How do I teach a stubborn sighthound to heel? I used markers and treats but have now replaced it with correcting her on the leash. She still pulls and is distracted.

Question

Hi Ed and Cindy,

    First of all, thank you so much for your website. It is the best resource on dog training I have found, and I appreciate the range of information. It is sad that so many trainers seem to think treat training is the only way to go (especially with a stubborn breed).

    I have a rescue dog - a purebred Basenji - 4 years old. She came to me basically untrained and out-of-control. I trained her initially with markers and treats to learn basic commands like sit, down, come, stay. I'm working on teaching her "rug" and "bed" as two places I would like her to learn to go. All of that is going well. I removed the treats and used her leash with the following correction style:

    "Zoe, sit."
 If she doesn't do it - "No. Sit."
 If she still doesn't do it - jerk on her collar on the No and repeat the command.

That's working great.

    What I haven't been able to do is to get her to consistently walk without pulling. Since Basenjis are both sight hounds AND scent hounds, they are extremely distracted outdoors. I am now using a prong collar and getting better results, but even with corrections, she goes right back to pulling in a few minutes.

    She gets two or three 45-minute walks per day, so I think she definitely gets enough exercise.

    Do you have any advice on how to teach a dog like this to heel (or at least not pull) or recommend one of your DVDs that has this instruction? I just ordered the electronic collar DVD thinking I might want to try that, but it hasn't arrived yet.

    Thank you for your time.

    Best,
  Mariska

Accepted Answer

Why did you remove the treats from training? Good dog training isn't about getting rid of treats and replacing them with corrections. If your dog isn't responding to your commands then she isn't trained. The method of correction you have described won't TEACH a dog anything, and will actually shut a dog down from continuing to try.

If you understand markers you will know that you use them for the life of the dog.

I'd recommend The Power of Training Dogs with Markers and The Power of Training Dogs with Food.

The food video shows correct use of markers and how to teach muscle memory heeling, which is how I would go about teaching your dog.

Don't get me wrong, I use corrections but not to teach and not when the dog is showing me they don't understand OR they aren't engaged with me. People love to label dogs as stubborn when in reality, your dog may just be more challenging to get engaged with you for training. This means you need to be more creative and fun, and make the dog WANT to interact and train. Using physical means to place a dog in positions teaches them nothing. If your dog isn't paying attention to you, it's not the dog's fault. You just aren't interesting enough. :)

You are putting a dog that doesn't fully understand what you want in a distracting environment too soon. Learning is impossible in this scenario. Back up the training, go back and use markers as outlined in the marker and food videos and then progress from there.

We have a ton of streaming video, I'd recommend you watch the Michael Ellis lecture (it's a multiple part series).

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