Hi all.
My girl is now 13months old. I started teaching her to heal on the lead when she was yoounger. I tried various techniques but nothing seemed to work.

The best one I found to work was to stop walking when she pulled and give a command ('wait') and then when the lead slackened walk on again. I started this about10months ago and it took ages for it to take affect (may be something I was doing wrong), she just didnt seem to want to do it.

Now she noes the command well, and when I say it she is by my side. Although still now I am having to say it sort of like every 5 steps or so, she will not heal any longer than that. This is every walk we go on since starting to teach her to heal. Could it maybe be that I taught it wrong (I dont think she is confused becasue she noes what the command means) and is there anything I can do now to improve the situation or do I have to walk like a parrot all the time (wait, wait, wait, wait ) !!

Any advice or critism welcome :)

One very common mistake (and my husband still can't get his head around it, after all the years we've been together!) is to say "Heel" when the dog is pulling (teaching it that Heel = Pull) rather than saying "Heel" when the dog is walking on a loose lead (teaching Heel = No Pull). You've taught her what 'Wait' means (stand still) but what about moving?

Where is she focused when you are doing this?  If she is looking up at you then you stand a chance if not then I would work on the watch and getting her attention on you when static first.

So, start with a sit and a nice smelly tasty treat or 10 in your hand nearest her (traditionally left but I like to train my dogs to walk on both sides)  The dog should now be sitting facing the same way as you next to your leg giving eye contact.  hold the treat close in to your leg and set off walking on that leg with a heel command, if she can do 5 steps I would go about 3 at most then sit, watch, treat and move off again in the same way.  If she works with a clicker you can click rather than stuffing her with treats all the time - whatever motivates her but she must have her attention on you.  To help with this you need to make yourself interesting and make your lead work exciting.  Encourage her to think so every time you stop she is expected to sit but once she gets the hang don't ask for the sit every time, see if she offers it.  At that point give her a big reward.  Vary your pace "quick"/"slow" commands, teach twists and turns, even a walk back.  I would think about changing the command although if the wait works it may be worth sticking with.  But only say it once make sure she is at heel and stop before you have to say it again. (hence the sit watch treat adn go agian routine)

Just to add; it can be nest at the start to teach 'heel' when the dog's off the lead, because it can't pull if there's no lead. It can learn where it's meant to be without the distraction of the pressure - but it takes a lot more concentration on both parts!

> The best one I found to work was to stop walking when she pulled and give a command ('wait') and then when the lead slackened walk on again

It sounds like you've taught her that 'wait' = pressure on lead, as you have spoken the command before the lead has been slack.

Stopping when the dog pulls is how I taught Buster to walk on a slack lead.
The INSTANT he pulled, I would stop still,
then, the INSTANT he slackened off, I would praise, REWARD and carry on walking.
Never, ever, ever, ever take a single step when there is tension on the lead.

Reward-based training gets great results, being able to carry on walking is generally a reward in itself, but to really stack the odds in your favour and make things much clearer, adding in praise and a high-value reward (if praise alone is not highly valued by your dog) really drum the lesson home :)

As Buster picked up what I wanted, I tweaked it, eg. the slightest bit of pressure on the lead would make me stop, and the lead would have to be even more slack before I'd praise & walk on.

I can't remember at what stage I put in any vocal promts with it, but it was after he had learnt what was required. I worked in 'no pulling' (only ever said while tension was on the lead, to remind him to stop pulling), also I worked in 'walk nicely' (to remind him to keep on walking with a slack lead, eg. when in a distracting situation that may lead to pulling without any reminders, LOL)

Thanks guys :)

> It sounds like you've taught her that 'wait' = pressure on lead, as you have spoken the command before the lead has been slack.
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So that is where I have been going wrong. Its me not teaching her any command for walking nicely by my side.
Thanks for the advice. xx

> You've taught her what 'Wait' means (stand still) but what about moving?

Im so silly haha Can not believe its all becasue I actually have not taught her the command for heel. Ahhhh this dog training is so difficult :(

> Where is she focused when you are doing this?  If she is looking up at you then you stand a chance if not then I would work on the watch and getting her attention on you when static first

No she is not looking up at me :( She is looking straight ahead the hole time. The one thing I never managed with her was the 'watch' training. She will look for about 2 seconds and then look at everything around her. She is sort of anxious when outside, not through fear or uncertainty, just becasue she can not wait to get to the field to run and loves being out and loves people and dogs and they are much more interesting than me. Hense why I have never been able to train with treats or toys while out, she just does not care, no matter how interesting I make them.

The training I found that works best for her while outdoors is to reward her with 'life rewards' eg getting to walk on, or getting her lead of to run. But still the whole time I was training these things eg sit before I take the lead of she would not be looking at me but concentrate on what she wanted ie the field.

I insist on a good watch at least before they are allowed to eat and before I let them disappear off lead.  My springer is murder for having the attention span of a gnat so her watch is not great and like you say she is not bothered enough for food to stop her being distracted by leaves blowing and the like.

With regards to using food as a training aid make sure the dog is really hungry (like missed at least 1 meal) and your treats are really smelly and good - I use cheese, sausage, liver cake sardine cake etc

The heel work will be much easier when her attention is on you.  Without that it won't happen as she won't be looking out for you stopping changing direction etc

>With regards to using food as a training aid make sure the dog is really hungry (like missed at least 1 meal)

Unfortunately the people who advocate the use of shock collars use that method as proof that the quick discomfort of the shock is more humane than the long discomfort of hunger. It plays right into their hands.

> The training I found that works best for her while outdoors is to reward her with 'life rewards' eg getting to walk on, or getting her lead of to run. But still the whole time I was training these things eg sit before I take the lead of she would not be looking at me but concentrate on what she wanted ie the field.

I, personally, did not try to train my dog to look at me when teaching him to walk on a slack lead. The end result for me, was to teach the dog that pulling or tension on the lead does not get him to where he wants to go, I (personally) do not see the need for him to look at me when he puts tension on the lead, I require him to NOT put tension on the lead in the first place, he doesn't need to see me to work out the required criteria and I do not want or need him constantly looking at me when the lead is slack.

If you never, ever take a single step, or allow your dog to take a single step when there is tension on the lead, she will learn that the ONLY way to get to where she wants to go is to keep that lead loose. Any additional treats/rewards/commands are a personal choice that can be used to make the lesson clearer, but really the whole point of the tree method (stop when dog pulls and act like a tree), is that the dog finds getting to it's desired destination rewarding (life reward :)) so in order to get to where it wants to go, it must keep the lead slack.

Buster is approx 90kg, he can pull me over without much effort if he wanted to, but I can walk him around with the lead 100% slack for 99% of the time without needing to say a word to him, all with the tree method (and a shed loads of treats chucked in to highlight the message as he's a 'foody' :) ).
I'm not sure if this has been covered, but LOTS of practice where there are little/no distraction, for example your own garden helps loads :)

Getting her attention when she is distracted is of course going to be needed, but not to teach loose-leash walking, it's to teach her to look at/listen to you.

I only meant walking at 10am without giving breakfast (which for mine might be at 7am)

If I am training I generally would only feed a small meal anyway as for my beagle at least food is a big motivator and I like to be able to reward as much as I want without worrying about having totally stuffed her full of grub

I would also add that I don't ask my dog to gaze up at me all the time when we are working to heel and she knows to walk on a loose lead but being able to get their attention helps especially as I get the impression the OP's dog is just forging ahead regardless

The trouble is that 'missing at least one meal' might mean that some dogs went without food for more than 24 hours; there are still a lot of people who only feed their dogs once a day.

Oh wow ok yeah have to admit that did not occur to me! One meal a day has not been something I have done in the past 20 years so I forgot about that!

I dont think I will try to gain her attention to look at me while teaching the heal, I think it would just be to frustrating for us both and it just would not happen. And as you said the goal is to get her walking on a slack lead and she does not need to look at me for that.

So I will go back to basics and use the 'wait' command (as she is used to this) for when we are walking through the front door (so she doesnt pull me when im trying to lock up) and if we need to wait for anything., then use the 'tree' method when walking and eventually bring in the command 'heal'. I think the reward of not getting to the field or not getting to walk on to see what is around the corner will work better than any other type of reward, as even if she was hungry she would still be far more interested in other things.

I've never found the tree method particularly effect by itself - I lead train now primarily by the 300 peck method (http://www.clickertraining.com/taxonomy/term/579/9) but if the dog won't take treats outside, then when they pull, I take them back 3 or 4 steps.  Losing ground I find is more effective than just stopping as although they aren't getting anywhere, they are still a little closer to their goal from pulling prior to being stopped - going backwards is a little more of an incentive.

In your dog's case I would want to be sure there's not a stress component to it - you say she is anxious outside, mainly through excitement but I'd want to be absolutely certain as a great many dogs pull just from stress; Raine was a serious puller when I got her and now, with no lead training whatsoever, hardly pulls at all because I've worked on reducing her general stress levels so the lead walking has improved by itself.

> I've worked on reducing her general stress levels so the lead walking has improved by itself.

How would I work on her stress levels. She is very anxious outside. But I can tell its not fear, she has never in her life growled at anyone or similar she is just so excited to see everything. If I stop to talk to a friend or a fellow dog walker after about 30 sconds of being excited that there is another person there she will then start whining and pacing untill we walk on again. I can not sit with her in one of the fields we go to and watch my son play on the park there becasue she will just be frantically whinning at having to sit still :(

> If I stop to talk to a friend or a fellow dog walker after about 30 sconds of being excited that there is another person there she will then start whining and pacing untill we walk on again.

Doing some training to teach her to settle in the spot outside calmly may help? I'n not sure what the reccomended strategy would be, but with Buster I would get him to sit and keep praising him and giving treats for sitting nicely (with no distractions at first and at random places), starting with short spells and gradually increasing the duration. He'll happily plonk his bum on the floor and wait for me to finishing nattering to people I bump into, if I'm more than a few mins he'll lay down and wait for me (longest on the spot chin wag being 45 mins!!).
I also used some of these sessions as a mini-recall practice, when he would reliably sit calmly, I would use a long-line and turn the sit into a wait while I moved away, then called him to me.

I also used to take him out onto our open-planned front lawn a couple of times per day (on a short leash), for him to sit/lay and take in all the sounds, sights & smells of the world for about 20 mins, this would never end with a walk, we'd go back inside.

> with Buster I would get him to sit and keep praising him and giving treats for sitting nicely

But my girl will not take treats she is more interested in everything else (hense the anxious whinning) and any kind of treat does not come close. I also am not able to praise her when she is sitting nicely and quietly, I do not get a chance to, becasue it is constant :(

> I also used to take him out onto our open-planned front lawn a couple of times per day (on a short leash), for him to sit/lay and take in all the sounds, sights & smells of the world for about 20 mins, this would never end with a walk, we'd go back inside.

We are constantly just sitting and watching at places e.g my son at the park, and dog shows we used to go to. But it has not improved. She has also always been very well socialised from an early age and still now. I just can not see why after all this she is still so obsessed with other dogs and people and various other things when out. Is it just that she is not happy with me :(

Training advice etc is spot on, but in the end you still need to walk her, and get from A to B, while she still pulls.  For this I would say management may take the pressure off and help in a practical sense.

I walk all 6 of mine on lead using headcollars, and my youngest at 4 months has started wearing one as she was determined to be in front.

Then when you have time you can do the training to teach her that you want her to walk on a loose lead, but between times she has to walk in a controlled way with the head collar on.

The halter/head-collar I use is a very simple one, doesn't give them the opportunity to chew any of ti, and being made by the seller is very cheap, with a link to attach to the collar only around £5 from here: http://dajan.co.uk/Halters.html

One of mine as a Junior was spooked by very loud fireworks while walking in the rain.  After that she hated the sound cars and busses made when driving through rain, and was skittish.  she was much calmer once I started using the halter.  Having control of her head also made it possible to more easily get and keep her attention on me.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">How would I work on her stress levels. She is very anxious outside. But I can tell its not fear, she has never in her life growled at anyone or similar she is just so excited to see everything. If I stop to talk to a friend or a fellow dog walker after about 30 sconds of being excited that there is another person there she will then start whining and pacing untill we walk on again. I can not sit with her in one of the fields we go to and watch my son play on the park there becasue she will just be frantically whinning at having to sit still <img alt=":-(" src="/images/default/sml_neg.png" class="sml" />

This sounds more like a lack of self control and reacting to the stress (remember good things can cause stress too as well as bad) than fear..

So work on self control exercises at home and in the garden before trying them outside on walks.

These are basically anything where your dog has to wait and make her OWN choice NOT to attempt to do something, to get what she wants. 'its yer choice' is a good example (search that phrase on youtube) - you sit and have a tasty treat in the palm of your open hand - any  movement towards the food results in the food being removed - any move AT ALL in anyway away from the food, removing her attention from the food (even if its a shift of her eyes from your hand to your face), results in her getting a reward (not the food in your hand, the same treat from the other hand is better).

You can build that up to food thrown around, food on the floor, food thrown at her, food rolled past her - and diversify, toys in your hand, toys thrown, rolled etc - do it indoors, then do it outdoors, without distractions and with.

Play games where shes got to ignore something she wants, do something you ask, THEN she gets the thing she wants - you can build that up from the previous thing wtih food/toys - so she ignores a thrown ball where there is no cue to chase it - fetches a different ball back to you, and THEN she gets to go get the original ball. It doesn't matter how you adapt that to suit your dog (it might be she doesnt like balls but does like squeaky toys) - as long as shes  learning that exercising self control is what WORKS, then you are teaching the right message.

As ever - start out easy, manage the situation so she cannot fail to get it right.

With walks - either you manage the pulling when you cannot train, by using a no-pull device, OR you do not walk unless you are training. I think brainless sets out how to use a harness or headcollar so I'll explain what I mean by not walking unless you are training.

Instead of doing one or two longer walks in a day - break it down - if you normally do an hours walk, then now you will do 6 x 10 minute walks.

10 minutes is easy to focus on loose leash walking, its too short a time for things to go horribly wrong, or for either of you to lose concentration or get massively frustrated.

Instead of stopping dead when she pulls, you should turn around AS she gets ahead of where you want and BEFORE she puts tension on the lead - this teaches her shes GOT to walk beside you or you are off, changing direction without warning and NOT going forward (and forward movement is clearly what she wants!).

So 10 minutes of walking up and down the pavement doing an about turn every time she steps in front of you, before the lead goes tight - she is going to learn to pay attention and stick beside you, as nothing else results in forward movement.

Once she has the idea, stick in asking for a sit, a down, changing the pace slower or faster, changing direction left and right (and you can teach her left and right), downstays within the length of the lead if thats safe - rewards from your pocket for walking beside you - chuck all these things in randomly and she will be much more focussed on you and less on whats going on around her.

If you CAN do six x 10 minute walks you will find shes actually FAR more tired than from a single 1 hour walk, because shes had to work hard every second of each of those walks - you will make pretty quick progress and should find that shes walking nicely beside you within a week or two, so don't feel like it is forever.

When you work up to her being able to walk nicely beside you in your own street, practice heading off in the direction of normal walks, or to busier areas, at times when you CAN train - leave her home if you don't have the time or use a no pull device.

> So 10 minutes of walking up and down the pavement doing an about turn every time she steps in front of you, before the lead goes tight - she is going to learn to pay attention and stick beside you, as nothing else results in forward movement.
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I found this worked far better with mine than only stopping dead, as it showed them they would get the opposite of what they were wanting.

> So 10 minutes of walking up and down the pavement doing an about turn every time she steps in front of you, before the lead goes tight - she is going to learn to pay attention and stick beside you, as nothing else results in forward movement.
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But I found with this she would just pull ahead then aswell as if to say 'oooo somewhere else to go' haha

> But I found with this she would just pull ahead then aswell as if to say 'oooo somewhere else to go' haha

Yeah but as soon as she does you about turn again, you will in effect probably be going back and forth along the same 210 yards of pavement for 10 minutes and back in the house.

Yep, keep turning - you have to get the timing right and be absolutely consistent in turning the SECOND she is ahead of you BEFORE there is any tension on the lead.

> Yep, keep turning - you have to get the timing right and be absolutely consistent in turning the SECOND she is ahead of you BEFORE there is any tension on the lead

ok, thanks alot :)