Getting Your Dog To Love The Heel Position

This is a great way to have fun getting your dog to remain at your side in the heel position using a simple game. It takes two or three minutes. And you can play this at home, in your kitchen, to begin with.

One of the problems with getting heelwork underway is that most dogs like to be in front. Either in front of and facing you, or in front of you leading the way. 

If your dog is not used to being trained with food, they will usually just prefer leading the way and will expect you to follow them! The game below helps to teach dogs that walking next to you nicely, is a great idea.

What if you’ve already tried food? 

When teaching dogs to heel, or walk nicely on a leash, most people do feed the dog in the heel position. Which is great. 

They then take a few steps and before they know it, the dog is surging ahead, or trying to get in front of them to beg for food. 

So they are constantly having to start and stop or change direction, to maintain the dog in the correct position.  They understandably conclude that food isn’t working too well.

We’re going to fix this with a game called Sit Heel Sit. 

The aim of the game

The purpose of the game is to break the habit of expecting all reinforcement to come from the front of you, by teaching the dog to expect reinforcement in the heel position.  

The goal of the game is to put the dog into a sit-stay, and then for you to move into the heel position while the dog remains seated. Once you are in the heel position with the dog sitting at your left hand side, you’ll feed the dog in that position. Then you’ll give a release cue and throw a treat behind you. 

You’ll do this many times, then add in a step forward before you feed, building up steps, feeding treats in position and treats behind the dog, until they no longer expect treats from in front of you. 

The game takes just a couple of minutes and can be practiced many times a day, on or off the leash, at home, and then taken out into more distracting locations. 

Sound simple? Everyone can spare two minutes right? Well, for some dogs it is very simple. But not for all. 

Don’t worry, that’s where the detail in the game comes in.

Precautions to take

There are three things to note. One is that you need a release cue. The dog must not move until you give that cue. 

The second is, that you feed the dog after each release cue and you throw the treat behind the dog. This is to help building anticipation of moving forwards. It will become clear why that is important. 

The final thing to note is that many dogs will not sit still while you move into the heel position. That’s where our game comes in. The first six steps of this game will teach your dog to sit still while you move into the heel position.  If you are not sure whether or not your dog can sit still while you turn your back on them or move around, then you need to play this game. 

Game: Sit-Heel-Sit

There are eight steps to this game. Play each step until the dog can do it easily. Play for a couple of minutes then stop. 

Leave an hour or two between sessions. Next time you play, start at the step before the one that you finished on the time before. 

A dog that is experienced at sitting throughout distractions will complete these steps much faster than a dog that does not have that experience. But if you have time for several sessions a day you may be able to complete the first seven steps in seven days. 

There are three parts to each step of this game. Part one is the cue and your dog’s response. Part two is your action (moving into the heel position). Part three is reinforcement and release. 

CUE/RESPONSE → ACTION → REINFORCE/RELEASE

So your actions (shown in the third column below), which get more complicated with each step, are sandwiched between the dog’s response to your cue, and the release from it. 

You’ll carry out parts one and three at every step. And we’ll build part two in stages as we go.

This table is a summary of what we’re aiming for. I’ll put detailed instructions for the steps below

Step	Cue	Your Actions	Release
1	Sit	wait 3 seconds, feed	Release & feed
2	Sit	quarter turn, return, feed	Release & feed
3	Sit	half turn, return, feed	Release & feed
4	Sit	side step, return, feed	Release & feed
5	Sit	side step, half turn, return, feed	Release & feed
6	Sit	side step, half turn, step back, feed in heel position	Release & feed
7	Sit	move into heel position, feed	Release & feed
8	Sit	move into heel position, feed, cue heel, walk one step with the dog, feed	Release & feed

You’ll see that the dog is fed twice at each step, before and after the release. Choose your release cue before you begin. I use OK, but it doesn’t matter what the word is. Just know that the dog gets NO treat if they get up before that release cue, or hear another cue from you. That’s the bottom line. You’ll see we add a ‘HEEL’ cue at step seven, that’s because we don’t want to release the dog from the sit with our release cue when we want them to stay in the heel position. But we do want the dog to know that they cannot move without either the release cue or another instruction.

Step 1: simple stay

Get your dog’s attention by hand feeding a few treats. Then throw a treat behind the dog and wait for them to come back to you. When your dog is in front of you, cue “SIT”, wait 3 seconds (count one thousand, two thousand, three thousand in your head) and feed the dog again. Then cue “OK” to release the dog, tossing a treat behind them after giving the cue.

If your dog cannot remain seated for three seconds, do NOT give a treat. Wait for the dog to sit again and this time release immediately, feed a treat and repeat with a one second stay. Practice a few times at one second. Build up through two seconds to three seconds until your dog can succeed every time.

Step 2: quarter turn

Cue “SIT”, and make a quarter turn, on the spot, so that you are facing at right angles to your dog. Turn back to face the dog again and feed. If it helps, imagine you and the dog were in the center of a clock face, the dog would be facing 6 o’clock, and you would start by facing 12 o’clock, turn to face 3 o’clock, then finish by turning back to face 12 o’clock again. Then cue “OK” to release the dog, tossing a treat behind them after giving the cue

If your dog cannot remain seated while you turn, do NOT give a treat. Face the dog again and wait for them to sit. Then make the task easier by moving just a tiny bit to start with

Step 3: half turn

Cue “SIT”, and make a half turn so that your back is to the dog. Turn back to face the dog again and feed. Then cue “OK” to release the dog, tossing a treat behind them after giving the cue

Step 4: side step

Cue “SIT”, and take a side-step to your left so that you are facing the space on your dog’s right hand side. Then take a side-step to your right so that you are back where you started in front of the dog. Feed the dog. Then cue “OK” to release the dog, tossing a treat behind them after giving the cue.

If your dog cannot remain seated while you step to one side, do NOT give a treat. Wait for the dog to sit again and this time just tap the ground to your left, with your left foot, before feeding and releasing the dog. Once the dog can succeed, plant your left foot out to the side and shift your weight onto it, practice until the dog can succeed then try the full side step again

Step 5: step and turn

Cue “SIT”, and take a side-step to your left so that you are facing the space on your dog’s right hand side. Then make a half turn so that you are facing the same way as the dog. Rotate back to face the space next to the dog. Then take a side-step to your right so that you are back where you started in front of the dog. Feed the dog. Then cue “OK” to release the dog, tossing a treat behind them after giving the cue.

Step 6: into the heel position

Cue “SIT”, and take a side-step to your left so that you are facing the space on your dog’s right hand side. Then make a half turn so that you are facing the same way as the dog. Now take a step back into the space next to the dog. You are now in the heel position. Feed the dog. Then cue “OK” to release the dog, tossing a treat behind them after giving the cue.

Step 7: moving at heel

Cue “SIT”, and move into the heel position. Feed the dog. Cue “HEEL” hold the treat at your side take one step forwards. Feed the dog as they move into position next to you. Then cue “OK” to release the dog, tossing a treat behind them after giving the cue.

If the dog does not move when you cue “HEEL” you can also pat your leg, or make a kissing sound to encourage them to join you. After two or three repetitions the dog should respond to the heel cue without those additional cues

Practicing

Practice step seven off and on the leash at home in a quiet room with no disturbance. Then practice in front of a friend or family member, then outdoors in a quiet space. Then outdoors in a slightly more exciting or distracting space. Once you have practiced in different locations on several different occasions, you can start to build up steps. Add two steps, then three between each treat. Increase distances gradually. 

What might go wrong?

Suppose the dog starts to fail when you add in distractions? The most common reasons for this are 

• Building distractions too fast 
• Using poor value treats
• Making the game too complicated

You need to move on to distractions in stages. If the dog cannot respond correctly near to a distraction, move further away and reduce the difficulty of the task.

Here’s an example. Once I have taught my dog to walk ten steps to heel in my garden, I might try three steps at a distance of ten yards from my chicken run. I would build back up to ten steps again before trying three steps closer to the chickens. Eventually my dog will walk to heel inside the chicken run and remain at heel while I feed the chickens. But this takes practice.

Think about the treats you are using. You might think they are great, but are they really? Are they meaty, and juicy? Save kibble and biscuit based treats for the easy tasks. When you introduce distractions, bring in the big guns, chicken, beef etc.

Making the game too complicated is a common problem. The process outlined in this game is broken down in even greater detail in the Core Skills course, but the principles of this detail are straightforward. If the dog cannot do something, find something similar that they can do, and reinforce them for that, before attempting the harder task again.

For example, if the dog can’t sit still while you turn a quarter turn away from them, start by just moving one foot. Then turning just your head. Then your head and shoulders. Then put it all together. Breaking tasks down into achievable stages eventually becomes something you do without even thinking. But it takes a little practice to learn how to do this.

Building on success

Training with food is a great way to get a relationship going with your dog. It gets your dog focused on you. But most people that get started with treat training soon find that their dog has a great preference for being in front and facing them. This game will change that.

Most dogs have no real association with being at your side, and being reinforced. Once the dog knows what the deal is, heelwork is all about practice. Try not to focus on how far you can walk, but how often you practice. You can practice heelwork at home. Heel your dog around the perimeter of each room in your house. Around the island in your kitchen. 

Heel up and down your hall. Pull out your dog crate and heel the dog around that. Heel around your sofa, around a friend. Put four rocks out on your lawn to make a square and heel the dog around it. 

Heel in and out of doorways, over and over again. Heel through internal doors, out through your back door, and in through your front door. Invent more places and ways to practice

Two minutes, two or three times a day will transform your dog. 

Always feed in position, always end with a release and feed behind the dog after the release so that you do not reinforce moving ahead. The results will come, and you’ll be glad you played this simple game!

You can also ensure that every time you give your dog a treat, instead of feeding them as you face them, hold the treat in your left hand close to your hip and simply turn your back on the dog before placing the treat in their mouth.

If you are a visual learner, you’ll find hundreds of games like the one above, with accompanying videos, in my training courses. The best way to access them is with our all access training pass.

You are welcome to join our free Facebook support group if you have any problems with the game above or just need some extra advice on general dog care and training!