English Springer Spaniel Forum:
Teaching my puppy to heel

Hello Everyone,

I am hoping some of you may have some advice for me. I have a 17 week old ESS named Tessa. She is very friendly and affectionate, but I am having the standard "puppy problems" - nipping, jumping up, general ruckus etc. We are trying to provide a structured, consistent environment for her and I think those things are starting to get better. However, she is impossible when we try to teach her heel. She is too young for a choke collar so she ends up trying to pull our arms out when we go for walks. The only time she heels is when it is the end of the walk and she is too tired to yank and pull. We are currently enrolled in obedience classes and in most cases, walk her everyday. I have heard of a halter you can buy that fits around her chest and front legs and is supposed to be very effective in stopping dogs from pulling - have any of you used these? Do they work? Are there other things I can do to help her learn heel?

Any help would be greatly apprecia

The method Ive used has made "heeling fools" of some of the dogs. I use a 6 ft lead. Take the dog out and let him go to the end of the lead. When he his the end, make an about face and say heel. The more you repeat this process, the closer and closer the dogs stays. They get the idea very fast! Plenty of praise and a goodie or two cements the idea.

Ive never been a fan of harnesses. However, I have heard folks talk about a face halter, Halti, that have been very pleased with it. You must be careful not to jerk ono the halti halter as it can damage the dogs neck.