For front target - should I be holding my hands in front where I feed or moving them between feeding and side to start? I don't want to confuse her since front is our weak spot.
Side steps - yeahhh, I'm abrupt by nature but we are working on it :)
Front work new target - should I be holding my hands at my crotch at all times or only to feed? we started this earlier this morning and she kept pivoting into heel 😂 🤯
Great! She's got the idea. Now the missing piece is coming back into heel cleanly. She is coming back but going wide and is a little unsure if she should do the whole "real, pretty heel" thing because she is looking for instruction from you in all the newness. I think you can do less back-to-back wraps now and work on heel, wrap, and clean heel again. I think if you just reward close to your body and heel more, maybe add some left turns, after "wrap," it'll happen pretty organically.
She’s wide here as well, and for the last rep she is crabbing out.
Did you do this after practicing twist in heel? That could be part of the reason.
Another reason is that you are cueing with your right hand, so she is drifting forward to see your right hand. Never cue anything from heel with your right hand, just like rewarding. (You will see some people get away with it, but as you see in this session, it doesn’t take much to affect their position for heel.)
YOU also step into a wide position when you “pick her up” again (when you step back into heel).
The last 2 reps of down look nice and straight to me. Try seeing how she does with cues from your left hand. If you want to fix crooked downs in heel, you’ll just need to work on it more against the wall + using luring, just how we did with her sits in heel.
Twist in heel: I’m so glad you posted this clip, because I had a question for the first half, and the second half answered it. :D
She is heeling wide in between twists. My analysis of why this is is that she is anticipating being cued twist again before she comes all the way back to heel, so she just starts drifting out. Solution: Do 1 rep of twist at a time, having her come all the way back to heel and rewarding close to your body. She totally CAN be tighter. There’s just a reward mechanics thing going on.
From there, instead of progressing on to multiple spins in heel, I want you to progress to having her snap from twist to heel, and then heel forward again a few steps.
I’m trying to be hyper aware of stopping before I cue front. I’m struggling with finding the balance between cueing while in motion and making sure I step back to allot for her to come in before I wrap up my cue. So I’m glad it looks good!
@Lauren & Luna Ah yes, that's a tricky one for timing, since you're doing 3(?) cues at once. I rewatched the front, and it looks good. Hopefully Level 8 front homework helps as we fade steps back, large gestures etc.
Woof, sorry for the delay in response! But these are all looking great!
Twist in heel: She's looking much more confident about these. Keep it up!
Front on target: Wow, she picked this up so fast! That's impressive!
I like how she's looking with your hands at your side. That's the fancier version, too.
Side steps: Nice! I think maybe you can make your diagonal step less abrupt, somehow? You're both definitely getting the hang of it, though.
Side right steps - WOW wtf was i doing before?!?
Front work new target - should I be holding my hands at my crotch at all times or only to feed? we started this earlier this morning and she kept pivoting into heel 😂 🤯
Twists in heel coming along much cleaner
Schutzhund Turns
Soft step rights (from pivot)
Planned on taking her to the park for more space, man I miss having a big yard! But here are a few signs I put together in our backyard.
Sit and down:
Great stays! Perfect.
She’s wide here as well, and for the last rep she is crabbing out.
Did you do this after practicing twist in heel? That could be part of the reason.
Another reason is that you are cueing with your right hand, so she is drifting forward to see your right hand. Never cue anything from heel with your right hand, just like rewarding. (You will see some people get away with it, but as you see in this session, it doesn’t take much to affect their position for heel.)
YOU also step into a wide position when you “pick her up” again (when you step back into heel).
The last 2 reps of down look nice and straight to me. Try seeing how she does with cues from your left hand. If you want to fix crooked downs in heel, you’ll just need to work on it more against the wall + using luring, just how we did with her sits in heel.
Twist in heel: I’m so glad you posted this clip, because I had a question for the first half, and the second half answered it. :D
She is heeling wide in between twists. My analysis of why this is is that she is anticipating being cued twist again before she comes all the way back to heel, so she just starts drifting out. Solution: Do 1 rep of twist at a time, having her come all the way back to heel and rewarding close to your body. She totally CAN be tighter. There’s just a reward mechanics thing going on.
From there, instead of progressing on to multiple spins in heel, I want you to progress to having her snap from twist to heel, and then heel forward again a few steps.
Bonus!
And sit and down stays from heel. How do I stop her butt from crabbing and forging on downs?