I have been watching some DVD's, some from ED and one from Balabanov all excellent DVD's. I know Ed has a heeling DVD on the boil which should be out soon. What methods have people tried and what have they found the most effective way to get their dog heeling like a champion. I'm interested in Shutzhund and have a Malinios (the fast and furious ones).

Hey Anthony,

I found that with my pup it was easier to teach him the heel using food. He got too hectic when the ball (or tug) was out and couldn't concentrate enough to learn a new exercise.
He was about 6-7 months old when I started that training and now he's 13 months.

Food kept his attention and enthusiasm, but kept him calmer too so that he wasn't jumping and leaping all over me. Hehe.

Once he understood the exercise and could do some simple heeling patterns with turns, pace changes, stops, starts, I then introduced the ball-on-a-string to bring him up in drive.

(In my case I had to be patient and really work with the food before bringing in the ball. If I introduced the ball/toy too soon, my pup just got sloppy and was all over the place - even on very short straight heeling).

He does fantastic heeling now; he's highly precise, stays very close & tight yet has unbelievable enthusiasm for the work. Also he never tries to grab the ball or tug until I release it for him so his focus and control have gotten way better with maturity.

Btw, initially when using food I held the treat between my teeth and dropped it from my mouth so that my dog would watch my face. This method is explained in detail on Ed's heeling DVD with Tom Rose. Worked beautifully! I sometimes ask my dog for a short "heel" now without having any food or toys and he'll still intently watch my face - it's so cool, I love that method :-)

I hope this helps. I know that some people have success using a toy from the start, but that just didn't work for us. All it accomplished was me getting bitten a lot. Haha.

A toy is a great tool later on to add the extra flair and enthusiasm once your dog knows the exercise though!

Good luck!

food is the only way i can get my gsd pup to follow suit in a sort of heeling position too...

i wish at times that he was as enthusiastic over a tug or a ball like the 'working' dogs, but then there are times that i am glad he is not...i think that it would just make some of t training more easy....he is a lazy american show dog...go figure....