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Post by ohiobrittany on Nov 15, 2008 21:23:06 GMT -5
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Post by JenvyBritts on Nov 15, 2008 23:02:20 GMT -5
I dont do obedience, but am hoping to some day! I love the bond it creates, and just the friendly atmosphere, and most of all, working with my dog! I just am horrible at training 'heel'. ;-P
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Post by ohiobrittany on Nov 15, 2008 23:39:12 GMT -5
Easiest way to train heel with a puppy is to get a wooden sthingy and put peanut butter on the end. let the puppy walk with you and lick the sthingy. at the same time say heel. the reward for heeling is the peanut butter.
If you have an older dog, get control of him/her by doing circles going to the left. as the dog gets better at heeling and respecting you, you can increase the size of the circle until you can have the dog heeling nicely beside you.
Most tried and true method that takes patience is if the dog is walking and pulls ahead, immediately turn without saying a word in he opposite direction. Repeat until the dog is watching you.
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Post by nveebritts on Nov 16, 2008 20:48:09 GMT -5
I have competed in the past in obedience. My biggest problem was always getting my Britts to quite sniffing the ground. I learned over the years that I had my best chance to qualify if I showed indoors so I quit showing at outdoor trials.
I'm training my younest Britt for rally & obedience currently.
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Post by ohiobrittany on Nov 18, 2008 7:36:31 GMT -5
Sniffing is a big hurdle to overcome but it can be done. Only thing about boycotting obedience trials at outdoor shows is you give up the possibility of a High in Trial. It is easier to get them at outdoor trials due to the low entries. Then again for brittanys outdoor trials mean seeing birds in the air and overcoming instincts to point in the obedience ring.
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Post by elementbritts on Dec 2, 2008 10:34:56 GMT -5
I do obedience with my Britts! Dante and I always get lots of compliments. His heelwork is as good as the best Border Collies. He just needs 1 leg for his CD. Our problem has been the stays. We have failed the past 12 times trying for that last leg, and of course I'm completely nerved out about it now. I just want to get that dang title so we can move on! He has the focus for OTCH work, I just need to figure out how to get through to him that stay means stay!   |
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Post by ohiobrittany on Dec 2, 2008 22:13:32 GMT -5
Go back to basics with the sit stays. start only doing sit stays for 15 sec intervals and reward and keep gradually increasing the time. most times a dog breaks a sit due to stress, anxiety or just plain boredom or lack of concentration!
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Post by nveebritts on Dec 3, 2008 7:27:03 GMT -5
I second Margaret's suggestions about the stays. But I would love to hear some tips about heelwork. Tanner & I are getting ready for his rally debut & he's having some problems with the exercises that involve cones. (serpentine & spiral)
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Post by ohiobrittany on Dec 3, 2008 19:21:23 GMT -5
Anything that involves serpentine or spiral requires a dog to be aware of his back end. Fun thing for this is circles to left and right on the spot. keep the dog right into your thigh and when turning in a circle on spot, try to get the dog to keep the front feet in a pivot and swing around moving the back. This will help figure 8's as well. Also when training spirals purposely train with cones closer together than what is required at a show. If they can do it in tight quarters, they will be able to do it spaced out at the show.
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Post by nveebritts on Dec 3, 2008 22:57:43 GMT -5
The weird thing is he seems to do fine with me going to the right (him on the outside) which is where I've always had trouble in the past. His main problem is me going left (him on the inside). I started out just circling one cone & am working up to 2 (like a modified figure 8/serpentine) He keeps knocking them over which I know isn't a huge deal but its like he doesn't seem to even realize what he's doing with his back end. We've done work with an agility ladder when we did agility training which is supposed to make dogs aware of their back feet (according to my instructor) & he did well with the ladder but guess he still doesn't know he has back feet.
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Post by elementbritts on Dec 4, 2008 11:15:43 GMT -5
I would love to hear some tips about heelwork. Tanner & I are getting ready for his rally debut & he's having some problems with the exercises that involve cones. (serpentine & spiral) For some reason I've always been able to train good heelwork. I start my dogs/puppies off with a program/philosophy pretty similar to what my friend Dana writes in this article: www.ocdoglady.com/Heeling.htmlBasically, I train proper attention and the right "posture" before even attempting to take a step. I think this makes the dog understand that when you say "heel" it's different than just going for a walk. After a month or two of consistent training, the results are something like this :  And yes, I know this isn't a Brittany, but this is another dog I've trained using this method... my Boston Terrier, "Scully" :-P:  |
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Post by ohiobrittany on Dec 4, 2008 21:51:16 GMT -5
Excellent. Just have to be consistent with heelwork. Don't take anything less than perfection.
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Post by nveebritts on Dec 5, 2008 21:19:44 GMT -5
We definately have a LOT of work to do on our heeling. We did fine with the attention part in heel position & the first few steps, but I think I tried to add too many steps at one time. My goal right now is rally so that doesn't involve a lot of heeling all at one time at each station. However, I want to have a good foundation for heeling so we can move on to regular obedience eventually.
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