This time it's not for Demon Seed, it's for Macky the Good Girl.
When I initially taught Mackenzy to heel, let's just say I didn't exactly know what I was doing nor did I have a specific picture in mind. I didn't know I would be competing with her, etc etc etc. As a result, she tends to heel wide and lag slightly. Grrr. Totally not her fault, and I'm having a really hard time getting her heel to where I want it.
Part of it I think is physical for both of us, she's physically sort of... "fussy" and thinks I'm going to knee her in the head, or something, and I tend to drop my left shoulder towards her, which pushes her behind me.
She has all the skills necessary for good heeling - hind end awareness (her left pivots in Rally are excellent - even the judge commented on them), good attention, etc. Really it's just that we've both gotten into a weird funk and we're both accustomed to doing things incorrectly.
She also does not have the head position she should for heeling - instead of high and straight, she sort of... ducks her head down and then around to look at me. I think part of that is also physical, since she's built a bit downhill.
I guess my inclination is start by teaching her something she won't even recognize as "heeling" so she doesn't start throwing old behaviors. I was thinking of starting with head position only along a wall, and really reinforcing for keeping her head up and driving into my treat hand. (The thing about that, though, is that she doesn't particularly like being stuck between me and the wall, and will either sit slightly behind me or slightly in front of me to avoid it...)
Thoughts?
When I initially taught Mackenzy to heel, let's just say I didn't exactly know what I was doing nor did I have a specific picture in mind. I didn't know I would be competing with her, etc etc etc. As a result, she tends to heel wide and lag slightly. Grrr. Totally not her fault, and I'm having a really hard time getting her heel to where I want it.
Part of it I think is physical for both of us, she's physically sort of... "fussy" and thinks I'm going to knee her in the head, or something, and I tend to drop my left shoulder towards her, which pushes her behind me.
She has all the skills necessary for good heeling - hind end awareness (her left pivots in Rally are excellent - even the judge commented on them), good attention, etc. Really it's just that we've both gotten into a weird funk and we're both accustomed to doing things incorrectly.
She also does not have the head position she should for heeling - instead of high and straight, she sort of... ducks her head down and then around to look at me. I think part of that is also physical, since she's built a bit downhill.
I guess my inclination is start by teaching her something she won't even recognize as "heeling" so she doesn't start throwing old behaviors. I was thinking of starting with head position only along a wall, and really reinforcing for keeping her head up and driving into my treat hand. (The thing about that, though, is that she doesn't particularly like being stuck between me and the wall, and will either sit slightly behind me or slightly in front of me to avoid it...)
Thoughts?