While we're on the topic of heeling, I have to say that I've started losing Dreamer's attention on about turns. At our last lesson, I talked to Karen about it, and she asked me to show her so that she could see if it was Dreamer or me causing the problem. (It's usually me!)
This time, Dreamer was the problem. She's very busy, as you know, and I think our herding dogs are so alert to the things going on around them that they sometimes forget the task at hand. They multitask very well, but we really can't have multitasking in obedience.
So Karen introduced the about-turn-right-turn, which is something that is probably common but isn't something I've ever done. As soon as we come out of the about turn, we do a right turn. It works like a charm to get Dreamer's attention back! I've been working Dreamer daily on her heeling this week, in preparation for our lesson on Sunday, and I've thrown the about-turn-right-turn in a few times. It has really worked!
I seem to recall heeling to the left, in a big circle, to get Dreamer's attention when she was younger. We might have done right circles too, but I just can't remember. Who knows? Since we work in pieces, I wonder if that was our first piece of the Figure 8, which today is going extremely well! We've finally put that whole exercise together, and Dreamer is solid. I'll ask Karen to take videos of us soon, and who knows? Maybe I will post one here.
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This Tacara Terv Trainer is so proud of you for taking the time to train! I like the idea of the about turn/right turn. I will steal it for my classes:-) Seeker and I are still working on straight line heeling and trying to keep her attention. Is that how Karen started you? That is how Laura starts so I'm assuming all these top trainers train the same.
ReplyDeleteI must admit: once I tweaked it to using food at times, toys at times, Seeker is much more interested. But somehow, I want to let her know that she needs to keep her eyes on me the whole time we are doing the sequence. It doesn't seem as if it is too much to ask since she can keep her eyes on me for a much longer period of time when she is waiting for directions in agility, etc.
It's my guess that I need to mark when she looks away with a non reward marker like "Whoops; try again" or something of that type which is what I use when she makes a mistake in agility or on her fold back down. I need to ask Laura about that. What did Karen have you do in the early stages with Dreamer?