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Competitive healing

irina

Well-Known Member
Question for those of you who do competition obedience, IPO and other activities with your mastiffs that require perfect healing with the dog's head up at all times... Could you please share what training method you used to teach healing? We are attending competition obedience classes. Ajax is doing pretty well in all areas, except his healing. My theory is that the training method they use is not right for him, since the lady who developed it has been training retrievers her whole life. Or I might just be doing something wrong. Yes, there are tons of videos on -line, but I was interested in personal success stories, methods that have been proven to work for mastiffs.
And FYI, Ajax is a CC, 1 year, 3 months old.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
I was wondering what type of holistic first aid you were working on...
I think it's "heeling" not "healing". :)

Unfortunately, I've never had a dog that was that good at "real" heeling. I'll be following this post for ideas for Denna and I to work on, too! I've seen a number of Forum members post great videos, so hopefully they'll chime in with the how-to's!
 

irina

Well-Known Member
Yeah-yeah, apparently I was not quite awake yet when I was typing that. That was before I had my coffee.:p
 

Smokeycat

Well-Known Member
I don't know about Ajax but I do know that anything that required Kryten to have his head raised would be a large challenge as he only raises his head when guarding. Otherwise it remains inline with his back.
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
I will share how my trainers had me teach Thalia "heel" for Rally-O. Thalia is a Staffy, not a mastiff, but the principle should be the same.

Keep in mind, Thalia is VERY food motivated.

Thalia is on my left, her leash is in my left hand.

I have a treat in my right hand. My right arm is crossed over my body so that it is on my left side and the treat is above Thalia's head.

We start walking and I'm saying, "Heel" "Good heel" etc etc... The whole time, she has her head up because she is looking at the treat as we walk.

The treat has been phased out, but she still looks up toward me as we heel.
 

BlackShadowCaneCorso

Super Moderator
Staff member
I would message Alla Zilberg, she compete in IPO heavily and has a great focused heel that she might be able to break down for you. I am terrible at teaching it, and mine don't always have the focus they should :) but it is a work in progress.
 

KristinandCianna

Well-Known Member
I did my females heeling with Debbie Zappia. Started her at 12 weeks about. Before I started with Debbie Zappia, I watched the Bridget Carlson videos. Now, Bridgets method, is mainly successful for Golden Retrievers etc lol, and, the way she get's her dogs feet in the air, the prancing, is now frowned upon in IPO (which i am training my girl for) but, even my girl who is VERY food motivated and animated doesn't throw her feet like that. But has a very pretty animated heel. For me, it took months of imprinting, but once she had it, she had it, and has a very pretty focused heel.
 

KMD

Well-Known Member
I have my DDB doing fairly tidy heel patterns, although still short at the moment as she tires quickly in the hot weather here.

I started when she was younger with holding a hand of kibble just above her head while she was sitting, requiring her to stretch up so her toes, chest and neck formed a straight line. I would do this a few times a day to get her used to the line required and build up the muscle memory. After a while, I would be getting her to chase my hand full of kibble around and then draw it in to my left side and tuck my elbow in with my fist around my waist height and get her nosing in to my hand while I kept moving slowly forward for a few steps (otherwise her butt swings out and she would sit a an angle to me).

I keep her lead in my right hand and food in the left, with my elbow tucked in and hand just off my waist. If I tuck it hard against to my side, she tends to angle her butt out due to the angle of her head. Keep forward motion slow and steady, give them plenty of food and keep the heel pattern short until they can keep in the pattern easily. We can do almost two dozen steps at the moment in very tidy formation. Or until I scatter food everywhere.... then I have NO chance!
 

KMD

Well-Known Member
Our heeling is coming along! Also recently started very basics of protection work.
 

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