Obedience Training Question - Page 1

My 9 month old female has encountered a speed bump in her obedience training. Whenever we stop and I say sit she wants to swing her butt out to the side and sit facing me. How could I correct this?

Im guessing you are talking about in the heel position. If so there are several things you can do. Have no idea how far along your dog is in either age or phase of training.

There could be several reasons why this dog is doing this. Either the dog didnt sufficiently understand correct position in foundation work, was rewarded for incorrect position causing conflict in the dog of what correct position is or your mechanics in leash handling and or reward placement or timing with all of the above.

One is:Go back to placement. as a handler, know when you are going to stop and when headed into your final step before stopping take your leash straight up above dogs head applying pressure while simultaneously taking your left hand down to the outside hip preventing the swing out with downward pressure. all pressure stops when dog is correct. and dog is rewarded both by the release of pressure and by what ever you incentivise with(tug,ball,food). Timing and placement are critical here! This will show the dog what is appropriate position. However you will notice when the dog is getting it because it will start to anticipate your cues and you will then need to start diminishing those cues as you will be moving on to the next phase as the dog has been shown and has learned what is correct.

If you cannot successfully prevent the swing out with simple leash and pressure mechanics. Use a wall so the dog cannot swing out as there is an obstacle and the dog must be successful and then realizes correct position to achieve reward.


Two: going back to the showing/teaching phase and luring to not allow the dog to fail and once again learning the correct position to achieve reward before compounding exercises.

Three: If dog is far enough along it could be because of reward timing and placement.So keep that in mind. Or your mechanics on your corrections if you are that far along.


Just room for thought. Sure their are many here whom can give advise on this issue. shouldnt be to difficult to fix.

This thread is on forging but it'll probably help with this issue as well: http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/forum.read?mnr=729669-ob-training-question

yep i would agree with all that was said , if it was me i would use the wall that works good as they cant move, i also use this to teach them to back up. like said it depends on how far your dog is at , cause i have also corrected them by doing a few extra steps, when i heel , this is before i would use the wall if its just a minor thing.

I like the wall/fence/car as a border so the dog can't swing wide. Also you might need ot go back to basics and teach where "Fuss/Heel" is located. Once your puppy can find heel no matter where you are pointed. She will start doing better. Also NO reward for doing something wrong. Of she's not in heel position help her by guiding her into place and giving a little parise. But not a treat or toy. When she gets close to heel by herself give better rewards and bigger parises. When she gets it right Jackpot the hell out of her! Lots of fun and goodies for getting things right. Also what words are you training with?
Such as i use Fuss to mean be at my left side, no matter what we are actually doing.
Maybe your choice of words are confusing her?
Fry

I would use a heeling stick like a wall barrier (not beating the dog here). A light tap to the flank and dog should move away ALSO, heeling a tight left will often bring dog into correct position. Only reward for proper position. I teach mine side step to the right with me, so that definitely helps with the rear end awareness.

Melissa

You have probably created the problem by turning your left shoulder in and looking down at your dog to see if she sat correctly.
Your dog is keying off the wrong part of your body when it goes in to a sit.
Keep your shoulders straight while using the wall or a fence.
It might also help if you do your obedience in a room where you can put up a mirror so that you do not have to look down at the dog.
You don't need a large area, nor do you need to be doing much heeling while practicing your sits. Teach the dog to sit and to sit only. If you do it correctly she will sit when you go back to heeling with her.
At nine months old I would not use any type of force training in obedience. If you are doing any type of sport training a dog should not see any type of force or be "made" to do anything concerning obedience at this age. It is a great way to kill the pup's drive. Keep all obedience exercises fun and free at this stage in life.

I was not suggesting force training. If you hurt your pups drive with the light taps you're giving, then your pup was weak to begin with.

Another method of rear end awareness is teaching the brick (or bowl...)

 

Easiest way I've found is to fuss with the dog shoved against a fence. Stop, say - sit straight - and reward. If you're not against a fence, still use - sit straight - and catch her before she can sit crooked. Slow down, say sit and  reach across her body with your left hand and pull her butt into your body. Don't let her make a mistake, You might have to do that for weeks until she sits straight automatically. Do not reward a crooked sit.

Melissa,
I wasn't talking about you specifically.