Some More Thoughts

Many Pembrokes appear to have a rather extreme head position when trained with food in the left hand. My Pem, Dusty, used to hold his nose straight up in the air when heeling. I was often asked how I "made" him hold his head like that. You will find that your dog's head will drop a bit over time. It will be held in a more natural, comfortable position, particularly when you stop holding food in your left hand all the time. This should not concern you. Your dog can maintain attention without this extreme, nose-up position.

I train heeling with a leash and a collar on my dogs. Although I don't really use either during the training stages of heeling, they keep the dog near me after it is released. Heeling can be taught easily without a leash but I find that I spend way too much time setting my dog up to start heeling again if he is off lead. I prefer to use a two-foot lead when training heeling since any greater length just gets in my way. (You may use this lead in the Novice obedience ring when you go for your CD.) The type of collar your dog wears really doesn't matter since you won't be using it in a corrective manner. I have always preferred chain collars because they look better on my dogs than buckle collars. Looking good is everything!

Be sure to praise your dog when you feed it and any other time it pleases you. Praise must gradually take the place of food during your training since you can't carry food in competition but you can praise the dog between exercises. I use a happy "yes!" when I reinforce with food. As your dog becomes more and more comfortable with heeling, save your food reinforcement for spectacular performance or for success after working through a difficult problem.

Although I believe strongly that negative reinforcement (collar pops) are counterproductive during the teaching stages, there are circumstances later on in training when negative reinforcement is very helpful in securing the desired response. I pretty much follow Diane Bauman's edict that you should correct the dog "whenever it loses attention or chooses not to follow your command." Negative reinforcement should only be used after your dog thoroughly understands what is expected of him but chooses not to cooperate. Pems will usually let you know, loud and clear, if they think your corrections are unfair. If performance deteriorates following a correction, the dog didn't understand. If it improves, your dog understood what you wanted but chose to do otherwise.

Crabbing is an occasional side effect of this style of training. When a dog crabs, its rear legs do not move in parallel with its front legs, but may flare away from the handler. Many trainers of small dogs use a long wooden dowel or a loin loop to hold the rear in place while heeling. Since the dowel is held in the left hand, food must be held in the right hand as shown in Photo 5. You must gradually accustom your Pembroke to the use of a heeling dowel rod. Most are initially very worried about this big stick you bring to training. I start teaching my dogs to accept "petting" with the stick while we are watching TV or relaxing. Later, I hold it in position while heeling but I don't touch the dog with it. Gradually I accustom my dogs to accept the pressure of the wooden dowel on their loins as we heel. I can keep the dog's back end moving in line with its front end by training in this manner. I don't like to use the heeling dowel all the time because food in my right hand encourages forging, a big problem with our breed. A heeling dowel can be very useful to remind the dog to move in a straight line and can also improve wide turns if held on the dog's shoulder (Photo 6).

Photo 5. Dowel Used For Heeling

Photo 6. Dowel Used For Turns

I recommend that you keep your training sessions short and have them often, twice a day if possible. Five minutes is more than enough for beginning dogs. Incorporate some play into your mini-breaks. Bring out the toys and have some fun. I'm not a big believer in training heeling with play since heeling takes such concentration. Keep play and work separate but keep the "work" part of the sessions very rewarding. There is no reason not to train all aspects of heeling as accurately as you can from the outset. It is very difficult to untrain learned behaviors like forging, wide about turns and puppy sits. Teach your dog to do everything correctly from the beginning. Accuracy and animation can go hand in hand - they need not be separate entities.

Be sure to train every aspect of heeling separately. First train some stationary attention, then train straight line heeling. Next do several right turns (make a box), then left turns, then do several about turns, three halts, etc. When you get one or two good responses, reinforce and quit. Do not attempt a heeling pattern like one you'd have in competition until the dog has all the parts learned well and even then do it only occasionally. Your dog's performance will probably deteriorate once you start combining various parts of heeling, but accuracy will return quickly. When you and the dog can put it all together, have someone call commands for you. Following a judge's commands is a whole lot different than following your own. Remember that no command has to be executed instantaneously. You are expected to take a few steps before coming to a halt or before executing an about turn.

I think it's pretty obvious from the above discussion what I think of group heeling instruction. Unless you and your dog are taught individually, you are unlikely to have a dog trained to perform all the aspects of heeling accurately. Good instructors do not teach heeling to groups of dogs and handlers, calling commands and having everyone go around in a circle. An occasional private lesson with a good instructor is invaluable. A critical set of eyes can see problems with your pace, heel position or smoothness that are difficult for the handler to detect. Remember that heeling is a team effort. You've got to be a forty-point handler if you want to have a forty-point dog.