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Concentrating on the Heeling Part

1125 Views 13 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Mrs.K, 
M
For the past months I've been concentrating on the main commandos: Sitz, Platz, Steh and the Re-call. Other than that we went a lot on hikes.

At seven months Platz while there are lots of distractions out there

Hikes
Holy Mountain Hike

I know that a lot of people start the heeling part from the puppyhood but I've seen a lot of dogs out there that heel perfectly at Indras age but don't really know Sitz, Platz or Steh because all they concentrated on was heeling. I figured I do what I can do best first and get the Sitz and Platz imprinted into her memory and then focus on the heeling part.

Also, since i have nobody to correct me when I actually do it wrong I wanted to watch more videos on how people do it and how they use their hands to lure the dogs and then try to do it myself. While I don't feel very confident in what I am doing, I think we are not too bad.

This is in the house. We are slower in the house because she's sliding on the floor and you can tell that she still has the puppy movement and just starts to be able to coordinate all her legs :wub:


She's really getting big and she's looooong.. but a beautiful girl :wub:
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M
Actually, it's more like the heel turn to my side that I was training in the video. The real heeling I usually do outside. You know, the command "heel".

That's what I haven't done in a looong time and what isn't even close to perfect.

My old helper always said that a dog can have the greatest heel in the world, if he gets' up from the down-stay or sit than the heeling won't get you through the BH either.

He once had to judge a guy from Italy. The dog heeled like a god but he got up in the down-stay, wouldn't sit and he fell through the BH and since he told me that story I focused on the things that will get me through the BH because the heeling itself won't get me through.

He said that they don't need to heel like a dancing horse, that's all for the show and that I should more focus on the parts that are really important. Heeling is important but even more important is the down-stay at the beginning. ;)
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M
Achielles UD said:
True. Heeling can be showy. I like it showy. Why? Because it looks good. My dog is correct and having fun! It KILLS me to watch what I call "hang-dog heeling". It's like nails on a chalkboard. Ech.

I agree that stays (down and sit - I do mostly AKC Obed btw) are the other key componant. I never enter a trial if I am not confident on the stays for the exact reason (great run but blows the stays = not qualifying).

This brings me back to... Ok yes, Stays = very important. Heeling is also important. THE most important thing though? My dog wanting to work with me :)

So, I start training heeling first. Have lots of fun with it then work on the stoic control exercises that are realitively quick to train compared to heeling.

That is something about competitions (SchH/AKC/Whatever)... I do believe they have made the requirements such that you cant pass any of them without a total package approach of training. Sure heeling isn't going to get you by if you don't have stay. But your stays wont get you by if you don't have your heeling either ;)

Oh! So the video isn't of straight-line or Heeling exercise, but of the "Finish" (go to heel position from sitting in front?). Still looking forward to seeing it when I get home :)
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Very true what you said. Can't argue or debate that. Very true, if a dog wants to work, let them work.

No, it's not the straight line, I am just about to load that up. It's the finish from the front going into heel and she's just learning it.
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M
this was the last time we've trained heeling.

And this is the first time since August.

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M
Not as great as I want us to do but than again, i haven't actively trained the heel and focused on different things but i am sure that if I am actually starting to focus on it, she'll do great. i just have to be careful that she doesn't start to do the pace.
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M
And this is from today too.
Quite a difference to yesterday, isn't it?

Now we've got to do a lot of shaping and fine-tuning. :wub:
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M
I know about the shoulder part and that is why I wished i had a trainer who'd kick my butt every time I do it because I alway forget about it. It's the same with my voice. I tend to use my voice way to much too.

Like the clicking sound with the tongue, it's from training horses. I don't even notice it anymore. :help:
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M
This is Yukon from today. Haven't done any heeling with him in quite a while either. Concentrated a lot on the table training instead.
The progress that he made in two days is amazing. At the very end of the video, where he is following my leg... I started doing that three days ago. He learned that in three days. :wild::wub:

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