Before beginning to train your puppy to move at heel off a fence, your puppy should be proficient at getting in and staying in heel position when you are not moving. He should also be proficient at moving one or two steps on a fence. However, since we are making the exercise more difficult by moving off the fence, we’re going to reduce criteria making the already learned aspects of the exercise easier. Initially, take one step and mark the instant your puppy’s butt leaves the ground just like you did when working on the fence. Use reward placement to help your puppy find correct heel position. Gradually increase criteria the same as you did when teaching your puppy to move on the fence.
Alternate between one-step-and-sits, rewarding for staying still, and quarter turns to the left. When doing the one-step-and-sits use reward placement to help your puppy sit straight. When doing quarter turns to the left, don’t mark until your puppy finds heel position on his own.
If your puppy sits too far from you, do a side step to the right. Walking too far away from a handler is very common with puppies. If yours is one of those puppies that likes more space, a another tip for keeping your puppy close to you is to keep your hand close to the side of your body. Don’t flap or swing it out away from you.
When first starting to move one step at heel off the fence, vary how you take your one step. Sometimes take only a half step. Stopping with one foot ahead of the other will help the puppy to learn to find heel position no matter how your feet are positioned. When walking, sometimes your right foot is in front. Sometimes your left is in front. Sometimes, your feet are almost together. Your puppy needs to learn to regulate where his body is no matter where your feet are with relation to each other.
Practice alternating between marking for repeated reinforcement for sitting still in heel position, for moving, for doing a one-step-and-sit, for quarter turns to the left, and for side steps to the right. When your puppy is consistently staying in good position while performing all of these exercises, it’s time to move more than one step.
Increasing the Number of Steps
As you are alternating between the heeling exercises already learned, throw in one repetition where you take two steps. Do not take two steps twice in a row. Go back to performing several of the already learned exercises in between times that you take two steps. Take two steps only occasionally with most of your work being review of the already learned exercises. Adding the extra step should be seamless. If it’s not, it’s because you haven’t practiced the other more foundational heeling exercises enough.
As your puppy progresses, take two steps more often. Then once your puppy is heeling straight, sitting straight, and maintaining constant eye contact, occasionally add a third step. Always continue practicing and reinforcing one-step-and-sits, quarter turns, and other foundational work as you add steps. Make sure that as you add steps you remember to sometimes mark and reward after the sit and at other times, you mark for movement. When marking for movement, use reward placement for a sit.
Continue practicing the foundational exercises occasionally throwing in a greater number of steps between reward events. Increasing the number of steps must be done gradually and randomly. The puppy must always think that the mark and reward could come at any minute.
The first step in particular must not be forgotten. A common mistake is for trainers to quit marking the first steps. The puppy then learns that there is no point in paying attention until after those first steps. He’ll develop a habit of looking away at the start.
If your puppy looks away or gets distracted, you have added steps too quickly. Stay at the level where you keep your puppy successful. When your puppy fails, reduce criteria and make sure he doesn’t fail twice in a row. If your puppy is looking away from you or sitting crooked more than 10% of the time, you are asking too much of him. Reduce criteria and keep him successful.
