huski

I don't reward in position and I dont use food with my toy driven dog really aside from teaching some basic back end awareness in the beginning and sometimes for shaping new things, I think one of the best thing about dogs is there are so many different ways we can train them. I love training heelwork it's one of my favourite exercises and there are so many different styles and ways to train it.

The Ruffwear Webmaster harnesses are my favourite for general walking etc, the design is really ergonomic and they are light weight while still being awesome quality.

We have a lot of competitors come to see us for private training, a lot of people seek private training to improve their skills, get their dog working more consistently and happily in the ring, and give their training an edge you can't get from taking classes at obedience clubs. I think it depends on your goals and what you want to achieve in your training. You never stop learning, I started out at obedience club but saw private trainers which are more expensive than the $5 class at the local club, but the benefits I (and my dog) reaped from the knowledge they gave me far exceeded the cost. I would go to a local club to proof training around distractions and do ring run outs, but club style training doesn't fit with the way I train my dogs now.

I find one puppy/young dog enough work on its own Nevermind having TWO of them! Not sure why anyone would want to do it :laugh:

Don't stress BC, I am sure it will all come together. Try not to rush increasing duration and durability (his ability to heel under distraction) - this is something that can take time and lots of practice, training heelwork can be a lot more complex and hard work for something that can appear so simple. It does sound like he thinks the marker is a release to the reward, so it might be worth strengthening his understanding of the marker and release cues. There are lots of stationary exercises you can try to strengthen his understanding of the position too. I do lots of leg adaption exercises, get the dog to find heel position from lots of different angles, I don't use hand signals so I just use a vocal command but try fading the hand signal to test his understanding too. I also do lots of back end awareness work in the beginning and backwards and side ways heeling, slow motion heeling etc. You don't have to do all those things but generally I find people whose dogs have really good heelwork do a lot of foundation exercises to make it really strong.

So when he downs for example and you give the marker word does he hold the position? Or is he breaking before or just after you give the marker word? I would work on stationary heel position with him before adding any forward motion, once he understands the position well he will be a lot less frustrated and it will be a lot easier to get forward motion happening how you want it.

Have you trained any back end awareness work i.e. using a stool or similar?

BC Crazy, do you have a marker word that you use? My Mal is SUPER fast so timing is every thing, but I find when increasing duration for positions having a clear marker word to tell her she has it right is really helpful and helps them nail duration much faster. So I give the command, then the marker (I say good) then give a release to the reward. It also means you can mark for eye contact rather than having the dog look at your hand for food etc.

Thought I'd share some video of Wisdom's heelwork, I am super happy with how it is progressing! She was super revved up to work when I bought her out today, so her backwards heeling was messier than it usually is. However can't fault her enthusiasm! :laugh:

Hey Lisey, re footwork and the dog's understanding of heel position, this video may give you an idea of how it can look :)

Before I start teaching anything formal like heelwork I make sure my dogs learn how to play a game with me and understand how to earn rewards. From your posts it sounds like your dogs understanding of how to gain a reward isn't necessarily clear. If you are new to obedience but want to aim higher (i.e. competing), think about what kind of work you want to aim for - do you want your dog to have lots of focus and fast snappy heelwork? Is there a style or look you prefer over others? There are heaps of obedience videos on YouTube, so that is a good place to start, it might also be worthwhile going to some trials to see what goes on and how other people are working their dogs and what competitors might inspire you towards a certain style of training. Once you have a picture in your mind of what you want to achieve, you can set some goals as to how to get there. There are lots of different ways to approach obedience training, however some methods are more geared towards getting the most out of your dogs natural drive for rewards than others.

Wizbang likes to run our office :laugh:

I am very lucky as the nature if my job means my youngest dog comes to work with me every day, sometimes both of them! I love it but and couldn't imagine not doing it now, but in a normal office situation I think some dogs would struggle with lying calmly etc at your desk. As a once off day i think if it was managed properly why not? ( and if it could be managed long term great!) It really does make your day brighter to have your dog with you.

Some dogs require a higher level of management than others and its up to owners to be responsible for making sure their dogs are appropriately and safely managed. It would be naive to think all dogs are created equal.

You paint a great picture there Huski :) So did you SG sounds like you are doing a great job with he beags!

I feel proud when my crazy puppy can do an awesome session of bite work, give 110% of herself whenever I ask her to, but will also sit calmly and submissively while kids pat her and will dial down her drive so they can play ball with her. I feel proud that she has a super high prey drive but will snuggle on the lounge next to my cat. And I am super proud she can chill inside with me and can sleep on my bed as at one stage I wasn't sure I could trust her in a room with my eyes closed :laugh:

Desexing can actually make this kind of behaviour worse, so I would look at getting professional assistance if you are concerned.

I love my dogs (and cat) deeply and would be beyond devastated if anything happened to any of them. I am responsible for them and love and care for them, I am their person. However I love Wisdom unlike I've loved anything ever, she means the world to me, the bond I have with her is so strong. I could look at it in a logical way and say well her pack drive is higher etc but the reality is, it isn't logical - I just look at her and think "she's the best dog in the whole world".

Could you wear leggings or stockings with them? That's what I would do with a dress I found too short but then again I am a short ass! I did a photo shoot for a friend a little while ago with Wisdom my mal. The photographer asked me to wear a pretty dress so I wore a short white Lacey one with leggings. IT WAS SO HARD! I just can't handle Wiz while wearing a dress. She would bite the tug and would end up with a piece of dress in her mouth at the same time and I would panic and have to out her straight away. Playing tug is quite physical and it was so hard to move properly. I was like "and this is why I can't wear nice clothes" :laugh:

Not so much a hobby but I love wearing 50s style dresses and I have a wardrobe full of them. I love dressing up and wearing heels and jewelry and make up every day, and when I worked in an office every day I did. Unfortunately now I work with dogs every day and especially now I have a Malinois who would love to bite my pretty lace dresses and dresses with flowy skirts I never get to wear pretty clothes anymore! It's pants and sneakers every day now

But IME it's me saying it that's the problem :laugh: When I'm with a trainer, after they've explained something I automatically say "OK!" and off shoots the dog Happens to me all the time at herding, I'll never use "ok" again I find it is more of a problem for me to remember to say the right word "OK! I mean good! ah crap I mean YES!" :laugh:

I use 'okay' with Daisy, but with Wisdom I use 'yes'. I proof the dogs by getting other people to offer them their reward and give their release command, it is easy to teach them to ignore it unless you've said it.

Hey Andrewang, they are definitely not 'sharp' :laugh: they are a lot softer and more comfortable to hold than the Gripper leashes, but which you prefer comes down to personal preference. I personally prefer our Syn Tek leashes over Gripper, if I was going to go for something that isn't leather. The leather leashes have a money back guarantee if you receive it and it doesn't meet your expectations :) but they are super soft from new.

I teach loose leash walking as an entirely separate exercise to heelwork. LLW to me involves the dog being chilled and relaxed, whereas with heelwork I want lots of excitement and drive. I look at LLW as a life skill and having dogs that have good life skills is something that is really important to me. With many if not all dogs how they behave outside of training can make a significant difference to how the dog performs. Not that I am saying that if you have a dog that can't LLW that it doesn't perform to its potential, but it's something I consider when raising and training my dogs. We all have different things that we prioritize, for me good life skills is number one because I need a dog I am happy to live with.

Daisy loves donuts, especially Krispy kremes. Wisdom loves just about everything too, however her preference is for biting things over food :laugh: