Advice please - need to teach 6 month old puppy to walk to heel

[shoutymcshoutsmum]

Hi everyone,
Puppy dog is doing really well off the lead but my heel training has spectacularly failed. We were taught to walk with the puppy with a slack lead at our heels and if he pulled ahead or put his nose down, we were to do a sharp 180 and walk in the other direction etc. DH did this outside our house every morning before he went to work. I tried to help but the technique was not feasible with a 6 y.o., a 3 y.o. and a toddler in the pushchair. But the time I had turned 180, the puppy was looking at me wondering what the hell was going on!!! So now I have stopped taking him out on the lead so much because he pulls me along half the time and it makes me sad . I don't need a perfect dog but I do want to have him with me when I go out, other than on our 'proper' dog walk. Can anyone help? Thanks

Copied from choke collar thread

It is very easy to teach a dog to walk to heel but it can take time.

Start with a clicker(of course!) Do not have the dog on a lead but walk with a handful of yummy treats when it comes near to you by your side click and treat. It will take most dogs about 3 mins to work out what they have to do to get the treat. It is all fun, no shouting, turning around yanking etc just great jolly fun - if I am next to you I get a treat.

If you do this for a few seconds several times a day by the end of the week you will have a dog that knows where the heel position is. You can now give a command and gradually add in distractions eg food on the floor, children running around, another dog, a cat etc. This is a foolproof method and will work on all dogs given a bit of time and patience.

Thanks snoopyknine. i dont have a clicker. Does it matter which type I buy?

Do you say "heel" or is that unnecessary/confusing with the clicker?

Can one combine clicker training with commands?? Have only done command training so far

It is best to teach the behaviour first and then add the word when the dog knows what the behaviour is.

So lure the dog in to the heel position click and treat, after a few days ad the dog knows the correct position then you can add heel.

Stoney666 I hope that answers your question as well. The clicker marks the correct behaviour so if you dog knows sit, command a sit and then click and treat. However if teaching a new behaviour teach the behaviour before adding a command.

Of course you do not always have to click you can just ask for a learned behaviour by command once the behaviour is solid in the dog. Although using a clicker now and again makes the response so much quicker from the dog!

Thank you

Clicker is undoubtedly best (it doesn't matter what sort, just so long as you always use the same). Get him into the swing of it by clicking and giving him a treat every time he does something you want him to (start, for example, just with sitting). Then use it while you're walking - slack lead, even just for a second, click and treat. Gradually, you can introduce the word 'heel' but you don't need to initially.

Dont have a clicker yet. Will do as soon as i can get to a petshop. However, took pup to school today and put tub of little treats on hood of pushchair. Everytime he was at my heel, i gave him a treat. His walking was already better by the time he came home. Will need lots of treats though!