Pointing Dog Pointers: Heeling Made Easy

Another key control command to teach your pointing dog – in addition to the whoa and the come – is the heel. The advantages of having your dog heel, both on and off lead, are many:

• A dog that heels well exhibits control and restraint and keeps both you and your dog safe in varied situations.
• If you live in town and walk your dog for daily exercise, it’s important that he walk by your side and pay no attention to other dogs and people. If he lunges at other dogs on the street while heeling, this could end up in a dog fight. Not teaching him to heel will result in a sore arm from being pulled along, or even a fall from having the lead wind around your legs.
• If you are competing with your dog in field events, there will be times where the judge may tell you to keep going while your brace mate finishes his bird work. In these instances, you will heel your dog away from the area where the other dog is, then release him to continue on the course.
• When you take your pointing dog hunting, after you arrive at your destination and release your dog from his crate, you don’t want him to bound off into unknown territory or across a busy road. Instead, you will have him heel at your side as you head out to the area you want to hunt – releasing him when you’re ready and it’s safe to do so. If you make it a habit to heel your dog to and from your vehicle, he’ll learn control even in the midst of his excitement.

We don’t want to put a heavy hand of obedience on the young, inexperienced dog. But as your pup becomes bigger and stronger, the control command of heel becomes necessary. You might recall from reading some of our past columns or magazine articles that we’ve always encouraged our pups to be “pulling us to the field.” Are we contradicting ourselves here?

Our article “Shuffle the Cards” in the 2005 March/April issue of The Pointing Dog Journal addresses this. With pointing dogs, teaching the control commands of whoa, come, and heel are interwoven with their development on birds. With a high-powered bold pup, we may start yard work (control) simultaneously with the bird work. With a soft, timid pup, we’ll usually hold off on control work until later, letting this pup develop confidence first. Until our pup is bird crazy and hunting with enthusiasm, we don’t push him on the control work. So, we “shuffle the cards” to figure out which sequence is best for each pup.

Because separate obedience lessons were always a part of our kennel services, we’ve learned a lot over the years to apply to our pointing dog program. One memorable year, we had a young male shorthair, Rocket, with zero experience in leash or checkcord handling. When either one was attached to him, he flopped down on his side like a dead deer, and let himself be pulled along in the grass rather than be led on the lead. Then there was Max, the bull-headed but affable English bulldog, who would refuse to move, period, when he felt any pressure from the training collar around his neck. And Jim was an exuberant golden retriever who would leap around us in a circle when we tried to heel with him, making it impossible for us to walk forward. Finally, there was Frasier, the big boxer who pulled us along on the checkcord like a sled dog without a backward glance. When we made a correction with a pop on the checkcord, he would stop, slowly turn his head, and glare at us as though saying, “Make Me.”

There are many conventional and successful ways to teach the heel with a training collar and lead. There are also many restraint type collars and leads, head halters, and other contraptions to force heeling. It’s always best, though, to have your dog obeying you because he wants to and is eager to please – paying attention to you and to where you are going.

Enter the slow heel.

Years back we saw the slow heel demonstrated on one of our old obedience training videos. It looked intriguing and we thought we’d try it out on some of our more difficult training students, like the ones described above. All you need is a 15-20 checkcord or long line and a well-fitted nylon slip training collar. For timid or reluctant pupils, the flat collar is fine to start with, until they respond well to this training. Then you can switch them to a training collar.

For this training, you will be absolutely silent. Work in a large yard or area where the dog can range out to the end of his long checkcord, away from you, sniffing and paying you no mind. Hold the end of the checkcord firmly in your hand and begin walking forward in a straight line. Don’t worry about where your dog is. Just walk to an imaginary marker you’ve set for yourself about 30 feet or so away. Walk briskly and don’t stop until you’re there. As the checkcord slack is taken up by your increased distance from pup, he’ll feel the quick, hard tug on his collar as you walk to your goal. Then stop, look around at the scenery, pick another imaginary goal in a different direction, and head briskly toward it. Be silent and pay no attention to pup. You’ll feel the involuntary correction that is made to him as you reach the end of the checkcord length and keep walking. If you watch pup out of the corner of your eye, you’ll see him bound toward you at least a bit as he feels this correction. He may get immediately distracted again, but that’s OK. Stop, look around, set a new goal, and walk to it. Pup will be a little confused by this new “game,” but he begins to notice that each time you set off in a new direction, he soon feels a “pop” on his collar, and it’s easier for him if he heads in that direction too. Soon, usually within the first session, he will start paying attention to where you are going and he will turn and follow you before he even feels the pop on his collar. Most dogs learn quickly to anticipate that you will move again in an opposite direction and they will start staying close to you, watchful. Finally, they will start walking along near you, ranging out less and less, paying attention to where you are going.

Keep the sessions short, 15 minutes at most. With very little effort on your part – and in complete silence with no voice correction – you’ll soon find that within a very short time your pup will be walking happily along with you. This won’t be precision heeling, but he’ll be walking with you and paying attention to you. Which is exactly what you want, and with no negative connotations.

Now it’s time to transition to the more “formal” heeling exercise. You’ll still use your checkcord at this point, but now you’ll hold it closer to your dog, letting the excess drag behind you. Your left hand should hold it a foot or so above his collar, with the checkcord passing across the front of you and held in place by your right hand, letting the rest drag behind you. Note that we are teaching our pup to heel on the left side. While hunting, if you’re left-handed and you hold your gun on your left side, you may prefer to teach pup to heel on your right side.

You’ll work in straight lines now, heeling briskly forward as you give the command “heel” quietly and firmly. If pup should lag, pat your thigh in encouragement, repeating the command heel and increasing your pace a bit. A bit of praise often helps to let the pup know he’s got the idea. If he is big and strong, and begins to pull ahead as you walk forward, do a quick, unexpected about turn to the right – and head back in the opposite direction, popping his neck with the cord and saying, “heel,” just as you turn.  Repeat these short sessions until your pup is heeling well and keeping pace with you as you slow down or speed up.

Now you can begin to work in a large, imaginary rectangle pattern, always making your turns to the right as you make your way around the rectangle. Left turns are harder to negotiate. Wait til pup is doing right turns well and then try a left turn. You’ll need to take up any slack above pup’s collar to keep him in place. As you make your left turn, you’ll be actually turning into your dog so you won’t want him bounding ahead. As you heel, slow down before attempting the left turn, to help pup anticipate.

Once pup has mastered these lessons, you can begin to work with the training collar and six-foot lead. Repeat the above lessons until he’s polished and happily heeling next to you in his training sessions. Then it will be time to move from the regular training area to new places, to begin proofing him so he isn’t “pattern-trained.” Heel pup near distractions, heel him from the house to the yard, or from the kennel or house to the car. You can begin short walks on the sidewalk as well. Depending on pup’s age, be realistic with your expectations. As he matures, you’ll want to ensure that heeling becomes an important means of control for both of you.

Pointing Dog Pointers features monthly training tips by Bob and Jody Iler, who operated Green Valley Kennels in Dubuque, Iowa, training pointing dogs for 50 years. Bob and Jody have written many articles for The Pointing Dog Journal.