I had a request asking how to teach heeling with a clicker.  I haven’t worked any formal heeling with either pup, so this was great timing.

First I need to explain how my terms might be different.  Most formal obedience instructors consider ‘heeling’ a moving command.  I do NOT.  Heel for my dogs is “Sitting next to me with eye contact OR Moving next to me with eye contact”.  So, if you do this right you never have to teach an automatic sit.  It is simply part of heel.  Watch the video and then come back and read the rest of this topic.

TRAINING VIDEO:  HEELING – STEP 1

With Merlot, Sadie, and Major I taught the traditional “heeling is moving, pop the leash ever time they move out of position” version.  With all my dogs to follow I did not and I have had much better success.  First, it is less for the dog to have to remember.  If I call my dog to “FRONT” they come and sit in front of me.  If I call my dog to “HEEL” they come to me and sit in the heeling position.  It is an automatic ‘finish’ that I do not have to teach.  The dog’s just understand and it removes many training steps I have found to be unnecessary.

Once your dog is doing wall / furnature heeling, move outside and heel them along the fence line.  Once they are moving out with speed along a fence / shrub line with good automatic sits, fast stops and starts, and not leaning either on you OR the fence, you can move away from the wall.  Until this point, I would suggest you not do open area heeling work because you are likely to allow sloppy heeling sits.  You can use the curb along a street as a mini wall when it is not busy or to HOT for little puppy paws.