Heeling!

by Brenda Riemer

There seems to be a common theme with many obedience exhibitors. We train a dog, and we get excited when we become a team when heeling. Our confidence soars, as we accomplished the ultimate in teamwork. Then we get a puppy. That cute, adorable puppy who for some reason, does not know how to heel. And then we look at the older dog, and ponder the age-old question: How did I teach the older dog to heel?

Before I write more about heeling, I need to make a confession. I love heeling. I love the feeling of my dog and I being a true team. I love to practice it, and I love the heeling exercises in the ring. When I asked some of our members what topic they would like me to write about, heeling was mentioned many times. For this topic, I wanted to try something new. Today (January 6th), I took Zelda and Judy to a friend’s training building so I could video them doing some of the foundation items needed for heeling. I created 5 short videos which I uploaded to YouTube, and the links appear at the end of this article. You can type the YouTube address into your web browser and see the dogs in action. Once the magazine is published on-line, just click on the url. This was Zelda’s first “practice” since she retired last October and she had a blast. Judy is a bit taller and has a lot more hair than Zelda. Forgive her for not being the proper breed, but I needed her to able to demonstrate a few of the newer items I am teaching her that Zelda never had. What I am sharing are methods from at least four amazing trainers who I have been privileged to learn from. Please keep in mind that I am not a professional videographer, and with the treats (cheese) in my mouth I look like a chipmunk. With all that said, I hope you enjoy this article and the video supplements!

Videos 1-3 feature Zelda and heeling foundations. A foundational skill for dogs is for them to understand how to move their body, especially their rear. For our dogs, this is especially important. The very beginning foundational skills include teaching the dog to circle/turn and what is called side-passing. I use the terms circle and turn. Others use twirl, spin, right, and left. What we call it doesn’t matter.

What matters is the skill. How do you teach it?

1. Puppies do not need to sit before learning this.

2. Do not name it as you are teaching it. Once the puppy begins to understand it, then put a word to it.

Circle/turns in front of you.

3. Place a treat in your right hand. Your hand should be on the right side of the dog’s face (your left, the dog’s right). Move your hand so that the puppy’s nose follows your hand to their left hip and around. The puppy gets the treat when she is back in front (the completed circle).

4. The reverse for the other direction – left hand, left side of dog’s face, nose to the right hip and around.

Circle/turns on your left side your left. My word for this when training is “off”, and the dog learns to move sideways with you. Moving to the right in a straight line is “in”, but you can use any word you’d like. To help a dog learn this, use the head to steer. Dog next to you, treat to nose and move the head to the right if you wish to move left, and head to the left if you wish to move right (please see the video for this). Think of side-passing as a form of line dancing!

Same steps as above.

What do the circles and turns lead to? As the puppy learns this, you are also teaching the puppy the value of front. At your left side, the puppy is learning the beginnings of heel position.

Now we are ready to begin to heel. The dog is next to you in heel position. You left hand has a treat in it and is holding the leash/treat near the dog’s nose. (Knees bent!) In a smooth motion, circle the dog to the right and as the dog’s head begins to face forward at the end of the circle, side-step to the right two steps. The dog will be a tad behind you as you do this, then move forward and reward. The circle and side-passing is teaching the dog to line up straight. In the video with Zelda, you will see her slightly behind me as we move into the side pass and the forward. Also, I am barely touching the leash versus pulling her with it.

The circle and side passing can be used forever when practicing heeling.

As your dog learns, the hand with the treat in it slowly moves up the leash until your arm/hand is in your heel position. Then, start removing the treat from your hand.

The first video with Judy shows her tugging with me. I did not teach Zelda to tug when training and I believe that some of the issues we had to overcome, such as training through sound sensitivity and ring pressure, would have been accomplished faster if she would have tugged/played when training.

Side-passing is another foundation skill that is used to help teach the dog about body awareness and it will be used with a circle when teaching heeling. What is this? The puppy/dog is next to you either sitting or standing. (Note –when learning, these skills, the young dog does not have to be put in a sit, as that is a different skill to learn.) You will take a very small step to

At some point in our training, we need to teach the dog to start from a sit. What we want to avoid is working heeling and the start so much that the dog then tunes us out and wants to take a nap instead. Incorporating a start “bonus” keeps the drive high for this skill. I may say heel and as soon as the dog moves, reward! The reward can be a treat, tug, or human-dog interaction. Make sure the dog likes what you do! For example, Sheltie Liza (the queen) hated my reaching down to “thump” her, and she started halting a little behind me to avoid the evil hand. Zelda loved the thump and it energized her. As an aside, remember this every time you choose to use a reward. If the dog doesn’t perceive it as a reward, it’s not. Vary the reward from 1 step to up to 4 steps. At least once in the video, I Judy jumped to my hand, but I never asked Zelda to leap. Know your dog and what you want the dog to do and not do.

In the video, Judy part 2 DCA, I show how to train for focus/watching while heeling. This section can be used for multiple skills. The dog continued on page 56...