Advice on Teaching Your Dog to Heal

You want to have control over your dog when you are taking her for a walk and not have her taking you for a walk.  Even worse you could have one of those dogs who are constantly bent over to the side trying to chase every car that passes by, or maybe the sort that chases cyclists and knocks them of their bicycles.  Teaching your dog to heel from an early age will avoid these problems and you will have a dog that is a pleasure to take for a walk.

When you first start training your dog to heel it is advisable to start off in your backyard as she will have fewer distractions in the backyard than she would at the park.  By teaching her in your backyard you will have her full attention and you will have more success.  It is also a good idea to make sure that your dog does know her name and responds to it before you start training her to heel.

When a dog is a puppy she will get tired very quickly so limit training times to about 10 to 15 minutes at a time.  It is alright to have the training session a couple of times a day as long as they are short and she has a break between them.  If you train her for too long and she becomes tired you will not have her full attention.

To begin your session put a lead on your dog and if you choose to use a training collar put that on her too.  The heeling position is on your left hand side to place your dog into this position.  Make sure that your dog has had some time on the lead to get use to the feel of the lead before starting training her to heel.

Have the lead in both of your hands with your right hand placed through the loop and your left hand on the leash at your side.  Your dog’s neck should be lined up with your left leg.  When you begin to walk give your dog the command ‘heel’.  At first she may not know what you mean and so you may need to give a gentle tug on the lead to encourage her to start walking.  If she tries to walk faster or to walk in a different direction then give her a gentle tug, tell her ‘no’ and put her back into the right position.

When you stop walking you want your dog to stop also.  Once again she will not know this at first so you will need to give her the command ‘stop’ and put her in the position on your left hand side.  Once she is in the correct position give her lots of praise.

It may take a bit of practise before your dog understands your commands and walks well in the heeling position.  When you take the next step and venture out to the park with your dog you may find that she will be more interested in other dogs and other things going on in the park than she will be in heeling.  It is important that you are consistent with your training and let her know that you expect her to keep heeling correctly.  Staying consistent every time you go for a walk will teach her that these are your rules and it won’t take long before she will do it each and every time.

If you go to a park or beach where they have a section for dogs to be allowed off the leash then give her that time to run around and have some fun.  Just let her know when it is ‘work’ time and when it is ‘play’ time.

Although it may take a bit of time to get it right, when you do your dog will be fun to take out and you will be the envy of all your friends.

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