walking to heel

[chook1 184]

Teaching to walk on a loose leach is easy - teaching heal is not!

 

Teaching loose lead walking

Insted of walking in a stright line, vary it - turn left, walk backwards etc so the dog has to focus on you,

it gets to dog to realise that getting to far ahead of you

you may be gone, so they learn to keep one eye on you, on the bombing off part - teach a wait

ie ask for a wait and unclip the leash - the dog should not move untill you give the command to do so,

teaching the wait also helps if they get to far ahead, with mine i just ask for them to wait till i catch up.

http://www.thedogtrainingsecret.com/LeashTraining/Loose-Leash/

 

 

teaching a proper heal - personally you need to teach the dog how to walk on a lead first.

But hear you go.

http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/teaching-a-dog-to-heel.html

[leegreen 2,182]

Thanks lads. This is my first lurcher.

Good luck mate.

Keep your commands simple, constant and keep training short, but often.

[zx12edge 1,001]

Had a dog that pulled like a train on the lead tried the treat toy semi choke collar walking in different directions did not stop him pulling one bit.What worked for me was i put the lead on his collar and put the lead under his front leg by the time we had got half way up the street no more pulling walked him for a couple of weeks like that don't pull no more. Bye the way he would walk well of the lead stop stay and come just on the lead was a problem.

[GEOFF.223 83]

my wee springer just seemed to understand it if she runs past me i just shout get back and she heels. i told her to sit stay and directions left right away come back and she just seems to know to heel i have never have walked her on the need i was just pure lucky!

[hutch6 550]

Loose leash walking for me changes the concept of the walk and what we would generally measure it by, some folk's opinions may vary .

 

We tend to think of a walk in the context of how far it was or how undulating the terrain etc but when you have a dog that pulls or one that just makes it a pain in the backside then the walk becomes a tedious battle which is marched around in order to deliver the distance required to meet a dog's needs. Mileage is how walks are measured, mileage over time. What you need to do when training loose leash walking is swap that equation around - time over mileage.

 

What is the point of walking 4 miles in an hour if for that full four miles the dog has pulled, got to do what it wants, when it wants and been rewarded by still moving forward and getting to where it wants to go.

Now think of walking 10yrds in the same hour but during that hour the dog didn't move forward once unless it was on a loose leash. It wasn't rewarded for pulling it was rewarded for not pulling two fold - one treat for being at your side and it got to get to where it wanted to get to but it was informed that it only got to do so in a certain manner.

 

Taken from here: He always wants to walk ahead of me!

 

Your dog pulls for one reason and one reason only - it wants to get to something as quickly as possible.

 

If you allow the pulling and go along with the dog pulling, the dogs gets to what it wants on its own terms so is rewarded for pulling. This makes the dog pull harder.

 

There is a £20 note nailed to a fence 50yards away from you. You can't get to it because you are tied to a heavy tire unless you pull. You pull that tyre with all of your mite and get the reward of the £20.

Now you are tied to something that will not move unless you are at the side of it, the £20 note is 400yards away and you have 20mins to get to it - plenty of time. If you pull on the lead or get too far in front the object locks down and will not move no matter how much you pull.

Once you stop pulling and go back to the contraption it delivers a £1 coin to you and allows you to move towards the £20 note.

 

Now the £20 note is 400yards away, you are tied to the same contraption but you only have 8mins to get to it. The contraption will lock down completely unless you are at the side of it at all times.

 

Now you have been trained to walk to heel to get your reward. That is what you do with your dog.

 

If they pull then stop. Lock the lead down - don't pull them back, and wait. You may get stuck like that for a while to begin with as the dog is used to pulling to get it's reward. The lead will be tight because the dog is pulling against you. After a while the dog will work out "Well my neck is hurting, I am not getting to where I want to get to so what's the point in pulling?" It will either take a few steps back, sit or lay down. "Good dog!" - throw it a treat and verbally praise. It has worked out that it will get nowhere by pulling.

 

Do this a few times but then start to withhold the treat until the dog expectantly wonders why it hasn't got a treat so makes it way back to you after stopping pulling. "Good dog! - treat and praise verbally or physically if the dog is close to you.

 

You can start with a full lead out, half your lead length or hardly any lead at all but every time the dog has pulled and you have stopped you must wait for the dog to work out it isn't going anywhere or it won't get what you are trying to achieve as fast. Every time you want to set off walking again then work your way up the lead to the dog until you are beside it. Then give your instruction to walk on whatever you want.

 

Only use your "Heel" (choose whatever word you want. I use "Slowly") command when the dog is in the position you want it to be. No point saying heel only for the dog to belt to the end of the leash and start pulling again.

 

You may find that your dog will pull towards the target for a bit but then come back to you instead of just taking the tension off the line. If so then that is a bonus as it eliminates a few steps and a fair bit of time.

 

Only reward a slack lead and any lead tension means you stop and ignore.

 

Takes a few sessions but you have a dog that realises there is no point pulling for anything as it won't get the reward it wants on its own terms.

 

 

Another method:

 

 

Get yourself some really good treats such as cooked chicken pieces or whatever you can.

 

Trying to do this when the dog is first let out of the house or car is ridiculous and shouldn't be tempted so carry on until your dog has had a decent length of walk or a run around and is a bit more calmer and focussed.

 

Put the lead on the dog and get him to sit. Treat.

 

Walk around so you are in front of him facing him. Put a treat under his nose and coax him towards you as you walk backwards. as he walks a couple of paces then treat.

Now he won't walk past the treat so you are rewarding him for walking calmly essentially.

 

Now get him to walk 5 paces holding the treat in front of his nose before treating. Then ten paces. All the time you are walking backwards facing him so you can keep an eye on him.

 

Keep upping the distance gradually.

 

Once you can go 30paces it is time to drop the lure of the treat.

 

Get him to sit in front of you again. This time just hold the treat in your hand but don;t put it near the dog. Start walking backwards. As soon as he has walked 3paces calmly then treat - this will happen in about 2secs so be prepared

 

Get him to do it again and again and again.

 

Now up the challenge and only reward him for walking 5paces calmly.

 

If he tries to rush or anything because you are facing him you are in the prime position for holding out a hand, palm facing him like you would stop traffic and saying "No!" to control him. He will get the idea that if he rushes he gets no reward but if he walks calmly he does.

 

So you can now walk 5paces calmly. Up the challenge to 10 paces calmly before treating.

Edited November 6, 2012 by hutch6