Please Help With Ideas To Get My Cavalier To Watch Me!

[Gretel]

I have a lovely Cavalier girl of just over a year old. I have trained dogs before without too many problems but Bree really has me stumped. When we are out and about her nose is very firmly to the ground and no matter what I have tried there it stays! I introduced her to a clicker a while ago and with that managed to get her to focus on me and she can heel quite acceptably inside at home as well as sit and drop. A totally different story outside though! This nose down bit really is quite obsessive behaviour. My latest plan was to use a target stick.... She touches it reliably at home so I thought I'd give it a try outside today but no good. She is just not interested. She loves food but it's not enough to motivate her either. I'm not expecting to obedience trial this little one (gave up on that idea months ago :D ) but I would like to get her in the show ring. I am getting seriously discouraged. Any help please?

[Sarah L]

I have a lovely Cavalier girl of just over a year old. I have trained dogs before without too many problems but Bree really has me stumped. When we are out and about her nose is very firmly to the ground and no matter what I have tried there it stays! I introduced her to a clicker a while ago and with that managed to get her to focus on me and she can heel quite acceptably inside at home as well as sit and drop. A totally different story outside though! This nose down bit really is quite obsessive behaviour. My latest plan was to use a target stick.... She touches it reliably at home so I thought I'd give it a try outside today but no good. She is just not interested. She loves food but it's not enough to motivate her either. I'm not expecting to obedience trial this little one (gave up on that idea months ago ) but I would like to get her in the show ring. I am getting seriously discouraged. Any help please?

Hi Gretel, just read your post and had an idea. If you use the target stick with some really yummy, yummy, yummy food rapped around the bottom of it and use it just infront of her nose with her head at normal height, as you are walking let her nibble the food on the end and this may become a motivation for her to keep her head up. While training her to keep her head up start with a short distance and back again to home so that the when the food is gone from the end of the stick you are back home and have had a walk with her head up. Its like dangling the carrot in front of the donkey only the donkey gets to eat the carrot along the way. :D If this works the first time keep the same distance of walks for about a week. Making sure there is enough food on the end to get out and back.

As this was a and not something I have tried. If it works, it will also give me time to figure out the next step of getting the walks longer.

Hope this helps you.

[Tapferhund]

Do Tracking ! :D