How I Taught My Dog to Heel for a Ball Without Having Her Brain Fall Out of Her Head

I am really proud of Maisy’s heeling- although I never thought I’d say that. It used to be that her heeling was sort of dull and lackluster, but these days it's bright and animated. She is focused and excited and definitely having fun; she thinks it’s a huge game. Which it is, actually, because I taught Maisy to heel for a ball reward. This wasn’t easy, because every time I tried to use a ball, her brain fell out of her head. But I wanted the attitude that I was sure would come if she thought heeling was fun, so I needed to figure out how to use her ball as a reward.

Luckily, I was able to get a working spot at a Denise Fenzi seminar, who is a master at using play to get excellent results. Thanks to Denise’s excellent coaching, Maisy now has some awesome heeling skills. She’s still not perfect, but she definitely has a solid foundation. I documented the process last summer/fall here on this blog, but I thought it would be nice to organize all of that information into one post.

Step 1: Get the Dog Thinking
This is the hardest step. No matter how much your dog has heeled in the past, if he loves his ball, there’s a pretty good chance that he’ll forget it all when you bring the ball out. Prevent disappointment and frustration by starting from the beginning. Don’t worry- this doesn’t take that long. I trained for about five minutes a day, four times a week, and spent about two weeks on each step. In the end, I spent less than three months accomplishing more than I had in the three years before.

So, how do you get your dog to start thinking? Teach him that the ball only gets thrown when he exerts some self control. Since most ball-obsessed dogs will run forward looking for his ball (and thus forging at heel!), require him to be in line with your hip. Start the training session by walking. Your dog will no doubt run to your side, and yes, cross that imaginary line. Immediately turn and go in the other direction. You’ll probably do this three or four or more times. That’s okay, just keep changing directions until it’s obvious he’s try to control himself- it will probably only be for a step or two- and throw his ball.

Make no mistake, this is not heel position- Maisy went very wide, especially when I turned around- but don’t worry about that right now. All you want is for him to be thinking and demonstrating that he can control himself when excited. Continue building on that until he can stay in line with you for about 10 to 20 feet.

Step 2: Close the Gap
Now it’s time to get your dog close to you. The easiest way to do this is to temporarily relax the criteria of remaining in line with your hip, which means that you’ll see some forging again. That’s okay for now. Since your dog has learned some self-control, so it’s unlikely that he’ll go shooting off too far ahead (Maisy was about a half to a full body length ahead of me at this stage). It’s also unlikely that he will immediately get right next to your leg, so you’ll need to shape him closer and closer to you during each subsequent session. I generally expected my dog to be about three inches closer to me each time.

If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to simply capture this. If your dog accidentally moves closer, throw the ball immediately. If you’re not so lucky, you can try patting your leg, talking to your dog, and/or drifting away from him. As soon as he makes a move to get closer, throw the ball. Continue doing this until your dog is tight against your leg, and can maintain that for 10 to 20 feet.

Step 3: Perfect the Position
It is easier to get this than you might expect. Start walking. Your dog will be close to your leg because that’s what you’ve been working on. Now, however, when he forges, slow down. Your dog will probably slow down, too. Reward him as soon as he gets into heel position, both in line with your hip and tight to your leg. If you have to, shape him in stages, just like you did when encouraging him to get close.

When he can stay in place for about five feet, return to a normal pace. If he forges, slow down again. Throw the ball if he maintains the correct position. It didn’t take Maisy very long to figure out that she should both be in line with my hip and close to my leg. Keep working on it until your dog can maintain the correct position for 10 to 20 feet without you needing to slow down.

Note: you can also correct the forging by doing an about turn, and if that works for you, go for it. This made Maisy go wide, though, which defeated the point of close and in position.

Step 4: Change the Motivator
At this point, your dog is probably already watching you pretty closely because OMG YOU HAVE MY BALL, but you can’t take a ball in the ring, so you need to motivate him to pay attention for other reasons. To do this, you’re going to change your pace and direction frequently- like every three to five seconds. Go fast, go slow. Turn right, turn left. Do about turns. And most of all, be unpredictable. Not only is this way more fun for most dogs, but it also makes change to be the reason to pay attention, not just the ball.

At the same time, start using the ball way less often as a reward- about half as often, in fact. Again, the reason to pay attention is you, so praise your dog like crazy when he’s doing well, and reserve the ball for particularly brilliant moments, or for longer stretches of time (every thirty seconds or so at first, but stretch that out as he gets better).

Step 5: Start and Stop
So far, we’ve just started walking, not worrying about the sit at heel. Now it’s time to add that in. I found it easiest to work on adding the halt instead of starting from a sit. Again, you’ll need to tackle sitting in line separately from sitting closely from sitting straight. Once your dog is sitting where you want him reliably, stop rewarding it every time and work on starting from heel, too. Soon your dog will be a total pro!

Some Final Notes…
You can speed this process up if you are thoughtful about how and where you present your dog’s ball. Since dogs will often anticipate where the reward will show up, a ball thrown forward will often yield more forging. If you throw the ball out to your left, you’ll encourage him to go wide. The best option is to drop the ball to your dog in the correct position. If your dog is like mine, however, and relishes chasing the ball over catching it or possessing it, experiment with throwing the ball behind you. I found this a bit tricky at first (so did Maisy), but together we figured it out. If your dog starts anticipating the ball going in the new direction, simply change it up between throwing it forward and behind.

Keep in mind this isn’t the only way to train a dog. This is just how I did it. Obviously, it’s geared towards a dog who goes over-the-top in excitement. If your dog is lagging, you’ll handle it very differently (I would try speeding up and rewarding when he tries to match your speed). Know your dog. If this doesn’t sound like it would work with your dog, don’t do it. Well, except the having fun part. You should definitely have fun no matter what.

But if your dog is like mine and his brains just go to goo when he sees the ball, there’s a good chance this might work for you. I know that I am very, very pleased with the results. I’m still blown away by how happy Maisy has been in the ring in the past month, and impressed by her very nice performance.

Finally, let me know if you try this. I’d love to hear how it goes. If you’ve done something else to help teach your ball-obsessed dog to work for one as a reward, please leave a comment about that, too. I’m sure someone could benefit from your experience!

Training Tuesday: Who's Training Who?

Sometimes I think Maisy might be a better trainer than I am. Take a look at this video and tell me what you think...



(More seminar recaps to come on Thursday...)

Harassing the Neighbors

Maisy has begun to do a very peculiar thing this summer. She has begun to harass our neighbors.

Now, normally this would be cause for concern. No one wants to have a bad relationship with their neighbors, and I’ve heard enough crazy stories on the internet to be very, very careful to be a good doggy neighbor. In this case, however, the neighbors not only don’t mind, but they have been encouraging Maisy’s behavior.

It started like this: Maisy’s ball ended up in their yard. Whether it got there accidentally or whether Maisy put it there on purpose (she has a habit of entertaining herself), I’ll never know, but she has learned that being cute will usually get Those With Opposable Thumbs to do her bidding... so she got the neighbor’s attention.

The moment the neighbor made eye contact, she smiled and waggled her entire body. This, of course, drew the neighbor nearer, at which point that bright orange ball was noticed. “Oh, poor Maisy!” our neighbor undoubtedly exclaimed. “Your ball is in our yard!” And it was tossed back over the fence.

Well. Maisy’s no fool. She quickly realized she’d doubled her army of ball-throwers, and made a habit of grabbing the ball and pushing it between the picket slats any time she saw our neighbors. Of course, it didn’t hurt that 1. our neighbor’s garden is right next to the fence (making them readily accessible), and that 2. they have consistently thrown the ball every single time. Even after I told them they didn’t have to. Even after I explained that if they got tired of the game, they should simply quit throwing it. Their response? “But she’s so cute!”

Yeah, I know, neighbor. Maisy has trained me to do a thing or two, as well.

(Want to see Maisy's harassment in action? Check out the rather long video.)

We've Created a Monster!!

Photos by Robin.

My dog trainer, Robin, is also a very good friend of mine, which means that I often stay after class to chat and laugh with her. Maisy loves this arrangement, and over the past year, we’ve created a routine. We go to class and work for an hour. We wait the fifteen or so minutes it takes for the other students to ask any last-minute questions, pack up, and leave. And then we get out the ball.

Six months or so ago, I noticed that after an hour to an hour and a half, Maisy would start nosing in my training bag until she found the ball. I thought that was pretty funny, because she clearly understood what came next. Sometimes we only threw it once or twice, and sometimes we played for an hour, but she always got to play with Robin when class was over.

This fall, Robin rented a training ring for an hour each Sunday morning, and invited me and few of our other mutual friends to get together to hang out and train our dogs. Even though this class is held in a different location, Maisy quickly fell into the same habit. After about an hour, she digs in my bag until she finds her ball, and then takes it to Robin.

I just about died laughing the first time I realized what she was doing. I thought it was pretty neat that she remembered that Robin will play with her at the end of class, especially since the Sunday class is in a new place. Still, I wasn’t terribly surprised- Robin is in both places, which is a pretty clear environmental cue that playtime is available.

So imagine my surprise when Maisy began whining an hour into our appointment with the veterinary behaviorist! At first, I couldn’t figure out what she wanted. I asked if she needed to go out, and she didn’t. I asked her to lie down, and she did, but then immediately got up and stared at my bag, which was sitting on a chair out of her reach. When I set the bag down on the floor, and she started nosing at the pocket where I keep her ball.

I burst out laughing. Clearly, Robin wasn’t the cue after all. Neither was the location. We weren’t even at a class, although I can see why Maisy might think we were- we were doing mat work, after all. It will be interesting to see what other scenarios Maisy generalizes this behavior to. At any rate, one thing is clear: we’ve created a monster.

Playing Ball

One of my guilty pleasures in the summer is to lie in my hammock in the backyard and read. I can spend HOURS, even entire DAYS, reading out there. And, since I love my dog, I always invite her to come hang out with me. Unfortunately, this can be annoying, as Maisy would find her ball and whine at me to throw it. Incessantly.

While Maisy is very good about bringing her ball back when she wants it thrown, it's kind of annoying to have the ball brought back and placed directly beneath you while you're in a hammock. You can't exactly reach it there, you know? So, I taught her that if she wanted it thrown, she had to put it in the hammock with me. Otherwise I ignored her.

Now, perhaps you've noticed that Maisy is a bit short. She can get the ball in the hammock with me, but it's kind of a pain, and so she usually gives up after a couple of throws and takes a nap instead. All of which is just fine with me.

Apparently this wasn't fine with Maisy, because earlier this week, I was reading in the hammock, and looked up to see this:



That's right. She decided to play without me. I know the video quality isn't great, so you may need to click through and embiggen the screen to see what's happening, but basically, she's pushing the ball through the slats of the fence, where it rolls down a slight incline and (usually) rolls back through the slats and ends up at her feet. I have no idea how she figured this out, but she did this for over half an hour the other day.

These are a few of her favorite things!

Photo courtesy of Robin Tinay Sallie.

Last week, we made a list of things that our dogs like. Today, it’s time to rank those things by awesomeness. By doing this, we will truly be prepared to use reinforcements to their fullest potential.

First and foremost, it’s important to remember that awesomeness is defined by your dog. I know lots of people who would rate chocolate as their favorite treat, but since it gives me migraines, if you were to hand me a platter of brownies, I can’t say that I’d be that excited. I might fake it- I do have a certain level of tact, after all- but it wouldn’t exactly motivate me.

Unfortunately, our dogs can’t talk. They can’t say that while they appreciate that dry dog biscuit, they’d much rather have the piece of soft, stinky cheese. Instead, we have to watch their reactions. Does your dog snatch certain things out of your hands, while merely accepting others? If so, you can assume that the first tidbit was of higher value than the second.

But what of the dogs who are just stomachs with legs? My Maisy is one of those, and while it can be nice to use scented pocket lint in a pinch, it makes it hard to reward the exceptional efforts. So I created a test. I assembled a variety of foods that I knew she enjoyed. My original list of food items that Maisy likes was 27 items long (and growing), so I couldn’t test them all. Instead, I took the five that, based on her body language, I thought might be at the top of the list.

Once I had everything ready, I offered her one treat in each hand to see which one she would choose. I repeated each trial multiple times so that I could tell if her choice was consistent or not. I also switched things up so I could tell if it was a true preference, or simply a matter of always picking what was in my left hand, or the one that I showed her first. By doing this, I learned that potato chips are pretty much her favorite thing in the world, followed by raw chicken as a close second. (Also in the running were hot dogs, salmon jerky, and pieces of dog food rolls.)

Now, this is all well and good, but these tests are a bit trickier to carry out with things from our other two categories. How do you present choices between going for a walk and playing tug? I suppose that you could hold up a leash and a toy, but then how do you test that against things that don’t require props, like verbal praise or chase-the-handler games? I couldn’t figure it out (and if you can, please let me know) so I had to come up with something else.

What I ended up doing was seeing what caught her attention, and then what would distract her from that. If I could distract her from a neighborhood cat using a tennis ball, I figured that meant the ball was more interesting than the cat, and therefore, of higher value. Conversely, there is nothing more interesting than the possibility of chasing chickens or geese, so I have to assume that is a very rewarding activity. Again, I repeated my experiment many times to ensure that my findings were consistent.

I was quite surprised by what I learned. I thought her tennis ball would be the highest value thing, and indeed, it’s probably in the top three. But when I tried to distract her away from the door as I was leaving one day by throwing a tennis ball, she didn’t even track its motion. It was like the idea of coming with us was so much more awesome that she completely ignored her favorite toy. In fact, for a long time, I couldn’t find anything better than the possibility of going somewhere with her person.

But I was even more surprised to learn that her Tug-a-Jug trumped even that. When I put it out, Maisy barely looked up as I left. I tried other food toys, too, but they didn’t seem have the same pull as the Tug-a-Jug did; for each of the other food toys, she either followed me to the door, but kept looking back at the toy, or went to the toy, but kept looking at the door. With the Tug-a-Jug, she barely noticed me leave. I have no idea why, but she loves that thing.

After all of this observation and testing, you should have a good idea of what your dog finds awesome. You probably won’t be able to create a linear list that states that going for walks is always in the number one spot- there are just too many variables to take into account. For example, I have no idea if Maisy was just especially hungry the day I tested the Tug-a-Jug. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the toy at all, and instead the kibble I put inside it. Still, it let me know that there are at least times where the Tug-a-Jug is better than I am. *sigh*

But, after all this, I know that Maisy’s favorite things include being with me, playing ball, potato chips, the Tug-a-Jug and chase games. How about you guys? Out of your huge lists of things your dog likes, which are the top five? How do you know? Is your response based on observations or have you tested things like I have? I can’t wait to hear what your dogs find awesome!

The Five Times Challenge: Week 1 Update

It’s been just over a week since I started the Five Times Challenge. I still really like it; my biggest difficulty has been tracking the sessions. I don’t have the best memory, and though I’ve been trying to make a hash mark on my training board when I complete a session, I’ve forgotten to do this a lot. The upside of this is that Maisy has probably gotten more than five sessions on several days.

There have also been days where we haven’t been home much, either because we’ve been at a friend’s house, or because we’ve been at training class. On these days, I’ve tried to work in sessions, either while waiting for my husband to run an errand, or while in the waiting room at the vet’s, or even while waiting for pizza to be delivered! So, on those days, we may get fewer sessions in, but we get the added bonus of a new environment.

This is the beauty of the Five Times Challenge: since it’s so quick, it’s easy to sneak in some practice in other environments. I’m taking advantage of those natural times in life where you have to wait for something. There isn’t time for a full 20 minute session, but a few steps of heeling? No problem!

The progress Maisy has made has been amazing. I’m getting some very nice attentive heeling, and my instructor even commented last night that Maisy’s heeling looked really nice.

But, my favorite moment happened on Monday night. My husband needed to run to the credit union, and we tagged along. It was beautiful out, so instead of waiting in the car, we hung out on a busy street corner in downtown St. Paul. Since we’d been in a hurry to leave, I’d forgotten to bring treats (bad trainer), but luckily there was a ball in the car. Normally, I don’t train with the ball; Maisy is borderline OCD about balls, and when she sees them, it’s like her brain falls out of her head.

So here we are, on a busy street corner at rush hour, in a location Maisy has never been before, outside a credit union, which means people are coming and going, and I’m holding a ball. An exciting, enticing ball. And my Maisy was able to take one whole step of attention heeling.

I know that doesn’t sound like a lot- one step? That’s it?- but trust me, for a fearful dog with reactivity and a lot of difficulty with focus on concentration, it was absolutely beautiful.

Because it's too funny not to share

Maisy must have been a retriever in her past life, because she is obsessed with tennis balls. I wake up with them in my bed, I get them dropped in my lap constantly, and the first thing Maisy does, well, ever, is run to get her ball.

Recently, she's begun to do something absolutely hilarious with her ball, and though it really has nothing to do with training, I just had to share.

See, usually when we play ball, she'll chase it and bring it back for five to ten minutes, at which point she'll flop down on her belly to chew on the ball a bit before bringing it back to start the game again. For the past week, however, when she goes to flop down on her belly, she does so right in front of the couch. Of course, it often goes under the couch, at which point she goes nuts trying to get it out.

At first, I thought this was an accident. But when it began to happen again... and again... and again, I remarked to my husband that for such a smart dog, she sure was acting stupid.

Tonight, I realized that this is all part of some crazy game. Over and over again, she has flopped down by the couch, very purposely pushed it under, and then gone crazy trying to fish it out again with her too-short legs or by trying to shove her too-big body after it.

And this is one of the reasons I love my crazy dog: she always makes me laugh.