OB225 Competition Heeling Part Two - Skills & Engagement

WEEK ONE

• Dogs Love Tricks!
• Juggling Act
• Maintain Your Vision
• Cues for Clear Communication
• Set Your Foundation
• Marking is Magic
• Figure 8 Deconstructed
• Large turns for Figure 8
• Handling and Heeling without Dog
• Assessment of Baseline
  • Normal
  • Slow
  • Halt
  • Left
  • Right
  • About
• Tricks in Motion
  • Spin
  • Weave
  • Bounce
  • “Close”
• Show me your baseline so we can target what we need to focus on

WEEK TWO

• Handling Errors With Clarity
• Offering on Silence
• Setting Super High Criteria (get less in the ring)
• Creating Drive in Heeling:
  • Energy Creates Energy
  • Threepeats With Play Release
  • Exploding Reinforcers
• Managing Arousal
• Increasing Endurance
  • Normal Pace
  • Slow pace
• Normal Halt
• Normal Right Turn
• Figure 8 Outside Curve, Inside Curve

WEEK THREE

• Drifting
• Introducing Fast Pace
• Normal About Turn
• Normal Left Turn
• Transition Into and Out of Slow Pace
• Figure 8 Transition to Inside Curve
• Figure 8 Transition to Outside Curve
• Engagement Games

WEEK FOUR

• Transition Into Fast
• Transition Out of Fast
• Figure 8 Tighten Inside and Outside Curve
• Figure 8 Setup to Right or Left
• Halt After Turns
• Increasing Endurance with Fast Pace
• Handling Reaction to Judge Calling Pattern
• Position game in turns

WEEK FIVE

• Figure 8 Transition out of Left and Right Curve
• Fast Normal Right/Left Turn Halt
• Fast Normal About Turn
• Fast Normal Halts
• Figure 8 Adding Halt
• Slow Normal About Turn

WEEK SIX

• Figure 8 Putting It Together
• Keep Them Guessing
  • Halts after turns
  • Left Right Left
  • Fast, Slow
  • Halts at Different Paces
• Half Heeling Pattern
• Full Heeling Pattern

Gold level students should have taken the prerequisite class OB215: Competition Heeling Part One - Fundamentals at any level (bronze, silver or gold). Alternatively, gold level spots may register if they already have a basic understanding of stationary and moving heeling position.

Students will need access to a space large enough where they can perform straight line heeling for about 40 feet give or take. A space at least as large as a regulation ring would be ideal. You will not need actual ring gates if you don’t have access to them.

The Rule of Three: Many, many years ago a mentor taught me to never let my dog make three mistakes in a row. He said three mistakes meant I created a new habit. Ideally, I will address it when the dog makes the first mistake. By the time the dog makes two mistakes, alarm bells should be going off. As a trainer, we need to change something. The dog doesn’t understand. Doesn’t matter if we think they should know it. Clearly they don’t. Change something.

I use a similar rule when the dog is doing something right. Three correct reps in a row and I move on. I either increase the difficulty of what we are working on, or move on to another behavior. After three reps, we are just going to bore the dog. We are drilling. There is nothing to be gained. The dog learned. AWESOME!! Onward and upward!!

Dogs Love Tricks! And so do humans!! Trainers, observers, dogs all have a grand time with tricks. No one is ever upset or disappointed. Dogs make mistakes and it’s not a big deal. Tricks are highly reinforced with our praise, our energy as well as the actual treat or toy. Obedience should be the same way. Because in reality the exercises are just a bunch of silly pet tricks strung together. WE are the ones that take it so seriously. WE get impatient, frustrated, annoyed, etc. We set goals that are not always realistic. Change your mindset and your training will benefit. Remember, it’s all just a trick!!

You will also teach your dog tricks that are functional in heel position. Then you want to reinforce the tricks soooo often over a long period of time that they become inherently self-reinforcing. For my dogs, tricks like bounce, spin and touch don’t need to be reinforced. When I ask for the trick my dogs get super happy and their energy goes up…they love the tricks!! Now I can use them in heeling AS A REINFORCER!! I also use them to increase their mental endurance, to help override distractions and pressure and to keep “boring” pieces of heeling (slow, halts) fun.

It's super important to teach tricks that don’t pull the dog out of heel position. And to make sure that the dog always ends in exact position when the trick is completed. I use bounce, touch, wave and spin. You don’t have to use those. Just some examples. If this is already in place, great!! Make sure to continue heavily reinforcing the tricks for now.

Need to maintain connection with trick:

Maintaining position with “bounce”: