THE HEELING PATTERN EXERCISE

Start your dog, as you always will, by showing him the lead and asking him if he wants to go to work. Follow through by telling him he's a good boy, and then order him "Back to work," follow through with heel, good boy, nice dog (to keep his attention), and ask him to sit.

Remember now, that on the return-to-heel, your left foot and index finger will be the signal or CUE, and the movement of the left foot and hand, must coincide with the voice command. All of your weight must be on the right foot.
As your dog returns to the heel position he must return counter-clockwise on your left side, and square himself to the heel position. As in all of these exercises you must "take a fix" on a land mark in relationship to the direction you are facing, and make sure that your dog when finished, is properly lined up towards it. But, don't let's get ahead of ourselves.

If he refused to turn counter clockwise, that could indicate a problem, an effort to resist working properly for you. However, to be fair, we must be certain this is the case. It's possible that he is "left-handed". We'll see very shortly.

First, we must accomplish getting him to sit. We expect your dog will not want to sit when you ask. As he is making the counter clockwise turn, and when his nose is pointing directly opposite of yours, is when you'll ask him to sit. Do not wait for him to complete turning around, or he will continue moving out of position. Follow through with the stay signal (and voice command) before he comes to a sit. NOW we can work on the sit!

As you collect your lead by inching your way down the half-length of it with your right hand, you may extend your right arm with the elbow straight forward to take up the extra slack to prevent his head from spinning around. Your left hand can reach backward, as you shift your weight on to your left foot, as you reach with your middle finger and thumb just forward of his hips. In this manner you will be able to move with him if he tries to move around.

You can maintain the heel position while negotiating the sit. You can control the front of your dog with the lead, by gently applying alternating tension on the lead as you gently try to place his rear into the sitting position. If he begins to flex to assume the sit, your hand must come away from his rear, and follow through with the stay signal. Do not push him all the way down, and do not force him into the position. You may repeat the command a second time, with the signal and voice, if it seems that he did not recognize your request. Continue working in this manner until it seems that he no longer remembers your request or resists. That being the case, you may tell him "no" in a conversational tone, and repeat the command. This would be your third request to sit during this command sequence.

While negotiating the sit, it is appropriate if necessary, to turn in any direction to maintain the heel position to your dogs shoulder. It doesn't matter where you end up, so long as you find him sitting at the heel position. Praise him for completing the sit, and then ask him to sit straight, as you adjust him towards the orientation point or landmark that you originally were facing. * Now you must adjust him to the appropriate position.
Don't try to do this all at once, or you'll upset the apple cart! At first, just square him to your side till he feels comfortable being adjusted. You'll extend your right arm, to control his front; the left foot must remain stationary at the heel position.
The right foot may step back a few inches as you bend at the knees, and using the left palm on the large muscle of the rear leg of your dog, gently push just a little as you ask him to sit straight. Be sure to follow through with the stay signal, and praise.

Once again you may adjust his front.
Soon, you will be able to turn him any number of degrees to accomplish making him returns to the heel position. And after just a few days of practice, he'll adjust himself on your command "sit straight". Of course, all of the above presumes that your dog performed the initial phase of the return to heel command. If he did not, then you will have to ask him a second request to "return to heel" (the command to your dog is simply heel, the "return to" is for your understanding only). So, let's say he refuses the second request. That's O.K.

Simply prefix your third request with "no", and repeat the command phrase "back to work heel, good boy, nice dog," and if he's not moving to the heel position we will give up on that command sequence, place the handle of your lead into the left hand, and use the come command, as you step backward, and collect the lead, taking the half length in your right hand, and placing it into your left palm along with the handle of the lead. Your signal, of course, for the come command must accompany the voice command. As you move backward, you may go as little or far as you need to accomplish getting him to come straight in to you.

The come command should have been properly conditioned earlier, so that now all you need to do is work on sit from the front! While he's in motion on the recall, ask for the sit before he gets to you.
Do this while he is about three feet away. This will give him time to process thinking of your command. Your lead will be in your left hand, and you may shorten it by taking the length with your right hand, and side it through your left palm, as you follow through with the hand signal to sit from the front. Keep that signal open, and wait. Stand erect, and try to lean in towards him. Bring your right hand forward, and with the middle finger and thumb, touch just ahead of his hip bone.

If he starts to flex into position, follow through with the stay signal, even before he has finished sitting. Of course, you will follow through with praise, and while doing so, pat him on the chest as you ask him to "sit straight", and adjust him square in front of you. You may turn as much as is necessary to maintain the position directly in front of your dog. Where he sits is relevant only to his position to you, and this time. If necessary, you may repeat the command to "sit from the front", (the command sit is for the dog, and sit from the front is for your clarification). And, if that fails, you may prefix your third request with "no", and repeat your command for the third request. As soon as you've got him seated squarely in front of you, the lead will be placed into your right hand, and complete the exercise by returning him to the heel position. Now you're ready to move forward on the heel. Your voice command must coincide with the movement of your left foot, your eyes must be directed forward, you may signal with your left index finger forward, and step forward speaking to him as though he were working perfectly. You'll go forward at least three full steps, speaking a word of praise with each step. If he moves along with you, that's fine.

If not, that's O.K.,
Collect your lead as you step directly backward into the heel position. Some dogs will simply sit there.
Give a second request, and follow through as before. If he again refuses to move along into the heel, simply step back again, and prefix your third request with "no" and repeat the command as before. If he has broken the sit command, disregard that. The prior command is not being broken, the new command is. That's Important! Here's an example: your dog is sitting at the heel position.

You step forward on the heel, and he lies down. He broke the heel command, not the sit. It's important to understand these commands from your dogs point of view! Once a command is issued, the previous command no longer exists. So, once again you find yourself on the heel command, three steps in front of your dog, and he is sitting back there at the starting point. After your third request to heel, give up on that, and ask him to come. Of course, he must come to a sit in front of you, and after all of the prerequisites have been attended to, return him to heel, and try again. Now you should be working well, with the default system being quite well understood by your dog. As we move forward on the heel, expect him to do so for only three steps. I don't expect he'll want to cooperate, and even if he did, it's still his obligation to try to get away with as much as he can! As he breaks forward on the heel, usually on your third step forward, simply reverse your direction by pivoting in the exact opposite direction, being sure not to allow any contact with the collar.

We don't want to make him follow you. Anyone can take a dog on a six-inch length of chain, and force him to heel. It does not matter if you are forcing him on a six-inch chain, or a six-foot lead. Any force is undesirable, and will result in problems. Doing these exercises correctly does not require that your dog perform properly, just you! Each time your dog charges past your side, simply reverse, moving smoothly and fluidly, exactly opposite of the direction his nose is pointing. He will break past you, maybe every three steps. And you will reverse. Soon, he's going to either go behind you to your right side, at which point you'll pivot to your left, moving fluidly. Just turn spontaneously and fluidly each time. Soon he's going to either not turn with you, or cut you off by moving his shoulders in front of your knee. If he quits turning with you, simply give up on the heel command, and ask him to come. By now you should realize that the lead must be change into your left hand, etc... This requires a sit from the front, before returning once again to the heel position. Follow through with the sit from the side, and begin again. If he tries to cut you off by shouldering in front of your knee your going to have to handle it just a little bit differently. As he tries to cut you off, he's actually trying to make you go into a circle to your right.

At this time, you must circle him to the left. Remember everything is opposite of what direction he chooses. In order to turn left when he's trying to go to the right in front of you, you'll have to get your left foot over in front of him, as you tell him no, heel, good boy. You'll probably need to correct him in this manner two or three times as you shorten your lead just enough to apply a very slight amount of tension on the lead, using your right hand out to your right side, as you say no, and release as you ask him to heel. Try to move him into a complete left circle, and come to a sit when you have come full circle. This circle will start off being rather large, perhaps six, eight, or ten-ft. or more, in diameter.

It is important to finish at exactly three hundred and sixty degrees. Come to a sit at this point, follow through with your stay command, praise, adjust him to sit straight, and proceed into a three hundred and sixty-degree right circle. Next, we're going to try again to move forward on the heel command, and proceed only four steps, and make a ninety degree left turn, taking only two steps, and making a ninety degree right turn, and continue for only four steps. You may need to make a slight correction with each turn. This correction must be performed without pulling back on the lead with your left hand. The right hand is the only hand on the lead, and only the slightest and briefest tension or contact with the collar should occur during the moment that you tell him no, as you repeat the command to heel. If everything is going quite well, you should just about get dizzy, with all of this turning and pivoting.

Do not try to go for any distance in the heel position. You'll have many years of walking with your dog at the heel position. This heeling exercise will give you and your dog all of the basic practice that you need to accomplish anything you desire. .