The first skill we want to teach off the fence is getting in heel position with a finger touch. Most puppies or dogs will have to be re-taught the finger touch off the fence.
Dogs are very situational. A dog who has been taught a behavior in one location or in very particular situations will often not understand that they are to do the same behavior in another place or when anything could be different. The process of teaching a dog to apply something he has learned in one situation to a similar situation is called generalization.
Dogs do not generalize learning as easily as humans do so you’ll need to make the exercise a little easier the first time you practice it off the fence.
Use the same protocol to teach the finger touch off the fence that you used to teach it on the fence. However, initially, don’t point your finger this time quite so far back behind you as you were doing on the fence. The first time you present the finger off the fence, do it on your left side, but fairly close to the puppy.
Because the only behaviors the puppy knows when not on a fence are sitting in front of you and going into a down, he will be inclined to offer one of those two behaviors. Don’t look at the puppy as you would when the puppy is sitting in front of you. Don’t look at the ground in front of you as you would when you are wanting the puppy to down.
Instead, look at your pointed finger, say “touch”, and wait patiently. Give your puppy several seconds to figure out on his own that the extended finger pointing slightly behind you on your left side means the same thing when you are off the fence as when you are on the fence.
As soon as the puppy touches the finger, mark and guide the puppy in a counter clockwise circle with reward placement to heel position. Don’t worry about getting your puppy in good heel position. Just get him to make the loop and sit. Because you didn’t start with your finger way back behind you, it is unlikely that your puppy will do a good completion of the loop. More than likely, he will end up too far forward and facing too far to the right. Give your puppy his reward anyway. He earned it by meeting your only criteria for the mark: touching the finger.
After the first successful finger touch and loop into heel, try presenting your finger a littler farther back and saying “touch”. Look over your left shoulder at your pointing finger. Wait quietly until the puppy offers to go behind you and touch your finger.
If after a few seconds, the puppy is stuck sitting or standing looking at you, show the puppy your finger and make the loop again. If he’s still stuck, begin verbal encouragement with chatter while continuing to look at your pointing finger. When your puppy touches it, use reward placement to get your puppy in a little better position than on the last repetition.
Once your puppy understands the game, extend your finger behind you far enough that the puppy can loop back behind you and complete the loop. You will no longer have the benefit of the fence helping the dog to finish straight so your reward placement will need to be more precise. Try to get your puppy in good heel position with reward placement, but don’t worry about it if he’s not.
If your puppy is still slightly out of perfect heel position, move yourself into correct position while your puppy is taking his food. Remember to make sure that your puppy is preoccupied with eating when you move. Don’t let your puppy see you move. If he does, he will be inclined to move also putting himself even more out of position.
Quarter Turns to the Left
After your puppy has taken his food, turn your own body counterclockwise a quarter turn to the left leaving your puppy in front of you out of heel position. Show the puppy your finger, say “touch”, and twist to the left. Your puppy should follow and touch your finger. Turn your body back straight. Use reward placement to get him in heel position again. If he’s not perfect, again, move your own body to correct heel position while your puppy is taking his food.
Turn a quarter turn to the left again and repeat the process. Point behind you. Say “touch”. Mark when the puppy touches. Use reward placement to get puppy in good heel position. Move your own body to perfect heel position while puppy is taking his food. Mark and reward a couple of times for the puppy staying in heel position. Then repeat the whole process again starting with the quarter turn to the left. Do this several times in a row until the puppy is good at it. Make at least two or three complete turns with each 360 degree turn consisting of four quarter turns and numerous marks and rewards.
Once the puppy is good at quarter turns to the left with a finger touch, you’re going to change the picture you present the puppy in three ways.
First of all, begin raising your finger.
Secondly, change the cue because your finger will no longer be low enough for the puppy to touch it. I use the cue “right here” for our puppies in our videos. I use that same cue when my dogs get out of heel position during leisure walks to signal them to get back in position.
Thirdly, change your body posture. When presenting the finger down so low that the puppy could touch it, you might have needed to slightly lean forward to get your finger low enough. As you raise the finger, stop leaning forward. Initially slightly, arch your back and lean backwards instead. Gradually stand up straight.
Even when you are standing completely upright, mark when your puppy has reached the furthest point behind you and use reward placement to get your puppy in correct position. It is necessary to build good muscle memory on this skill. Otherwise, most puppies will not loop back far enough and will end up crooked. If the puppy makes the loop too soon and doesn’t go back far enough, don’t mark. Instead, cue the behavior again.
If you plan on doing competitive obedience, you might want to use a “finish” cue. Some trainers use “swing” to cue the dog to swing to the left to get in heel position. The word doesn’t matter as long as you are consistent using the same word.
It is important that as you make the loop with your finger, you do not move your finger forward past the plane of your body at the end of the loop. When your finger gets to the side seam of your pants, it needs to go up not forward. If you move it forward, the puppy will follow it forward and he will end up in front of you.
Side Step to the Right
Teaching your puppy a side step to the right is another helpful exercise in finding heel position. Once learned, it is a good tool to use with any puppy or dog who tends to want to sit or heel too far away from you. This is a very common problem and the side step to the right is an easy and effective fix for it.
To train it, step directly to the right when your puppy is in heel position. Signal him to get in heel position with your finger. Give your “right here” cue. Your puppy should be able to easily modify what he’s already learned while practicing the quarter turns to the left. If your puppy doesn’t get it with a raised finger while you are in an upright position, try offering the finger down lower.
This skill can be used to fix sits that are too far away from the handler as well as to decrease the distance between you and a dog who heels too far away from the handler.
Gradually Shift Responsibility for Finding Heel Position from You the Trainer to the Dog
When your puppy is regularly getting in good straight heel position with a mark at the furthest point back in the loop, it’s time to wait until the puppy is in a more complete heel position before marking the behavior. Gradually lessen the amount of help you are giving the puppy until the puppy is finding heel position on his own without reward placement.
When the puppy is to the point where you are waiting until he sits before marking and rewarding, you will evaluate the position of the sit and respond accordingly.
If the puppy sits straight, mark and reward. Mark and reward also if the puppy sits facing outward or too far behind you. These problems will tend to fade with time. Don’t worry about them.
If the puppy is only slightly facing inward, mark and use reward placement to see if you can get the puppy to turn away from you enough to get straight. If the puppy is slightly ahead of you, mark and reward, and then move yourself forward, while the puppy takes his reward.
There are some situations where the puppy will not get his reward for the current repetition. He’ll have to try again. If the puppy sits too far to your left, step away from him to your right and cue him to try again. If the puppy sits facing you more than facing forward, signal him to try again. You’ll also signal the puppy to try again if he sits way out in front of you. Whenever a puppy fails, do not tell him “no”. Just ask him to do it again with the exercise simplified.
Do not let the puppy make more than two mistakes in a row! If the puppy doesn’t get in the correct position the second time, make the exercise so simple that it would be almost impossible for him to fail. Go back to marking for getting far enough behind you or if necessary, go back to luring. Then once your puppy is successful, gradually increase criteria again.
When the puppy is consistently getting himself in correct heel position without reward placement, begin turning your cue into something more subtle and natural. Gradually quit going back so far with the finger. Expect the puppy to know that he needs to get himself back far enough to make the complete loop without such a big physical cue. Gradually make the loop smaller and smaller until the cue is a simple and quick point behind your back with your left hand along with a verbal cue.
Your puppy is ready to take his first step forward off the fence when he has met the following criteria:
1. He can find good heel position consistently without reward placement.
2. He is straight at least 75% of the time.
2. He finds heel position consistently both while doing quarter turns to the left and while you do a side step to the right.
3. He finds heel position with only a subtle cue and no longer needs the big circle of the pointed finger.
It is very important that you don’t start moving forward until your puppy is proficient with finding heel position in a stationary position. Remember that learning one aspect of heeling at a time will give you the fastest results. Moving at heel adds an additional level of difficulty over the stationary exercises. If the puppy isn’t solid on finding heel position when the handler isn’t moving, it will be far more difficult to teach a puppy to remain in correct position when the handler is moving.
Puppies are more inclined to move at heel straight without crabbing or forging when the puppy knows the following:
1. How to sit straight and be in correct position at heel when in a stationary position.
2. That the handler will stop moving at and be in a stationary position at anytime.
3. That when the handler stops moving, the puppy should sit.
4. That when the puppy sits straight and in correct position, he will be rewarded.
Therefore, make sure your puppy knows all of the above before starting to teach him to move in heel position. Even if you don’t plan on doing competitive obedience and don’t especially care for the pretty look of a dog who heels straight, heeling straight is still a very helpful skill. Dogs that are allowed to continue moving on a leash in a crabbed (or facing inward) position are more likely to cut in front of you and possibly trip you.
Continue working on finding heel in a stationary position even while working on moving one step.
