Heeling With Attention

[Kavik]

I do two things that have helped heaps with attention heeling. One is spitting food - I got that idea from Leerburg's Training the Competition Heeling Dog, and using a sort of modified TOT with the treat bag on the ground (to work on attention if I don't have rewards on my body).

The hard thing is take it slowly and have patience! At first I worked with the food spitting in the front position, kneeling down so he took it out of my mouth and slowly stood up til he had to catch it (sorry if that is TMI ). Once he got the hang of catching it (and me spitting it), I moved to having him in heel position, and rewarded for attention. Then added a few steps and reward. He can (when in the right mood) do this really well, but is still not as consistent as I would like.

[oceanaussi]

BUMP!

I have a 7 month old Weimaraner puppy who I am REALLY struggling with heeling (it's me struggling not the Wei.. LOL)

I have enormous trouble in getting her attention on me!! that is, head up focusing at me.

She knows "look" and she knows where the heel position is. What I struggle with is keeping her attention on me. She seems food driven, but she is even more distraction driven (say a piece of fluff on the carpet ) same with toys.

We have been doing heeling work inside in the loungeroom - the 2 attempts in the backyard have been useless - too much dirt/grass to get her nose into. She's just more interested in her nose being on the floor (which is naturally what she's been bred for)

We have been to a few obedience lessons - our last one she pulled me over and made my hands bleed after taking the halti off her and then we got sent home for being 'off with the fairies'

so I have been trying to get her attention on me ALOT better before returning.

Any advice would be really appreciated!!

Gee, I find it really concerning that the Obedience Club did let you go like that... :D But I know exactly how you feel as this happened to me a few times at showtraining. However, never at Obedience Training. Why did you take the Halti off? You definetly should get into Tracking with her!

Quentin was exactly the same. Everything was exiting but me. This is what I've done:

Took yammy food and a squeeky mice with real fur (like used for showtraining) as sometimes food and sometimes the toy works. Took Hera and Quentin to the Showgrounds, put him on a Halti with a short lead, placed Hera in a drop-stay in the middle of an imaginary circle, then I got Quentin really interested in the toy and food. Then I started on the far outer side of the circle in fast pace, lead short so if he puts his head down, he can't. I used "watch" and "head" as commands. And we walked in the circle. Everytime Quentin was too fast (most of the time) or too slow (sometimes, as he was trying to sniff something), I turned around; still on the same circle until he behaved and we went into the next one. I started fast and got slower the closer I came to the middle which was hard, as Hera was there and that's were he wanted to go. Hera was his ultimate reward but he had to stay focused on me otherwise he couldn't get there. I made sure he looked at me with food and his toys. When I had the feeling he didn't pay attention, I run into him.

The first time we did this took 3 hours. The second time only 30 min and now he heels nicely off-lead. Quen is 6 months old. Good luck! You'll get there but you gotta be really persistent.

[Jigsaw]

I have a dog that is easily distracted too! I've just been reading Brenda Aloff's "Get Connected With Your Dog" and one method which I tried this afternoon with success, is to gain the dog's attention when they are looking off into the distance by tapping them on the head as the verbal instruction say to "look" is less interesting than the environment. She suggests to keep tapping on the head and don't stop until they look and then mark and reward. Her method of teaching the heel position is to get the dog in a sit and the handler moves into position "heel", mark and reward. Also a bit of tape on your pants leg to show dog where the position is. This is good for my dog (even though we only tried it very briefly tonight) as she has some vision problems in her right eye (and possibly her left). It's a continuous work in progress!

Edited August 4, 2008 by Jigsaw

[4 Paws]

I have a dog that is easily distracted too! I've just been reading Brenda Aloff's "Get Connected With Your Dog" and one method which I tried this afternoon with success, is to gain the dog's attention when they are looking off into the distance by tapping them on the head as the verbal instruction say to "look" is less interesting than the environment. She suggests to keep tapping on the head and don't stop until they look and then mark and reward. Her method of teaching the heel position is to get the dog in a sit and the handler moves into position "heel", mark and reward. Also a bit of tape on your pants leg to show dog where the position is. This is good for my dog (even though we only tried it very briefly tonight) as she has some vision problems in her right eye (and possibly her left). It's a continuous work in progress!

Thats good to hear as I was considering buying this book but wondered if it was worth it seening as it's quite expensive

[Kavik]

I also work on getting Diesel to find heel position. Obviously from the front, but also if I turn around or take steps forward, backward or sideways. He is good at this and thinks it is a fun game

[Jigsaw]

Thats good to hear as I was considering buying this book but wondered if it was worth it seening as it's quite expensive

It's pretty thorough actually, very comprehensive - I haven't finished it yet! It also comes with a DVD which I hope to watch part of tonight. Actually managed to get two steps in heel position today but no focus. :p Although am also working on that separately and trying to extend the eye contact time, not easy in the park!