Ive tried 2 get my yellow lab 2 heal with treats,stopping when the lead gets tight, evrything!!! My 6month old wont stay by me :rolleyes: help please

Have you tried training classes yet as an instructor who can see what you are doing can probably be of more help that the written word

Christine

Look on Lab thread ( this site )John has put some hints on there re: lab training.

Lab Thread

HTH

THanx guys!! I'll try em
Nemore ideas r gratefully accepted. lol she has 2 go out now!!!:D

I HAD a similar problem with my GSD. She wouldn't pull, but she would always keep her nose about a foot in front of my left leg(i walk her on the left).
The dog must know two things in the heel, >1< which side to stand when you give the heel, and >2< that until you give the release command, he must stay by your side, keeping his head next to your thigh.
If I was you, I would first teach it that the "HEEL" is by the side of you (whichever side you want to walk him) and quickly reward him with a tiny treat - tiny treat because as soon as he recieves the treat, he will want to run off again. As he tries to run off, give him a hard and fast "CHECK" (get a half check or check chain), he will look up and think"what the bloody hell was that for", as soon as he looks at you, give him a smile, say "GOODBOY HEEL" (every time he tries moving away, give him a "check", but you stay very still and extremely calm) When he is standing next to you, start making anti-clockwise circles if he is on the left. As soon as he goes infront of your thigh, which he will, cos he doesn't quite know whats going on, give him another check, to bring him back close to you thigh. Make the cirlces very small. The dog will probably standing pretty much still and you walking around him like an idiot, but make sure that his head is close to your thigh.
If at this stage, he is calm and staying by your side, then he has learnt that when he hears the heel command, he must stand by your thigh.
For stage >2< make the circles bigger until eventually he his walking next to your thigh as you walk in a straight line, and even making clockwise turns.
If at any stage you think you are loosing hold of the situation, give the release command and play with him for a minute or two. Make sure that when you play with him, he can tell you are in a playful mood, and when you give him the heel command, you must be serious giving the impression "its back to business".
You must praise like you've never praised before if he is doing it right. Praise is the most important thing. Call him a "GOOD PUPPY WUPPY" and all that sort of crap which women are really good at!!!!. Dogs learn the most when they are having fun, so make sure his tail is always wagging!!!
If I haven't make any sense, or I need to make anything clearer, please let me know.
Goodluck
Josh
P.S. train each seperately. If you have one on one side, and one on the other, the first time you do the excercise with both, they will confuse each other. It'll be like starting from scratch, but they will soon clock on!!!
P.P.S. its quite natural that a dog as young as 6 months wants to explore everything and wont wont to stay next to you.

Awesome tips!! Thanx

please tell me how you get on

Sadiebaby, How is your dog heeling?

Is saying women are good at praising the same as admitting men are miserable gits??

hahahaha :) I've had really bad day, but you made me smile for 5 minutes!!! Thankyou
Well tell me Julia, what do you think?

On the subject of heeling, I've had really good results with my GSD (11 months) when I had someone throw a loud object when she wasnt looking and not paying attention to the heel.
I started my heel training fairly late with her, as a good heel can be acchieved most effectively on a chain, but at the same time I definately didnt want to use the chain too early as they are still quite vulnerable when groing up.
At 11 months she is already a very powerfull dog and though she is generally very good, I dont always have the strength to make a check that really makes her stop and think when she is bolting off to chase a stick, cat, other dog etc., so I tried the method as described above.
Obviously I would not recommend this with a timid or impressionable dog, but for my dog it was an effective method.
She knows very well wat "heel" means know and if she is out of line, rattling my keys in my pocket is all the correction she needs.