Training Vocabulary
He's very strict about where the dog sits and how they behave. This is not a complaint, I'm looking forward to the challenge. In prior classes, I was just happy to get Bentley to sit, I didn't care where it was that he did it. Now that he is starting to settle down with me it's time to be more particular about these sorts of things. Anyway, Dan the instructor uses the word "heel" for sitting in heel position and the act of heeling. While I can understand that the meaning of this word is to have the dog by your side, it's confusing me. (I've been working a LOT and my brain is fried at this point.  )
So, my question is - is there another term for sitting in heel position that I could use? I know, I could decide to use "booger" and if that's the word, that's the word, but I'd like to be a little more formal about it. I will never show him, but I'm considering Rally-O, depending on Boo's state of mind. Oh, by the end of the hour, Boo was sitting in heel position with his butt in 80% of the time. The other 19% he was distracted by whatever and was sitting at a right angle. That last 1%, he was backwards. It was very difficult not to laugh. Dan was not amused. He takes this stuff seriously. |
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floofdog wrote: That last 1%, he was backwards. It was very difficult not to laugh. Dan was not amused. He takes this stuff seriously. LOL |
| You can use heel for the actual walking part, side for when you want him to sit in heel position and front for when you want him to sit in front of you, face to face.
You are right though, as long as you are consistent it doesn't matter what word you use. All 3 of mine hace different meanings for the same word. For Norman, heel means to walk beside. For Carl it means to sit in heel position and Toby really doesn't care what the heck I'm talking about, he does what the other dogs do! It can get really confusing when different instructors use the same word for different actions. No matter what they are trying to teach you that words mean, stick to what you have been doing. It's your vocabulary and you are the one who has to be able to spit those words out when the time comes. Toby's agility training started rough because they kept telling us all the different words you could use. Well, I was using all differen words all of the time. Not only was he confused, I was confused about which word meant which obstacle and ended up stammering or standing still trying to remember what I should call that thing that I want him to do. (At some points, I sounded like my grandmother; 'Jump, over, through, whatever it is, do that thing!') |
LOL... that's cute... sounds like you are enjoying the training, which is always good  |
| Ah, I feel better, thanks Mandy.
I've been using the same words I used for Floof for that very reason - consistancy. We never got this far with training, she settled down and we stopped with the basics, so these are new commands. Side is good, I like that. It's short, doesn't sound like anything else I'm using and makes sense. Much better than booger! I've been using front for sit in front of me. Boo's sit in front of me is 5 feet away and at an angle so he can see whatever is more interesting behind me. 
It's amazing how stupid I feel in class sometimes, there's too much technique to remember and I don't put it into practice in real life a lot of the time. I usually wind the leash around my hand during walkies - I've got another dog in the other hand, thank you very much. Well, Dan said only newbies do that. Whatever. Give me a break. Still, when he does it right, it's the most awesome feeling, even when he looks at me like "I knew what you wanted me to do the whole time, I was just foolin' with ya Mom!" |
I just say "please" and hope for the best...  |
ButtersStotch wrote: I just say "please" and hope for the best...
 Don't we all...... |
| I'm pretty sure that all of my commands only work when I give the command, they look at me like they have no idea what's going on and I go gaaaaaahhhh. Then they do it perfectly. Apparently the command is actually sit gaaaahhhhh, not just sit. I'm pretty sure that they think the eye roll also is some sort of signifer or command.
And it's not just beginners, it's all of us. That walking with the leash over the shoulder thing is just not a sheepdog thing. There is always something more interesting happening in Istanbul and they can sense it! |
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