Talk to me about Heel work please

[BitterAndTwistedChoreDodger]

Hello, long story short DH got me a Lab puppy for my birthday after our Weimaraner sadly passed away earlier this year.

So I am not an inexperienced dog owner, but Wei was a rescue so Puppies are all new to me!
He is settling in well,knows 'sit', 'down', 'stay,' 'wait,''drop it' 'leave it' and 'watch me' so we have the basics covered but he pulls like a freight train!

He will walk to Heel in the house beautifully, but he has only been able to go out for walks last week and is uderstandably very excited.

I have tried stopping dead when there is any tension on the lead but it took me about an hour to walk him as I was only able to take a step at a time!

Today I tried a different tack, I let him pull but as soon as the lead went slack told him he was a good boy. This seemed to work quite well and I feel like he had an enjoyable walk but I don't want to confuse him by using different methods.

Any advice please ? He already can nearly have me over so I need to nail this before he gets much bigger!

Sorry, that wasn't very short at all was it?

We used the "stop dead" method with our equally freight-train like lab. Yes, it DOES take a long time to get anywhere, but if you're consistent it will work.

I don't think it would confuse him at all if you also praised when the lead was slack. If you do both of these things he will learn that pulling doesn't work, and being near you gets him praise. Make sure that everybody who walks him is consistent though - we still have some problems because my OH still allows him to pull!

Is he food motivated? Probably, since he's a lab! If so, I'd couple that praise with a treat (we just use part of our dog's daily food allowance).

Thankyou LTBC

Weirdly, he is not at all food motivated which I think has thrown me a bit, I assumed Lab = stomach on legs.

I think the problem is that I feel mean that I am ruining his walk if we are only going one step at a time.

I am enrolled in a puppy class as of tomorrow so am tempted to let him enjoy his walks for the moment, the praising the slack lead seems to be working.

I am still open to suggestions though.

You are not spoiling his walk, he is. I had the same problem with my pup, but she now has a halti to help me out for now.

I also use the 'stop dead' and it works for one of my dogs but not the other...

If your lab learns to pull in order to get his walk because of excitement then it will carry on doing it. Do you leave the house when he is calm and relaxed or is it all a bit hyper when the lead goes on?

sorry, got to pop out but wanted to answer you.

He is pretty calm and will sit for me to put the lead on but once we are outside he is manic.

I can still get his attention, he will 'sit' or 'watch me' but I can 'heel' til I'm blue in the face and he just pulls.I don't want to repeat myself so he thinks it's ok to ignore me.

With the 'stop dead' method he has started to sit as soon as I stop, but sit in front of me so that the lead is still taut.

My dog has never got "heel", although he is good in most other ways.

I took him to puppy training and they told me to change direction whenever he pulled - well, it toook us hours to get anywhere and my nieghbours used to watch me and laugh as I went up and down in front of the house!

I also tried stopping dead, more due to my own frustration than anything else. I have almost ended up pulling him off his feet a few times on the extendable, but it does work, although it has taken aaages (cocker spaniels are extremely stubborn!!).

TBH I try to walk him off the lead as much as I can to avoid getting so fed up with him. Amazingly he's now better at heel off the lead than on - the lead just seems to give him something to pull against.

Have you tried an extendable? This plus stopping dead seems to have worked quite well for me... however he's three now and we're still trying!

I would stick with the stopping method (and if he's sitting it does mean he is starting to get it) but also use a treat to call him back to heel when you stop and before you start walking again to doubly reinforce it. I have done this with all my dogs and even one we got back at six months old and was a serious puller walks like an angel now. If she does start to get a bit ahead, (although she will always keep the lead loose) I just say 'heel' and she walks herself backwards into position, so no stopping required.

If he's not that food motivated, clicker training sometimes seems to increase their food motivation, so maybe try that? Or, skip meals altogether and only let him have any food when training. (it will encourage you to do lots of training so he gets all his food too! )

Thankyou very much for your replies. The 'stop dead' method seems to be sinking in very slowly.

Could I pick your brains further for a suitable treat for puppy class?, Apparently roast chicken wasn't 'exciting enough' and so was ignored thoroughly.

He just isn't interested in treats FGS!

I would go for something more stinky, like peperami or hot dog sausages that come in a tin/jar as its the smell that really gets them going...

if he's got a toy he really loves you could take that instead, keep it in your pocket and tempt him with it, letting him have a little play if he does something really good.