Category: Performance Events ¤ Author: Shirley Chong ¤ Title: Heeling - Targeting to Your Body ¤ John Sequino(?) says: When you start the heeling do you C/T while in motion or start, go a few steps and stop then C/T when stopped. It's tough to C/T while moving and it appears sloppy. The dog is very high drive and very food motivated, so there's a lot of movement (jumping shoulder high) going on while attempting to heel. Use the clicker as if it were a camera: take a picture of the precise instant you want the dog to "record" in memory. So yes, it means a click has to occur while handler and dog are in motion. The treat can come after you stop (say, within 2-3 seconds). Now, does the HANDLER have to click? Nope! If you have a training partner with a good eye and good timing, you can have your partner click while you deliver the treats. Most of us, though, don't have such a training partner, so it does mean we have to learn to handle the clicker while in motion. There IS a way to make it easier, however: lose the leash. If you don't have to use your hands on the leash, you have a hand free for the clicker. Initially, I wouldn't be looking for a few steps--I want to see ONE step. One single step with a click taking a picture of it, then deliver the treats. Actually, I find it's easier to get the food off my body altogether and have it in a bowl in the ring. I have Belgians (Tervuren and Sheepdogs) and I've found that racing over to the treat bowl seems to be a reinforcer, as well as the treat. They like to move a lot and this lets them get rid of some of the squirmies. Now, I personally prefer NOT to have the dog looking at my face while heeling. I have yet to find a dog with a long enough neck that looking at my face didn't cause the dog to wrap around my body and/or crab out in the rear while moving. That's not my picture of perfection. There are various methods to get the right head position. The very first thing I tried was with my first GSD, Sheba. I let HER pick her head position. This meant she ended up heeling with her chin tucked into her chest, staring at my feet! I didn't know any better until we started competing with her (yes, she did look strange especially sitting at heel). One of the smartest match judges I've ever met said "it's sure different, but it works and she's good at it, so don't do anything about it." On the other hand, I have to say that a dog moving head up does look better to me. So, on to method two, borrowing heavily from the Bauman/Rosbach method of training. I used a piece of tape and stuck it to my clothes. I positioned the tape about two inches above the dog's upraised nose while sitting in heel position--this means that it's about 4-6 inches above the dog's head while we are moving. I teach the dog to focus on the tape by clicking for any eye movement towards the tape (this is with a dog that already knows targeting). It doesn't take long before the dog is staring at the tape for quite long periods of time (say, 15-30 seconds without moving--that is a LONG time to stare at anything without moving!). Other targets I've used are a bit of ribbon safety pinned to my jeans. I've heard of other people using Bulldog binder clips. Let me back up a step! The first time I taught the dog to target, I taught it using my index finger. One of the next steps in teaching targeting is to "touch what I touch with the target." So when I'm heeling, I point at the tape with my left index finger when we're getting started. I don't point continuously--I just point and then put my hand in heeling position (I hold my left hand across my waist). When the dog is watching the target reliably, I use a pair of scissors to start fading the target. I'm still incorporating the initial fingerpoint--not every time we start off from a sit, just at the very beginning of each heeling session. And voila! Eventually, there's no added target but I have a perfectly legitimate way to point out the spot on my body the dog should be focusing on. Okay. I've got one step with the dog in heel position. It doesn't matter what the dog does after the click--a clicker savvy dog will immediately break off to race me for the cookie bowl. That's fine. Now, am I giving a command? Nope. This isn't heeling, so why would I call it heeling? I start off the session by pointing out the target to the dog and then I start walking around the area in my heeling pace. I leave it up to the dog to get into heel position. When they do, one step while I take the picture with the clicker and off to the cookie bowl. Then we go to two steps in position. Then three. Then four. Then we start bouncing around--sometimes it's four steps, sometimes it's three, sometimes only one, sometimes it's FIVE steps. I don't want the dog to be able to predict how many steps it will be before I click. I could click on any step at all. When the dog is diving right into heel position when I take off walking, it's time for our first distraction. Again, this is straight out of the Bauman/Rosbach method of training. My favourite first distraction is a human being, staring off into space, smiling gently, saying "doggie-doggie-doggie" in this icky-sticky cooing voice. The vast majority of dogs race over to find out what this obvious easy touch will give them. The answer is: NOTHING. The person just keeps staring off into space, saying "doggie-doggie-doggie." This is, BTW, the absolutely MOST difficult thing to train. Not the dog, the HUMAN! I've gotten to the point where I insist that the person has to rehearse it for me before I expose the dog to it, because almost every person stops talking when the dog comes over. It's maddening. The dog has to find out for themselves that I control the most interesting stuff to be had. When the dog leaves me to check out the other person, what do I do? Nothing--I just keep walking. The dog will eventually get tired of bugging the other person for a goodie and come back to the better bet: me! Click and treat (depending on how difficult it was for the dog to leave the other person, I might throw in a jackpot for this one). You can work on any aspect of heeling, as long as you work on ONE aspect at a time. Either extend the number of steps or increase the distraction factor. Any time the distraction factor is increased, the number of steps has to move back--waaaaay back, even all the way back to one. For awhile, it will feel like every time you start to get anywhere, you introduce a new distraction and have to go back to the beginning. It can feel like running in place. Be patient--the dog will get better and better at hitting and maintaining heel position while ignoring the distraction. Eventually, you'll want to introduce turns and changes of pace. Until this point, you are walking in large, vague circles or straightaways (and remember, you have to teach clockwise and counterclockwise separately). I won't go into (excruciating) detail here, just say that again, you go back to the beginning. Click the dog for being in the correct position one step at a time. When will I incorporate the command? Not until the dog can sit at heel and then moves with me, staying in heel position through turns and changes of pace, without losing focus. Until we get to that point, it's not heeling. Don't know what's gotten into me lately! I go on and on, but does it make any sense??? M. Shirley Chong The Well Mannered Dog Iowa City Iowa tzjd72a@prodigy.com