Heel with Automatic Sit
A good heel command is the start to a good foundation with your other obedience commands. It sets the tone for the dog to understand who is in control. The heel command gets the dog to focus on you rather than his surroundings and teaches the dog to control himself.
Heel is different than free walk. Free walk means the dog has freedom to roam on the leash as long as he minds his manners. Heel means the dog has a 10-12 inch envelope to move within. If the dog is too far ahead of you it is more difficult for him to see when you stop. To be fair to the dog keep him close to your side and in the correct position at all times. Heeling the dog on your left side is mainly a safety precaution so when you walk facing traffic the dog is not able to bolt into the street. A good heel command is complimented nicely by the dog automatically sitting when you stop. The sit can be worked on at the same time you begin teaching heel.
How to introduce heel: The dog is on your left side. Dog’s eyes are lined up with the seam of your pants. To indicate to the dog that you want his head to remain at your side you should use a hand signal as you step off with your left foot. The hand signal is a short swooping motion in the forward direction. While the dog is walking with you in the correct position be sure to give lots of verbal PRAISE and say “GOOD HEEEL”. This is so the dog knows when he is doing this command correctly. If the dog goes ahead of you while you are walking you should pull the dog back and towards your leg and at the same time saying “NO, HEEEL” so the dog knows what you are asking of him. If the dog strays from your side and out of the envelope you should correction towards you but across the front of your body. If the dog lags behind, use encouragement, not corrections to get him back into the heel position. Do this by patting your leg and saying, “that’s it” or “much better” as the dog gets closer to the proper position. The only time you should correct the dog for lagging behind is if he is not paying attention and is distracted by something. When giving a NO correction it is not necessary to reissue the hand signal.
Remember when working with the heel command to be conscious of your hand signal and be consistent with how you give it. Once the dog understands the heel command you should correct the dog when the dog breaks the envelope. Praise is very important and when given at the right time is the key motivation for the dog. Praise must always be used. If your dog does not receive the right level of praise the dog will not want to work for you. You should practice speeding up and slowing down to keep the dog attentive to you. Slowly add in wide turns. As the dog is improving you should start to make sharper turns and more drastic changes in pace.
Always remember to start out heeling at a slow pace in order to get the dog focused on you. Whether you are dealing with a shy, fearful, or hyper dog a good rule of thumb is if you slow down the body, the mind will follow.
How to introduce the automatic sit: While you are teaching the dog to be in the proper heel position you also want to work on the automatic sit. Every time you stop your dog should sit. As you are walking, slow your pace and take up slack in the leash. Say “SITT” just before you stop so the dog will associate you stopping with him sitting. Verbally PRAISE each time the dog sits by saying “GOOD SIIITT”. In order to fine tune the automatic sit it may be helpful to do five to six repetitive heels for only five feet at a time. The next step is to pause for two seconds when you stop without giving the SIT command. After two seconds, if your dog does not sit on his own say SITT. Repeat this 3-4 times again by pausing 1-2 seconds to see if the dog sits on his own. Once the dog is automatically sitting on his own and has done this 3-4 times in a row without you asking then it is safe to assume he knows the command. From that point you should not give the command to sit but expect the dog to do it each time you stop. If the dog does not automatically sit when you stop then you should put him in the SIT position and say “NO SIITT”.
Next step: Once the dog is in a sit you should also work on walking away. If you start to walk and have not released the dog and have not given the dog a command then the dog should hold the sit. If the dog gets up you should give the correction NO, SITTT and put him in the SIT position.
Tips for the heel and/or automatic sit
Remember, you cannot give a correction unless your dog knows the command.
If you stop and your dog continues moving forward and then sits in front of you or swings his backend out to the side then the correction should be NO HEEL because the dog has moved from the heel position. This is a sign that the dog is not watching you.
If your dog remains standing at your side when you stop then the correction will be NO SITT because the dog is in the heel position but not sitting.
If the dog is always lagging behind then make more right turns than left (about four rights to one left). Tap your side to motivate the dog to speed up. This will speed up the slow, shy dogs.
If dog is always forging ahead then you should make a counter clockwise circle. Work on making more left turns than right (about four left turns to one right). This will slow down the more hyper, energetic dogs.
Whatever the dog wants to do you should do the opposite. Heeling is meant to be done on your terms.
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