By Dennis Fisher.
This article is one of a great many articles written by Dennis Fisher about a very wide variety of subjects concerning different dogs, such as obedience training, breeding, showing, health matters, training problems and other subjects. All these articles appear on Dennis Fisher's websites. Visit http://www.allaboutgermanshepherddogs.com the site that has been set up specifically for German Shepherd Dog enthusiasts, or http://www.freedogadvice.com if you interested in a breed other than German Shepherd Dogs
It’s very
impressive indeed to see a dog walking down the street with its owner, heeling
free, without any lead attached to the collar.
This is not as difficult as it may seem.
It can be accomplished with regular training.
Before
attempting to have your dog walk at heel at your left side, without any lead
attached to his collar, make sure
his heeling is perfect. With
practice the dog will know exactly when you are going to turn left, turn right,
or about turn and will be able to do this without any pulling or snapping of the
lead on your part.
Of course this does require quite a bit
of work and practice on your part.
When you
commence walking with your dogs
always make sure that you step off with your left foot.
Because your dog is on your left side, this is a good indication to the
dog that you intend starting to
walk.
In fact, as you progress with
your training, you’ll find that when you want to leave your dog at the
sit and want him to stay, you will always walk away from him with your right
foot. You will give him the
command “stay” when you leave, but the fact that you have stepped off with your
right foot is another sign to him that he has to stay.
In
advanced obedience tests, no commands are given.
The dog has to stop and sit immediately you stop. All this is
accomplished by body signs that the dog instantly recognizes.
Of course
at this early stage of training you should give
verbal commands to the dog.
But it is very useful to combine your verbal commands with body commands.
Your dog
is on your left side, so your left
leg is constantly in his view.
When you turn left, while walking, step forward with your left leg –
perhaps a little further forward than you would normally
step - swivel on your left
foot as you turn and swing your right leg around.
If your
dog is unprepared for your left turn he would be slightly ahead of you as you
turn left. As you swing your right leg
around you can lift your knee and bump his body with your right knee.
You don’t
have to do this with any great force, just a slight bump.
You can accompany your turn with the command ”heel” at this stage.
Afterwards the command won’t be necessary because your dog will be
watching your feel.
Give the “Heel” command in a pleasant, voice.
The fact
that you have bumped him is not to
be interpreted by the dog in any way as a reprimand.
He will get the impression that it was his fault by being in your way.
When you
turn to the right your feet
once again will give the dog an
indication of what you intend doing.
Accompanying your command “heel”, you extend your foot forward, fairly
far and swivel to the right.
Your about turn is similar.
In this case, in order to make it a little easier for the dog turn around
briskly, you pause a little before you turn around.
Once your
dog is heeling very well, you can gradually introduce the heeling off lead.
It is
important to have a clip on you
lead that can be removed very easily without a great of fussing and fiddling.
As you
walk with the dog in the heel position, close to your left side, release the
clip on your lead as unobtrusively
as you can and carry on walking.
Let the lead hand over your should as you walk.
If
you prefer, fold the lead and
keep it in your left hand and let the lead hang loosely by your side.
If the dog has become used to heeling on a loose lead, it will not make
much of a difference if the lead has been removed. In any event
he is not quite sure that is has been
removed.
Pat your
left hand against your left side and enthusiastically and confidently
encourage the dog to heel as you
continued walking, calling his name as you do this.
If you are
using food as a means of persuading the dog to keep close to you on your left
side, continue to do. Let your dog
smell your left hand and continue walking.
Practice
this regularly and after a while
the heeling off lead will become second nature to your dog.
It is also
a good idea to attach a small
length of very light cord – very light but very strong -
to the clip of your lead and also the ring of the dog’s choker chain.
When you detach your lead from the dog’s collar,
the dog is unaware of this
bridging length of cord, because it is so light.
If, by
chance your dog suddenly decides to break away from you, because he feels
that his lead has been removed, he will get a surprise to find that he is being
jerked back into position.