Retraining - Page 1

Has anyone here had to retrain heeling with their dog? If so, could someone please give me some advice on how to proceed? Thanks in advance, Michelle

Please elaborate, what problems you are having with how he/she is heeling now? I'm sure people will give you some good training tips.

When I first trained Shelby to heel, I was new to dog sports, and didn't really know what I was looking for. Now, I have a better grasp on what I want, and I think that the only way to realize picture is to retrain the dog with a different command. At the present time, Shelby heels with a lot of bumping, looking everywhere but at me. (heel by feel) Our heeling has no rhythm and is not very nice to watch. That being said, when he is heeling, he has great attitude (very happy and sprightly in his steps with his tail wagging and the smile, all in those brief moments that he will pay attention to me without crowding) I would like to see him paying rapt attention to me keeping his spirits up, but I have yet to find that perfect balance when working him with the tug as a reward, and collar corrections. I don't think that I am getting the picture across clearly to him. I know that I have to start back at the beggining again with the heeling, but I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions how to go about getting the attention heeling with a tug toy instead of food. Everything that I have read has been training with food, and I have a dog that has no interest in working for food. I have tried many different treats/people food/cat food... all to no avail. He is not food motivated even when I withheld his meals.

If a dog loves a certain toy (ball or tug etc.) this seems to work very well, they look up and stay keen - you have to drop the toy at unpredictale intervals so they are always expecting it. Later hide the toy in a pocket....one of the Leerburg videos, "Training Focus and Grip" shows this method well.

Hello Michelle! I could tell you a way, but it's going to take while to see any progress. At least a couple month. So if you need to get your dog ready for a trail pretty soon, it makes no sense for me to explain it. If you are interested in just give me a note. By the way, have you ever thought about to use a clicker? Do you have any experience with it? Detlef www.berensmann.de

Yes I agree with berensemen.. you can fix that but it will take some time. You have to start from the beginning and teach focus. However a QUICK fix since he likes the tug. Get a nice piece of leather that he likes to bite and you can hang it around your neck. Make sure you always reward him using the left hand. But this will help in bringing his attention up to you. He will see it up there for a little while, which you want. Remember to keep the drive up. You can have a few nice steps... break and play and then right from there you can tell him out put the tug around your neck and continue to walk and tell him fuss. It will keep his drive up and you will soon get that nice picture. There is a lot more then this... but this is a good start if you want a quicker fix Goodluck

personally I have gotten better focus with food training. I am not fast enough with the ball or tug...and it does sometimes overturn the dog and they loose all brain function....lol. I really like the Joanne Plumb training methods I have done a clinic of hers a few years ago and learned a great deal. With retraining a dog...I have found...that if you start completley over with a different method....ie if you have used a toy go to food...if you have used food go to the toy...that you will have a better chance at re-imprinting your dog to the behavior that you want..and remember to try and not to move to fast...when under stress your dog will go to his foundation training..so go slow. I would recommend picking up a few videos on the different methods and see what works best for you. I do like the video's because I can watch them and then go out and train. I will also have my son video me and then I can compaire the two and fix what I have done wrong. This has been a big help...I can also see the whole picture of the dog and myself, so I can see what really works best for him and not just what I think worked best. Good luck Heather

I have dogs that were not trained earlier or poorly trained and here is the best way I have found to do this. cut up hot dog in tiny pieces put a four foot lead on the dog begin with pieces in your mouth let the dog know its there for them bring hand to mouth call the dog tell them to watch your face bring a piece out with your hand to the dog give it to them if they break contact with your face do not give it to them but start over. the short leash is because if they drop it they can not have it. you will gradually work through to spitting a piece to the dog again if they drop it they cannot have it the dog maintains constant eye contact with you in the end and heels tight.I glossed over finer points of this method leading up the the end result as it is as someone else said unless someone is interested in this why type it all out? I have no problem doing so if any want it please just respond back I have never seen this method fail.

With the dog sitting in front and holding food in your hands at your side, wait for the dog to look at you. As soon as he does reward with food. You may need to encourage him by calling his name. Aternate hands. When he looks at you without any encouragement say "good eyes". Repeat this daily. The dog will learn this very quickly. Once you have established the eyes you can begin using the tug at the heel position and rewarding as soon as he makes eye contact. Start out with the tug held against your shoulder. Repeat this over and over progressing to short heeling of a few steps. When you can do this for longer periods of heeling with the dog focusing on you, place the tug under your shoulder and repeat the sequence. After this you can wean the dog from the toy.

I retrained my 4 year old dog toally in obedience after a couple of dissapointing trial results.It is long term process of between 4-6 months with daily training; you will have to change the commands used and keep away totally from your previous methods.It took me almost 3 months to be able to confirm the new behaviour and another month before I had the same response on another field. A dog does not forget what he has previously been taught you can only reshape the behaviour.During one session after almost 5 months I made the mistake of using an old command and my dog reverted in that exercise to what he had been origiannly taught, even though I had not used that command for months.