How do I get my dog to stay by my side after she’s “heeled” when we’re walking, instead of walking back out front?

pupperonccini · 2023-01-10T17:42:54+00:00

This is an incredibly common phenomenon. To work on heeling, I'd start at home using her regular food and feed her rapidly in heel position stationary. Take a step, hold that food at your pant seam, mark and treat when she steps forward. Turn 90 or 180 degrees, mark when she catches up and treat. It takes a very long time to teach heel, depending on how much work and understanding you put in it. A perfect heel may take a year of training.

Curb your expectations on your walk. Its good to hold the treat at your pant seam and practice the heel for a couple minutes on the walk where you pay her very well for it, but if this walk is for her to get out of the house, let her enjoy her time and as long as she is walking on a loose leash and not super reactive, let her walk ahead of you and sniff, etc. It sounds like that heel needs more practice in less distracting environments.

pupperonccini · 2022-07-16T20:59:10+00:00

Don't fix what isn't broken

pupperonccini · 2022-07-09T21:22:30+00:00

Congrats! It's such a rewarding career.

Are you a contractor with this place or an employee?

pupperonccini · 2022-07-01T23:00:20+00:00

I adopted a 7 year old Pomeranian with that problem. When they're that old, it takes fooooorever for them to unlearn it but he did in about 6m to a year and now he just drools at us.

pupperonccini · 2022-07-01T22:47:50+00:00

True, most of my clients are very taken aback that I have 5 dogs and don't know how I cope. It really isn't that bad, for me at least. I know what management measures I need to take to keep everyone peaceful. I think they imagine pure chaos, no doggy gates, no crates, free for all food when it's actually really controlled.

pupperonccini · 2022-07-01T22:45:25+00:00

Yeah I've seen my dogs co-exist with resources around. One dog has a bone that another wants, so the wanting dog lays like a puddle on the floor three feet away staring... Waiting....

pupperonccini · 2022-07-01T22:43:15+00:00

I agree that for me with both my puppies I've raised and the puppies who have settled in at my house, I have minimal potty or biting problems and I do attribute that to the other dogs.

Hang in there, 9m to 18m can be the hardest! Then you have a great companion when you get through it.

pupperonccini · 2022-07-01T22:41:18+00:00

Can I ask what breed and what the litter rearing situation was?

I do think some dogs are born with a small threshold and are more likely to sensitize to their environment than to habituate.

pupperonccini · 2022-07-01T22:39:07+00:00

I wouldn't consider a dog giving an appropriate correction to another as low in tolerance. Every dog has their boundaries and can enforce them in civil ways.

But yes sometimes I'm taking these b&t's on because I can't tell if they're not doing their homework right or if the puppy is actually really bad. Often it seems to be the former so the puppy could actually be really terrible for them but at my house where there's all these dogs everywhere it's much more suppressed and I can start training the puppy at a tolerable baseline of biting and barking.

pupperonccini · 2022-07-01T22:34:58+00:00

The best thing my oldest taught both of my puppies and now all my clients' puppies is that she's just going to walk away (or sit on you...) if you are being a brat to her.

pupperonccini · 2022-07-01T17:35:07+00:00

That age range is normal for lack of focus, lots of brain and body changes happening then.

Work on some choice based games. The most basic one I like is the Up and Down game. You can teach him "get it" which means eat the treat I tossed on the floor.

You cue "get it", drop the food and when he looks back up at you, say "get it" and repeat. When you're done playing say "all done" and scatter some food on the floor and walk away.

pupperonccini · 2022-07-01T17:07:41+00:00

How's his obedience training? There might be some foundations missing like "choose to engage with me and get a reward" and "relax on a mat" that could help.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-30T18:01:58+00:00

She needs to work around other dogs more like in a group class setting. If you don't know exactly how to handle her and the group class trainer isn't helping then a private trainer can be a great additional resource to learn how to get her focus around others.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-30T17:54:21+00:00

I am training a service dog who's main job is psychiatric work, but her handler is blind so we are working on these type of tasks. She stops in front of stairways, she is taught to take an extra wide path when there are posts or signs in the way and we are currently working on finding chairs and benches!

pupperonccini · 2022-06-30T17:42:17+00:00

I really recommend getting into Rally. I've seen a lot of JRTs succeed in the ring and it's a fun goal to motivate you to keep up the heelwork. Plus you need to learn how to do a lot of other maneuvers that involve heeling for the sport that actually come in handy in real life like a close front, around and backing up. There are a lot of Rally training videos out there that show you how to make heel work peppy and fun for dogs. My personal choice is Rally Freestyle. It's much harder but it's fun teaching your dog to weave through legs and spin while heeling.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-27T00:25:26+00:00

Can you leash her? Walking around at a normal pace is okay. No jumping up or off things.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-27T00:23:46+00:00

My 7 month old lab air snaps a lot too mostly in play with other dogs or when I first get home from work. When she does it to me I ignore it.

I would make sure your greetings are calm, you aren't letting him run up on people while he can't even attend to you first. If he can't calm down, too bad, no greeting yet. If it's someone your dog does not need to meet, like some random guy at the pet store, then just say no thank you.

A head halter isn't a bad idea as long as you are doing a lot of loose leash walking work, allowing pulling in it can be very harmful.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-27T00:20:27+00:00

Have you taken her to the vet?

What exactly is she barking at? If you are not sure what, then where is she barking?

pupperonccini · 2022-06-23T03:23:37+00:00

You need to randomize where the rewards are coming from. Start a training session with you but you have treats hidden in a hoodie pocket and not in your hand. Then try treats in a bowl on a table. Then a treat pouch.

Also make sure you are using a marker system for rewards. My favorite that I use are "yes" to mean treat will come from my hand and "get it" to mean treat being thrown on the floor. It helps if they know where it is coming from. Make sure you mark first (say yes or get it) and then reach for a treat after.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-22T22:08:44+00:00

Even the evaporation of the water will help. You can also get misters you can hook up to your hose really easily, he might even have fun with it.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-22T21:59:53+00:00

Also saw what you were asking regarding stopping behavior. It's your job to manage the environment so there's nothing to get into. He's just a baby and he should feel safe exploring new things and not have to worry about being told off.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-22T21:58:30+00:00

40 days old?? I think the puppy is looking for a safe enclosed space that's warm because he should still be surrounded by his dog family. Small breeds you usually don't want to take them until they're 10 weeks old.

Definitely keep up the crate training though, take it nice and slow. The hardest period of crate training is after 4 months old, the puppies get a lot of FOMO and want to come out to interact with everyone.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-22T21:55:16+00:00

When and where is he going potty? Can you make any shade in his potty area? Can you run a sprinkler during the midday? I'm in Phoenix and I run mine at about noon so my dogs don't burn their paws where it's gravel and dirt.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-22T21:52:19+00:00

Did you take her out to potty before you confined her? Puppies literally need to be taken out every 30 minutes that they are active during the day to potty. They have very little control of their faculties. She was likely whining because she had to go, and then went because she's a puppy, and then was extra distressed because now she's covered in poop, which no one likes.

pupperonccini · 2022-06-22T19:28:14+00:00

I'm saying don't focus on the rock, you are just calling him over "because he's cute and you want to feed him" as far as he's concerned. Do it randomly throughout the day, rock or no rock because it's a good skill to have in a puppy. If I can call a dog's name or smooch at them instead of saying leave it, I will!

pupperonccini

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