Training a dog to heel is an important part of dog obedience training. If you own a dog, then you’re going to spend some time walking it. Would you want those walks to become more enjoyable? It takes training your dog not to pull along the whole time. Furthermore, if you wish to become a professional dog walker, can you afford not to have a dog heel? When your main way to make the most money dog walking is by strolling with several dogs at once, can you see the trouble of multiple dogs pulling on you? You need to read below how to overcome this challenge.
So, how do you go about training a dog to heel? The truth is there isn’t one method that will work for every person or every dog, and this is your first hurdle. But it’s not impossible to overcome, of course. You will simply need to find the right method for both you and your dog because both of you have distinct temperaments. The method must match the temperament.
The basic requisites are a decent measure of patience, dedication, and a commitment to training a dog to heel for the benefit of the dog and the walker in charge of it.
Our Sporty Dog Walker guidelines outline everything that you need to know about this subject, including various strategies and tips to have your dog heeling in no time. Let’s get started!
What Does It Mean To Teach A Dog To Heel?
Teaching a dog to heel means teaching it to walk at your side, not lagging or pulling.
Heeling has a slightly different meaning depending on the role of the dog. For example, in obedience competitions, the dog is expected to be looking up at the owner. However, for service dogs, they are expected to look straight ahead. Sometimes dogs are expected to be walking very close to their owner’s leg, while other times more space is required to keep from stumbling over the animal in case of swift changes in direction. There is variety in the process of training a dog to heel.
For dog walker purposes, it should be sufficient simply to teach a dog not to walk way out in front or behind you but rather alongside you. So, let’s make this our first constraint. You’re not going to train a dog to heel for competition purposes.
Why Should You Train A Dog To Heel?
The obvious benefit of training a dog to heel is that the dog won’t be dragging you along or suddenly stopping behind you and yanking back on you. This is most unnerving when you’re trying to control a big, heavy and spirited dog with a mind of its own.
It’s also uniquely important for dog walkers who need to walk several such dogs all at once. If one or more dogs in your hands don’t know how to heel, and the one is pulling while the other is stalling, you got chaos two steps our of the client’s home. Tangled up leashes, swirling in every direction, pulling and dragging do not a safe walk make.
There are other benefits to consider. These you should convey to your dog owners to prepare them to wait for you to train their dogs to heel before their first walks with you. Heeling will teach their dogs always to remain close to you so that you don’t have to yell to communicate with the dogs. Yelling alarms pedestrians and animals alike. You need to get to a point where you may no longer need a leash to control a dog.
That is an advanced training result. But you know that, by the time you get a dog to obey your command to heel without use of a leash, you have a dog that knows its place by your side. That is a safe dog. A dog that has been properly trained to heel will continue to walk by your side even when it’s not on a leash and will know not to question your direction.
When Should You Start Training A Dog To Heel?
If possible, you want to start training your dog as early as possible to begin ingraining good habits in it at an early age. But starting to train a dog too early in its life isn’t comprehensively effective approach. There is a better time to train.
When may be the right time to start training your dog to heel?
It’s best to wait until a dog is 3 months old. Before that time dogs don’t have enough focus to learn to heel or concentrate on other commands such as “sit” or “stay.” If a dog is older (not a puppy) they can still learn new commands, but it may take a little longer for them to fully grasp the concept.
Training a dog to heel is slightly more complicated than other training it to understand other commands. You will likely want to wait until your dog has mastered the “sit” and “stay” commands before beginning this type of training.
Positive vs Negative Reinforcement
As you start to research various dog training techniques you’ll find that all them rely on either rewarding good behavior (positive reinforcement), correcting bad behavior (negative reinforcement), or a combination of both.
There is no consensus in the dog training community about what method is most effective. There is evidence, however, that both work. In fact, many of the most effective training methods use a combination, with certain methods emphasizing one technique over another because each has proven to be more effective with some breeds and individual dog types than others. Different breeds generally have different temperaments as do dogs individually as well. So, gaining a breadth of knowledge about training dogs to heel is your optimal path to handling a variety of dogs.
Consequently, you’ll want to take this into consideration when deciding how you want to train your particular dog to heel.
Training To Heel Via Positive Reinforcement
Dog trainers who emphasize positive reinforcement work under the theory that dogs are more likely to respond adequately to a pleasurable than to a painful consequence. The idea here is to focus on rewarding acceptable behavior. If a dog performs the desired action, then it should be rewarded with a treat, a toy or affection.
For this technique to be effective, rewards need to be given as soon as the dog performs the desired action. That way the dog can associated the reward with its positive behavior.
Plenty of positive reinforcement trainers agree about the impact of praise in bolstering good behavior in training a dog to heel. For example, saying “good dog!” in a high-pitched voice and rubbing the dog will let it realize that you are pleased.
Positive reinforcement works best for dogs that are timid, have been abused or are naturally submissive.
Training To Heel Via Negative Reinforcement
Negative reinforcement focuses on penalizing unacceptable behavior. Many trainers have moved away from using these types of techniques, though when done properly it may be the only way to achieve results with certain dogs, especially if the animal has developed destructive habits that can cause ruin.
Just as in positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement needs to be done as soon as an unacceptable behavior happens. If a dog performs an undesired action, or does not perform the desired action when instructed, it must receive immediate correction. This way it can associate the undesired action to the necessary chastisement.
Punishments may include swatting with an instrument (don’t use your bare hand, as the dog will associate it and not the instrument with pain and eventually cower, growl or bark whenever you raise it), pulling on a choke collar, or initiating a mild shock if using a shock collar. It’s important to remember to release the dog from discomfort once it performs the desired, otherwise you’re mistreating the animal. Likewise, speaking in a stern, angry tone and using phrases to match (“bad dog!”) reinforce the message of disapproval.
Negative reinforcement works best on aggressive and dominant dogs that do not wish to yield nor fear anything or anyone. But you must be extra careful not to take on the challenge of overcoming a dog you cannot fight and triumph over. The risk may prove too dangerous to yourself.
Combining Positive And Negative Reinforcement
The optimal way to train your dog may be to use both positive and negative reinforcements. Depending on what type of dog you have, and your personal preferences, you might favor one strategy or the other. But it’s never a bad idea to incorporate some of both into your dog training strategy.
Training a Dog To Heel: Different Strategies
Before you start training your dog to heel you will need to decide which strategy to use. There are several different strategies you can employ. This will likely depend on whether you feel positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement will be most effective for your dog.
We’ve listed two strategies below for you to consider. One focuses on positive reinforcement, while the other uses more negative reinforcement.
• Lure and Reward: This is a popular positive reinforcement technique in training a dog to heel that involves luring the dog to walk alongside you and rewarding them with treats as you go.
• Using a leash: This method relies more on negative reinforcement. It involves using corrective jerks as your dog walks with you on a leash to correct the dog’s behavior until your dog understands the heel command.
Both strategies are effective, but one may be more effective with some dogs than the other, and vice versa. It takes trial and error to know which one may better apply to your type of dog. Once you’ve opted to try one strategy, see below for more details on how to execute it properly.
Training A Dog To Heel: How Do It Correctly
Okay, so you’ve learned about positive and negative reinforcement and decided on a training strategy that you feel best suits both you and your dog. Below are detailed instructions on how to execute these strategies properly.
Keep in mind that if one strategy fails to work after multiple attempts you can always try the other.
Luring And Rewarding The Attentive Dog
For the lure and reward strategy to work, it’s best to make sure your dog already understands the “sit” and “stay” commands before beginning to train it in the “heel” command.
You will want to find somewhere quiet where there are no distractions to train your dog. This strategy also uses treats so make sure you have an ample supply with you. You don’t necessarily need to use a leash for this exercise, but you’ll likely want to add it at some point as you will need to use it when you take your dog out in public.
To start, work in a distraction-free environment. You’re going to need to get the dog’s attention always. Study the following video by Howcast to understand how to gain a dog’s attention.
Next, position your dog on either your left or righthand side. The classic heeling position is on the left-hand side for right-handed people, but you can train your dog to walk on whichever side you like. The goal will be to keep that attention focused on your hand. Watch this one-minute video by animal trainer Jim Leske for a demonstration of follow-the-luring-hand technique that you’re aiming to imitate.
As you can see, you will need to start with a dog that is a bit hungry and would want to be fed from your hand. Having taken a handful of treats, hold your hand about an inch in front of your dog’s nose. It’s going to be important to know at what height above your dog’s head you should hold your hand. Watch how expert trainer Forrest Micke with Leerburg uses his lure by holding it at a certain spot for a specific reason. It makes a game of training a dog to heel.
Knowing that you got your dog’s attention and its willingness to follow you after your lure, now compel it to sit down and stay put. Then quickly reward it. If the dog stands up, firmly say “No” and repeat the sit and stay exercise. You want to teach your dog to start walks with you from a sitting position. This is especially important to do with small dogs that can be particularly difficult to train to heel.
Next, while the dog sits, have it smell your hand full of treats and slowly start to walk forward. Your dog should follow along sniffing as you lure it with the treats. Make sure you keep your hand right where you want the dog to know is the limit of how far he can walk from you. to reward the dog with a treat and verbal praise every few steps. This is the behavior you want. You want the dog to follow you where you lead it. Your hand here is extremely important. Watch how Stonnie Dennis with Kentucky Canine Training Center works his hand to train a dog to heel.
If at any time your dog loses focus and wanders off, then stop immediately. Call your dog’s attention. Call it by name. Force the dog to sit and stay by your side. Then start the process over again.
Now if you would like to associate the command “heel” with this action you can start by saying it as your dog walks alongside you. To heel means for the dog to follow closely behind you, literally by your heels. So, practice, practice, practice. Repeat, repeat, repeat until the dog comes to anticipate your behavior.
Once you practice like this for a few days, you can begin to practice without any treats in your hand. This time keep the treats in your pocket and walk with your empty hand hanging naturally by your side. As your dog continues to follow beside you, pull out a treat from your pocket and reward this behavior. Next, start increasing the distance between treats. This is critical. At the beginning, you can give treats every 2 or 3 steps, but progress toward giving treats every 10 steps to 20 steps and so on.
As your dog continues to improve, you can add obstacles and distractions, so he can learn to stay focused. For example, instead of simply walking in a straight line you can place a few obstacles in the yard for you and your dog to walk around. As your dog gets better at following, you can try the exercise while other people are in the yard with you who might distract your dog.
Finally, you can start taking your dog off your property and start practicing the walk in public. Eventually, your dog should start obeying your heel commands under all circumstances and no longer requiring rewards with treats or verbal praise except occasionally.
Using A Leash With The Forgetful Dog
In this approach, you simply correct your dog’s behavior while you’re walking him on a leash. The leash is a reminder to the dog that you are its director not its follower. Although not as complicated as the previous method, if done correctly this method can also be very effective.
Just as with the last method, you’ll want to find a quiet place to train your dog with no distractions. Hook your dog’s collar to a leash. This signals that you’re ready to start to. If your dog loss all marbles and starts to run ahead of you, let him go only the full length of your leash. Then hold steady.
The moment it hits the end of the leash, stop! Don’t take another step. Never allow the dog to move forward if you have tension on the leash. Instead add a swift, firm, corrective jerk and command out loud “heel” with authority in your voice. Hold steady an instant and then turn and start walking in the opposite direction of the dog. This is punishment because you’re not letting the dog lead. The animal will forcibly turn around and join you.
But if it starts to lag or gets distracted, call forward to encourage it to catch back up to you. Only if your encouragement doesn’t work, then you give the dog a corrective jerk on the leash to get it to keep pace with you. You want the dog to understand that the leash is a mental barrier not merely a physical one, so that it won’t attempt to rebel against it. If it tries to get ahead, again switch directions after saying “Heel” and show the dog it can walk so long as it walks by your heels.
Make sure that every time you correct your dog’s behavior and it catches back with you, that you praise its behavior. Continue to do this until your dog no longer tries to lead you in multiple directions or lags.
Once your dog has mastered this it’s time to train him to walk by your side where more distractions abound. With your dog by your side, give the “heel” command and begin walking. As soon as your dog moves ahead of your thigh, give him a corrective jerk, say “no!” and make an immediate U-turn. Repeat this step until your dog continues to walk by your side. The following video by Nigel Reed, The Dog Guardian, does an excellent job at showing how to teach a hyper dog to heel on a leash and learn to walk as part of a pack.
Tips For Quick Training a Dog to Heel
If you follow the steps above correctly and train your dog on a regular basis, you will surely succeed in training your dog to heel. However, we’ve listed a few more tips below to help you achieve your goal quickly and ensure your dog obedience training goes extra smooth.
The 15-Minute Rule
It’s important to remember that a dog’s attention span lasts about 15 minutes. If you try training a dog any longer than that it likely won’t be very effective. So, keep your training sessions to 15 minutes or less if you don’t want to face diminishing returns and increasing frustration with every additional minute.
For example, if you want to train your dog for 45 minutes every day, do it in three 15-minute installments one hour apart. This will be far more effective than one 30-minute session.
Make A Habit Of Training A Dog To Heel
If you wait too long between training sessions, then your dog will start to forget what it was taught. As we just mentioned, you want to keep your training sessions under 15 minutes long, but you should still try to train your dog as often as possible.
Make dog training a daily habit and try to sprinkle training throughout the day for the best results.
Be Consistent In Your Obedience Training
You want to make sure everyone in the dog’s house is aware of the training it’s receiving and that everyone there also rewards good behavior while correcting bad behavior.
While you are training a dog to heel, make sure that if anyone else takes the dog out for a walk, then the training continues in the same way you’ve been doing. This will reinforce the training due to consistency and ensure your dog learns the new skills quicker.
Adding Dog Obedience Training To Your Dog Walking Business
Have you been thinking of adding dog obedience training to the services you offer as a dog walker? There is a number of benefits to doing so.
Anytime you start providing additional services you can start up-selling to your existing clients. (To run an estimate use our Dog Walking Services Pricing Calculator.) Training dogs to heel may also help you get more new business from prospects that want this specific service but no dog walker to take their pet out for them. It’s very appealing for dog owners to receive dog walking and dog obedience training services all in the same place because they get to pick one or the other without having to shopping around.
It’s convenient for them because they don’t need to go outside their homes to get trained and have their dogs trained as well. You come to their house and do the training there, saving them time and inconvenience. That’s worth quite a bit of money in the long-run to them. You can emphasize this benefit.
There’s also an added benefit in that if you’re training the same dogs that you also end up walking, then you can be more confident that they will get along together while you’re out in public. This means you can walk a pack with confidence and attract more admiration as an expert. Wear your dog walker t-shirt announcing your service while controlling multiple dogs down the street, and you will need a third arm to walk and take calls from future customers.
Training a dog to heel is an important part of dog walking. But it is crucial to master it if you’re walking more than one dog all at once and wish to make the best revenue possible as a professional dog walker.
Training A Dog To Heel: Conclusion
Training a dog to heel doesn’t have to be difficult. As you can see, it’s all about assessing your dog and finding a strategy that will suit its temperament. Reinforce your requirements in an edifying and restrictive manner and the dog will respond as expected. Just be persistent. It does take rote and repetition.
If you choose the right strategy and follow the steps that we’ve outlined above, you and your dog will be an example to many while strolling down your neighborhood streets in no time.