When things come together - heeling concepts

I recently decided to work on some heeling with Roo. I teach heeling in two parts:
1. Choose to heel in motion
2. Stationary heel position
The first part I do both on and off leash (so we set the dog up not to have issues going off leash later). I use the clicker at first. I make sure to only do straight lines or circles - no turns as the dog has not learned the footwork for that yet. As soon as the dog is offering the behavior readily, I get rid of the clicker and use a voice marker. Then I put it on a variable schedule of reinforcement so the dog gets a toy tossed, a treat, or praise. I also add the word heel at this point (right before the dog hits heel position). So, what it turns into is I start walking, the dog heads for heel, "heel", a couple steps, marker, reward. I increase my criteria (number of steps at heel) very quickly.
Stationary heel I either teach with a lure or shape with the clicker. For Roo, I used a lure (Soda was shaped). For my little dogs I teach a flip finish (finish left) first. One of the criteria it is important to take notice of is how long the dog sits in heel until you reward. You have to increase this time quickly - if the dog knows "wait" or a similar command, you can use that at first. It is important the dog learn to sit and wait in that position until otherwise told. I do not teach the other finish until my dog is heeling in motion with auto-sits.

What I love about using these methods, it that the dog quickly combines both pieces of heeling to do automatic sits. I think of that sit like a stationary cue in agility - I stop, the dog should come in to me. Roo is now doing figure 8s and fasts. He has already learned about turns. Next up will be left and right turns. I find the speed up on the outside, slow on the inside of figure 8s and about turns set the dog up for fast, slow, and other turns.

I'm having fun teaching these basics with Roo!

Rusty...

Well, I have to say we are a little out of practice! Soda has only been worked in our house since the move. It is waaaay tooooo hot for him outside here (over 100F pretty much every day). I think I had come to take for granted Soda's generalization of his obedience skills. In reality, he was constantly worked in different places in Virginia - from our home, nana's house, work, obedience class, off to the side at agility class, the pet stores, etc. When I went to work him at our new agility facility's little obedience building, my dog was gone! He was distracted and stressed. Stress is rather unusual to see in Soda. This certainly brought to my attention just how badly we had been slacking off. Unfortunately, there are not many places in town we can do to practice indoors in the air conditioning. Once it cools off, we have TONS of outdoor options. We went to the biggest pet store in town today to do some basic practice. We worked on heeling with lots of feedback. We did some recalls. We practiced his signals.
Good signals at home are relatively new for Soda. He has only recently learned them. Needless to say, it didn't surprise me that this exercise fell apart in a new place. It was important to note Soda's body language. He was not sure. He offered numerous fast tail wags (which equated to "I'm trying, did I get it Mom?"). His body tended to be curled up instead of straight (for example, if he did a down, he was curved on himself instead of a straight sphynx figure). I responded to Soda's body language by helping him. I stood close to him and gave him a few verbals along with his signals. When he succeeded I gave instant verbal feedback to bridge me giving him a foot treat.
Most importantly, Soda continued to try during our session. He worked hard and responded to my feedback.
This is what is commonly called bounce back. It means when the dog fails, they come right back to try again. They do not shut down (melt, stop working, exhibit signs of stress). The fact that Soda can work through this process is huge in and of itself. There are a few games that can help encourage bounce back.
1. It's Yer Choice! The game of impulse control. (check it out on youtube)
2. Hot and Cold. Basically a clicker or verbal marker and a NRM to help the dog figure out what to do in a game.

New Starts!

A few weeks ago I got a crazy thought in my head - Roo is getting a brain (at the ripe age of 3), why don't I enter him in obedience! So I immediately entered him in beginner novice at an upcoming show. Fast forward a few weeks....what in the world was I thinking entering my dog with no formal obedience training?!?! I've decided to insist I just want to know how he is in the ring, and go with that excuse LOL
So we've been doing a little heeling, a little bit of stays, a little bit of recalls. He's a bright dog. Today I pulled out some cones to introduce the figure 8. The little snot was carefully moving his back end around the inside cone in a couple of tries! Maybe I should have a bit more faith in him.

In other news we found a great agility instructor! Soda starts the Advanced Agility class next Saturday morning. Hopefully he'll be back in shape for our October trials. I am going to work Roo, but I haven't decided if I want him in a class yet.

I am also going to start teaching some competition obedience classes. I've had interest in clicker training for competition. I think it will end up being a heeling class and rally novice class for starters. Hopefully we'll get some awesome clicker trained dogs in the ring this spring!

Welcome to Oklahoma!

Well, we're pretty much settled in Oklahoma. The dogs seem to like the house and neighborhood. We're busy looking for places to train (and maybe teach)! So, in the meantime I'm busy job hunting and advertising for private training lessons.

We've planned some fall trials. We'll be at:
Kay-9 AKC Agility trial in Ponca City, OK October 1&2
SSKC Obedience and Rally in Enid, OK October 15&16 - Roo's debut in Beginning Novice!
Happy Dog USDAA Agility in Nashville, TN October 22&23 - Roo's debut in P1!

And here's the latest article I've had published online:
Aggressive Puppy?