Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Heel = Left, Side = Right

While working with Dembre, I realized that it is very hard to teach a dog which side is your left side and which side is your right. Dembre can now do a beautiful heel, but if I turn a 180 he thinks that my right side is my left side. My PR friend, Mary Beth, told me that I should try to work with just "Heel" or just "Side". So I'll proceed working with only "Heel" and hope that he learns that way.

~Elijah & Dembre

4 comments:

  1. My CC Ellie knows "heel" & "side". Can't teach "side" to our PIT's, but it's fun to have a dog that knows both. Took her awhile to learn to walk on my right. She is one that once she was shown a position she'd always use that and never stray so was confused when I asked her to be on my right after a year on my left! Good luck to Dembre! I'm sure he'll catch on quickly.

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  2. Hi Elihaj, nice blog. My wife Lauren and I are first-time CCI puppy raisers as well and we're loving the experience. Our pupil is Skyla III and she's 17 months; we turn her in February 2011.

    As far as heel and side goes, I started Skyla with Side; she seemed to have a bit of trouble at first discerning between Heel and Here - they sound too much alike, I guess. Now, she's proficient in both, Heel and Side. I don't even have to give her any clues and she does it almost perfectly every time, even when where out and about.

    My suggestion to you is concentrate on one of the two, first, until Dembre knows it well. In the beginning, be consistent. In training sessions with Skyla, I always stand in front of her to practice Heel and Side. I'll post a little video of how I do it for you to see.

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  3. Thanks so much for your advice! :D

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