Teach Your Dog To Heel! | Dog Training Tutorial

[@megan9568]

Aaah this is so amazing, I been wanting to train my dog to heel cause whenever I take her on walks she always seems to pull or just smell everything even tho we always walk the same path everyday. Also what do you recommend for a dog who knows how to escape her collar? A prong collar or a type of harness?? Cause whenever she gets scared of something ( a big truck, a very loud noise ect.) with her collar she knows how to escape from it she'll just twist her head and jump and she's out and same with a basic harness she will start jumping like a horse lol and then twisting her body and she's out of the harness

[@PuptoPerfection]

I actually don't recommend using heel for the entirety of a dog's walk. They very much need to be able to sniff while they're walking! Dogs are olfactory animals and they take in the most amount of information about their world through their nose. Taking a dog for a walk and not allowing them to sniff is like taking a person sightseeing and putting a blind fold on them. Sniffing makes walks more mentally stimulating as well, which is so important. Plus it can help slow down their walks so their pace matches yours instead of us having to match their pace. There are a lot of videos on loose leash walking out there. Check out Grisha Stewart's "silky leash" or the 300 pecks method. Heel is only used to help navigate around high traffic areas or past distractions. It is not the answer to pulling on leash. My recommendation for equipment is typically a front clip harness until dog's have better leash manners. There's actually a lot of research out there showing that injuries can occur (in their brain, eyes, neck, and back) from constant tension being put on their neck due to pulling. That's why I always recommend a front clip harness, and these also give you more control. It sounds like you're dealing with some reactivity as well, which will definitely make walking on leash more stressful and can contribute to why a dog pulls on leash. As such, I wouldn't recommend using a corrective tool like a prong because you don't want your dog building any more negative associations with stimuli. I would definitely recommend finding a qualified trainer to help you with that. Check out the Pet Professional Guild, CPDT, IAABC, and KPA websites to find a trainer in your area.