lagging on a heel - Page 1

What are some ideas to stop a dog from lagging on a heel?  What could the root cause be?  Please no answers involving holding liver out in front of their nose, I am not interested in doing that.

Hi,

Slamdunc and GSDPACK is correct.

What are your reasons for not using food and are you ready and capable of training a dog in drive.

Please do not take offence, because I've learnt that motivation and timing of the reward is very important in training.

You must also let us know  what method you are using.It could be that you are not rewarding frequently enough or you may be correcting too frequently, I'm only guessing.

Please be careful not to demotivate by your actions. Try more play time in between training and keep the sessions short.

End the training on a positive note.

Thanks everyone,   here you go.

My Training:  Been training my own for 10 years.  Want to get our AKC CD with this dog and I have never done this before. Trying to transition my trianing to the "ring" and the differences required.  She is a great house dog and is extremely obedient at home and out in public, I can take her anywhere.  It is the "precision"  required in the ring I am lacking.

Roxy is just over 2 and is not a high drive dog (unless we are tracking, then she turns it on, lives for that!). 
From 8 weeks to 6 months all food motivation. She wasn't super food motivated either.  Got good results but she didn't go crazy for the reward.  Gradually eliminated food  after 6 months, did not replace with another motivation other than priase after that.  Compulsion is used only after dog knows what is expected.  Wasn't really working towards competition, just a well trained dog at that point. 
SIDE NOTE:
I had pick of the litter.  At 5 weeks the breeder asked me which one I had my eye on.  I said "that solid black female".  He said "that is not the one I would pick for you..... because she is not a pleaser".   Well, I didn't listen.  He was right.   

Mistakes I think I've made: 

• I think I didn't do enough groundwork with heeling when she was a pup with food.  I didn't focus on making her love being in the heel position.  So, I missed an opportunity there. 
• To correct for lagging I would quickly speed up and make a quick snap on the choke chain associated with my quick change in pace.   This hasn't worked like it has for me in the past and with other dogs.  She didn't seem to care about the snap.
• Lacked consistency, didn't enforce her being in perfect heel position 100% of the time when doing heeling exercise, was speeding up and jerking and it wan't working, lost effectivness trying to figure out how to get her up there. 
• Worked her to hard, had too high of expectations based on my other dogs & did not make it fun from 6 months to 1 1/2 or so.  Trying to go back and make it fun now.  She doesn't believe me.

Changes I have made:
My Rotties worked awesome for just praise she does not.  It took me a while to figure this out.  So, at about a year and a half I added an "orbie" ball on a rope toy. She is jacked up about that on my property but when I take her out in the real world her interest fades on the ball.
Also, instead of short 15 min. training sessions, I am increasing to 30 min.  inluding reward fw/ ball during breaks.  Trying to have fun and use a lot of verbal encouragement., and build up her stamina to work longer and not get bored.  

Problem:
She is on hand signals and is watching me great at home.  Not out in public or the 2 times I have been in the ring.  I someone is standing there watching us, she looses it.  Like she doesn't like the pressure.... could that be???

So, I concentrated on myself and did some soul searching.  I came to the conclusion I am too calm/serious when working and guess what, that is how she looks. 

Thanks for everyones thoughts.  It is hard to put my ego aside and admit my mistakes.  Just trying to get more precision.
Cara

Cara