug work if you want, but I would keep it out of the heel work. If she finds the tug confrontational, you don't want to bring that attitude into her heel.

[medasst100]

When do you start using the heel word while working the potions in the book

[BuffaloDogTraining]

@medasst100 I add the command when the dog is able to reliable line up in position without too much guidance.

[alexnds1]

thank you for part1 and part2. This is excellent approach. I had a hard time initially with the walkng heel combined with the various positions. I now know to teach the positions separately from the walking portion of the heel. I did teach the "focus" command first, but I didn't know how to combine the facial focus, with spitting hot dogs from the mouth to gain attention to the face, and then combine it with walking and turning. I found it very, very difficult to get both attention and mvment.

[BuffaloDogTraining]

@alexnds1 I'm not a big fan of the hot dog spitting approach. It's too hard to be accurate, and you tend to create problems with the dogs wrapping around the front which has to be fixed later on. Thanks for the comment and I'n glad you found this video helpful. I am working on part 3 today.

[doghaven1]

I like that toy your using. It looks like I could make one by putting a rope through a tennis ball. Using any length of rope gives you flexibility to use it in different ways.  Very nice work. Thank you for the detailed demo.

[BuffaloDogTraining]

@doghaven1 The toy is the 'fantastic foam ball' made by triple crown/starmark. I tied some extra rope around the existing rope to make it longer. I like these because they are extremely durable, yet the dogs can sink their teeth into them and they are very light weight.

[doghaven1]

@BuffaloDogTraining Thanks for the info. Foam ball sounds like it would be even better. :>)