My Dobermann is 1 1/2 years old, does anyone know what method of teaching your dog to heel is best/works!?

At the moment i cant take him out without his gentle leader on (as he would pull my arm off) and i would love nothing more than to not have to use it.  A dog trainer advised me to stop every time he pulls, when I do this it results in him do a little circle around me and then pulling off again..??!!

I hope someone can help me!

Lou

Hi Lou, do you want heel or loose lead walking? Does he pull on the GL? There is no quick way out of this Im afraid if he pulls on a GL you need to teach loose lead walking first, if not this might help as it worked for me. Keep using your GL and when youre in a boring little footpath with a wall or hedge on one side, keep dog between you and wall, transfer the lead to his flat collar.Keep the lead shortish but loose and if his nose passes your knee turn into your dog so you stand in front of him. He should step back the lead slackens you rewad him and go on. Stopping does work but you need endless patience and plenty time. Another strategy if he likes to run around you is to change direction at a 45 degree angle while walking briskly so he has to pay attention to you - car parks and football fields are good for this, use a long lead. Make sure you start off each walk right - no towing you out the door, stop until he keeps position before going out - if you aint got control in the house you aint got it outside!

You can teach heel in the house using a treat held just behind your knee to lure him, then flick it back so he has to catch it without using a lead. If he sticks to you off lead you can teach it outside and also use a twist or weaving in your legs as fun ways to heel. I wouldnt expect my dog who is ages with yours to heel all the walk as it takes a lot of concentration.

Thanks for your advise Lorelei,

He does pull on the GL but does not have the strength he would have without it!  I think i will start in the house, do you use the word 'heel' when you reward him for walking next to you?

I train my dogs off lead at home that way they walk with me because they want to so when I do put a lead on them they are used to walking nicely & don't pull

I use lots of titbits when I train heelwork as it gets the dogs interest

I use it for social & obedience/breed heelwork

It makes life hard at first as you have to put more effort into the inital training but lead heelwork is so much easier ;)

I use the word watch for obedience, walk for showing & close for  social walking

Hi Lou

If he circles round you every time you stop then you have the lead much too long.

As has been stated above - try teaching him off lead to start with using a tit bit by your side (behind your knee is probably a bit low :) )

Keep your hand tucked into your body, your thumb in your belt loop/pocket/waistband helps keep it in the correct position and you might try using a clicker and not talking at all to start with. Take a look at clicker training for some tips on getting started (This is the site of one of our CD members :D)

Thanks Kerioak,

I know it is going to be hard work to start with but we will be worth it in the end! 

What about when we are outside with him and he pulls..?

it depends really what you want,mine have good competiton style heelwork but i would not demand that they do this all the time if im out on a walk,ie not training or competing. on a walk they are on gentle controllers which is imo more "gentle" than a gl!!!

if you fancy teaching stylish heelwork,the best way is to use lots of TASTY titbits, hold them by your side at halt,with your left hand were you would like the dogs head,get his interest & use you word(watch/close ..whatever),then reward & breakoff & do it again untill they get the idea that when their head is in that position & they are close & watching you that they are going to get rewarded, as your dog gets more confident only reward the best efforts & withhold the treat for longer, you could add something like "thats a good watch" in a funny voice to keep the interest, when you are ready start moving,step or two at a time(then titbit & play) soon youll be able to build it up to longer stretches, but keep the motivation going as it can be  tireing for the dog.
have a go at left handed & right handed circles, use lots of praise in funny voices & lots of titbits or play,
another thing you can do is do slow place to check the dogs position

this all teaches heelwork & dosent teach them not too pull!!!
i would never expect a dog to go on a walk like this!!! but may do bits on a walk!

When we walk I just say Morse, come and off we toddle. If the lead tightens into a straight line or he wanders in front, I just stop keeping my arm still so theres jsut enough tension to stop forward movement and wait - in 2 ticks now hell reverse into place and we immediately go on. During a walk on lead I take loads of treats in bits the size of my fingernail and every so often flick one so its heading behind me and this keeps his attention on me not gazing over the horizon. Teach look at home first - stand in front of sitting dog say LOOK or WATCH ME then hold up a treat between forfinger and thumb, wiggle until hes gazing up at it then flip treat towards his tail so he has to catch it.

I use heel to get past bus stops, crowded paths etc on lead and for short bursts off lead. It has to be fun and we love heeling through trees. Morse and I have been together a year and the improvement is vast but its not a leap forward its incremental. In the beginning you must have loads of time and be relentless. It took me 2 hours to travel a 20 minute walk once. You ll get there though :)

Lou - I'm having similar problems with my 6 month Great Dane puppy and our trainer at Obedience class on Monday suggested a method which really worked for me: she said to give the lead a hard jerk whenever the dog starts surging in front and then turn sharply and walk in a different direction (turn to your right if your dog is on the left) - this means the dog is left behind and has to catch up quickly with you.  Keep walking in the new direction until he starts surging in front again and then jerk and change direction again. Keep doing this a couple of times (you might not actually get anywhere in the beginning! My first walk with this method, I just kept going up and down the sidewalk in a loop!) - and the dog will eventually realise that he has to keep an eye on you to keep up. I found it really worked for me - I had been having a nightmare with my 40kg puppy pulling on walks and tried everything - this method seemed to "cure" her within minutes. Well, not completely but she keeps much closer to my side now and watches me constantly - and all of her own free will, rather than because I'm constantly yanking her or pulling on her GL. And we've only started using this method 3 days ago, so she should get better but her improvement is already wonderful. I am using a choke chain (and you need to be shown how to use it properly because I was doing it all wrong initially and it was useless!) - but I think it will work with whatever kind of collar because it's not the collar that controls the dog, it's working on the dog's own desire not to be left behind. It also seems to exhaust my puppy more during the walk because she has to concentrate more. The first time I did this, it was the most enjoyable walk I've had since getting her (and she crashed out when we came home!). My trainer suggested going to a park at first and marking out a square in the open space and practising this changing direction thing around the square - it's easier than doing it on the narrow sidewalk initially, until the dog gets the idea. We couldn't get to a park without a car during the week so I've just practised on the sidewalk. Anyway, it worked for me so I hope it might help you. I tried the stopping thing but my puppy would simply sit down and then start pulling again as soon as I started walking again.

We are taught "heel" in Obedience class using a treat in our left hand and the dog is allowed to nibble the treat as it follows us around, pressed to our left knee, and we keep saying, "Heel!" as we do this. It works pretty well with the treat (although you can get very sore fingers!) but I don't know how well it would work without the treat - we haven't graduated to that yet! But for everyday walking, I use a different command: "close" as I don't expect her to stick right by my left leg, as in "heel" - as long as she is keeping a loose leash and not pulling ahead.

Hope this helps -
Hsin-Yi

You don't need the hard jerk(which can cause injures to your dogs neck) when your dog starts to go ahead simply stop & turn the opposite way when your dog starts to come back to you then start walking No hard jerk required at all(Yes  I have trained very large Great Danes)

I'm interested in this - we're currently attending classes for the KC bronze award, and last week the trainer was concentrating on owners going first through doors. We were all told that our half-check collars were too loose as the rings were touching - hence my post about buckled half checks! The general ethos of the class seems to be kind and flexible, but we were recommended to give a "quick flick" on the lead to "teach the dog some respect". I have to say having done APBT puppy classes I don't really agree with this. OH thought it might be a good idea so some coolness ensued after the class.....:( :(  However the trainers and their dogs do seem to have a great relationship...
In practice, our older bitch is walking very well on the lead, I've done lots of walking round in circles, backwards etc & it's really paid off. However puppy at 6 months is being very "Kevinish". He pulls on a half-check, sits down and scratches his neck when I stop... and hates a Halti. mmmm. He loves ringcraft, though, and walks OK in the village hall but is a nightmare in the car park!! Never mind, I will persevere.
Cathy.

Can you not train him without a lead on, then you won't be using it as a "crutch"?  I train and examine people for this and although the test is done on lead if the training is done off lead the dog won't have anything to pull against :D

Just a thought!

Thanks hsinyi,

We will be starting our training tonight, i hope it works as well for me.. i am not sure how much more my arm can take ;-)  Sounds like you are doing a good job with your Great Dane - keep the good work up!

Lou & Albert

You didnt say whether or not you have had this dog from a puppy or not,if so you should you been practising loose lead walking from the begining, because now,it is a learnt behavior,I have found the best way of doing this is to not let the dog practise doing it in the first place, so if you havnt got time to do lead work,then put dog in back of car and go to park,wait until you have time to spend on the training,a good idea is turning if different directions so the dog never knows which way you are going to go.or stopping and taking a couple of steps backwards.and plenty of treats to reward your dog.