Heeling by side

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#1
first of all, I want to thank those who helped me way back with my overstimulated crazy pulling on leash Rolyx. The tips I received helped greatly and we can now go for a walk with less drama...it's not perfect, but we do have it to a point where there is A LOT less tantrums and pulling. Overall, I'm very proud of him, even if we still have trouble areas.

Where I am having problems is when I walk with others, he's not pulling and he's behaving for the most part, but he is slowly weaving in front of us and this gets in the way of the other person. I really need him to walk by my side, but this is where I can't get him to understand what I want and he goes back into pulling if I take him to this position. I have tried stopping and waiting with him by my side, but we just aren't getting it. He has very low food motivation, so that doesn't usually work either.

I see people train their dogs to walk so nicely by their side, but Ro wants to be out in front and I can only contribute this to his husky side. Does anyone have advice on how we can work on this? I'm assuming the things I am trying are wrong, so am hoping I can learn a method he will understand and make progress.
 

lizzybeth727

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#3
How did you teach him not to pull?

I'm having a little trouble understanding your situation because IMO not pulling is the same thing as walking nicely by my side. I just don't give enough leash for the dog to get in front of me.
 
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#4
How did you teach him not to pull?

I'm having a little trouble understanding your situation because IMO not pulling is the same thing as walking nicely by my side. I just don't give enough leash for the dog to get in front of me.
When he pulled...I'd stop and wait for him to come back, focus. I also switched directions on him a lot. I praise him for loose leash, stop when he pulls. I didn't enforce any particular placement at first...I thought I could work into walking by my side later. I'm not sure what is different by my side, but he reverts right back into a pull if I take away that much leash. His tail can be touching my leg, long as he's ahead, he's fine. It's that moment I shorten leash to where his shoulders are closer to leg when he shifts gears. I've tried the above methods, we're just not quite getting it.
 

Maxy24

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#5
Do you actually need him to heel, or just not cross in front of you? Heeling for an entire walk just never sits right with me, what's the point of the walk for the dog if he can't sniff and pee on stuff? But maybe that's just me being wierd.

I have captured a wonderful near heel (not as percise as a heel but pretty darn close) on our walk. He automatically does it when he sees a person on our walks, or when he wants a treat lol. I never intended to train it, I bring treats on walks to work on his reactivity/aggression and he wanted one so trotted close to me, looking at my face and it was cute so I gave him one. Ever since then he's offered it frequently during the walk. When he starts he never breaks it until he gets his treat, I've tried ignoring him because I want him to sniff but he just keeps doing it so eventually I treat him, which of course builds the behavior. So capturing is one option if he ever walks next to you. Then just vary and slowly extend time between treats.


If you simply want him to not cross I'd just use the leash to prevent it everytime he starts trying to cross. Stop moving and hold the leash tight as he tries to cross, once he stop trying and loosens the leash start walking again. A front clipping harness might make that work better. You could also teach a hand touch (he pokes your hand with his nose) and use that if he starts to get out of place to bring him back beside you.
 
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#6
No, actually it isn't a must to heel by side so much as not crossing into the path and staying on the left side. He's not so much interested in sniffing stuff, as just being ahead leading. There are times it'd be handy, but as for all the time...no.

I have used his desire to walk primarily as the reward...we get to move and see more when we walk nicely. I started with focus training inside the house, moved it to outside...it sometimes worked, but overall I found using the walk itself was a bigger motivator than any food. He will still focus, but I am finding the food is pointless...he usually ignores it, or grabs it and spits it out. Over time, he's improved where I can take him further and further. Though he likes to push his limits when out with other people, it's still much better...he's a bit overstimulated, but does settle into a nice walk, it's just his crossing that is really becoming a problem.

Would the front clipping harness work better than the Gentle Leader? I have practiced walking on both Gentle Lead and regular collar. He responds quicker and better to the Gentle Lead, but he does well with collar too if I have the time to really stop and let him grasp it [not as easy when walking with others, so I use the GL then]. I have tried telling him no the moment he is crossing over and pulling the leash tight to the side...but I think I must be doing it incorrectly because we aren't making much progress.
 

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