Dog Collar Training - The Heel Command

You might be wondering why the ‘heel’ command is so important. Stop and consider the number of times you are out with your dog and your dog begins pulling on his leash to get ahead of you, or even more disconcerting, you find yourself walking way ahead of him. The ‘heel’ command will enable you to teach your dog to walk beside you, and allow you even more control over his actions. This is helpful whether you are training your dog to hunt, or simply walking him in the neighborhood. Teaching your dog the ‘heel’ command allows him to focus his attention on you, and not the hundreds of distractions that he might be faced with.

Electronic collar training is best started as soon as you are able to begin training your dog, however, leash training your dog to heel must be accomplished first. Your dog should not only be healthy, but he should be old enough to train and you should have a good working understanding of how the electronic system works before you start using it to train your dog to ‘heel’.

Teaching your dog to heel begins with teaching him how to walk on his leash properly. The goal is that with one touch of the leash, or a single command, your dog will walk beside you and not ahead or behind you. The goal is to make sure that a simple tug of the leash when the dog is lagging behind you or getting in front of you, summons your dog to your side. This is really quite simple: if your dog tries to bound ahead, pull the leash slightly, change your direction and issue the heel command. If he’s interested in something that is behind you, tug on his leash while commanding him to heel.

Once you’ve mastered the ‘heel’ command with a leash, you can transition to an electronic collar. Take some time to familiarize your dog with the electronic collar, since it will feel different than his regular collar. Do not make the mistake of attempting heel training using the electronic collar first, as this could prove to be ineffective. Once your dog is comfortable with the heel command on a leash, and you’ve prepared him for the electronic collar, you will use the same basic principals you taught with the leash. If the dog starts lagging behind you, apply pressure to his leash, give the heel command and then apply the stimulation. If he’s attempting to get ahead of you, simply change direction, tug on the leash, get his attention focused on you and issue the stimulation. It should not take long to let your dog know that you are in control of the direction you’ll be walking.

You may find that when you first begin electronic collar training that using a short, intermittent stimulation will help keep your dog focused. Once you have established what needs to be done, you will find that the electronic collar can be used less and perhaps before too long you can eliminate it completely as your dog will fully understand the heel command without the gentle reminder of the stimulation.

Geoffrey A. English is the Founder of GundogsOnline.com, the internet's premiere online magazine dedicated to bird dogs. Visit their site for more information on training bird dogs and hunting dog supplies including a wide variety of dog leads, shooting glasses, and Innotek IUT-302 dog training collar.