Tuesday, September 30, 2008
How to make obedience fun?
I like obedience, and I like rally. Magic seems to do OK with rally, but seems to hate traditional heeling and obedience. He just shuts down on me, you can watch the happiness leave his eyes. I have been trying for a while to find a way to help Magic like heeling. He will pick up again a bit when we get to the recalls and jumps, but even there he is not as enthusiastic as he normally is when we are in a show environment. He does great at home and when I can chatter at him, but not good at all when I have to be quiet. Obviously I messed something up for him and I dont know how to fix it. I am really worried that I will do the same thing with Siren. I so badly want her to enjoy it. Any suggestions??
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6 comments:
start again off leash. lots of cookies, and not nattering. just say yes, and feed him when he is paying attention and close to heel. It is called "choosing to heel" there are lots of articles on the internet about it....I have one somewhere
Ann Marie Silverton's competitive obedience training makes happy obedience dogs. Everything is fun -- your voice says so, your body says so. We use doodling at home -- around a table, behind a chair, through the kitchen, and there are always treats for good dogs. Everything is short and fast. You might get one of Silverton's videos to get the idea. The result is a dog that dances when he or she heels -- and they smile. I love a dog that works that way.
Definitely no "drilling" with heeling. Kane was the same way at first, he was stressed because I was stressed. Then I learned that first, I said "heel" as I was already taking off. I never gave him time to get started. Then I took a 1/2 breath before I picked up my foot, and that was one tiny thing that really improved our heeling greatly. He felt successful from the start, not like he was always being left behind.
When we started heeling, it was 8-9 weeks in before we did more than just about 2 steps of heeling. I'd go back to click for a good start and a couple of steps. Then lots of happy play, or release and toss his favorite toy.
Maybe even change the word, totally re-teach the exercise with Magic using a different word, different technique. Do you walk slowly, more stiff when you heel vs. rally heel? Walk faster, more casually. I started almost trotting with Kane to get him enthused. When we retrained it, Kane went from losing 16 points in heeling to finishing his CDX in 5 trials, placing 2nd and 3rd in Open A classes of 25 in one weekend to finish. He was like a different dog, even winning a run-off, which is HEELING!
Good luck!
OH, also, since the girls are babies (but you could even do with Magic), I highly recommend Building Blocks for Performance. Bobbie Anderson. I went to her seminar a few years ago, and am just amazed at the relationship she has with her dogs. If you ever have a chance to go to a seminar (they try to bring her to Omaha every year or so), definitely go!
Thanks everyone. I hadn't heard of Ms Silverton, but will check her videos out. I had ordered the building blocks book last week, so hopefully it will arrive soon.
So far Siren is wonderful, but I am afraid of wrecking her...
Dawn...Keep it FUN, FUN, FUN! And learn to use food the 'right' way (as a reward, not as a lure). I learned the hard way with Rugby and Riley. I lured them way too much and never really taught them to work without the food. With Zoey, I worked so hard to be the main source of all things FUN (not just all things food). She is SO different from my boys! She loves to work and she forges during her heeling instead of lagging (which is what my boys did).
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