# Heeling with Distraction



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Thought those of you who are working with your dogs in formal obedience would be interested in this exercise we've been doing in class and at home.

The idea is that you put all kinds of containers of food, smelly shoes and/or toys... whatever your dog finds distracting in the area where you will practice your heeling. Then you start heeling, KNOWING that the dog is going to take off to investigate all that interesting stuff. You just keep walking slowly, saying NOTHING and wait for them to either come back to you, or at least "check in" visually. At that point you tell them what a good dog they are. When they will heel at least a few steps with you, you reward.

When we first tried this in class, it probably took Kodi 2 minutes to give up on the containers and come back to me. I was told that some dogs in the class before mine took WAY longer than that!  BUT... when it was our turn to try it again, later in the class, Kodi took one glance at the containers and chose me instead. That pattern was true with ALL the dogs. EVERY ONE of them did much better on the second trial.

So now we are practicing it all over the place. He's gotten really good at it in class, (we even do recalls down through the middle of all the stuff) and in the house. Here is a video of us doing it on the driveway for the first time. (last week was WAY too hot to work out there!!!) Besides the food containers and shoes, I set up the offset figure 8 exercise from Rally (two food bowls with food in them, but covered with mesh so the dog can't get into the food, and two cones)


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## Regina (Mar 9, 2013)

Karen,...I am speechless!!! What a good dog he is!! What did you have as a reward treat filet mignon!!


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## LexiBoo (Nov 20, 2008)

Wow! Way to go, Kodi!


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

Great stuff again K & K. What a good boy you are Kodi and oh so smart.:juggle:


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Regina said:


> Karen,...I am speechless!!! What a good dog he is!! What did you have as a reward treat filet mignon!!


It was just cheese.


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

Wow Karen that's amazing. I'm so impressed with how well trained Kodi is - and obviously loving every minute of it.

I love the way that Kodi is constantly looking at you. I'm a million miles off that with Charlie. He's great with loose lead walking most of the time but doesn't pay much attention to me. So can I shamelessly hijack another thread and ask for tips on this.

Thanks,


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ruthiec said:


> Wow Karen that's amazing. I'm so impressed with how well trained Kodi is - and obviously loving every minute of it.
> 
> I love the way that Kodi is constantly looking at you. I'm a million miles off that with Charlie. He's great with loose lead walking most of the time but doesn't pay much attention to me. So can I shamelessly hijack another thread and ask for tips on this.
> 
> Thanks,


It really depends on what your goals are. For every day "pet" use, loose leash walking is all you'll ever need. "Heads up heeling" is for the obedience ring. It takes a LOT of concentration on the part of the dog, and it's not easy on them physically, either. I think that whole video is no more than 2 minutes, and that was all the formal heeling I did with him yesterday. Even at the Utility level, the dog isn't required to heel like this for more than a couple of minutes. For WCS Rally, the dog is in the ring longer, but there are breaks for other exercises (jumps, recalls, signals, etc.) in between sections of straight heeling. Also the criteria for heeling in Rally is looser, though I, personally, like Kodi to heel in rally the same way he does in the obedience ring.

Also, your guy is still very young. He has plenty of time to learn formal heeling. If he's consistently walking on a loose lead, you are doing GREAT!!! If you decide that you want to compete in rally or obedience, you really WILL need to find a good, positive based instructor to help you. It would really be hard to teach you to teach your dog to heel via the forum. There is a LOT to it. The dog needs to learn to stay in exactly the right position, all the time, regardless of which way you move or turn. Kodi is definitely still a work in progress!

There is one person, though, who offers online classes that are TERRIFIC!!! I've worked with her in person, have done one of her on-line courses and am signed up for another in August. Her name is Denise Fenzi:

http://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/

You can participate at different levels for different prices. At the top level, you send her videos of you working your dog, and she helps you improve things. The next level down, you can watch everyone's videos, and participate in a message board to ask questions, but you can't submit videos. The least expensive (which is what I do, since I have more experience, and also have experienced local help who have also worked with Denise) you have access to all her lectures, can watch all the video and read the message boards, but you can't participate in either the videos or message boards. You can still learn a TON this way, and it's much less expensive.


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

*B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!* I LOVE watching you and Kodi work. Great video! We do something like that in class, it's called Temptation Alley and we're either walking on loose leash or doing recalls through it, it's fun. Timmy is really good in class, but he's way more connected to me when we're there so it will be interesting to try and do this at home. I took the summer off from classes because my schedule is so erratic I would end up missing half the class, but I continue to work with him as much as I can, working inside is getting so old. I am so excited now that I have my fence set up and I'm determined to work on off leash healing, so much easier outside with more room. I need to get some cones. Today it seems to have finally cooled of so I'm bound and determined to get him outside later to do some work. I just got back from picking up DD from swim practice, the pool is set in an orchard and Timmy and I took a nice long walk through the trees and now he's tired and really dirty, but happy boy.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

jabojenny said:


> *B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!* I LOVE watching you and Kodi work. Great video! We do something like that in class, it's called Temptation Alley and we're either walking on loose leash or doing recalls through it, it's fun. Timmy is really good in class, but he's way more connected to me when we're there so it will be interesting to try and do this at home. I took the summer off from classes because my schedule is so erratic I would end up missing half the class, but I continue to work with him as much as I can, working inside is getting so old. I am so excited now that I have my fence set up and I'm determined to work on off leash healing, so much easier outside with more room. I need to get some cones. Today it seems to have finally cooled of so I'm bound and determined to get him outside later to do some work. I just got back from picking up DD from swim practice, the pool is set in an orchard and Timmy and I took a nice long walk through the trees and now he's tired and really dirty, but happy boy.


You might want to consider one of Denise's (or one of her other instructors... they're all good!) August on-line classes. If you choose the least expensive option, you can go completely at your own speed, getting to each new lecture/lesson when you have the time. You have access to all the materials... lectures, forums and videos for a year. (longer if you keep taking other classes occasionally. I find her classes a really good way to put structure around what I do at home with Kodi. And she STRONGLY urges everyone to video tape themselves, even if they don't take a "working spot", because you can learn a TON from watching yourself work. I just prop my iPad up against the front of the barn while we're working!


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## shimpli (Mar 24, 2010)

Wow. Awesome!


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

Thanks Karen. You are right of course. At the moment I'm not thinking of competing or anything and really I am pleased with how great he is to walk on leash (most of e time anyway).

I guess what I really want is a little more attention on me when we are out walking. His nose is on the ground sniffing or he's looking in the distance all the time and although the leash is loose most of the time, he's pretty oblivious that I'm on the other end! 

Anyway I'll have a look at that website and also read up some of the training tips on attention that I've seen on other sites. Think I'll make this the focus for the next few days - even getting him to look at me when I call his name would be good.


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## Ruth4Havs (May 13, 2013)

Good job, Kodi! Wow, that's impressive!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ruthiec said:


> Thanks Karen. You are right of course. At the moment I'm not thinking of competing or anything and really I am pleased with how great he is to walk on leash (most of e time anyway).
> 
> I guess what I really want is a little more attention on me when we are out walking. His nose is on the ground sniffing or he's looking in the distance all the time and although the leash is loose most of the time, he's pretty oblivious that I'm on the other end!
> 
> Anyway I'll have a look at that website and also read up some of the training tips on attention that I've seen on other sites. Think I'll make this the focus for the next few days - even getting him to look at me when I call his name would be good.


I don't let Kodi sniff when we're walking, unless it's a "designated sniff break"  (i.e., we've stopped someplace, and I actually tell him, "Go be a dog!") When we are walking, we are WALKING. I don't care if he's behind me, beside me or in front of me, as long as he doesn't pull. On casual walks, his favorite place is actually out in front of me, trotting along with just light contact on the leash. That's fine with me. When we get to a turn, I just signal him by saying "this way!". he checks in just long enough to see from my body language which way we're going, and off we go. It's very organic. I don't THINK about cuing him, any more than you would think about what a human partner was doing when you were walking together.

It wasn't always this easy, though! I think it took about 18 months before we could just walk companionably, without me THINKING about what he was doing. Before that, it was work. Every on-leash walk was a training session. (interestingly, he was reliable off leash LONG before he reliably and CONSISTENTLY walked on a loose leash)


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## TilliesMom (Sep 30, 2010)

I think when we take the pool down in the backyard in a couple months I'm going to try some of this with Tillie ... looks like fun!!


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

I'm very proud of his walking because he doesn't often pull and rarely stops to sniff things (except rabbit and duck poo - his favourite treats :der but his default walk position is with his nose 1" off the ground. Maybe when he gets a bit taller this will change!

Charlie knows the "this way" command as well - trouble is that it's become second nature to me every time I change direction or go around a corner. So much so that I actually said it to my husband when we were out last night - exact same phrase and same tone of voice as I use with Charlie. Luckily he didn't realise, but I did!!!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ruthiec said:


> I'm very proud of his walking because he doesn't often pull and rarely stops to sniff things (except rabbit and duck poo - his favourite treats :der but his default walk position is with his nose 1" off the ground. Maybe when he gets a bit taller this will change!
> 
> Charlie knows the "this way" command as well - trouble is that it's become second nature to me every time I change direction or go around a corner. So much so that I actually said it to my husband when we were out last night - exact same phrase and same tone of voice as I use with Charlie. Luckily he didn't realise, but I did!!!


It sounds like you aredoing great with him! I wouldn't worry about where he holds his nose in nformal loose leash walking, as long as he's doing what he should!


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

Oh my gosh I just love Kodi!


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## NvonS (Jul 8, 2010)

Karen you and Kodi look great! We had a bad weekend with 2 NQ's in Novice. This was our 3rd attempt. We have a trial on Saturday at our training club. I need to know how much time we should be spending each day practicing??? I would really like her to have her Novice title but at the rate we're going she will be an old lady before it happens :-( She was 4 last week. We finished BN last year around this time. I won't travel more than an hour and a half to shows and had a few weekend commitments this summer that got in the way.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

NvonS said:


> Karen you and Kodi look great! We had a bad weekend with 2 NQ's in Novice. This was our 3rd attempt. We have a trial on Saturday at our training club. I need to know how much time we should be spending each day practicing??? I would really like her to have her Novice title but at the rate we're going she will be an old lady before it happens :-( She was 4 last week. We finished BN last year around this time. I won't travel more than an hour and a half to shows and had a few weekend commitments this summer that got in the way.


I assume you watched the video at the beginning of this thread? That's about the longest I ever practice heeling at one go. Formal, heads-up heeling is hard work! I used to practice like that several times a day, but I, literally, set a timer and NEVER work on heeling for more than 3 minutes at a time. That's longer than you'll ever need to heel in the ring. Of course, within that practice, you'll want to practice changes of pace, turns (in both directions) figure 8's and sits. This is one place that I think a dog who has been competing successfully in Rally has an advantage. If the handler has insisted on obedience-quality heeling in the rally ring, they have a TON of off-leash heeling practice in trial situations by the time they get to formal obedience.

If her heeling is better at home than at trials, you need to "take the show on the road". Take her to pet stores, Home Depot and Lowes. Heel her up and down the aisles. If you can heel, with attention, through the dog food aisles on a REALLY loose leash (J loop in the leash at all times), you know your dog is getting pretty reliable! 

Kodi doesn't have his CD yet either, and he is also 4. Dogs are ready when they are ready. Kodi doesn't have it, not because of the heeling, but because his stays are still not solid. So our emphasis, at this point in training, is on the stays and a lot of the upper level exercises... retrieve on the flat and over the high jump, broad jump, directed jumping, drop on recall, signals and go-outs. We haven't started articles or gloves yet. Of course we still do SOME heeling, but that's actually pretty good.

I am also one of those lucky few whose dog tends to perform better in a trial than at home in practice. I don't know why that is... I just got really lucky!


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