heel

[Pachira16]

which hand should the treats be in when teaching a dog to heel?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Pachira,

Welcome to the forums!

This is a very simple question, but the answer is that it depends. Are you training with your dog on leash or off leash? On what side are you planning to train your dog? Are you ever planning to compete in obedience with your dog? Are you doing the initial heeling exercises where you reward your dog in the reward zone by the leg or "attention heeling" where you reward your dog for making eye contact?

[Pachira16]

Hes a pain to walk so all I want is him to not pull and stay beside me. I want him to walk on my left side. The leash will be in my left hand. There will be no competitions, just daily walks.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Thanks for the details, they are extra helpful!

OK, so your dog is on the left, so your reward zone will be next to your left knee. If you're holding the leash in your left hand, you can keep the treats in your right hand and do the swinging motion as seen in this picture where I have Einstein (only that in Einstein's case, we're doing the opposite since he's on the right).

 

Another option is if you have a long leash is to let the excess leash go behind your back so can hold it in your right hand. I often used this method in classes, and the advantage is that when your dog pulls and is ahead, you can easily use your left hand to get lure him back in heel position.

 

You can find details on heeling here if you haven't visited this page yet:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

[JMFS]

I'll interject an option and that's the front attachment harness. I used to turn my nose up at those because I was always told it gives the dog more leverage because it goes around the strongest part of their body. But, after reading numerous points made on these forums I've converted. The leash attachment is on the front of the harness so when the dog starts to pull ahead of you their body rotates, hindering their forward progress. You don't have to do much other than hold the leash. Gertie's also has a top attachment, between the shoulder blades, for more control. It took only two walks for her to really catch on. I've yet to try it on Momo, who is the real dickens when it comes to walking (he'll choke himself to the point of rasping).

 

The primary reason I switched is because Gertie's neck is bigger around than her head and she can slip out of her collar. I have a martingale collar (it's like a safety version of a slip collar - you choose how tight it can go so the dog doesn't choke), which helps, but between the two options the front attachment harness is far friendlier, safer in regards to her escaping, and more effective, not to mention the training was much faster. I also like that it takes pressure off their neck. If I were a dog and had my choice of being led around by a collar or a harness, I'd opt for the harness.

 

I still teach "heel" and the harness makes it that much easier.