Forming the Perfect Heel

You can teach a dog how to heel many different ways. One of the tricks I have read about is having a dog rotate it’s behind around while standing on an object. This exercise is great to raise awareness to a dog’s back end so that it learns how to rotate it around to a proper heel position. Some of you may recall I tried this exercise, without the proper equipment, a few weeks ago (It’s Okay to Make Mistakes). Well, I finally got the correct bucket! This is a general feed bucket for livestock you can find at any feed store. The video below is just out second session!

I clicked and treated the following behaviors:

  1. Approaching the bucket
  2. Jumping over the bucket
  3. Touching the bucket
  4. Putting a paw on the bucket (standing and laying down)
  5. Standing on the bucket with both paws
  6. Any movement from the hindquarters and side steps

He had such a great time! You may notice that Loker is quite enthusiastic this training session. He had some stomach issues last week and was on a strict pumpkin and chicken diet for a day or two – clearly he missed his daily variety of treats!!! 🙂