# 'Loose Lead' & 'Heel'



## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

Hi all,

Having great fun trying to get Shelby to walk well on a lead. Up until now i have been working on training her to walk on a loose lead. However, recently we had a puppy class and she showed us how to teach her to walk to heel. We seemed to be making progress on the loose lead, but walking to heel seems to me a lot more of a challenge (especially when outside).

Anyway, is it usual to train your dog to walk to heel always? I am working on the principle that i train her both and then whilst on a walk if she tightens the lead i can use the command 'heel' and she will return to my side. It seems a little ambition to expect Shelby to stay in the heel position all the time without the freedom to sniff.

Also, I have trained Shelby to return to my left side and i also walk her on the left. But what if other members of the family are right handed and walk her on the right, doesn't this prove confusing when teaching a puppy?

Thanks
Paul


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## goldlover68 (Jun 17, 2013)

Best advice I see in these posts is to go with your pup to an obedience class, and not at the local Petco...find a trainer not working in some retail store. That being said, our trainers have always recommended pinch collars vs. choke chains or harnesses. All can be misused and harm the dog.
The downside on pinch collars is that traditionally, the act of putting them on the dog and getting the latch to hold properly is a challenge. My field trainer recently put me on to a lady that makes a new style pinch collar, that eliminates the difficulty of putting them on and it has no latch...you can look at them at www.lolalimited.net. They call them "Secret Power" collars...but they are a well-engineered covered pinch style collar. 
Be advised that some people do not advocate using a pinch style collar on the dog, and to their credit if not properly used, they can injure the dog’s skin and also cause behavioral problems. But, if used properly by a trained user, they are magic in helping you train the dog to heal, sit, come, etc.
*But do not use these without a trainer teaching you how to train with these collars....good luck*


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

goldlover68 said:


> Best advice I see in these posts is to go with your pup to an obedience class, and not at the local Petco...find a trainer not working in some retail store. That being said, our trainers have always recommended pinch collars vs. choke chains or harnesses. All can be misused and harm the dog.
> The downside on pinch collars is that traditionally, the act of putting them on the dog and getting the latch to hold properly is a challenge. My field trainer recently put me on to a lady that makes a new style pinch collar, that eliminates the difficulty of putting them on and it has no latch...you can look at them at www.lolalimited.net. They call them "Secret Power" collars...but they are a well-engineered covered pinch style collar.
> Be advised that some people do not advocate using a pinch style collar on the dog, and to their credit if not properly used, they can injure the dog’s skin and also cause behavioral problems. But, if used properly by a trained user, they are magic in helping you train the dog to heal, sit, come, etc.
> *But do not use these without a trainer teaching you how to train with these collars....good luck*


I'm confused about what this has to do with the OP's question. 

I personally don't use "heel" that often, rather, I want my dogs to walk on a loose lead and I don't care if they are walking in front of me, either. If I need them next to me, I just shorten their leads and since they already walk on a loose leash, the will walk next to me almost in the "heel" position. I also teach my dogs "by me" for when they are off-leash. That means they need to be within a few feet of me while we are walking until I release them.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

It's really just totally up to you and what you want. I find it easier for a dog to learn to walk in heel than just loose leash walking, because there's more gray area in loose leash walking. I don't require my dogs to heel when we're just out for a general walk, but I don't let them stop and sniff either.

Being right handed doesn't mean walk the dog on the right side, the concept of having the dog heel on the left originated from most people being right handed, so if the dog is on the left their right side is free (to carry fun or whatever). But if you want to teach the dog to heel on both sides, you use a different command for each side.


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## kellyguy (Mar 5, 2014)

I generally think that training to walk at heel is important for two reasons:
If you are going to compete with your dog and it's invaluable when you are encountering other people and dogs while walking.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

For us, they're two different things. Loose lead just means the dog needs to hang out in the zone near me without pulling me, and they need to do it as their default whenever they're on leash. There's no command for it.

Heel is a very precise command in which the dog needs to maintain absolute focus on me and on staying in a precise position at my left hip until released back to loose leash (or to run around, if we're off lead somewhere).

I think dogs should have loose lead behavior on both sides, but know the "heel" cue only for a left-hand behavior, because if you want to compete, you want your dog to understand a competition heel, which is always on the left. However, I will teach my dogs the cue "side" for an identical behavior on the right, because in the real world, I will use "heel" or "side" in order to have my dogs 100% focused on me when I need them to be, and to have them on the appropriate side of me for the situation.

If, for example, we are walking around the town green, the dog is on default loose leash. No pulling, be a gentleman, sniff and look around as you please, etc. But if we walk by a child holding an ice cream cone or a snarky dog, I might use "heel" for 30 feet so my dog is 100% with me past the distraction. So why do I need "side" so the dog will do the same thing on the right? What if we pass a snarky dog on our left who's not fully under control by his handler? Then I want my dog on my right so I'm between him and the dog as a buffer.

If you don't practice both sides, the dog will learn to insist on whatever side you did practice, and in the real world, I want to be able to do everything on both sides. I want my dog to heel and sit on my left when asked and to also "side" and sit on my right if asked. I don't want a dog who feels he has to be on the left at all times because that can be problematic. However, I will absolutely differentiate the formal commands (heel and side) because I want my dog to understand where he should be if we are doing a formal heel. Because "heel" really means "on the left," I don't want to use the same word when we are doing it on the right.


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## goldlover68 (Jun 17, 2013)

Walking with a dog not at heel can be dangerous for the person and the dog. Especially if something happens like a car 'back fire' or sudden large truck come blowing by. As the person you can easily trip on or step on a dog not at heel. For the dog, anything can turn out bad. 

Basic obedience is mandatory in my mind!


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Perfectly stated!!! With a 4 month old puppy, your best bet is to establish the loose leash walking. When you see a potential problem...bike coming towards you or runners, use that opportunity to work on sit/stay in the heel position, on both sides. As Tippy said...it has to be their default behavior. Puppies are so whimsical that without the loose leash and other proofed obedience like sit or down/stay, their idea of heel will be about a 4' round area. Not what you want them to learn. 

Brian, thanks for the reminder for both sides. I tend to forget that and concentrate on just the left.



tippykayak said:


> For us, they're two different things. Loose lead just means the dog needs to hang out in the zone near me without pulling me, and they need to do it as their default whenever they're on leash. There's no command for it.
> 
> Heel is a very precise command in which the dog needs to maintain absolute focus on me and on staying in a precise position at my left hip until released back to loose leash (or to run around, if we're off lead somewhere).
> 
> ...


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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

Hi all. Am I expecting to much. I have been walking shelby on loose lead for some time now and I still struggle to get to the end of the road. She just gets to distracted outside and wants to sniff etc. Should I persist with it and she will just click in time or should I invest in the head collar. Are these collars humane, and am I just giving up too easy. It is just that I have seen so many golden retrievers in the street and they all have head collars. Even my dog trainer advocates them. Opinions would be appreciated.

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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

I carry my treat pouch and go on training walks for loose leash walking. It has to be trained; they don't know to stay at your side. A head collar can work but there is no substitute for real training.

Their attention span and ability to "work" is quite short at this age so I use an EZ walk harness for all other walks. An EZ walk or head collar keeps them from pulling but doesn't teach them anything. That's why we have a couple of training sessions every day, outside, up and down the side walk in front of the house. Or sometimes outside stores or at the park. About 15 minutes is his limit right now.

Most dogs strongly object to head collars which is why we went with the EZk walk.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

_Paul said:


> Hi all. Am I expecting to much. I have been walking shelby on loose lead for some time now and I still struggle to get to the end of the road. She just gets to distracted outside and wants to sniff etc. Should I persist with it and she will just click in time or should I invest in the head collar. Are these collars humane, and am I just giving up too easy. It is just that I have seen so many golden retrievers in the street and they all have head collars. Even my dog trainer advocates them. Opinions would be appreciated.


Head collars work really well for some dogs, but at the end of the day, I want my dog to connect with _me_, so no matter what equipment I used in the short term for safety or management, my long term goal would be to teach my dog that when I say "Shelby, let's go," she knows it's time to reconnect and head onwards.

I want my leash to be irrelevant to the dog. It's there for safety and for compliance with leash laws, but I don't want to be steering my dog at all with it.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Last time I went to an obedience seminar it was explained that if you're going to do competition obedience, "heel" should only be used for perfectly micro-managed heeling you would expect in the ring to get high scores, unless you want to be perfecting and correcting every step of the way.
Whereas "with me" or whatever similar loose leash type thing means come with me on a loose lead but it doesn't have to be perfect.


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## Rileysmomma (Feb 6, 2014)

Riley, 7 months, does best with the easy walk harness. We've tried the gentle leader but it annoys him no end. My other goldens had no issues at all with it. Try the Easy Walk harness...it may help.
I haven't started him 'heeling' quite yet. He gets 'with me' and that brings him back to my side. I also tend to walk him very quickly for the first 15 minutes of our walks. That tires him out a bit and he is a bit less likely to stop and sniff every blade of grass we pass by!!!
We did learn loose leash walking in our first obedience class...but I'm just not sure what the point is. As already noted, a perfect heel is mandatory for the ring...but for general purpose dogs, a more loose heel is fine, at least I think so. Riley will be expected to remain at my side, rather than roaming everywhere, but not glued to my left hip. My arm shouldn't ever be all stretched out!!!! He tries that but that gets a complete stop from me....don't move until he is right back where he should be!


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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

I like the idea of combining the harness with loose lead walking. I think when I am out with the children or in a high distraction situation I may use a harness and other times try and enforce loose lead.

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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

Is the easy walk harness a body harness? Are the body harnesses recommended over the head harness? What puts me off about the idea of a head harness is that to a non-dog lover it may make them think that my dog is aggressive. Which is most effective in maintaining a loose lead, the head or chest collar?

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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

Hi all,

I am still struggling a bit with Shelby's walking. It has been 7 weeks, so perhaps i am expecting too much. Some days she is ok, but others she is darting all over the place. I feel like i am already on a losing battle as she never really even wants to go out. If i pick up the lead and say 'walkies', she doesn't run to me excited, she is more interested in running after a stick to chew in the garden. 

Anyway, i have a question on loose lead walking. Is it better to correct Shelby when she reaches the extent of her lead and starts to pull, or do i correct as soon as her step goes ahead of mine? Currently she seems to always walk ahead of me, but not necessarily pulling all the time. I am constantly turning and walking the other way, stopping stationary and taking two steps back to bring her closer to my side. In 7 weeks we still haven't gone very far on our walks, which is perhaps why she isn't that excited about going out.

thanks Paul


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## thorbreafortuna (Jun 9, 2013)

There will be various opinions I imagine, but I'll share what I did. I didn't try to teach heel as such until recently, instead I focused simply on the leash being loose. As long as he was walking without causing tension on the leash we were ok. Also, and you may be doing this already, I was clicking and treating for walking this way. I was doing this at first even for a few steps, and then more sporadically. Now that I have Thor's attention when we walk (most of the time anyway) I have added the command heel for walking right by my side. I don't expect I'll require him to always walk on a heel, loose leash is enough for my purposes, but this way I can get him closer to me when I need to.


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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

I recently heard of another technique for teaching loose lead/heel. I was told that i should stop moving and use a quick tug of the lead to correct a pulling dog, and to tug the lead everytime the dog pulls and only start moving again when the lead is loose. Is this another acceptable technique, as it seems to contradict the idea of coaxing the dog back into position with treats and an excited voice. It states that the excited voice only serves to further excite the dog, and that the quick tug of the lead and keeping the dog behind/next to you when you walk, establishes you as the leader in the pack? Would this quick tug of the lead having a damaging effect on a dogs throat?

I am currently trying to coaxing/treat technique, with turning and walking the opposite direction. But i have to admit, i have been doing it nearly two months now and Shelby really isn't improving. She is not interested in treats or my voice whilst on walks, there are to many other distractions.

Thanks

Paul


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## thorbreafortuna (Jun 9, 2013)

Sorry I should have mentioned, I also used that technique you describe, as far as stopping forward movement anytime there was tension on the lead. A tug of the leash is probably ok but the main thing is that the dog knows she is not getting anywhere when she pulls. I did both things together. No forward movement when pulling and rewarding when walking nice. I still have to engage these techniques when we walk in a very new and exciting place, but he rarely pulls in familiar places now, except momentarily if he sees a squirrel or whatever.


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## thorbreafortuna (Jun 9, 2013)

Also I'm using a front hook harness (Easy Walk) which helps and this way I don't have to worry about his throat. When Thor was young he could pull until he was gagging and still not ease up. I was worried he'd hurt himself, so I got the harness. Many don't like the harness and claim it is bad for the dog in the long run, and it may affect his gait and shoulder development, so you may hear other suggestions. I personally don't see any ill effects on his gait and his front muscles are developing nicely. Loose leash walking does take time, that's undeniable.


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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

Thank you for your advice. 

I have another question. I have a police style training lead, which is actually quite long. Beginning to wonder if this is making my life more difficult and I should have a shorter one for better control. What would be the best length of lead for training loose lead.

Many thanks Paul

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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

_Paul said:


> I recently heard of another technique for teaching loose lead/heel. I was told that i should stop moving and use a quick tug of the lead to correct a pulling dog, and to tug the lead everytime the dog pulls and only start moving again when the lead is loose. Is this another acceptable technique, as it seems to contradict the idea of coaxing the dog back into position with treats and an excited voice. It states that the excited voice only serves to further excite the dog, and that the quick tug of the lead and keeping the dog behind/next to you when you walk, establishes you as the leader in the pack? Would this quick tug of the lead having a damaging effect on a dogs throat?


"Leader of the pack" is a term used by pretty outdated trainers, as is the method you describe, which is often called "jerk and praise" these days. So I would definitely move on from it to more contemporary methods.

Excited voices can absolutely rile up the dog in a problematic way, so you may want to moderate your praise so it's quieter and less energetic. However, if all you do is jerk on the collar and stop, there's no positive incentive for the dog in that equation. You're just punishing pulling without showing the dog what you want. You can train a dog not to pull this way, but it's hard on the neck, and even when you're successful, you end up with a dutiful non-puller, rather than a happy walker. There must be some reward in it for the dog if you want a happy worker.

Lots of people do incorporate collar pops with a lot of success, so while it's not for me, I recognize that it can get good results. However, the successful folks are still rewarding the dog with praise and other rewards, not just punishing the pulling.



_Paul said:


> I am currently trying to coaxing/treat technique, with turning and walking the opposite direction. But i have to admit, i have been doing it nearly two months now and Shelby really isn't improving. She is not interested in treats or my voice whilst on walks, there are to many other distractions.


It sounds like you are making a classic error that often crops up when people train with treats: you are bribing. If you stick a treat in a dog's face or wave one at her, it's unlikely that it'll really work to build her attention. The world is often a lot more exciting than treats. In fact, you can end up the dog that thinks you are simply a tease when it comes to treats: you show them but don't really give them.

Usually, the opposite works better: you produce treats when the dog is doing what you want, and you don't show them to the dog beforehand. There are some skills where luring (where you briefly produce a treat to teach a dog to move herself into position) works well, but that's something you do with a dog whose attention you have, so it's very different from bidding for a dog's attention with a treat. Treats make great rewards for attention, but they don't make great _creators_ of it, except with dogs who are really, really food driven.

You don't have a pulling problem here, so much as you have an attention problem. In your shoes, I would put the leash on the dog somewhere more boring, potentially even indoors, and teach her to look at you when you say her name or "let's go." Building on that skill, I would move to higher distraction areas, and I would reward the dog for any attention, no matter how brief. I would stop and wait, and when the dog gets bored and looks back, I'd say "yes," give a treat, and walk off in another direction.

It sounds more like you are begging for your dog's attention and trying to show her treats, which really won't work. You need to make it genuinely fun and rewarding for her to connect with you, and less fun and rewarding to ignore you.

There also may be really small things you're doing that are big to her and cause her to disconnect, and they're very hard to diagnose over the internet, so a professional trainer could be really helpful for you. For example, a lot of people don't realize that they're putting a lot of pressure and/or jerks on the collar unintentionally, and that can cause a dog to not want to be near you, since each time you try to reward her, you accidentally punish her with collar pressure. I see that a lot in group classes. The person is trying to pull the dog into position or bring their head around with the leash, and even though they want to reward the dog, it's unpleasant enough that they're accidentally punishing the dog. There are also a lot of ways to make rewards more effective or to make yourself more exciting that you can learn from a good trainer. For example, your timing may be unclear to the dog, so she doesn't know how to make rewards happen, so she's just looking around for ways to reward herself instead.

Good luck!


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

_Paul said:


> Thank you for your advice.
> 
> I have another question. I have a police style training lead, which is actually quite long. Beginning to wonder if this is making my life more difficult and I should have a shorter one for better control. What would be the best length of lead for training loose lead.
> 
> Many thanks Paul


Could be. When we're learning loose leash, we only use about four feet of lead. We have our students use six foot leads for classes, but they gather up a lot of the slack when learning loose leash walking. (We have them hold the lead in the hand opposite the dog so the hand closest to the dog is free for rewarding).

Another common error I see is when the dog pulls and the owner accidentally lets a foot or two of leash run through their hand before they stop the dog. That teaches the dog that a good hard pull will get them a couple extra feet towards where they want to go, which is exactly the opposite of what you want to teach them!


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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

Tippykayak,

Thank you so much for your advice. I am beginning to think my biggest issues is my lead is too long and she is getting to far away before i correct her. I will keep at it, with a shorter lead.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

_Paul said:


> Tippykayak,
> 
> Thank you so much for your advice. I am beginning to think my biggest issues is my lead is too long and she is getting to far away before i correct her. I will keep at it, with a shorter lead.


You're welcome. And if you're using a method that involves changing direction, I would be doing so and trying to get her attention _before_ she hits the end of the leash. In fact, I'd do it as soon as I got the sense that I had lost my connection with her. And I'd reward her a ton for staying connected or for reconnecting.


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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

Thanks again Tippykayak for your response. I am predominately changing direction, but sometimes I stop and take a couple of steps backwards or I stop and don't move until she returns to a position by my side.
Today she was very good walking for both myself and my daughter, although yesterday in a high distraction area it was difficult to get her to respond to anything. For normal everyday walking maintaining her loose lead training is fine, but there are situation when we go as a family to a country park, or we go in holiday in our caravan and go sight seeing. In these situations I have been struggling with her training and it is really spoiling our holiday/day out. I don't want all the hard work to go to waste so I am finding my family has left me being because I am not willing too let Shelby pull on the lead. Is there anything I can do to keep these two different walking experiences separate without confusing poor Shelby. I wondered if some form of body harness was the answer for occasions when it is very difficult to keep stopping, but will not counteract any progress I have made. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated. My long term goal is loose lead walking using only a collar and lead, but I know I can't expect to much from a puppy, so I need a solution in the interim.
Thanks Paul

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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

Hi all. Has anyone heard the training term 'walking with purpose'? We started a new puppy training class today, this time it is a Kennel Club course. However, I got a third opinion on walking Shelby without pulling. I was told the method of stopping and changing direction was not best. I was told that when not training I should use walking with purpose which is just to maintain a really short lead and do not correct just keep walking. Then when training use the food lure and maintain the heel position, never to change direction or correct her. I have spent a couple of months turning direction etc and now it appears that it is not the favoured method. I am getting a little confused now what is best. Opinions would need great?

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