Yesterday had both ups and downs. We started with Novice Obedience and had a decent enough run. Free heel is a work in progress but we could have made it through. It was the recall that got us out NQ. He likes to sit and stare at me and say “nah I’m good”. I have even switched from a verbal recall to a signal after enough failed verbal attempts. Today it was not to be and we are still chasing our first leg. We we’re 108. Rally went grate. We finished intermediate and titled with a score of 96. Unfortunately I don’t have a video because my wife didn’t notice I moved from warmup, to on deck to in the ring. She got to see the second 1/2 of the run. This will be our last rally for a while. I don’t want to start learning the next set of signs until summer when I have less opportunities for agility. Back to chasing novice obedience legs and working on our agility journey.

I’m starting to work towards right side heel. I have two left side commands. “Finish” is to pass behind from right to left with a left side finish. “Setup” is to pass on the left and turn and finish on the left. I needed something new for a finish on the right side. It’s just the way my brain works. I present the start of the right side finish “over yonder”. 🤪

I made a quick video on some of my thoughts on heeling. Here are a few points also. First I’m not a seasoned trainer with decades of experience. I’m on a journey and learning what works for us as a team along the way. One of the biggest changes that worked for us is to get away from grinding out long heeling patterns over and over. I think my dog finds them boring to be honest. I keep my work very short and diverse. I make him work for all his meals so we do something training related twice a day. I have found that concentrating on the turns more than the heeling has led us to great success. I think by getting Louie to watch and trigger off my movements it keeps him focused and leads him into a good heel pattern. Anyway, I touch on a few ideas in this video and hopefully a few of them help.

I don’t remember the final score. We lost a few points for the slow stand and for lagging around the serpentine.