How to teach Heel

What is the easiest way to teach a dog to "Heel"?

Sorry for some many questions!

Heel as in formal, focused heel, or getting a dog to stay by you heel?

If you mean focus, I use treats (or toy depending on what motivates your dog) and bait them into the correct position. Letting them continuosly eat the food. Then once they have an idea of where I want them, I begin to lift my hand and use the food as a reinforcer rather than bait. In other words you must do something BEFORE you get what you want. Gradually I begin to lift my hand for longer perionds of time and make them focus on it rather than just giving it to them. Make them focus more and more before rewarding. I began doing tha with Hondo since he was 12 weeks old, and now at almost 8 months his heel is incredible. My trainer even said his heel is the better than most of the grown dogs in the club.

First get your dog to walk nicely on a loose, informal leash walk, making turns, changing pace where he's approximately next to you. Get that good. Get his "watch me" good.

Then what I did was use my clicker. I started out using a lure, but I caution against getting too dependent on that. Fade it asap. I used some really tasty treats like tiny hot dog pieces or homemade liver treats which a kept in my pocket and a few in my right hand with my clicker. When the dog would lag behind, I just kept walking along. If he took forever to catch up, I'd use the lure, then c/t when he was in position. But I'd give him a chance to try to get in place where he would get c/t. (clicked and treated) When he would take one step in the right position, c/t....2 steps, c/t. I'd keep those treats coming as long as he was in a pretty good position. Then gradually, I'd c/t only for better. And nothing for lousy. It didn't take him long to find out where he had to be to get the treats. The clicker just helps speed things along, marking precisely to him where it is that he's to be. I made it like a game, lots of turns with my luring hand (right) in front of his nose and pivoting around with a big motion....to make it silly and fun. It helped him on his turns. Soon, we made that more subtle and then eliminated that and just turned. You can use cones or something to make figure 8s around too. Lots of people don't like to use the right hand for the luring hand because it makes your shoulders tend to point in toward the dog instead of straight ahead which is no good.... so be careful about that if you use your right hand. I just have trouble holding the leash and the treats in one hand. You can hold the leash in the right hand and the treats in the left.

But that's just the way I did it. I'm somehow too uncoordinated to do it the other way, plus I didn't want my dog to have the treats or my treat-smelling hand too close to him. Later, when the dog gets pretty good, I'd keep the treats in my pocket. Or if he shows too much interest in my hand, show him that treats only come to him when he's paying attention to his heeling and not to my hand. If you dare, you can hold a treat between your teeth and help him to "watch me." Then spit the treat to him if he's a good catcher. Lyric is a lousy food catcher. So, I didn't do it that way. I didn't want him to break stride to sniff around on the ground for a treat.

Most people don't reinforce enough. Their dog takes a couple of steps in the right position and they hold out for more steps before reinforcing. It's important to reinforce often, every couple of steps which are good. (at first) That's what makes the dog repeat that nice heeling. Don't wait for perfection to reward. Reward baby steps and then as the dog gets better, withhold the reward and ask for more, then rewarding the better and better heeling.

When the dog seems to be repeating the good position, start using the word "heel." I think it's important to be careful about giving the cue when the dog is in a lousy position. He may attach the cue to that lousy position. Wait till he's in position. But I wouldn't even bother adding the cue in the beginning. He's got enough to think about as it is. Just reinforce the heel position for a while, then you can start sticking in the cue word when he's in that position.

Make sure you teach heel as a position too. If you have taught him to sit, start teaching him to only sit on your left side.

I think, heel is ever confusing for me.

Anyway sorry to hijack, but I have a question…

After my dog learned to sit on my left from coming from behind, I told him to stay, walked a few feet away, turned and faced him. Then I called “heel”, slapped my left leg. He pranced up to me but didn’t know how to sit beside me. So I lured him with a treat around my right, behind me and to my left, where he sat nicely. Since then he always walks around my right and behind to come to a sit on my left.

Is this the right way to teach him to get to my left? Sorry if it’s a stupid question.

I teach a formal heel much similar to the way that Doberluv does. I grab a clicker, a pocket full of treats, one dog off leash and start walking.

I pay no attention to the dog, just keep walking around he room. The dog gets curious and comes over to check out what's happening. If he happens to get in the heel postion CLICK/TREAT, keep walking, He'll fall out of position then possibly come back again, CLICK/TREAT, keep walking.

Basically I just wait untill the dog happens by chance to get into the heel position then I click and treat every single time it does occur. Most dogs catch on really quick that you only click if they're right by your side, provided they already know what the click means. I prefer not to lure at all.

i did the lure c/t routine, but a little bit different. i didn't work much on moving in a straight line for multiple steps at first. i did a lot of moving in random directions, moving sideways, turning, and rewarding the dog for the position of heel. we did a lot of what my trainer calls "micro turns" where you start with the dog in heel, turn a quarter of a turn and encourage the dog into heel position (and eventually call to heel). to the left you step in front of the dog so your lefthand side is facing the dog's front.

this worked reallyreally well to teach luce that heel is a position relative to me and it doesn't matter which way we're going. if i say heel, she's supposed to be at my left side looking up at me.

it was really pretty fun to teach and she's got a lovely, enthusiastic heel. it was so easy to teach her to heel sideways and even backwards eventually.

^^^oh cute, I never thought of sideways or backwards... can't wait to give that a go.

Sounds good and no, it is not a stupid question.

Yes, the luring is very scary.....they can get so dependent on it. And I too, love to work with no leash. That takes away the temptation to use it. LOL. Let the dog do the work and figure things out for himself. They sure do figure out what gets them the good stuff and what doesn't. No need for collar corrections and all that.

Cool, thanks dober.

You're welcome. It's so fun to train that way....without thinking "corrections." (collar jerks, scolding voice) It's fun for the owner and fun for the dog. And they do learn. I mean....if I knew that if I did what I was shown how to do, and I knew I'd get something I really loved, you bet I'd do that and not bother with doing the things that I didn't get a payoff for. I'd do the "right" thing over and over since someone gives me goodies every time. It doesn't take them long to know what it is which gives them the good stuff. Use good timing and be consistant.

Later, you can stop giving treats as often, just more random and the dog will keep trying, even try harder to get the treat. Before you think the dog will begin to lose focus or get bored, switch to something else for a while or just play a game of fetch. I had to do that a lot with my Doberman as he was quite distractable as a pup. Quit while you're ahead....leave him wanting more. Try not to wait till he shows signs of boredom.

The neat thing about using "positive" methods, is that they tend to not get bored as easily. It's too much fun. I noticed that the pups I've trained this way can go longer than the pups from the "olden" days when I used more collar corrections and was more serious and more oriented on the end result rather then just enjoying the small improvements along the way.

I use the prong to correct into position, lots of soft and calm praise, and some treating. This works wonderfully for Mike, but the thing is, you can't teach every dog to heal the same way!! It is different for each dog and handler so if you are wanting to do a formal attention heel, for obedience or some such, definitely contact a trainer who can do hands on with you. It's the only way to go.

You can teach any dog to heel using motivation and reward if you find out what motivates your dog. It may not be a treat for all dogs, maybe a toy. But operant and/or classical conditioning, using no aversives, no positive punishment will work on any dog. A prong collar causes discomfort and is an aversive whether mild or not. It is using the principle of having the dog comply in order to avoid. IMO, it is much more successful with any dog to gear training to having the dog comply in order to earn a reward. AND the reward MUST be a reinforcer. It has to be something the dog loves, not just something the owner thinks he should love. A reinforcer must cause the behavior to be repeated. There must be a history of sufficient reinforcers to get a well learned behavior. I've trained enough dogs and I've seen proof from many other sources that motivation and reward, without any use of aversives works on all kinds of dogs. The problem is that many people cannot find what motivates a difficult to motivate dog. There is something that will motivate any dog or they wouldn't have the ability to survive. You sometimes have to manipulte the environment so that the motvator becomes more valuable.

The secret of success and the whole point of positive method training is to not use force to manipulate your dog into position, but to have him be the one to figure it out, to choose and to set him up so that he WILL choose the right way. When a dog is trained this way, he becomes a smarter dog and learns HOW to learn better than by giving him no choice because you're using a choke or prong collar.

I always start out with no collar or leash with pups, then throw in practice with. I switch around. My Doberman, for example was sloppy with his heel, he lagged, he forged, he drifted off to the side. In one session we tidied it up very nicely with no collar or leash, just clicker training.

Thanks every body!!!

I want to teach Lizzie this...and I am going to be teaching Charlie soon too

I have started to teach Heel in teh end of the Advanced class a was going to...but then just kinda stopped

Well.....I am going to start ASAP!

Oh, I was working on her "watch Me" command(I had not done that one in a long time) and she did GREAT!!! Just broke the watch once, but then I told her again "Watch Me" and she did not break again...and that was WITH Major right there and people out in the front yard(she could hear them)!

This has been really helpful......lots of things to try! It's been years since I have had a dog in classes. I was taught the old way with correction, and praise. I am anxious to try new things!

Another good thing to do with a dog that you want to teach the concept of "heel" to, is to practice the "watch me" command with the dog in heel position. I teach it first with the dog in front of me, then I move to the dog's side (so the dog is in heel position) and I teach it in that position.

The more reinforcement you do of that position, the more the dog will want to be there.

I do very little luring on the heel - like others have said, I wait for the dog to find heel position and I reinforce it. But I will also wander into heel position at times and reinforce the dog, especially if I have one that tends to get easily distracted. I do my heel training off-leash and I get beautiful heeling from it.

To me, there's no place for punishment in the teaching of something. I used to do it that way and it worked, but I had dogs that burned out earlier and didn't have nearly the enthusiasm compared to the dogs I've trained since going to more positive methods. Some people seem to need to use punishment in their training, and that just shows a lack of understanding or caring about the dog. While there may be a place for corrections well after the dog has been trained extensively, use of corrections DURING training is completely wrong.

Teaching heel as a position (by the left side, neck/shoulder properly lined up, body straight) is more advantageous than just teaching it as a movement. I want to be able to say "heel" and have my dog go to heel position regardless of where they are or whether or not I'm standing still or moving. I also do a lot of forward movement with turns, but also backing up and moving sideways so the dog sidesteps with me. I teach my dogs to do a tight left pivot, 360° or more, by backing their rumps around.

Khana has also learned a heel position on the right (I call it "side" as opposed to "heel") for freestyle. She gives me focused head-up attention on that side too, plus all the turns, backing up and the tight pivots (to the right, opposite of the other side). It's been interesting teaching her this. I want her to be completely comfortable on the right but to always have the left heel as her "default" position (so she doesn't get too confused in competition obedience!). I really haven't had any problems with her mixing up the two. If I don't give her a cue, she goes to the left side.

All of her right side heeling was taught completely off-leash.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska