The Spaniel Annals

This past year, I’ve struggled with getting Gael to trot when she is attention heeling.  I’m still using a lot of food, but no matter what, she has so much reach and drive that I could only get her into an extended walk.  Finally on the suggestion of a German Shepherd friend of mine, I went back to basics: a white spoon as a target and peanut butter for Gael to lick.  Voila!  While at some point this big target will need to be faded, at long last she can start getting the muscle memory to consistently trot at heel. 

As I was video-taping her progress, I discovered that Flip cameras have a simple movie-making program.  So below is my first movie, a fun little clip of Gael playing and heeling over the past year.  The initial scenes in the training building show her doing her extended walk, and the later scenes outside are more recent as she’s beginning to trot.  I know they’re not the best quality, but I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to finally see her trotting!