Well, I said I wanted to get back to some active training with the corgis, so last night we did a evaluation of where we are. Magic-well frankly Magic hates heeling and I am not sure how to get this turned around. We are working toward his CDX, but unless I can get him to heel I think we can forget it altogether! The rest of the exercises he can do, although we are no where near perfect yet, but even in the backyard with food rewards he would rather not heel. I don't know if its because we were doing agility, and that is so much more fun, or what, but I need to find a solution. His broad jump is OK, but we need to practice this some. His retrieve is extremely exhuberant, really probably too much so. Its been over 2 years since Magic and I have taken an obedience class and I am thinking maybe that is the start to the solution. But I know I need him to think its fun.
Grace-Being a new momma, we didn't do anything too strenuous, but we did a bit of heeling. Grace has a very nice heel, although we do need to work on being closer to my leg. Both dogs heel a bit wide-Magic more so, so it must be in the way I taught them. Grace does need to remember to sit automaticlaly though. And maybe that is just more of a reminder as we go forward, as I seem to remember she was better at that before. Grace needs to better understand the stay command though, so we are going to work on that over the next few. I am thinking maybe we should try for her RA before we try for CD legs.
I wish we had more APDT rally here in MN, both dogs seemed so much better after we did that last trial. I am pretty sure the fact that Magic got treats in the ring during the show was the key. He did manage to earn the APDT Award of Excellence with his RL1, so I know we can do it.
Hopefully I will figure out a better way so that whichever pup stays, they get a good solid happy heel!
2 comments:
how did you teach heeling in the first place? it could be that you need to make it more fun for the both of you!
i teach heeling with no leash, a clicker and lots of cookies. it is based on the "choose to heel" method. basically rewarding the dog when they are in the right spot.....I blogged about it way back http://manymuddypaws.blogspot.com/2007/12/choosing-to-heel.html
hope it helps!
I am sure you are correct! We learned in a class environment where we did reward, but there was also some corrections. I was thinking of retraining him using the choose to heel method, but I dont know anyone who has used it, and I would need to find a large enough enclosed space to work in, or we will have to do it at the park on a long line. After all Magic will do just about anything IF there is food involved. Thanks!
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