Training Your Dog To "Heel"
"Heel" allows you to have a trustworthy off leash dog. It shows your dog that you want her to follow you until you tell her to stop. When your dog is in the heeling position it she is right next to you and wont leave your side until released by you. Heeling is a difficult to teach your dog to master, it must be taught slowly with patience.
1. In order to off leash train your dog you are first going to have to start with a leash. Use a short leather leash between, and a normal collar(not a choking collar). You have to be in a place with no distractions to be safe, just in case your dog ever runs off. And make sure your dog already knows the "Come" command, to be even safer.
2. Have your dog on your left side and have one of your dogs favorite treats in your right hand, hold it near your waist, just on her reach. Then say "Heel" and take three steps forward and stop. If she moves with you, praise her and give her the treat.
3. Once your dog understands how to heel, increase the number of steps and loosen the leash more and more until it's on the floor and out of you hand. If your dog remains heeling, praise her and keep going. But whenever she starts to walk away quickly grab the leash, give a quick tug to get your dog's attention.
4. Once your dog heels perfectly without ever leaving your side, you can move to the next step. Remove the leash from your dog's training collar. And start heeling. If she ever leaves your side it means that she's not ready, so go back to training with the leash on.
Here are some extra tips for teaching your dog to heel.
- If you think your dog is comfortable and understands the trick, add a few things to the training to mix it up. For example: act like as if it's a game of "Red Light, Green Light" and start walking slowly then speed up.
- Try training somewhere new, a place with more obstacles like people, objects, and animals. .
- Keep your training sessions fun and don't expect too much from your young puppies, they loose their concentration quickly.
1. In order to off leash train your dog you are first going to have to start with a leash. Use a short leather leash between, and a normal collar(not a choking collar). You have to be in a place with no distractions to be safe, just in case your dog ever runs off. And make sure your dog already knows the "Come" command, to be even safer.
2. Have your dog on your left side and have one of your dogs favorite treats in your right hand, hold it near your waist, just on her reach. Then say "Heel" and take three steps forward and stop. If she moves with you, praise her and give her the treat.
3. Once your dog understands how to heel, increase the number of steps and loosen the leash more and more until it's on the floor and out of you hand. If your dog remains heeling, praise her and keep going. But whenever she starts to walk away quickly grab the leash, give a quick tug to get your dog's attention.
4. Once your dog heels perfectly without ever leaving your side, you can move to the next step. Remove the leash from your dog's training collar. And start heeling. If she ever leaves your side it means that she's not ready, so go back to training with the leash on.
Here are some extra tips for teaching your dog to heel.
- If you think your dog is comfortable and understands the trick, add a few things to the training to mix it up. For example: act like as if it's a game of "Red Light, Green Light" and start walking slowly then speed up.
- Try training somewhere new, a place with more obstacles like people, objects, and animals. .
- Keep your training sessions fun and don't expect too much from your young puppies, they loose their concentration quickly.