How to Teach Your Dog To Heel - An Overview

A great deal of time is spent practicing heeling with your dog with no measurable return for the time invested. Think of all those hours you spent in class, just going round and round the room. When you practice in the park or the back yard, do you know when you have accomplished what you have set out to do? Many people do heeling by the clock--"10 minutes, I guess I’m done!" Or even worse, they spend more time doing what the dog does well because it’s pleasant, and neglect to practice those things the dog does poorly because it is depressing. Here's a great way to approach the practicing of heeling for all levels of competition, from Novice through Utility.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Set up a list of heeling segments that tell you when the dog has accomplished the heeling skills you have attempted to teach him. Heeling, after all, is a series of segments linked together and called a heeling pattern. Practicing these segments with a certain purpose will tell you not only what the dog needs to learn, but what he already knows and does not need to practice on that particular session.
   

2. Practice heeling in segments and then link them together. Heeling is taught gradually with attention, reinforcement and reward. It is proofed with distractions. Long heeling "legs" reinforce attention and rhythm, and shorter "legs" with turns and changes of pace teach attention to body cues. Once heeling is taught to the dog, focus on the dog’s particular weaknesses. Practice sessions should ultimately include all the segments of the normal heeling pattern, including turns in place, figure 8 circles and finding heel position.
   
   

3. Practice heeling segments in the given order. Work only on what you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time without fatiguing the dog or trying to teach him too many new things at once. Heeling is perfected over a long period of time. Don’t try to do it in one day’s lesson. When you are first teaching these segments, release the dog after each of the segments with praise and a toy or a food treat.

4. A final review at some point in the training or a particular session would be a combination of a number of the various segments as is normally found in the competition ring. Any errors the dog makes on a particular segment should be worked again. For example, if a dog’s right turns are poor, do the segment of 4 right turns and then incorporate a right turn in a short heeling pattern, and if the dog does the right turn correctly, QUIT!
   

5. As the dog progresses through the segments, you need to proof the dog. You must teach him to heel accurately for a prolonged period of time on the first command regardless of distractions from people and other dogs. For this you can do these segments in a class, practice with a friend or in an area where other activities such as ball games are taking place. Other factors affecting the dog’s performance could be the weather, the noises at a show, the presence of many other dogs around, the travel to a show, the change in the dog’s and your routine, etc. I go through the series as presented here in the presence of distractions first on lead, then on an intermediate lead and then off lead. Do not neglect this part of the practice program. It is essential to your dog’s success in the ring.
   

6. Heeling should be pleasant for the dog. The foundation you lay with patience, praise and sound teaching will be with you for the lifetime of the dog. Impatience in teaching the foundation work will plague you for many years to come.
   

7. At this point we are assuming the dog has learned the following:
   Focus on some part of your body.
   Give stationary attention with distractions.
   Heel with attention in a straight line with distractions.
   Understand and maintain correct heel position as defined in the AKC Obedience Regulations.
   
   Do heeling on a flexible 2-foot leash and a pressure collar. Give only enough slack in the lead for a 1-inch hand movement if need to correct. As the dog improves, add more links to the collar and give more slack to the leash. Finally, have the dog on a choke chain and the slack necessary for ring performance. Have treats in your left hand and the leash in your right. When no longer using the food as a lure but instead as a reward, carry the leash in your left hand. The food as a reward is given either from the pocket, mouth or held hidden in your left hand with the leash.
   
   

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure the dog understands the various combinations of heeling problems he will find in the ring. Instead of simply doing a heeling pattern, isolate the various heeling elements (segments) found in the obedience ring in order to determine (1) what the dog still needs to understand, and (2) when you have done a complete session of heeling. This program is different from the usual practice sessions in a class where the entire heeling pattern is done at one time with no effort to isolate the dog’s heeling weaknesses.
• As the dog gets better at heeling, you can do more of the segments, as many of the previous segments will be a review and need to be done only once. If you have a problem with a particular segment or it is new for the dog, spend time on it and stop the heeling for that session. In the next session, go back and review the problem segment. If it is still a problem, spend more time on it, ending with a part of the heeling the dog does well. Be sure to give lavish praise and stop heeling for that session. Progress to the next segment only after the dog does the preceding one well. As the dog progresses, you can up the ante and give food at random intervals or for the best performance. Don’t forget the power of a surprise "jackpot" of treats at some unpredictable point in the training. Keep the dog guessing and eagerly awaiting the next "surprise."