Pairing compulsion with the ball. Despite the precision the dog learned while finishing for food, the pull of the ball will be too strong and will tend always to draw the dog’s head in toward

Despite the precision the dog learned while finishing for food, the pull of the ball will be too strong and will tend always to draw the dog’s head in toward the handler and make the hindquarters swing wide, so that rather than being precisely straight at heel the animal is instead crooked.

We cure this problem, and put the finishing touches on the finish, with force. Just as before, the handler finishes the dog with the ball but, when the animal reaches the heel position and before it sits, the handler strikes it sharply and quickly with the flat of his left hand on the left hip. The animal will flinch away from the slap, draw its hindquarters in toward the handler’s feet and sit tight and straight. The handler then rewards it with a quick toss of the ball.

GOAL 7: The dog will heel precisely and with spirit.

For the average dog owner the “Heel!” command is of little importance. He makes far more use of “Come!” and “Down!” and some sort of loose walk on leash command. The fact is that heeling is not a terribly practical skill, as we teach it for competition. The proof of this is that a competitive dog trainer avoids using his dog’s heeling in everyday life if at all possible, for fear of wearing the polish off it.

^{The military finish for the ball. The handler teaches the dog to spring into the air by snapping the ball up toward his left shoulder and giving the “Heel” command.}

Heeling is, pure and simple, an attention exercise. We use it to create attentiveness and absolute obedience in the dog, and in trial we use it to exhibit to the judge how we have been able to create this attentiveness and obedience without killing the animal’s liveliness.

Important Concepts for Meeting the Goal

1. Heeling for food

2. Heeling for the ball

3. Pairing compulsion with the ball

4. Teaching the Schutzhund about‑turn

5. Heeling in the group

6. Heeling under gunfire

Heeling for food

In order to teach the dog to walk at heel, we must be able to attract it and draw it along with us as we move. We accomplish the attraction by using food.

The handler begins with his dog sitting at heel. Holding the food enclosed in his right hand, he reaches the hand across his body and touches it to the animal’s nose so that the dog can smell the food but not take it. Then with a bright, encouraging “Heel!” command he steps smartly off into a tight turn to his right.

As he goes, he holds his hand and the food it contains down low and just ahead of his left hip so that, as the dog pursues it, the animal will move perfectly along at heel. The handler continues around in a small circle, ruffling the dog’s head and neck with his left hand and praising it extravagantly with, “Good! Heel! Good dog!”

When he reaches his starting point, the handler stops abruptly, commands “Sit!” and lifts the hand with food in it sharply up, so that the dog quickly sits straight at heel without forging or swinging in toward the handler. If necessary, the handler can give a little tap with his left hand on the dog’s left flank to gather the animal in tight as it sits. The handler then feeds the dog, pats it and sets off quickly into another right‑handed circle, perhaps feeding the dog a tidbit or two as they move along.

For the first few training sessions, the handler practices only small, right‑handed circles while heeling. Later he begins walking a straight line with a right about‑turn at each end (like the path that a sentry walks). Eventually, he will expand the heeling patterns into rectangles and figure eights, taking care to move quickly and talk excitedly to the dog to keep it moving along tightly at heel.