Heeling

Cleo2014 said:
She gets string cheese and hot dogs and that still seems to not be enough when going outside. She has never been the best food motivated dog.... that makes things hard. But one again, if inside, she can't get enough of the cheese or hot dogs. I take her out every day so I have no idea why she is so sensitive about being outside.
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I also make special treats for Piper (he loves them plus we go through sooo much of it it's cheaper. I use almost the same recipe as the tuna fudge but I use ground chicken instead of the tuna.
You need a total of 24 ounces of meat and liquid ( I weighed mine so approx 14 ounces of meat and 10 ounces of liquid, can be water or broth)
4 eggs
3 cups tapioca flour
Parsley (optional, I used about 1/4 cup fresh)
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Beat chicken, liquid, eggs, parsley, garlic and Parmesan cheese in food processor then add to tapioca flour in bowl and mix together. You want a fairly wet mixture so if after mixing it seems too stiff add more liquid. Spread out on a greased and lined with parchment paper cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until it pulls away from the sides. Cool and then transfer to cutting board and cut. I cut them into very small bite sized pieces so it takes him no time to chew. I bake it for approx 40 minutes. Piper must be about the same size as your dog Cleo. He's also around 15 inches and only 16 pounds and I find if I give him something too big it takes him too long to chew and I really don't want him chewing when I'm clicking constantly lol. He loves this treat, has a nice strong garlic smell and he'd really do anything for it and it's super easy to make. Also, by using tapioca flour it won't fall apart in a pocket ( very important as I don't want a bunch of crumbs afterwards haha).
 
Piper's mom said:
Piper must be about the same size as your dog Cleo. He's also around 15 inches and only 16 pounds and I find if I give him something too big it takes him too long to chew and I really don't want him chewing when I'm clicking constantly lol.
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That is defiantly what happens when I give Cleo a treats too big. I noticed if it is over 1/3 of an inch big she will stop to chew it. Drives me crazy. So most of the time when working with her on her walks I cut the string cheese and hot dogs into 1/8 inch round pieces and then cut those in 4 triangle pieces and that seems to do the trick.

Also thanks for the recipe. I have used this with tuna before but never thought to sub in chicken. She didn't like the tuna one I made as much as her cheese and hot dogs. So we may try this sometime in the future and see if this can hold her attention a little better.
 
outside is way more exciting and interesting than inside- especially inside the house. that is a very familiar environment so she can pay attention to you without needing to explore.
that's why everything needs to be perfect inside before you move outside.....

when the kids are with you, I bet that she feels the need to herd them closer to you if they are getting too far way (too far in her opinion).
it's challenging to get shelties to be where you want them to be unless you can figure out what is the reward that keeps them there. it's not necessarily food, can be anything that they want and will work to get.

mine are all chowhounds so I haven't had to work too hard to get them where I want them on a leash.....
 
Here is a couple of pictures to show what I mean on the leash issue.
 

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The only other thing I can think of is our trainer talked a bit about 'choose to heel', another way of teaching your dog to heel. With this method if your dog goes ahead of you you change direction so the dog is always on your left side and when they are beside your left leg you click and treat. It didn't work for me, I think I'm dislexic or something because Piper had me going in circles, jumping for his treats...embarrassing to say the least (and this was in class haha) but you could try it.
 
As I recall from puppy school, the number one tool was "look" or "watch me", and "off" and "leave it".

The look and watch me commands are used to keep your dog focussed on you. These were fundamental to all subsequent training.

The Off and leave it commands are for those situations where your dog has found something more interesting than you. These commands are often used in tandem.

When walking your dog, you have to have your attention forwards and backwards, while training. You have to be alert to triggers even before your dog (hard to do, I know....because they have ESP)

but the first sign of a trigger, the dog should be redirected to you with a look command and a sit. Treat. Keep the dog focussed on you with treat in hand if necessary. Begin walking again but as soon as dog focus strays, then look again.

Off and leave it are similar. You can use this with toys in house. My Callan now knows that the toy will not get thrown for his enjoyment until he understands "leave it". He now drops it and waits for me to give it back to him. "Off" is a little more severe......this means something dangerous, but the techniques are the similar. And often both techniques require going back to "look".....which is just telling your dog, to pay attention to ME....and then I'll let you know whats ok.

Sorry if this seems disointed I'm just trying to remember puppy 101 from theory and how I used in practice.
 
I'm only new to this but there are a few things I do. If there is a lot of distraction ie smells, dogs other people etc, I stop moving and keep repeating it. The second he looks at me I engage and repeat and reward when he does it. If we are walking and he chooses to be at my side without command ie walking up after sniffing something, I also reward that and say "good heel". Any good behavior gets captured and rewarded. Most times if we are just walking and if there are no distractions, he just comes when I say heel, so now I try to practice it in parks and on the beach where it is harder for him to focus.
 
Personally, I would make sure that Cleo get satisfied her need for exercise and experiences and only train quite short sequences - she is, after all, only a little over a year. :wink2:

When Minnie was young so we only went heel every time we went across the road, and she seemed she was amazing when she got praise and a tiny treat when she went to her place, one in the middle of the road and one just before we reached on the other side.

And today she goes happily heel every time I ask her about it both with and without a leash.

We must never forget that obedience must be something our dogs make of pleasure- then we will get the best result and it will works every time :hugs
 
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