How do you train your GSD to look at you during a heel? - Page 1

I feel kind of stupid for asking this but I am looking to get into the sport of schutzhund and I have 2 dogs of decent quality and I have been working them in obedience but I do not understand how I get them to look at me while I tell them to fuus. Can someone explain how I do that? Or if it is a good habit or a bad one. ALL INFORMATION, TIPS, COMMENTS, ANYTHING WOULD BE HELPFUL! 

dvd - micheal ellis - focus heeling.......get it and all of his other dvd's they will help you out.

You start first by training the dog to focus on your nose and your eyes.

get pieces of  weinies and put dog in sitz in front of you...start with short sessions of a few seconds then minutes to follow your hand with weinie to your check..the minute he looks up   REWARD

immediately...you have 2 seconds.to give dog the weinie.



continue this for a couple of weeks ,daily making the session longer and longer...then try walking around your dog with weiinie in hand...put to your nose and watch him stare at it...reward before he breaks the focus...do it longer and longer.
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train only when the dog is HUNGRY.....very  hungry

tHEN TRANSFER THE WEINIE TO YOUR MOUTH...PUT DOG BESIDE YOU IN SITZ ...START THE COMMANd  HEEL   OR FUSS.....KEEP WEINIE IN MOUTH....AFTER A FEW STEPS STOP AND REWARD WITH THE WEINIE..

DO THIS FOR A WEEK OR SO

STOP  FUSS FUSS FUSS STOP WEINIE REWARD


mAKE THE FUSS LONGER AND LONGER IN SHORT SESSIONS...
NOW IT IS TIME TO PUT THE WEINIE IN YOUR HAND AT YOUR WAIST LINE...HIDE IT SLIGHTLY ...AS YOU START THE HEEL OR FUSS LET THE DOG SEE THE WEINIE BUT DO NOT LET HIM HAVE IT...KEEP FUSS FOR A SHORT THEN GIVE A BITE FROM HIDDEN HAND OF WEINIE.. Use your hand on leash to hold him close and use your left knee if he tries to lunge up to get weinie...control with leash and keep a forward movement with confidence...repeat the word heel or fuss....and then sitz as needed

KEEP WEINIE AT TUMMY LEVEL


AFTER A MONTH OF SO YOU CAN WITH DRAW THE FOOD AND USE  YOUR HAND WITH BALL OR KONG FOR TRAINING FOR NEXT MONTH OR TWO..PROBABLY A 4 MONTHS OF SAME ROUTINE...AND USE SHORT LEAD ...HOPE YOUR DOG HAS HIGH FOOD DRIVE...MAKES IT EASIER.


Yr

watch videos   as suggested

I start out doing the muzzle memory heeling work and build it so the dog longer needs to have the hands guiding him

I used to train by teaching the look (focus on face) command. Then add in short heel steps and build from there. Depending on the dog, I would either use the ball or food for a reward. Now, we're trying a different approach, where we use more food, less ball, and guide the dog where we want their head/focus. It's still a work in progress with my two guinea pigs.

I am no expert, there's many different ways to do it, but ....here's what I did with my young male...1st video is shortly after we started OB...2nd video is a month or two later.

Hot dogs cut lengthwise in quarters.  In the beginning the dog is fed almost continuously to teach positioning and movement with the handler.  The dogs position is manipulated by where and how the handler dispenses the food.


as the dog progresses the food is intermittently taken away...length of time increases every session, but the timing of the reward should always be unpredictable (sometimes short between rewards sometimes long). 

at some point in their training (for me depends on the age and level of training in other phases), compulsion is introduced.  Dog gets rewarded for heads up heel, and corrected for looking away. 

 
 




 

I have found that my dogs go absolutely bonkers over the Red Barn chicken and liver. I cut it up into long and narrow pieces and can easily dispense it as we walk along in the heel. They love it as much as the real stuff (dehydrated liver), but I can feed more of it without worrying about the squirts. 

  Most all dogs love the liver and will almost climb up you to the scent of it..AND then let them have a tiny bit as you go along in the heel....works wonders

I use fried Chicken livers from my favorite chicken place..I just take off the batter..  I love fried chicken livers my self.

I use to buy one batch for them and one for me

A lot less messy than me trying to do it.

YR

I can only speak for my self but I found the Balabanov method to work really well !

I too have used the Ivan Balabanov method... I kinda modified it a little... but his methods have worked great for me.