This is how I feel. We need a short lead 'heel' for walking in the centre of the village so I can take Libby with me and a loose lead amble when not in the centre. Most of our walks on lead are just the two minutes getting to the fields or park but even those two minutes are a struggle as she's so excited to get there. I'm avoiding taking her out other times because its such a pain which is a real shame. I know it's about me putting the effort in, I just the energy to do it.
Not sure of this is any use to anyone but here is what we do... I only use "heel" when we're doing formal obedience work. It can be on lead (I loosely hold the very end of a 1.5m lead and it hangs down at my side) or off lead and I expect Ella to be at my hip and looking up at me. I understand this can affect the gait of the dog and is not a natural water to walk so that is part of the reason I only use it when doing obedience work. I also only save it for obedience work as I don't want my OH to use it (and ruin it haha ) When out for a walk I expect Ella to walk on a loose lead. To me, this means no tension on the lead and roughly to the left of me, not zig zapping in front. She can have a sniff but when I say "let's go" she continues walking. If we encounter a particular situation that is too much for Ella (like five school kids sitting on the ground on a narrow path, eating fish and chips) I often just lure her past it. Yep, this is probably lazy but it doesn't happen often and it works for us
When I got Betsy, I spent a long time thinking about this point - that is, should a dog always be expected to heel, and never walk any other way on a lead and if I did that, would it be quicker to train? I started off with Betsy on a short lead, only training heel. I quit it quite quickly and decided to go back to my longer lead and heel. I did this because it was just too much to expect Betsy to heel in loads of different circumstances. So, for example, we had to walk 50m yesterday on a lead to a new beach. It wasn't far, but it was probably the most exciting thing that Betsy has experienced so far in her young life. No way was I going to ask her to heel - it would have been impossible. But she managed a rough approximation of a loose lead, well, mostly. And she managed to cross a fast flowing river across the beach on a loose lead etc. no way I could have asked her for heel! It would have been like asking a 3 year old human to do calculus. You might choose differently, and go for 'heel only' and there are some good arguments for that. Having debated it myself though, I decided not to do this and choose to train the difference - heel and loose lead - at the same time.
Not really - we are on the South coast. Yesterday we'd just dropped Luna off with @snowbunny and then were having lunch not far from Newquay. We stopped at Harlyn Bay for a walk. Do you know it? Betsy had to walk on her lead from the carpark, across the running water, and down the beach so we were far enough away from other dogs and very exciting people carrying surfboards!
I don't know Harlyn or that area really. My eldest daughter and boyfriend live near Tregavethan near Truro so I'm sure I'll explore more areas over the next years. Was it really Betsy most excited at the surfers?
It was! Charlie is ok on beaches now, because he expects his football. I have played football on beaches with him for so long now he only has eyes for me (and my bag with his football ). * Betsy actually set off to swim out to the surfers! Luckily, the enormous waves changed her mind and she came back! * I have to admit to just letting Charlie off his lead right away, on the basis he wouldn't go anywhere without his football! Otherwise he'd have found walking at heel challenging too!
