Short leash HEEL training.

[APRock]

My SMP is going through some "Terrible Twos". He has been absolutley NUTS the last couple times out in the field. Like he was on crack or something! I was worried about over correcting with the e-collar cuz he could not figure out what he was supposed to do or even what he wanted to do! Like I said - just NUTS!

So I decided I was going to treat him to a lengthy, in the field, heeling lesson.

One of my other hobbies is Geocaching (using the GPS to find something someone else has stashed out somewhere). Took the dog with me and had him on a very short leash that attaches to my belt, no e-collar, and went in search of a cache. Puposely parked on the other side of the park so we had to navigate through grass and woods to get there.

Only time he got any attention at all was when he walked calmly by my side and watched what I was doing. Had a few instances when he caught some scent or a bunnie or tree rats would catch his attention - then I had to bite my tongue and just keep going.

Took a lot longer to get to our destination than it normally would have but it was worth it. On the way back to the Jeep, Tucker was nearly perfect. Critters still caught his attention but he'd recover and keep heeling right away.

Gonna have to do this more often to get it more into his head that I control his movements in the field.

Oh yeah - he learned how to drink form a "CamelBack" too.