Dutch Shepherd Forum

felixone123 wrote:Odin rubbed his face wherever he could with the halti to get it off. Takes a little time to get used to. He now has stopped rubbing. In the beginning, I did leave it on in house for a while. Made him eat with it, etc. Was not happy, but he got over it when he realized I was not taking it off when he gave me that sorrowful look.

Poor dog! Xena has given up on me taking it off and now tries to rub it off on the crotches of unsuspecting admirers... oops.

Lauren wrote:
Poor dog! Xena has given up on me taking it off and now tries to rub it off on the crotches of unsuspecting admirers... oops.

Go Xena!

I am by no means an expert in dog training but what has worked for me with my train/board dogs is I use a snug flat collar with a long lead (15ft plus). The lead is just dragging so if the dog takes a bolt, I can step on it and stop him. Other than that, I never hold a leash/lead until the dog knows what heel means. I direct the dog into position with a treat, mark and treat. Next, as the dog is getting this position down pat, I give it a name ie command to heel. Same process. All this done in a circle. Done in short intervals so as not to bore the dog. At the end we play with the favorite toy. Its a happy fun time! Not drudgery. I made that mistake with my old GSD, drilled heel, drilled heel, til she and I both hated it.

Eventually, I then use the leash which is loose. Proofing later comes with a pinch strictly for correction. So far, so good on this method.

GSDNanny wrote:I am by no means an expert in dog training but what has worked for me with my train/board dogs is I use a snug flat collar with a long lead (15ft plus). The lead is just dragging so if the dog takes a bolt, I can step on it and stop him.

I found that worked for me when training Sugar to heel...stepping on the leash when she got out of position seemed to be very effective and much easier then holding and pulling on the leash to give the correction.

GSDNanny wrote:Other than that, I never hold a leash/lead until the dog knows what heel means. I direct the dog into position with a treat, mark and treat. Next, as the dog is getting this position down pat, I give it a name ie command to heel. Same process. All this done in a circle.

So does this mean you don't take your dog for a walk until they know how to heel??

Sue, when I take any of my dogs for a leisurely walk, I dont make them heel at all. This walk is strictly for pleasure.

Remington has improved by leaps and bounds. I started turning around to walk the other way when he got out of position and it has worked wonders. When we start out on our walk he will try to pull once but a quick change of direction has him back in place and a loose leash. Usually after 5 or 10 minutes I will need to make another direction change because he starts to pull but then he is back at my side and it seems each walk he gets better and better with fewer directional changes each time.

Great to hear Remington is doing well.

When I take Sugar out for a walk (on the street), I expect her to walk at my side, without pulling and not in front of me...and I call that heeling. Probably not a technical heel?? But I don't let her stop and sniff along the way.

Then there are parts of the walk where she gets to go off leash (on trails) and sniff and trot and run where doesn't have to heel, (or walk beside me). I also practice off leash heeling with her for short bits of time as well, then back to her having some freedom and fun for her.