Auto-correction / positioning

[RottsNScotts]

I am getting the impression that this girl may not understand that she is to move on her own after you have come to a stop; i.e., she is thinking she is to stay there until you give her the next motion command. I would try making the moves you are describing while still in motion and see if she can handle that. If she gets that, then work the same exercises as you are moving more and more slowly.

One little thing I do with my dogs is teach them that they are to move with me if I leave on my left foot, stay there if I leave on my right. Then I just have to remember what I am doing when I move away from the dog! But I also tell the dog to heel each time if we are stopped and I move and want the dog to stay with me.

[Stubby]

Originally Posted by Judi W

But, I've perhaps leaped too far ahead. Are you saying you've used the simple collar pop correction and bait reward and it has not had the effect of indicating to this lazy little girl that she needs to get her butt over by you? If that is the case, then we'll need to put our collective thinking caps on.

YES... Thats it! Thank you.. She will move her head, shoulders towards you, but the BUTT stays firmly planted on Terra Firma..

Trying to get that butt to scooch over is the issue....

[Stubby]

Originally Posted by Judi W

But this is the dog we're addressing here, not the dog you used to own or someone else's dog.

Actually it's my dog and I still own him too.. LOL

[Judi W]

Yes, I would redo the foundation as well and the exercises RNS is a good start. She needs to learn that the word "heel" always requires some movement on her part whether it is 20 feet of 2 feet or 2 inches. Do your moving turns and such and then transition to the "almost" static turns. Start by doing your quarter turn accompanied by one or two steps forward making it obvious to her that she must move or she will be out of position. Then you can move it down to 1 step, 1/2 step, then no steps at all just the turn. Personally, I'd accompany each verbal with a good collar pop and reward. I suspect that she is being lazy (and a bit girlie) about it.

[Stubby]

Will try that out this weekend.. I'll have more daylight hours to put into her...

[Luvs]

Are you wanting to get her to pivot with you when you turn?

Something I noticed last winter with Akasha was that when I turned, her rear didn't quite stay in position. Her head and shoulders were in correct position, but her rear was always a little wide. If you were looking at us, we almost formed a v. Last winter I spent some time teaching her to keep her rear in when making turns during heeling.

My instructor had me stand Akasha next to me in heel position, grab the left side of her collar with my right hand, and then she had me turn into Akasha, while I applied slight pressure to her collar. As soon as Akasha moved her rear end even the slightest amount, she was praised and rewarded. By the end of the first session Akasha was moving her rear as soon as I started moving. After a week of practicing she was continually keeping herself in correct position during turns and pivots.
We have worked on this off and on since last winter and it has made a HUGE difference in Akasha's heeling. I can now stand on my left foot and turn in a complete circle while Akasha pivots around me.

This is probably something I should have taught her from the beginning, but I didn't have a clue how to go about it, or that I even needed to, until my instructor brought it to my attention. Of course it was something the entire class had to learn, so I didn't feel quite so silly since I wasn't the only one

My instructor used a different method for a few people. She had them use two leashes, one leash going behind the handler under their butt, and one leash in front of the handler. The dog was standing in heel position, the handler turned into the dog and put pressure on the leash that went behind the back. The pressure helped encourage the dog to move its rear as the handler turned into them.

I tried the two leash method, but wasn't quite coordinated enough

[Ilovemypuppy]

Hi Carol...this sounds like amethod that I could get behind..I like the idea alot and it obviously worked well. Thanks for sharing this.