# Competition heelwork



## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

I want to do rally obedience with Buster but the one thing we're having trouble with is heelwork aka most of it. He has the general idea, roughly the right position on a loose lead but I don't know how to get it to competition level with the dog right at the owners side with him looking up at me. Anyone any ideas? He's already clicker trained and fairly clicker savvy it depends on my timing more than him how quickly he picks up things


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Will he stand at your side and look you in the eye


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

Sometimes yes he knows watch me and will do it from sitting


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## Corinthian (Oct 13, 2009)

I think position should at first be a static exercise. No walking, just you moving about a central axis and the dog regaining it's heel position.


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

So me going around in a circle on the spot and getting him to heel going around? That is part of the competition so it would be good to start I'm still working on getting him to sit when we stop.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

If he can watch when sitting, teach him to watch while standing and to lean into your left leg. Then go onto one or two steps while watching and then reward. Build up the steps slowly, the most important thing is to get good focus rather than distance. A slightly faster pace than you would normally walk usually helps to keep a dog interested. If you could borrow a trained competition dog to do a heelwork round you would see how hard they lean into your leg. You also need to use a different word from what you use for a normal loose lead walk. Once he's got this then he needs to learn the turns.


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

Thank you for the advice I'll try it. I was going to teach him with me or something for it


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## k8t (Oct 13, 2009)

Hi

I used to work obedience and getting a good heel position is vital for everything. However, you don't want the dog leaning on your leg if you can help it, as you will get marked down for this.

Firstly, get him sat by your side, as straight as you can. Never let him sit crooked. If you need to stand next to a wall/barrier then ask for the sit. Also before you ask him to sit, look back and see if he is straight, if not then walk a pace or two forward.

When he is sat, use a treat and hold it up towards you and your eyeline. Ask him to 'watch' and encourage him to do so. 'whats this' 'what have I got' etc. before he looks away, treat him, or click then treat him. Do this until he can hold it for up to a minute. The idea is to get his head up looking at you. Always click and treat, before he looks away. If you think he is going to break eye contact, then use your treat, either take it down towards him and back up again, or say something, or touch him gently to get his attention, I stroke my dogs ear, but this isn't easy if you have a little dog! 

Next stage is to move it forward a step or two, Get the watch/with your food and walk forward - you don't need to say heel at this stage, if you can get a couple of paces, great, so click whilst moving forward and give the treat and break off and play. You can also use a toy to focus on and give him that when he has finished. But always throw it behind you, or you get a dog creeping forward!

Once you have a few paces forward then curve to the left. Left circles are great, because you are walking into the dog, which means you are slowing them down, so they don't start creeping ahead of you. They also tend to look up at you more. Keep it fun, so lots of praise as you are walking - encouraging your dog to watch all the what have I gots, yeah lets go etc. etc. Click the watch and heelwork and throw a treat or toy behind you. Have a tug, or play and then back into your heelwork again.

Next start on figure of eights, your dog then naturally has to adjust to your speed, moving faster on the outside and slower when on the inside. 

Change of paces keep the dog interested. Also try running, what you want is a dog with its tail up, watching you and ready for the next thing.

If your dog starts creeping ahead, do lots of lefts, if he starts lagging behind, start throwing your toy in front and doing lots of fast work.

A toy happy dog is ideal, as you can share the toy and tug and then go back into heelwork again, or throw it and let the dog relax for a second.

I am sure there are lots of videos of Youtube about training the heelwork. Have a look for Mary Ray and see how she does it.

Let us know how it goes!

Kate


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

I have the Mary Rae book on order from Amazon for HWTM so that should have some good hints. He loves tug games, typical terrier, so I'll try that. He picks things up quickly it's more the trainer thats the problem


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## Corinthian (Oct 13, 2009)

Nicky10 said:


> So me going around in a circle on the spot and getting him to heel going around? That is part of the competition so it would be good to start I'm still working on getting him to sit when we stop.


Yes. But no so much heel but rather regaining the correct position. So starting from basic position you turn 10 degrees left/right and the dog regains the proper straight position. Actually, I teach this as a sitting and standing exercise.

I like to break down heelwork into it's basics components. Position which the exercise I mentioned begins to teach. Attention and finally movement. I like to work on these separately.

This allows you to work on specific details without worrying about the other components. Of course it does require a bit more planning and preparation on your part. Having trained heeling in the traditional clicker shaping methods, I can say that this only took a little more time.

I believe that by minimizing the variables the dog has to contend with you (assuming proper click timing and reward) get a deeper understanding and a more robust behavior. The rest is just duration.


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

That sounds like a good way to do it. I don't mind it taking time it tends to take a while to get him to do something everytime he gets the idea quickly it's just not easy to get him to do something every time on command


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Here is a nice piece of heelwork for you to watch. As you can see the dog is leaning into the handlers leg, if it's good enough at that level it's good enough for me.
YouTube - Crufts 2009 Bitch Obedience Championship


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

That is some impressive heelwork. I'm going to sign him up for a formal obedience class *gulp* the only training classes he's been to before are agility and this is totally different so we'll see how he does.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Make sure you get reliable stays, mistakes in these are very costly. We went from first to nowhere so many times because of broken sit stays.


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

His stays are pretty good but I'll make sure I work on them it has to be in all 3 positions right?


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

In the stays just a sit and a down, in the positions in heelwork all three positions are done but that is not untill you get to class c


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## k8t (Oct 13, 2009)

Tip for stays.

When you return to the dog, don't always reward immediately, walk away two steps, or around the dog and then to his side. Pause a couple of seconds and treat.

This means that the dog won't break a stay on return, but will wait for your release, also always release the dog out of the stay by going backwards, this stops creeping forward. Just little things that can make a difference.

I used to work B&C with my collie, back in the 80's but things have got a lot more precise now and I think the regulations may have changed a little.

Kate


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

A tip for recalls. In training when you turn and face your dog before calling him walk a few steps back to him first. This will stop him anticipating the recall when you turn and face him in competition as he will be expecting you to walk part way back before you call him.
If you have somebody calling for you as a steward would, count to three before you give your command or he may start to work to the steward calling.


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

Recall is his main problem definately. Typical terrier it isn't great but we're always working on it I'll try that


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

Corinthian said:


> I think position should at first be a static exercise. No walking, just you moving about a central axis and the dog regaining it's heel position.


Agree. Close heelwork is a POSITION, not a movement so to start with you need to get it static.

The way I did it:

Have a treat in your left hand and let him know it's there. Have him follow it (some trainers teach a "follow" before they move onto heelwork - it can help but I never did) until he's sitting at your left side, close to you, looking up at the treat. Click when he's in the right place and release the treat.

Gradually move on to the treat being hidden in your hand, so he's following your hand but still with the expectation of the treat. Once he's getting the idea, put a word to it (a different one to ordinary heelwork - most use "close").

When you can put your hand in heelwork position, say "close" and he's whizzing to your side and into position reliably, you can move on to moving. If he's learned it thoroughly in static position, if you shuffle forwards a couple of steps he should follow you, keeping position. Then you can work on different speeds, turns etc. To start with, try a large-ish right hand circle which encourages the dog to keep up with you, therefore keeping the impulsion, and avoids you stepping on him which could put him off.

Keep the rate of reinforcement HIGH - don't try to go for five minutes at a time at first, or else your dog will lose motivation. And vary the reinforcement - sometimes do 2 steps before releasing, sometimes 5, then back to 1, then 8, then 3 etc..... and in the lower classes you can use as many commands as you like so don't be in a rush to go quiet, even though in the higher classes you aren't allowed extra commands.

Experiment with walking backwards, side-stepping etc - as I said, once they've learned exactly where they're meant to be, then teaching it on the move is relatively easy.

Do it all VERY gradually though - there's no point moving onto the next step until you've mastered the previous one because if you move up through the classes heelwork is VERY nitpicky so it's best to get it right from the beginning 

ETA also, although at first (unless you've got mirrors all around you) you will need to look at your dog to check he's in the right place, when you eventually get in the ring you will also need to look where you are going so once he IS in the right place, look ahead and click/treat. That way, your dog learns that often, you looking AWAY from him as a possible predictor of the C/T.

I have been making a point of this since our first show when I would have lost less marks had I looked where I was going and walked a straight line....


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

I'll have a go at a few of these methods see which one works for him. The treat in the hand would be a good way as long as it was cheese


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

Nicky10 said:


> I'll have a go at a few of these methods see which one works for him. The treat in the hand would be a good way as long as it was cheese


Use whatever he loves best - just keep treats verrry small 

The mantra some trainers use is "Food for teaching, toys for motivating" and it's a good one I think.

It depends on what you're doing. If we're tidying up position, I use food but if I want to work on her "sparkle" or if she's tending to lag a bit, the toy comes out.


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

Yep only little bits of cheese he'd work for a crumb of it probably or anything dairy


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

Nicky10 said:


> Yep only little bits of cheese he'd work for a crumb of it probably or anything dairy


My fave treats are tiny bits of cheese or really cheap sausages, cooked and cut up small. I'm talking a cocktail sausage cut into 6 - 8 bits.

I tried some Shmackos treats the other day - they were on offer in Tesco. Bone shaped thingies. Too big as they are, but I cut them into 3 but they still took too long to eat. The dog liked them but they were too chewy and wasted too much time for my liking. By the time she'd chewed, swallowed and licked her lips she'd forgotten what she was being rewarded for :biggrin:


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

I use little bits of burger too homemade, not that I spoil him or anything but I wouldn't eat most of the burgers in the shops. If it's a cheeseurger forget it you could get him to do anything


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

Nicky10 said:


> I use little bits of burger too homemade, not that I spoil him or anything but I wouldn't eat most of the burgers in the shops. If it's a cheeseurger forget it you could get him to do anything


Mmmm.... homemade burger.... :drool:


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