The Spaniel Annals

Kerrie is now 15 months and working on her heeling. Since I’m trying so many new things with her training, I’m keeping a video journal to review and have them for future reference. Sharing them here will help renew this blog!

What kinds of new things am I doing? Starting with Brian, I committed to getting away from lured heeling and shaping the behaviors more. (Note that heeling in the stylized way I train for competition obedience requires many complex behaviors, not just one.) To do this, I train the position first before any movement–no more luring the dog around with her head up. Instead I’m shaping her position on a raised pot, working first on her being able to find the position on her own, then pivoting in heel.

We’ve been several weeks away from that here, as she’s moved off the pot and is now practicing turns. Her left turn in strong; her right often causes her to swing her butt out, so then I add back in a left pivot. We’re also doing 1-step halts and “heel grids,” a system of shaping heeling through intermittant rewards created by Laura Romanik. I’ve done this system with both Robbie and Brian, and really liked the duration it builds in simply heeling around in a big clock-wise circle.

I’ll be posting more heeling journal moments in the coming weeks. I’m very happy with Kerrie’s progress and how well the combinations of training tools are working.