Heel

It's most important to your dogs safety that you be able to walk it on a lead without pulling - without EITHER of you pulling.

This is where people get it wrong "My dog pulls" they say. "You pull" I reply.

You see, it takes two to pull!

How do you stop this bad behaviour? There are several methods using clicker training. I use ALL of them.

Having a small dog does not make the job easy, especially if, like me, you have balance problems. Bending over to reward the dog as constantly as you have to while teaching "heel" meant that it took us much longer then it would have otherwise. I'm more use to dobermans! Gem is the first small dog I have ever owned.

To start with we had a basic problem. You can see in the photo of her at the top of the page, Gem does not heel as close as she should if she were, let's say, in an obedience trial. The simple reason for that is that she walks what is a "safe" distance from her mothers feet - a distance that allows her to get out of the way, most of the time anyway, if I take an unexpected sideways step and tread on her!

So, we won't win any medals for our heeling, but she is relaxed, the lead is lose and she is concentrating on me, which is what I need.

But how do you reach that point?

Get your dog ready to go for a walk, but keep in mind that the goal isn't how far you walk, it's having a dog that does not pull on the lead. So, start walking! As soon as your dog reaches the end of the lead and pulls, you become a tree - an imovable object. You aren't pulling, you are just standing there. You don't have to say anything. Your dog will, eventually, turn and look at you to see why you aren't moving. When he does that, take a step backwards, as he comes towards you click and treat.

Once your dog is back with you, start walking again. As soon as the lead goes tight, stop, become a tree, when the dog turns to look at you take a backward step, then click and treat as he comes towards you. Don't aim on going far. A few metres back and forward past your own drive way might be as far as you get to start with.

Another thing you can do is to change direction often, suddenly and without warning. A five to ten minute walk in a park doing this will teach your dog that they better keep an eye on you, they probably think you are insane and need to be watched and looked after. But it does make them focus on you and stop pulling. You can click and treat every time you have a "successful" turn - that is, one where they were watching you and you didn't catch them out.

As always, keep the lesson short. People tend to think they have to take their dogs out on a long walk, and this is where they fall out with "heel". If you start with 5 minutes and a good result, you can slowly increase the time.

Also remember that if your pup is young, or you have a breed of dog that has short legs, it might not like jogging along for hours on end! If you are an active person, get an active breed who can keep up with you.

If you have questions about "heel" you would like to see in this section, please email me at eliza@elizasart.com