[Shandula]

A quick discussion thread for those of us taking Kamal Fernandez's FCI Style Heeling.

 

[Shandula]

Our initial look at structure and heeling. Levi is in there, but I probably won't do too much with him, we'll see.

Overall, pretty happy with the initial food follows, except I might need to slow down. I feel like I'm almost running to get a trot from Levi.

Happy with nose touch intensity, but I'm also noticing Heidi pushes with her nose and then slides up so it is a chin rest...going to have to address that.

 

[Aspen726]

I'll get my video later

 

[kmes]

Yay!
I'm looking forward to this!
Should be able to get some initial vids but prob won't be until next week that I really focus on this class.

Our last WTL match is due next Sat. Feb. 10th so we'll be focusing primarily on that over the week. Dex is also attending a freestyle workshop next weekend so will be busy with that.

Also, I'm betting I am going to be tweeking methods for my guys, so hoping ya'll will be able to give feedback on what you're seeing with that.

Atm looks mainly to be adjusting for small dogs and also how we handle static positions.

Dexter competes in Rally FrEe and is learning his first comp freestyle routine. Leggs and Hank will also compete in rally free/freestyle when ready. We need autostands on all halts and sits on verbal only. So while I do need nice sits (and sit/down/stand position changes) in left and right heel, I won't be teaching halt with feet together = sit and halt with feet apart = stand. I need all halts (both feet together and apart) = stand.

 

[Aspen726]

I’m going to use this video from the end of December. I made one today but it’s in my basement so it’s hard to see well. She hasn’t improved since December anyway

http://youtu.be/JaruCgsKryM
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Bob The Dog]

There's a bit of heel work in this video of Bob training and playing. Lots of other stuff but I'm not that savvy with editing videos. The "nice" and "aus" I pushed and Bob showed some avoidance behavior so I knew I went too far. I'll have to make a new video of just the heel training as this one is probably 3 years old.

I enjoyed all the other videos posted and it made me feel comfortable enough to post one as well.

 

[linzydd]

Sorry about the horrible camera angle (and the slippers ). I've also attached a picture of her structure. She's 18" and 41 lbs at 11 months.

 

[linzydd]

@Bob The Dog - So awesome that your dog will work for snowballs. Sophie hasn't yet experienced snow - the problem with desert living. Thoroughly enjoyed that video, though. Love the 'prance.' Beautiful dog.

 

[Bob The Dog]

I was watching some of Kamal Fernandez's videos at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and noticed the advice of "work=play=work=play" and this thought definitely works for Bob. Snowballs, a handful of leaves, a tug, a frisbee, a ball etc. it's all the same for Bob because one leads to the other.
@lindzydandsophie Thanks for the nice words about Bob. The "prance" evolved by having Bob target higher during basic heel work and oddly enough, my own higher stepping gait. I marked the moment, created the cue and Bob connected the dots. I think just having a dog's head looking upward while focus is maintained and the lure higher above, the dog is somewhat physically motivated to have a higher stepping gait. I noticed Sophie does this in the video especially from :08 to :13. Never noticed the slippers just your good looking dog aiming to please.

 

[linzydd]

Still have not progressed to the moving HT's. She wants to lick and/or have her mouth open, despite jamming her muzzle into me during regular HT's. She will go nicely from a tuck-sit to a fold-back down to a stand, or any combination thereof, when when targeting her forepaws on an object. We have started working off of the "static pointers" video and are also doing a lot of perchwork. She is pretty good moving counterclockwise, but a bit stiff moving clockwise. We have also been practicing a faster "back up" for general hind end awareness (and is our herding homework, also). How is everyone else faring? I''ll try to get some more videos as feedback is always helpful.

 

[Aspen726]

We haven't moved on to moving HT's yet mostly because of a lack of time. We start rally tonight, have flyball on Friday and barn hunt on Sunday. I plan to do a few sessions of this course Saturday and Sunday. I'll try to get video

 

[Shandula]

We are still having a bit of an issue with our HT's. If not reinforced instantly, she will slide her nose up until she is resting her mouth/chin on my hand.

I've tried various ways of holding my hand and she is still doing that, so might need to spend some time there.

We also started doing the food follows with my hand off her nose and rewarding from my right hand. She seemed to have no problem with that.

And we also gave the hand/wrist flick a try and she turns very nicely around the hand to line herself up straight, but we've done a LOT of rear end awareness/pivoting so I would have been surprised if she struggled with that.

 

[kmes]

Finally had a chance yesterday and today to get a few pics and pull some vids. The pics aren't the best, but should give an idea of structure.
Dexter is the white curly coated dog. Leggs is the brown. Hank is the jrt mix.

Here's some ok footage to give an idea where they are and how they move. The majority of the bounces are cued as our current method/plan includes popping up to hand targets.

Dexter is... Gosh 5 or maybe 6 now? He's been heeling for a long time. We've worked tons recently on drive on outisides and I've created a bit of a forger.. which you'll see. Fwiw I do want him a bit forged(allows me to see the tip of his nose and is allowed in our venues) but not quite this much (affects his turns, pivots, and my footwork). Now I'm playing with mostly Dex on the inside and rewards from behind (not show in these vids) to help get... Balance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be9mJ6PHVni/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be9kVw0n4Jh/

Leggs is 3. It's been quite a while since we've formally worked on heelwork. We've been working almost exclusively on treibball as we've beeing playing in World Treibball League since October.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be9jT8XHeLu/

Hank is still under a year old and really just beginning heelwork. Majority of his exposure has been ''choose to heel'' (mostly just feeding for being with me and building drive back to my sides) and platform work. He truly doesn't have much understanding of what "heel position" even is.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be9kA4MHxOn/

 

[Bob The Dog]

What is HT ?

 

[Aspen726]

@Bob The Dog hand touch... covered in lesson 1... you're signed up for the course, right?

 

[Aspen726]

I'm working Aspen on a perch to get her to touch my leg. She's been VERY sensitive about touching me when we walk. This weekend, she finally got it! She was consistently offering to touch my leg on the perch. I think my bowl is a little too big because she was touch the front of my leg instead of the side but it's what we have for now. I did do it off of the bowl and she was in a much better position - I should have recorded that instead haha... I think we'll do some perch work in this course as well so I'm a little out of order but it's something we had started prior to the course. It'll be a while before I add forward movement as I want a perfect position before we move.

Here's a perch video. In some parts, you can really see that she's touching the front of my leg instead of the side.

Ignore the mess haha busy weekend that did NOT include cleaning the family room

 

[kmes]

@Aspen726 she's moving quite nicely into you! Good job!

If you stand and move so that the bowl is at your side (side of left foot touching the bowl) instead of in front of you, you should get her touching the side of your leg the way you want, no problem!

 

[Aspen726]

@kmes if the bowl is at the side of my left foot, wouldn't she touch the back of my leg? I'm a very visual person haha visualizing is hard for me!

 

[Aspen726]

Signing up for rally classes has really amplified my quest for the perfect heel haha I'm a very competitive person and want to be the best in the class

 

[kmes]

She shouldn't if she is moving and stopping in heel position.
If she does it means she's really fishtailed behind you.
Lemme see what I have in my you tube vids.