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Summary: Training a dog to heel can start off the leash with treats and positive reinforcement before continuing training on the leash during walks. Teach a dog to heel on command with a certified dog trainer in this free video on dog obedience.
Nancy Cusick is Austin's premier dog trainer and animal handler with more than 12 years of experience.read more
"Hello. My name is Nancy Cusick and I'm a professional dog trainer in Austin, Texas. You can visit my web site at trainmydogs.com. Today I'm going to show you how to introduce your puppy to learning to heel. When I first start teaching a dog to heel I'll actually like to do it off leash. That way it's really their idea. So I'm going to show you with using a food lure. You can also use a toy. But today for the purpose of this video, I'm going to show you using with food. I'm also going to click, I'm going to get Bugsy's attention. And I'm going to have her start walking with me and I'm going keep my hand kind of higher up. Yes. Good girl. Lure her around. Yes. Good. You hear me using kiss noises to kind of get her attention a little bit when she looses focus. I'm not going to add the word. Yes. Until I start getting the behavior. Yes. Come. Good. This is the intro to heel. Good girl. Let's go. Yes. Good job Bugsy. Good job. Alright, so once she starts doing this, and you can teach it on the left side or the right. The reason why the AKC uses left side is because back in the day the gentlemen would hold their guns on the right. So the dogs were put on the left so they wouldn't get shot. So in real world, I don't care which side you teach your dog to heel on, you pick. But let's try to keep it with one side. When you're making turns you're going to see that if I turn to the right, the dog needs to speed up to stay up with me. If I turn to the left. Ready Bugsy? If I turn to the, I dropped food. Bugsy ready? Bugsy come. OK. If I turn to the left, Bugsy needs to slow down and well show you a left turn again. Good girl. Good job. OK. So, to turn to the right, if my dog is on my left, I'm going to pull out a little bit to speed them up. Good girl. Good job. If I'm turning left, I'm going to pull my hand, let's try that again, come. Attention doggy deficit. Come here. Ready? Good girl. OK. So we're going to put her in position, we're going to start luring, I'm going to pull my hand backwards. So you're going to kind of go back to turn to the left. Good job. And out to turn to the right. Yes. Good job. Good girl. And this is how we start with an off leash heel. Now what we can do is put Bugsy on leash and do the same thing, but get it a little bit into your body. Bugsy's never done heel before, so I think she's doing really well for her first time. Bugsy ready? Heel. Yes. Good job. Heel. Yes. Good job. Good. Remember not to add your word unless you can bet money that your dog's going to do the behavior. This is how you start to teach your dog to heel."
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