Clover Heelwork – 20th November

Posted on by

I frequently post critiques on other people’s videos around the blogosphere, so I thought I was well over due to upload a training video for others to critique. However, I am probably my own worst critique.

Below is a two and a half minute video of Clover doing some heeling training.

My own comments:

Overall, I am happy with her attitude and willingness to work, especially considering she still has a bit of ‘baby brain’ (her puppy was born 4 weeks ago!).

I am not sure, after watching this video, if I should conduct tug-rewards on this slippery surface. Clover doesn’t seem unhappy about her lack of traction, but I am not sure if it’s great for her body.

I didn’t realise how wonky I am on my feet! There are a few times I look like I’m going to fall over, and my feet go weird ways. Some of this is probably due to the hypermobility of my joints, but I am going to be more conscious of having clear body cues. I think at the moment, Clover has to make some guesses about where I was going next.

I am not quite happy with some of my reward points.I should’ve rewarded her eye contact more, and sometimes she was out of position. Next session will be a food session to help try to pinpoint the heel position.

Keep in mind, we haven’t done any training sessions for at least 2 months! So I am pretty happy with her comeback performance here.

9 thoughts on “Clover Heelwork – 20th November”

  1. Wow! I’m impressed. Your dog is extremely well trained.
    You showed a good calm assertive state and the dog respects you as the pack leader. Well done.
    Her reward is the playing with the rope which is good for the teeth.

    • Hey John. Thank-you for your comments. I am not sure if my dog so much respects me as much as she knows how to get me to play tug. ;) Perhaps she’s trained me well?

  2. Hey Tegan,

    You’re doing awesome with Clover. To tell you frankly, I have a harder time training mine, especially when their instinct drives them to run away and be free or jump at me even when the treat is still in the container.

    Hugs and dog snuggles.

    • Clover is an ongoing project. I spent a lot of training time with her in the first few weeks and, to be honest, haven’t done all that much since then.

      If your dog enjoys ‘running away’, then you could use that as a reward. For example, you could ask for a few paces of heel work, then send your dog ‘free’ as a reward, before calling the dog back and doing more heel work. Nothing wrong with using the environment to help you train!

      • I agree. But I’ve noticed something about my dogs now. Aside from the older one being pretty difficult to train, a good one hour walk and a whole lot of patience can definitely make a whole lot of difference.

        I agree about the running away part. I give them play breaks because one of my dogs rarely have that much freedom.

        I was hoping I could contact you but could not find an email. I’d like to join your Blogroll, if it were alright. I’ll be adding you in mine, as well.

        Huggies and Cheese,

        Haopee

  3. WOW, I’m impressed, too! I love the way she sits so beautifully and makes eye contact with you to be sure she’s doing it “right.” What an adorable dog and she obviously respects you as a pack leader. I’m not sure about the slippery surface either but great video and great training session!

    • Thanks for your comment, Sandra. I spent a lot of time training that eye contact and, though it’s not perfect, Clover is such an improvement on my first dog. Thanks for noticing. ;)

  4. Thanks for stopping by Bocci’s Beefs-we loved the video of you and Clover-we think she did great! If you’re not already a Follower of Bocci’s Beefs, stop back by-we’d love to have you!

Comments are closed.