I just started teaching Kodee to heel. We are starting out veerrry slowly, off-lead (in the house) with one step at a time. He is the first dog I've ever trained, and so I am learning "how" to train him, as I'm doing it, so bear with me.

Tonight I used a cut-up hotdog for his lure/reward. We started out w/him on my left side in a sit, then I said "heel", took one exaggerated step forward with my left leg, and lured him into position w/the hotdog. It worked pretty well. I literally just did one step each time, and marked and rewarded for being in the correct position. He did great, and I kept it brief, so he was still eager to train.

My question is: Is there a way to use a ball as the lure/reward? Kodee will do anything for his ball, and I normally use it as his reward when we practice commands that he's already learned. I normally use food mainly for the teaching phase. I think I saw somewhere (don't remember where) that you could drop a ball from your armpit for your dog while teaching the heel, but I have no idea if that really works. I can't see how you could do it without the dog getting totally distracted. But I wanted to ask, because if there is a way to do it, Kodee would probably be the dog to train with that method.

TIA!

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I can't see how you could do it without the dog getting totally distracted

That is why teaching the dog to focus first is important.

The Flinks DVD building drive and focus that Leerburg sells shows you how to do what your asking.

Kori I'm about to PM you a video that shows a little OB using a ball and a lot of focus.

How quick the dog learns to focus and how intense his focus is, is part-training and part-genetics. A more driven dog will be more eager to focus, but the focus can be taught to less driven dogs too. Just be consistent and keep at it, eventually it will click and you will upgrade from 1 step to 2 steps. I like using a whole-hotdog and letting the dog nibble while he walks to get the dog started. Block the amount of hotdog he can get by putting your fist around it and letting the dog nibble at it. He will have to put effort into it in order to keep digging into your fist, so generally this keeps the dogs head up and keeps the dog following you.

Also be quick, and walk in a circle away from the dog, not in a straight line. At the very beginning, turning around almost on the spot while the dog tries to "keep up" with you (and your reward) will get the dogs position to be close to your body and by your side. Slowly extend this till you are doing big right circles in the yard. If the dog surges, walk in left circles into the dog, if the dog lags, walk in right circles. Don't go straight just yet. Not small circles either, use the space you have, as long as your direction isn't straight.

I was taught that you can hold the treat right in front of his nose where you want him to heel, maybe you can try it with the ball. I'm not sure how else you could use it as a treat during training, but I think it would be a GREAT positive reward when you have your party at the end of the session.

btw, do you use the squeaky balls? I LOVE kong's tennis ball with a squeaker in it!!

ditto what Jason said - train the focus first. After there is a known command to look at you, you can start to combine the two (heel and focus) look into that video mentioned above.