Dog Training Lesson 8 : Heel

If you have a pet dog and he is not well-trained, you would find that walking your dog is a NIGHTMARE!! However, taking a walk around the park or in the neighbourhood with your dog should be a realatively easy job as well as an interesting one. By teaching your dog to heel or walk by your side when the both of you go for an evening walk say around the park, it would then make you feel comfortable with your dog being around you and of course you would then look forward to bringing your dog out for a walk. As for your dog, he would also love to go for an evening walk as you could easily imagine how bored he is, having to stay in for the whole day with limited play space and sometimes being tied to a spot for a long long time.

So, does the above situation describe you? If the answer is yes, then let's get this dog training lesson started. My father used to tell me that when you walk a dog, make sure that he is walking by your side because as the name implies, you are walking your dog and NOT the dog walking you.

To START this dog training lesson, you would need to take your dog to a walk, and of course at the same time, give the command "HEEL". As you would expect, your dog would still be rushing towards the front because he doesn't even know what the command mean. What is important here is you pull the dog leash to make him slow down, then at the same time give the command "HEEL". Then, you keep walking at your own pace while letting your dog to follow.

THINGS TO BE AWARE OF

1. DO NOT pull the dog leash too hard as it may hurt your dog. If you are new to dog training (as i expect all of you are), please do use a dog collar (NO CHAIN !!)which is connected to your dog leash, then it would prevent you from hurting your dog.
2. Your dog must be walking beside you, not behind. His head should be parallel to your chest.
3. If your dog is rather stubborn, make sure that you do not get angry or get mad. Just simply stop and wait until he settles down then only you start again with the dog training lesson of HEEL.

Remember one fact that you dog LOVES walking around and should you repeat the dog training several times(but not too much), then it would make him understand that if he doesn't walk beside you or heel, he would not get to walk around the park. That would teach him some manners....