I want to teach my dog to walk with me under any distraction, we live in a big city with narrow sidewalks. Should I teach contact heeling or use a second command for loose leash walking? Do you have any suggestions?

My dog is a 3-year old high energy border collie who is trained in obedience and has solid heels and loose leash walking and a bullet-proof stay.

I now want to build an equally bullet-proof way to walk with me even under any distractions.

My question is, should I 1) build on her loose leash walking, or 2) teach a contact heel, or 3) use a second command for loose leash, or 4) anything else?

Since we live in a big city we use loose leash a lot, either on narrow sidewalks, but also for her to ignore the environment when too distracted. That means we walk for up to 10 minutes in busy surroundings like that.

If I build on that, my fear is that I will dilute it if I use it on longer walks and if I am not consistent.

Also I am not sure if it is at all possible to keep the dog concentrated and reliable for up to ten minutes, or if that would be asking too much of the dog.

Therefore I am wondering which "heel" to use for proofing.

Cindy's Answer

I can only tell you what I do in high-distraction environments. I taught my young German Shepherd to contact heel on my right side for high-distraction situations. It's a very clear behavior for the dog and I didn't want to give up my nice focused heeling and as you mentioned it may weaken your focused heeling if you need to rely on it for long periods with many distractions you can't avoid or control.

I use a separate command for contact heeling on the right- his verbal cue is 'easy' and he knows that means go to the right side and keep his shoulder against my right knee no matter if I go forward, backward, sideways, etc. He can look wherever he wants to as long as he maintains contact. He's a very solid dog without dog or people reactivity so it works well for him. If he had some reactivity or nervousness I might ask him to also give eye contact on cue to help him cope with certain situations.

I have noticed that when my dog and I are out walking he has started to offer contact heeling on the right when he sees people, dogs, bicycles, or other distractions approaching. I often let him do what he wants on leashed walks as long as he isn't pulling.