Heel or not to Heel?

Charlie is now walking on a lose lead but not to heel, he walks the length of the lead. It has been such hard work to get even this far I now am not sure how to get him to heel. When he pulls even slightly we stop, he looks and gets treat/praise. He is soo good now that I am able to walk him, well haven't had any choice as David is away!! Shall I accept that this is his way or should he walk to heel??? Hattie walks to heel on and off lead even if she thinks there is a crumb on offer so she was really easy, Charlie of course is a different case. Thanks Helen

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

Hi Helen, if Charlie isnt pulling now, I think if it were me, I would accept what you have achieved, which is remarkable As he is doing so well, it would be a shame to compromise this by trying to get to another level with him , you`ve done so well

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

I've also got to admit, Helen, that I tend to use "that's near enough" training. Life's too short and I'm not looking for perfection. There again, I'm a complete beginner at the training game. From what I've read I think you have achieved wonders. Charlie will probably continue to improve I think.

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

I have seen so many people work themselves to exhaustion trying to get their dog trained to perfection, but, imho, thats not how it's supposed to be. So what if he doesn't heel and takes a minute to stop and smell the flowers? Isn't that what lifes all about? over time, he will continue to improve in your capable hands. But why not stop to smell the flowers with him?

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

I cannot take the credit for Charlie's lead work, that is down to David getting up at stupid o'clock and training him as he was just too strong for me. He mostly walks really well with the occassional pull, but a stop etc. or a "leave it" and he's really good. Just need to proof now, so need to read up on Pippa's article to make sure we do that correctly as he has only been on the limited paths we have here, and occassionally through the water meadows. Eventually getting Charlie and Hattie walking together would be WONDERFUL as would save sooo much time, that will be the real test. Considering when Charlie came to us he virtually crawled on his tummy he has done remarkably well. Thank you Helen x

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

Helen, that is such brilliant News!!! My goodness, you have achieved so much... The way you are going on, I am certain you will be walking Hattie and Charlie together soon. I think so long as Charlie doesnt pull, it doesnt matter too much if he walks exactly to heel. But you dont want him dragging you around any more! I am so pleased for you.

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

This is how I feel with Bella, when we first got her she pulled - really pulled at the lead, whereas now, she (mostly) responds to a sharp spoken back or heel - if she continues tugging we stop still, she realises and turns round and comes to heel and sits by me. She mostly now walk just infront of me, but the pulling has mostly stopped in the 5 weeks we've had her and that for me is real progress and as long as my arm is not being wrenched off, i'm happy.

This weekend going to start working on her recall and 'charging' the clicker, as she's ok off the lead if we're on our own until there's a distraction by which time she's usually off trying to play with the distraction. Far too sociable

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

I do a fair bit of walking Poppy in the dark at the moment (before work and after work), so she is on the lead a lot. I must say, I dont mind her not walking exactly to heel, so long as she doesnt pull. She seems to know that 'heel' means dont pull, whereas 'Fuss' (the German for heel) means we are going to do Proper Training now, and then she sticks right by me and is ready for action. I hope I am not confusing her - but she seems to get it so far...

Of course, the fact that I have a treat in my hand when I say 'Fuss' (which is pronounced foose, to rhyme with loose, by the way ), might have SOMETHING to do with her attention to me...

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

I went to obedience clicker training classes with my cocker where we had to do a few exercises that are not really necessary in gundog training. One of them was to walk the dog on the right hand side. I now have two commands for walking to heel depending on which side of me I want him to walk, 'heel' means on the left and 'Fuss' means on the right. I am German so I have taught all my dogs a few commands in German, 'rechts' and 'links' for directional control on retrieves for example. Who says dogs can't be bilingual!!

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

I agree I think we should be grateful for small mercies where Charlie is concerned so we really don't mind if he is not walking to heel, maybe he will eventually. Life is too short and we really want to enjoy him and we know he will never be perfect even if we trained him morning, noon and night!!! but we love him all the same Just a little update, Charlie is really enjoying his freedom in the paddock playing ball and doing what looks like Pointer kind of things, nose in the grass and bottom in the air!!. When it's time to go I say "lets go" and he comes with me to the gate and we pop his lead on and we go for a walk and then another play on the way back. It really has made a huge difference to him whilst we are doing the "recall" which also is going OK ish. All week he has done very well apart from 2 which was bad timing on my part. So I think I will do another few days of juicy treats and then start to reduce as Pippa suggested. We have spent 4 weeks on this exercise, I really hope the rest won't take that long or he will be an OAP before we finish!! After the recall we do lots of sits and waits for the magical squeaky ball and I can walk about 20 meters away now and get him to wait for a long time and Hattie joins in with this too, only thing is he now won't bring the ball back and wants me to chase him where as he used to drop it on command, so not sure what's happened there. Then a big play with Hattie and inside for a snooze. All in all much improved and calmer, maybe the new food has kicked in too. Thanks Helen xx

 

Re: Heel or not to Heel?

That all sounds really positive Helen, Great News well done you - remember how desperate you were just a week or so ago...