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Teaching Heel
Tradition says a dog heels on the owner's left side.....that's from
long standing field work, but unless you are interested in obedience
competitions, you can have the dog on whichever suits you.
If your puppy is not leash-broken, just put the lead on him and
follow him around the yard. Then get a pocket full of goodies and
show the treat to him and let him follow you around
awhile, you are on your
way to teaching the HEEL.
Just have him on the side you have decided on and call his name (
We always call the name to get his attention.) and give him the
command "Heel". Start off straight ahead, encouraging him with the
treat and your happiest voice. Go about 10 or 15 steps, straight
ahead, then stop and give him lots of praise, do a couple of heels
in a straight line and add stops. In obedience competitions the dog
is required to automatically sit when you stop, so if you like that
idea, then ask your puppy to sit when you stop.
Once you and the puppy are moving together with the puppy by your
side and not charging ahead or hanging behind you, get out those
treats and encourage him to go left or right with you. As in any
exercise, one thing builds on the other, master one part before starting the next.
As you gain experience, you can add more turns, circles, go around
objects like trees, lawn furniture and give a more realistic nature
to your training. While you're heeling, stop, tell the puppy
to sit and tell him to stay. Step in front of him, count to 30,
return around behind him and praise. Just like us, dogs get bored, vary your exercises so neither of you
will get bored. Young puppies have short attention spans, so make
your sessions short - say 10 or 15 minutes at a time. Better to have
two short sessions a day than one long one.
-Home-
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