Frau, crooked or wide heel

[gomer9855]

I've made some mistakes I've just discovered upon reading the old thread here. Shame on me. I've been having Frau heel on everyone one of our walks for a year! Poor dog. I tell her heel, and she stays there for an hour. I feel bad no, as I did not realize it was so much work for them. No wonder she's gota 'ya, okay' attitude about walks.
So I will teach her "let's go" for nice casual walks, and save the heeling for...well, heeling!
Also, I want to know how to get her to a nice tight sit in heel position. I tell her heel and she comes up to my left side and sits, but usually on a slight angle facing me, or slightly wide. I tuck her in closer, tell her heel, and treat. But it doesn't seem to be making a difference. I don't want her to think I'm treating the act of repositioning, not the position itself.
Sometime she'll get in so close she has her foot on top of mine, and other times she's wide. If she gets it right on I make a big deal out of it, but it doesn't happen often.
I want to get into competetive level with her, so that's what we're aiming for. We're in beginners class now, but except for stay with distractions (dang squeaky toys) she's got the rest pretty well aced. So I'm trying to prepare for the next level.
How do I get her in tight for sit-heels and stop her from rolling onto her hip for downs at heel?

[BostonRott]

a) Never feed a fix. Therefore, if you have to reposition, DO NOT FEED! Reward only when she gets it correct by herself, the first time.

b) Her crookedness may be due to where you are feeding her. Your hand should go right down to her mouth. If she's coming at all up/forward to get to your hand, you're re-inforcing the wrong position (reward in the position you want to see more of).

c) Heel her along a fence or wall so that she can NOT sit out wide

d) Consider putting the new word (let's go) to the "fixed" heeling position and leave "heel" for the walks. She already has too many "bad" things associated with heel, in terms of position. It's easier to teach a correct position with a new word (you could use "strut!").

[RottsNScotts]

How does she handle left turns and left about turns? Does she stop and allow you to walk around her? Does she swing her butt in so that she is sort of backing up at the same time her front end is yielding to you?

I have found that Rotties often have no idea that their rear is attached much less that they are responsible for it! Ask your instructor if they have exercises you can teach her to make her more aware of where her behind is and is to be. They would be pretty long to describe on line.

[gomer9855]

For a left turn she's pretty good, just turns and walks with me, a left about turn is 50/50. Sometimes she just turns tight with me and keep going, other times she kinda backs up, turns, gets out to the side, etc. We're working on it.

I think I'll need a another word. We're both confused!
I taught her "byside" from when she was a pup up until I started obedience about a month ago. My trainer uses heel (don't know why I didn't!) so I started with Heel in class, and carried it over to our walks. Now I realize I screw up both ways, so am stuck.

I used "let's go" to let her walk freely, loose lead on my left, not beside me, just no pulling and don't cross in front of me. Other than that she just meandered about, sniffing and looking around (enjoying the freedom!). Then I'd throw in a "heel", she'd drop back, I'd get her attention, then have her right close to me, looking at my waist as I spoke to her, telling her "good heel", then treat after a few steps and say "let's go" to release her again.

Is this okay?

I'll have to work on my body position to get her to sit-heel straight. Maybe it's me, not her!

[RottsNScotts]

If her lefts are good, you can also do mini-doodles by making a left turn, step then stop. She will be thinking about where her butt needs to be for the turn and that should help her get in for the stop. You want to be sure that you mix it up with a lot of regular lefts so you don't lose her driving out of the turn.