Walking to heel tips

Beretta man

Lads just wondering how you train a dog to walk to heel and at what age is best..

Jimy1971

I started my pup as soon as I started walking her on a lead. Kept her on a short lead and kept pulling her back to heal if she pulled on.Keep talking to her too as you walk.

Tawny Owl

If the Dog has all it's injections and ready to walk outdoors lots of talk to the Dog as you slightly pull back on the lead, the Dog will look at you and then give the command heel. I used to Breed Rottweiler's years ago and this will do the trick but be patient it all takes time. enjoy:D

TriggerPL

Spaniel ?

Gud lead , whistle ! Walk to dog to heal if he pushes ahead a tug and the word heel , when you have him heeling and happy that he doing so move on to giving a pep of whistle and tug / making dog sit, repetition is the main key and lots of praise !

At first the dog will be weary that he wrong and will need lots of reassurance !

Walking to heal and using the whistle will later along allow you to drop the dog and further distances but this is a long process and lots of repetition !

The more you sick of doing the more the dog will start to come right ! But he will try to break you buy fighting with him , and if he does ur fxxk for ever !

pheasntstalker

+1 on the tug of they lead and the command heel, also get ur
Self a: switch' wtf.?is that u say cut urself a fairl light wipy kinda piece of branch kinda sally rod if ya follow me.?and when ur out the next time ur out and walking wither ur rite or lefthand swing the switch in front of him/her to keep the dog at heel the trick to it is to catch. The dog before it pull in front it takes practice and patience I'm using that method at the min with my lad and he ,s catching on but still trys his luck at times

keep at it ,it will fall into place

One shot on kill

Ye the whole idea is to correct him before he moved ahead. Not while he is ahead. As they say prevention is better than cure.

And also its very important that when the lead is short not to have tension on it. So the dog can distinguish between the correction ( tug on lead ) and just walking normaly. When the lead is kept under tension al the time it has a tendency to make the dog anxious and wind him up a bit and he could become a bit boisterous and pull harder because this is mormal. so no tension. When he is good on the lead the try with him off it.

Speak very calmly and assertive easyer said than done some times I know. And remember a correction is only to change the dogs train off thought not to punish or hurt he just sees agression.

You can then try making the dog sit while you walk away the call him to heel. The whole idea is to call him before he moves himself so learn how far your able to walk ahead before he feels the need to come and keep pushing the distances. I had a dog and it start with about 1 yard and with practice I turned it into 400 yards easy although it was a whistle at that stage.

fitzy_fitzy

I was given advice before with my setter.
That not to get her walking to heel until she was around a yr old.
Let her pull on it.
The whole idea was let her hunt as much as she want for the first year, not to restrict her.
Then the to get her walking to heel and so on from there on.
I used the same methods as the lads have suggested then.

charlie10

i recall ian openshaw saying that heel is the very last command a dog should be thought

TriggerPL

charlie10 wrote: »

i recall ian openshaw saying that heel is the very last command a dog should be thought

Not getting into it but most trainers teach heel and stopping to the whistle at the same time !

If left to the very last thing to be honest how do u stop the dog at distance to give commands ?

I think heel work is something you have to reinforce over the dogs life , ESP trailing in fear the dog would run in .

garyc007

i dont teach it til near the end,in case it would mess with their drive. once heelin off the lead i tap them on the back leg and say heel if they break it,or hold my hand out one side of my leg,i find this works

charlie10

TriggerPL wrote: »

Not getting into it but most trainers teach heel and stopping to the whistle at the same time !

If left to the very last thing to be though how do u stop the do at distance to give commands ?

I think heel work is something you have to reinforce over the dogs life , ESP trailing in fear the dog would run in .

sorry now trigger but teaching a dog to stop while on a lead is what most lads start with and give a dog a tug while walking to keep them at heel

all they are doing is teaching the dog to be respectful on the lead they are not giving the command to heel . talk about confusing a dog by giving them two commands. i agree they need to walk at heel on the lead but the command can be thought when everything else it done. i dunno why your not "getting into it" its a forum and a question was asked that you supposedly know the answer too. by the way how old is this dog and what level of training has he got so far

deeksofdoom

charlie10 wrote: »

sorry now trigger but teaching a dog to stop while on a lead is what most lads start with and give a dog a tug while walking to keep them at heel

all they are doing is teaching the dog to be respectful on the lead they are not giving the command to heel . talk about confusing a dog by giving them two commands. i agree they need to walk at heel on the lead but the command can be thought when everything else it done. i dunno why your not "getting into it" its a forum and a question was asked that you supposedly know the answer too. by the way how old is this dog and what level of training has he got so far

You've lost me. Nothing wrong with triggers advice it makes sense.

If you can teach a dog to sit you'll teach him to stop. You can teach a dog to sit first, then when you start teaching it to heal you introduce the stop whistle by blowing it instead of saying sit and the dog stops on command.

TriggerPL

deeksofdoom wrote: »

You've lost me. Nothing wrong with triggers advice it makes sense.

If you can teaching a dog to sit you'll teach him to stop. You can teach a dog to sit first, then when you start teaching it to heal you introduce the stop whistle by blowing it instead of saying sit and the dog stops on command.

Exactly !

And Charlie when I said I'm not getting into it it was getting into a debate , on the whole Ian openshaw say this , or says that !

I find that while your training ur dog to heel and incorporating the sit on whistle command to it. If ur dog is switched on there is no reason why you can do both together !

Its like teaching lefts and right and back commands when ur dog gets into it ! They are well able to take which ever is given .

charlie10

deeksofdoom wrote: »

You've lost me. Nothing wrong with triggers advice it makes sense.

If you can teach a dog to sit you'll teach him to stop. You can teach a dog to sit first, then when you start teaching it to heal you introduce the stop whistle by blowing it instead of saying sit and the dog stops on command.

all Im trying to say is that id rather teach a dog to stop first and heel down the road no point confusing a dog with both. one thing at a time in my opinion and heel would be a final one.

lb1981

Basic manners is should always be done first and enforces who is the boss, basics included sit,stay and lead work and to have the dog at the heel ,when the dog has mastered that you can then send it out for retrieves from your heel or make them sit and leave it from the heel ,if you have the dog at your heel you are between him and the dummy so if the dog disobeys the command you can check him straight away before it is too late.Teaching a dog to hunt is the easy part stopping them and controling them is the hard part

fitzy_fitzy

I am learning my trade when it comes to dogs, and I have a long way to go.
But I wouldn't agree with lb1981. It depends on what kind of dog it is. If it is a lab that will be walking to heel, well then basic obedience is important from an early age. As for a springer I'm not quite sure, i would like to see him hunting and retrieving before I had him walking to heel. You can encourage him to hunt and make use of the wind. But surely the hunt is either in him or not.
The same applies to setters walking to heel I would leave until after he was out hunting flushing, setting birds and has the hunger to hunt.
I'm sure dogs have been trained to walk to heel and then go onto to be great hunters.
I have been advised otherwise though by experience handlers.

snipe02

You can pull a rope but ya cant push one is the dog going to be trialled or used for rough shooting lads on here ****ing on about over training , and circus tricks and then saying you shoul teach em to walk to heal first personally I think for a shooting dog it should be done last if at all and espdcially if its a spaniel ye complaining about boot polishers then

deeksofdoom

I don't think anyone is giving any bad advice here but the its just its hard to interpret what is being said from time to time.

You should start of your training by
10 weeks to 6 months
1. Teaching the dog its name
2. Teaching it to sit
3. Playing and bonding with the dog and earning its trust
4. Letting it hunt freely for short periods of time, at this time its important not to leave the dog get its head.
5. One or two retrieves per week so that the dog doesn't get sick of retrieving, just to keep it keen.

From 6 months on - start your yard work, this is when you really start training
7. Sit, stay and recall
8. Retrieving using the recall
9. Heel work, sit and stay
10. Quartering, turning the dog
11. Steadiness training
12. Introducing to the gun
13. Introducing to fur and feather retrieves

Then on to shooting, have I left anything out?

TriggerPL

fitzy_fitzy wrote: »

I am learning my trade when it comes to dogs, and I have a long way to go.
But I wouldn't agree with lb1981. It depends on what kind of dog it is. If it is a lab that will be walking to heel, well then basic obedience is important from an early age. As for a springer I'm not quite sure, i would like to see him hunting and retrieving before I had him walking to heel. You can encourage him to hunt and make use of the wind. But surely the hunt is either in him or not.
The same applies to setters walking to heel I would leave until after he was out hunting flushing, setting birds and has the hunger to hunt.
I'm sure dogs have been trained to walk to heel and then go onto to be great hunters.
I have been advised otherwise though by experience handlers.

Care to explain the difference between training for a spaniel and a lab ? . People on hear have this misconception that u won't get labs to hunt ground like springer and the fact is you will !

And to make the point why teach heal work at all if anything it for safety to be able to tell ur dog heel and bang he there by your side !

It is as easy or easier to teach while teaching the sit to the whistle command !

fitzy_fitzy

Trigger I have a lab that hunts like a springer, not quite as aggressive but has super nose. I hunt my springer and lab together. But the majority of labs are used as peg dogs as far as i am aware.
That is what I meant. Depends on what you want lab to do.

I didn't make the point of no heel work. I said I would have the dog hunting first. I have my dogs on the road the whole time. So heel work very important too me.
The springer pulls a little bit which I'm not too pushed about.

I agree with deeksofdoom. Everyone has different opinions. Maybe there is no right or wrong. Just different methods.

Has beretta man stated what dog is referring too?
It could be a King Charles and all our opinions could be wrong

lb1981

I gave this place a break for a few months because of the bull **** going on in every thread, the op wanted a bit of advice on heel training not a head ache, I have been training dogs for over 20 years and been around dog training for nearly 30 and any one worth their salt that I have ever seen will tell you manners first then integrate hunting next, I have hunted springers with labs it makes no difference you train them the same, the instinct will always be there with a dog it just has to be brought out in different ways to suit that dog , some pick it up quick some need to be brought in slowly. But to the original op you can start heel training as soon as the dog will walk on a lead and knows how to sit and stay

Beretta man

Sorry lads should have said its a English springer spaniel

snipe02

lb1981 wrote: »

I gave this place a break for a few months because of the bull **** going on in every thread, the op wanted a bit of advice on heel training not a head ache, I have been training dogs for over 20 years and been around dog training for nearly 30 and any one worth their salt that I have ever seen will tell you manners first then integrate hunting next, I have hunted springers with labs it makes no difference you train them the same, the instinct will always be there with a dog it just has to be brought out in different ways to suit that dog , some pick it up quick some need to be brought in slowly. But to the original op you can start heel training as soon as the dog will walk on a lead and knows how to sit and stay

the op asked what age and tips for heal work and people have been giving their opinions just because it might differ from your own doesnt make it bull**** and just because youve been doing it for 30 years doesnt make you right though im not saying your wrong its an open forum and people im sure do there best so throw your tantrums and say its all bull**** your only turning people off it seems to me that a few people on here shout loudest and seem to think they are the be all and end all ,, everyones opinion is as valid as the next from the lad like yourself thats been doin it for 30 years to that young lad thats just got his first pup and everyone in between im sure the op can take or leave whatever he wants

lb1981

snipe02 wrote: »

the op asked what age and tips for heal work and people have been giving their opinions just because it might differ from your own doesnt make it bull**** and just because youve been doing it for 30 years doesnt make you right though im not saying your wrong its an open forum and people im sure do there best so throw your tantrums and say its all bull**** your only turning people off it seems to me that a few people on here shout loudest and seem to think they are the be all and end all ,, everyones opinion is as valid as the next from the lad like yourself thats been doin it for 30 years to that young lad thats just got his first pup and everyone in between im sure the op can take or leave whatever he wants

look i couldn't be bothered arguing with you i have better things to do,i made the mistake once of letting a dog hunt before i had manners on it when i was younger and thought i knew everything ,it is the wrong way to do it,manners first is the right way to train a dog ,it gets you respect from the dog and you build your bond with it.and let it know who is boss,it is twice as hard if a dog thinks he can do what he wants in the field and just bust ditches willy nilly ,a dog has to be thought to use the wind properly and not just bust cover all day for the sake of it.
Again to the op have a look on youtube plenty of good videos on there , just get the dog relaxed on the lead over a few days get him sitting ,show him the palm of your hand while giving him the command then just give the the palm of your hand signal without the command ,most dogs will sit, give him a treat then introduce the pip of a whistle with the hand signal keep practicing this with him and it will get to a stage where you stop he will look up at you and sit automatically ...now this will take you a bit of time but you will find the dog is much calmer now on the lead and it will be easier to introduce the heel command.I find if if you tug him back in and say heel if he turns and goes ahead of you turn back the way you came and give the command again keep doing this and the dog will soon learn he wont be going anywhere unless he stays behind your heel.

snipe02

I agree manners come first that point wasnt being argued what was , was walking to heal and some said do it early some said do it later on or dont do it and you said most of whats said on here is bs and you were goin to leave anyway a while ago because you didnt agree with the content of the threads and I feel that doesnt help the op never complained about the posts I teach my dogs to heal but only time I use it is on roadsbut its the last thing I put in if I was going trialling or tests id do it a lot earlier maybe around a year not saying its right or wrong but thats what works for me

dodderangler

Sorry to go off topic here op.
When yas are teaching dog to walk to heel are ye using a choke chain or just an ordinary collar and which do you find best.

charlie10

dodderangler wrote: »

Sorry to go off topic here op.
When yas are teaching dog to walk to heel are ye using a choke chain or just an ordinary collar and which do you find best.

i find the sound of a metal choke chain is enough to keep them in line but Im sure other lads will say Im wrong. i still think a springer should be hunting recalling and sitting and that's it. i had pups and a trained cocker i see no benefit to having a dog at heel only the very odd time. at the end of the day i want a dog running the backs of ditchs and drains and staying in range the rest doesn't matter to me anymore. when formal training starts alot if not all dogs go down a gear so if they are hunting mad the difference won't be that great. but if a young dog is broken down too early the consequences will be detrimental to his hunt.

charlie10

charlie10 wrote: »

i find the sound of a metal choke chain is enough to keep them in line but Im sure other lads will say Im wrong. i still think a springer should be hunting recalling and sitting and that's it. i had pups and a trained cocker i see no benefit to having a dog at heel only the very odd time. at the end of the day i want a dog running the backs of ditchs and drains and staying in range the rest doesn't matter to me anymore. when formal training starts alot if not all dogs go down a gear so if they are hunting mad the difference won't be that great. but if a young dog is broken down too early the consequences will be detrimental to his hunt.

when i say heel by the way its off the lead heel

TriggerPL

charlie10 wrote: »

i find the sound of a metal choke chain is enough to keep them in line but Im sure other lads will say Im wrong. i still think a springer should be hunting recalling and sitting and that's it. i had pups and a trained cocker i see no benefit to having a dog at heel only the very odd time. at the end of the day i want a dog running the backs of ditchs and drains and staying in range the rest doesn't matter to me anymore. when formal training starts alot if not all dogs go down a gear so if they are hunting mad the difference won't be that great. but if a young dog is broken down too early the consequences will be detrimental to his hunt.

U believe a dog should be hunting sitting and recalling !

U don't believe in the value of walking to heel ?

So why my friend are you commenting in a thread about something u don't train into your dog ur self but telling someone else to do last thing !

The huge advantage of walking a dog at heel is being able to control ur dog in a manner that allows you to walk / avoid potential hazards with out having to put ur dog on a lead while carrying aloaded firearm !

Walking to heal is a very important part of any dogs training .

And the fact you don't take the time to teach ur dog basics makes me wonder what else you don't bother ur back side with !

And if making ur dog learn the heal command breaks him to the point of not working !

U should really get another dog cause he ain't any gud to start with

garyc007

Jes this is turning into a right dispute again. I think its as simple as the dog should be thought it at some stage,nutin worse than a c**t of a thing running off flushing every bird before it while ur a mile back the field. It depends wot ground and birds ur working I guess but itl not do it any harm,if u have a mad one mad for cover it shouldn't make a difference to it

lb1981

garyc007 wrote: »

Jes this is turning into a right dispute again. I think its as simple as the dog should be thought it at some stage,nutin worse than a c**t of a thing running off flushing every bird before it while ur a mile back the field. It depends wot ground and birds ur working I guess but itl not do it any harm,if u have a mad one mad for cover it shouldn't make a difference to it

As i said before i made the mistake once of letting a dog hunt before the manners and ****ing hell did i pay for that ,it thought it was the boss and as you said ran a muck when it came on to a batch of birds ...took me twice as long to get it were it should be , simple manners are easy thought and equip you for any situation you might face while out,when you have the basics right i always find the dog is keen to keep learning and is more receptacle to learning new commands.
Im not on here to lecture anybody but to say that a dog does not full manners before entering a hunting training stage is crazy,any gun dog will hunt it needs to be thought to hunt properly.
You would hardly send a child off to school without learning full manners or your just setting the child and yourself up for a fall in life it is no different with a dog.