Follow my Lead
Teaching Your Dog To Heel: A Few Ideas
Don’t expect your heeling exercises to work smoothly right away or even all the time. Even dogs have good days and bad days. If your dog is having a bad day, he may still execute a near perfect “Sit, Stay.” But he may be too distracted to heel well. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practice. But you might want to cut your practice short this time. Be sure to end on a positive note by doing something your dog will do well even on his bad days. Lessons should end sweetly so that both of you will want to get back to work again the next day.
Of course, if your dog is having a bad day every day, there’s something wrong in your training program. How do you train your dog? Are you clear with your instructions? Are you patient, or do you shrug your shoulders and quit in the middle? Are you fair, swift, and forgiving? Are you working long enough? You should practice for at least half an hour a day. Practice ten minutes on your dog’s morning walk after he has relieved himself and twenty minutes on his evening walk.
Once a week or so, work for forty-five minutes or an hour at one shot. Even a five month old puppy can handle it if given a rest in the middle. Ask yourself if your expectations are high enough. Your dog can read your attitude, and he can fulfill it, too. He is not dumb. He can learn to work beautifully, no matter what his breed. It’s only a matter of time until he heels well. Be patient and keep working.
If you have passed the above criteria and your dog is still having seven bad days a week, perhaps you are not attentive when you train. Your dog will know this, too, and if you don’t pay attention to his work, he won’t pay attention to it either. Why should he? But if you do give him thirty minutes a day of your full attention, you’ll end up with a well-trained dog.
When you are out working and teaching your dog the virtues of heeling, sprinkle in all his other commands as well. It will give the work variety. It will teach your dog to make smooth transitions between commands, that which will make him look like an intelligent, working creature. This magic usually happens about five weeks along in the training. That’s the time when many dogs seem to understand the larger picture, when things click. However, your dog may get the point in four weeks - or in eight.
Don’t worry about it. Just enjoy it when you see it happen. At that point, when he’s attentive without reminders, when he’ll heel with few corrections, when he sits automatically whenever you stop, when he executes his commands on verbal cue without additional manipulation, continue to practice, occasionally pushing the time so that he learns to work for a longer period without a break. Also, intersperse play with your training. And, when you’re safely indoors and at home, begin some of his off leash puppy work. By now, he’s coming along so well that nothing could stop you!
More good information may be found at Stay right Here.