need to improve heel work in one week, any tips?

[ditavonteesed]

eric passed his puppy foundation tonight anyway instructor asked if I would like to take bronze next week. I cant see any harm in giving it a go, the only things he doesnt currently do are door manners and his heelwork is shocking. The gate/door manners shouldnt be a problem, it only took me 2 attempts to teach him to wait for a command to get out of the car (after he jumped out onto the road and I had to stamp on his lead ) but I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do about his heelwork, he bounces around on the end of the lead like zebidy on speed, treats make him worse, anything a leaf or a piece of paper or a speck of mud make him leap about. so any tips for improving it.
I dont mind if he passes or fails but I wont take the test unless he has a chance of passing.
I dont tend to walk him on ;ead very often so will do a lead walk at least once a day.

Spend half an hour a day pretty much square bashing heel work. Does it have to be on or off lead?

Mine have all got heel work licked in an hour of square bashing. Both on and off lead. Don't try and do it on a walk though - make it all about training only.

Decide which side you want to keep him on, keep the lead short and his attention on you. If he starts to leap, turn a 180 and keep walking using a to heel command. When he starts to pull ahead, wheel into him - so if you have him on your lhs, wheel left.

Keep it fun and interesting, I don't use treats just calm gentle praise with tickles on the chest for good results. 2 of mine are too hot to work with treats - they can't think past them. The other 2 don't get them either because they work well without them.

it's on lead, I dont often use treats for him as the pleasure of pleasing me seems to be reward enough for him (I know this will wear off soon but he just loves training). when we first started classes he would walk round perfectly to heel gazing adoringly at me, that has long gone now.

I dont really know if I should take the test or not. he is very little still.

do the bronze with an open mind - the experience of it will be good. Iirc when doing bronze you are not allowed to use treats anyway, so just do some training every day and he will get it soon. When I go to training I make sure the dogs are tired enough not to bounce around but not so tired they cant be bothered. A good run to burn off excess energy about an hour before works for mine.

Good luck.

If your instructor has asked you if you would like to do Bronze he/she obviously thinks you have a good chance of passing. The first time DD and Ddog sat it it was suggested for experience only. In the end they only failed on the 1 minute stay, but it gave her a very good idea of what to expect the next time (when they passed!).

The heelwork is not very advanced for the Bronze award. In my (limited) experience of sharing a waiting room with a couple of dozen Bronze candidates the 1 minute stay is the thing that most people were worried about in advance - and the thing that most people failed on, if they failed... If you are happy with the stay, then I think you are laughing!

I agree with JaxTellerIsMyFriend. Having a bouncy dog ourselves, a good walk before the session is definitely an advantage!

By the way - in our Club the use of toys and or treats during the Bronze test was allowed.

The 1 minute stay is a horror of a thing. That is what we didnt get, we even got a second chance and pupstar was being really good - until her nemesis got up and looked at her, then she thought 'game on' and up she got.

If want excellent heel work in a week treats treats and more treats you will have a dog literally stuck to your leg! However bronze heelwork is very relaxed so as long as your dog is close by you will be fine. You shouldn't use treats of toy in the actual bronze but he will be so use to getting them he will not mind for a short while.

I always make sure that I get my dogs through bronze and silver before 8 months of age then we retire for a bit through the teenage months and aim to do gold at 12 months. He is not too young go for it and enjoy it

jax it is the longest minute ever isnt it. we sometimes do 10min stays in one of the training classes I go to and you could cut the atmosphere with a butter knife, and the trainer goes around squeking toys and bouncing balls. I still havent got cherry through gold, she failed on the stay out of sight, I think it was because of allt he work on her reactiveness which has basically taught her not to let me out of her sight if she feels uncomfortable, I havent been taking her to the kc class since we got eric as she would not like being there when all the puppies are, they do puppies and bronze and then silver and gold, so if eric did pass it would mean she could go back to class which would be great.

I have tested his stays today and he does a minute no problem in a sit or a down, he is getting the hang of the gate, will give that another go later, and I had him out for some heel training earlier, I did the turn around walk back 3 paces then get him to sit again before we went off, it seemed to have an effect, if I combine that with tons of treats I think we will get there. he is worn out now though, never seen him so tired.

Is there anywhere online you can see the programmes for these awards? I can't do them officially as I live in the Middle East, but I would love to have a go at them anyway. I would also like to encourage the only dog trainer here to try and offer them as her classes are pretty badly structured at the moment!

here if you click on each pdf link it gives you a detailed description of each level.