Stepping on handlers foot in basic position/during heeling

[hunterisgreat]

How would one best fix this?

[chicagojosh]

hi again,

how is that happening if the dog is heeling? it should be at the handlers side...

[chicagojosh]

during turns?

[Samba]

Do you have crowding by the dog?

[hunterisgreat]

Haven't heeled with the dog yet, just told this was the case... so I'm forming a game plan now

[ayoitzrimz]

If it's a crowding issue, try changing the location of the reward or get a transition plan going to remove the reward from sight all together and use markers.

When my dog was crowding, I noticed it was because I always placed the reward towards the center of my body and he would push against me in an attempt to get closer to the reward. Don't know if your situation is similar but it might be a good idea to move the reward around and see if the dog is focused on that rather than the handler.

I've since moved on to markers and the reward is out of the dog's sight.
What I did to correct the crowding was train with food for a little while to get proper body position. I would feed him directly above his head only when he was in proper position. When halting (and he is expected to sit) I would lift my hand slightly and push it to the outside of the dog (sort of hard to explain, doing my best ) so that his butt sits straight and then feed him if he's in proper position.
At the same time I worked on markers so that I can keep the reward out of sight and have him focus more on me and such.

So now, I have the toy in my pocket before I enter the field. I'll cue the dog (I use "Are you ready?") and ask him to fuss. As soon as he's in the proper position I'll give the marker (OK) and whip out the toy. Now whenever I say "Are you ready?" His eyes light up and he gets focused (watching me, etc) and you can see he knows its time to work. From now on, whenever I start to fuss I would put the toy in my right pocket where he can't see it and will release the dog before rewarding.

Don't know if you tried all of this or if this is helpful at all, but I hope it helped a little bit.

Some say making large circles to the left helps but it didn't for me. He learned that a knee to the head was just part of heeling rather than see it as him being in the wrong position. I;m sure lots of it had to do with my handling though...

[hunterisgreat]

I've always only trained with markers, and the ball is always out of site... usually in my back left pocket of my vest or tucked into my belt in the small of my back.

My female sometimes puts her foot on top of mine in the basic position. I just make a foot sandwich with my own feet... works well.

[lhczth]

A dog can not step on your foot if they are in the correct basic position. The dog must be forging and wrapping slightly. I would work on left turns, left pivots plus work the dog either along a wall or another type of object (cones, pipe) to help it learn to keep its body straight. Also either correct the dog or guide the dog into the correct heel position so it is not forging then mark, reward. My dogs know what "in" means (get the but straight), but this is one of those exercises I have to show to people and am not good at describing.

[lhczth]

I had problems with Deja wanting to step on my feet in the front position. Stepping on her feet just caused her to back off of me or front to one side. I found that removing my foot from under her foot and rewarding once she was correct worked better. I have also had dogs that have wrapped when in drive and they never really cared if I stepped on them so I just don't find this works well. You are not showing them what is correct basic position. You are just causing them discomfort.

[hunterisgreat]

Originally Posted by lhczth

A dog can not step on your foot if they are in the correct basic position. The dog must be forging and wrapping slightly. I would work on left turns, left pivots plus work the dog either along a wall or another type of object (cones, pipe) to help it learn to keep its body straight. Also either correct the dog or guide the dog into the correct heel position so it is not forging then mark, reward. My dogs know what "in" means (get the but straight), but this is one of those exercises I have to show to people and am not good at describing.

My female would kick her one leg out like she was trying to screw with me lol. She was not forging, nor wrapping. I'll try to get a picture.