Teaching basic heel and stay

Sorrell

If you're a bird, I'm a bird
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Here ya go, hope this is what you had in mind...pretty wordy but it's hard to describe somethings that you are used to demonstrating! :D

Heel position is when the area from the dog's head to his shoulders is in line with the handlers hip with the dog on the left side. To teach a proper heel, you must first teach the position in place. The best way to do this is to teach right turns and about turns. With these two turns the dog is able to follow your leg around, making it easier to stay in position because you are walking away form the dog instead of into it.
To preform a right turn, say "Rover heel" and take a LARGE step to the right with your left leg. Always start on the left leg when you want the dog to come with you. Bring your right foot to your left and have the dog sit next to you. You should have made a quarter turn after one step. Wait five second and preform this again. This should be done five times in a row, with praise after each sit, but do not pet until the exercise is finished. The dog is likely to leave heel position if you pet.
Next is the about turn. With dog in position say "Rover heel" take two steps forward leading with the left leg, turn in place 180 degrees away from the dog and take two more steps forward. Have the dog sit by your side. Repeat this five times with praise and pet at the end.
Always start with these two exercises, then move on to actual walking on the leash. The less contact you have with the leash the better. When the dog leaves heel position give one quick correction and immediately release the tension and praise the dog for returning to heel position. Stay very active in your heeling so that the dog is always having to pay attention. Do many about turns as you walk. If one of my dogs is not paying attention, I will quickly turn and head the other direction! If you keep them guessing as to where you might head next, they will learn to stay in position. Only free heel free three minutes at a time without taking breaks. Your dog will lose interest or start lagging behind you. For starters work in a clockwise direction, so the dog is always to the outside of the circle.

To teach a stay, begin with your dog sitting beside you (every excercise starts like this). Place your right hand directly in front of the dogs face and say "Stay" no name-the dog is not coming with you! Return your hand to your side and pivot directly in front of the dog. Maintain tension on the leash holding directly over the dogs head so that he is held in a sit. Count to ten (In your head, or you'll teach your dog that 10 means the end of the exercise!) and pivot back, wait another two seconds and release the dog with "OK" or "Realease" and praise. Repeat this three times. After the dogs has done this perfectly then you can move a farther distance, at this point your feet should be almost touching his. Stays are the hardest thing to be re-taught so go extremely slow from the start and you'll have a great stay that is fool-proof in no time.

These things I have just outlined would be part of my first weeks class. Ideally they should be practiced at home for about 15 minutes a day for a week and then things can progress. I hope this has been a helpful starter, and if you would like I can help you further as your dog makes progress. :p
 
Ooooooooooooohhhhh :whistle:

Nifty........

I'm gonna have to reread the first part a few times before grasping it!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!

Lets see, I'm a little confused about the part where you lead with your left leg and step toward the right!!!! Do you begin (with the dog) with both of you facing the same direction.....like......like.........at the beginning of a race or something :lol: Bad analagy sorry. And then you take a giant step forward >to the right, but stay facing the same direction. Like lets say the you are both facing DUE NORTH......after you take this first giant step " to the right " would we then be about 3 paces Northeast BUT still facing DUE NORTH or would we be 3 paces northeast and facing and facing northeast as well??

Get what I'm saying........???

:S :S :S

:lol:
 
Sorry, I know it's confusing! I just had to stand up and do it myself to be sure of the footing! Ok, your left leg will step across your body so that your start facing N and end facing NE. Does that make sense?
 
My dad taught my dog how to heel...by scaring the hell out of him. He still pulls on the leash now and then but if you use a very low sharp voice he will heel. Funnily enough he heels on the way back home but not when going towards the park. Oh well...
My dog is a Miniture Schnauser named Toby... I call him Pig or Ratdog...hehehe.
 
Well...there are obviously many ways to teach something, some better than others, I train dogs to compete in AKC obedience trails and teach dog obedience classes. The method described above is the first step to teaching a dog preparing to preform in this type of situation. A dog who walks in proper heel position is a lot different then a dog that walks and stays by your side. Silver asked me for an explanation on "heel" and that is what was described. :)
 
Thanks Sorrell, that makes sense to me......

So by the time you are done taking about 5 or 6 big steps like that, you will end up "basically" in the same position as when you start?? :unsure:

I'm pretty sure I get it!! I'm going to start doing both of those things with my Pup! ;)

Any comments on the bath situation :*)
A stinky dog isn't very fun to kiss and hug :lol:
 
Yep, you got it! Sorry, I forgot to address the bath situation...It sounds to me like you did a good job with the first bath in the way that you handled it. For some reason the dog has developed an aversion to the bathroom in response to her bath. This is probably also going to be a long process. I would start by moving her food and water dish closer and closer to the bathroom until she is actually having her meals in there. I would also after awhile take her in ther with her favorite toys/bones and have playtime inside the bathroom. As she gets more comfortable with this, you can have the playtime with water running in the tub. When this becomes ok, you can have the running water going and sprinkle some on her. Just do tiny baby steps to get her used to the room again and used to the feeling of water. She'll probably never like getting a bath since she has such a strong aversion that it has carried over to the actual room, but you can make it tolerable.
Make sure that you continue to play and relax in there in between baths or you'll shatter her trust in you.

In the meantime, you can keep her clean(er) with baby wipes or pet wipes. This will also help her get used to being a little damp, but will keep her pleasant to cuddle! Hope this helps! :p
 
silver said:
. And then you take a giant step forward >to the right, but stay facing the same direction. Like lets say the you are both facing DUE NORTH......after you take this first giant step " to the right " would we then be about 3 paces Northeast BUT still facing DUE NORTH or would we be 3 paces northeast and facing and facing northeast as well??
There goes my last braincell :sad: :lol: :S
 
LOL at dwarfs.............

:rofl:

BTW, I already know about the baby wipes :hey: .....it is HIS ;) time to get pampered.



I'll see if I can find a picture of him with my son Eliot........

* goes through albums......may take a while *
 

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