heel questions

[pets4life]

hello

i have a few heel questions

to get your dog back into a heel position what word do you guys usually use? like you call your dog over your dog comes sit in front of you and then to get them in the heel position do you say heel then?


Also while on walks is it okay to have your dog heel on certain parts of the walk like in tight areas or around kids and other dogs then give your dog the okay go free command in areas where you want to give your dog more freedom around water field etc..

i have been walking my dog in a park on long line recently and she loves it we heel when we pass people or if the trail is too narrow i dont let her off leash.

[woody]

I normally slap the side of my leg to get him into heel position. To call him to me I use the command "back".

[selzer]

First of all, I train with a leash first, and then train without the leash. If I call FRONT, and back up, that means the dog must come to the front of me and sit close enough so I can pet her head and hold the collar -- I do not, but I can.

then I say FINISH, and she will swing over to my left side and sit in the heel position. Or I will say AROUND, and she will go behind me and sit in the heel position. Then I say Heel, and lead off with a half-step with my left foot. If I do not want them to SIT in the heel position, I say HEEL and start moving before they are all the way around in position.

On walks, we heel some of the time, always across streets, the rest of the time, I give them some lead, and so long as they do not pull me, I let them sniff and be dogs.

ETA: If we are ready and working off-lead, they need to be in heel position, sitting when I stop, heeling when I am going, all the time.

[Lucy Dog]

I'll give lucy the "side" command. She'll be in front of me and I'll say "side" and, well, it's pretty self explanatory from there. She kind of just wraps around me and is in heel position.

Here's a good youtube video on how to teach the command.

YouTube - ‪How To Clicker Train "Heel" Position (Dog Training)‬‏

YouTube - ‪How To Clicker Train "Heel" Position (Dog Training)‬‏

[Elaine]

I tell my dog to heel to get him into position.

I never ask him to heel when out for a walk. If I want he closer, I just say his name and shorten the leash.

[Achielles UD]

Your first question is about the go to heel position from sitting in front, correct? In the obedience world this is called a "finish." The commands I use are "Fuss" (German command for heeling/heel) for the left finish. With the left finish your dog is moving directly to your left side, into heel position. I also use "Fuss" to mean to heel with me when walking. The other command I use as a finish command is "Around" for the right finish, where the dog goes to my right, around behind me and sits on the left in heel position.

While walking, I have 3 commands.

1. "Let's Go" which means walk on my left side and don't pull on the leash. This is used for the majority of the walk. The dog is not required to pay attention to me by looking up and may be slightly ahead or behind me so long as the leash is loose.
2. "Free" which means walk where you want, just don't pull on the leash. The dog is allowed to go right or left sides and the leash is freely given so they may sniff and "check the mail" and relieve themselves.
3. "Fuss"/"Heel" which means to walk with your head up, attention on my shoulder/hip/face (depending on height of dog) with the dogs right ear/eye in line with the seam of my pants. This is a very hard position to maintain but I do it frequently in small sections during a "walk."

If I were to use each during an hour walk, the overall time spent in each position would be: 45 minutes of "Let's Go", 10 minutes of "Free" and 5 minutes of "Fuss/Heel." Not all at once, but sporadically during the walk (ie: 15 min Let's go, 3 min free, 30 seconds heel/fuss then back to either free or let's go... etc during the hour).

I don't work off leash until the dog has shown me they can work under extremely distracting conditions or we are in a safe, low distraction environment...

[Caitydid255]

I use "heel" which means stay by my side. As we walk I will slap my hip if she is getting out of focus. If she gets too far ahead I say back. After the walk or if I'm going to let her off leash for a while I will say "Take a break"

[EchoGSD]

I use the word "heel" to indicate I want her to go heel position in the left direction, and I say "by me" when I want her to go to heel position in the right direction (ie, around behind me). Echo ends up in a better position after a "by me"; she never quite gets her whole rear end around when she finishes to the left.

[cassadee7]

"heel" for a formal heel position, moving or not. If she is sitting in front of me and I say "heel," she finishes around behind me.

"let's go" for a general walk to my left with a loose leash.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by pets4life

hello

i have a few heel questions

to get your dog back into a heel position what word do you guys usually use? like you call your dog over your dog comes sit in front of you and then to get them in the heel position do you say heel then?

Yes. Heel is a position, not the act of getting into that position. If I'm moving, the dog is moving in heel position. If I'm stationary, the dog comes to heel position and sits at my side.

As others have said, if you have want to train a left and a right finish it's a good idea to use two different commands, but whichever finish you're going to use most of the time should probably be trained to the heel command.