How to Teach Your Dog to Heel

Heel is an intermediate skill that is necessary to teach in order to walk nicely on a leash. It is one of the seven skills that dogs should know.

I was pretty nervous about teaching Heel to Ezra. It seemed pretty hard, but it’s actually not so bad. I recommend teaching your dog how to sit first and learn how to food lure/shape your dog’s behaviors. So long as you have that down, you can teach your dog to heel.

What is the Heel command?

Ideally, your dog stays at your side while you are walking. But it isn’t reasonable to expect your dog to stay directly at your side while you walk 20+ minutes. He will get distracted or go to the bathroom. When that happens, you want to be able to call him back to your side. If his sniffing leads him really astray and on the wrong side of you, then you want to teach him the right behavior so that you don’t trip or step on his paws. That’s where the Heel command comes in.

Why should you teach your dog to Heel?

The main reason you want to teach your dog to heel is if you are leash training your dog. If you have a small dog, you may not need to teach this skill at all. But if your dog is large enough to plow you over, it’s a good one to learn.

You may also want to teach this skill to ensure your dog has good manners. For example, if you want to teach your dog not to jump on people when greeting, you’ll want to teach them Heel. It’s a good foundation for teaching your dog to sit calmly for greeting people.

Basic principles of teaching your dog to heel

We will use food luring to teach your dog to Heel. You will hold kibble in your hand and lure the dog to walk around you and stop right next to you. Afterwards, you will put him in a sit. Then you will give a cue word to begin walking and walk a few steps before breaking the dog.

As you advance this skill and practice with more distractions, you may need to switch to a more enticing treat.

How to teach your dog to Heel

You don’t need any special gear to teach your dog to Heel. But if you have a dog that sits with a turkey leg like Ezra, you may want to practice this command next to a wall so his heel is sharp. You can convert meal time to a training session and use your dog’s kibble as a training treat.

Let’s get started!

Milestone #1: Leash your dog and chose the side you’ll walk on

Most people in the US choose to walk their dog on their left side. This keeps the dog away from traffic and close to lawns as you are walking in your neighborhood. But it’s up to you which side you want to walk your dog on. Ezra walks on my left side.

Before moving onto the next milestone, get a treat in both hands ready.

Milestone #2: Focus your dog on your, then lure him behind you

Your dog is probably somewhere in front of you. That’s OK. Get him focused on you by saying his name or popping his leash. Once he’s looking at you, begin luring with your right hand.

For Ezra, I would start with the treat in my right hand side and put it in front of his nose, then move my hand slowly behind me while he followed. Once he was behind me, give him the treat.

If you can’t get your puppy all the way behind your back, that’s OK. Juggling an excited puppy and maneuvering the leash behind you is pretty difficult. If you need to treat your dog earlier than behind you, that’s fine too. Pay the small behaviors as you need to.

Milestone #3: Use your other hand to lure your dog to your side

As your dog is behind you munching on his treat, quickly put your left hand behind your back with another treat. You want to keep his attention. Lure him to stand next to you. Once he does, praise and pay with a treat.

Keep practicing these steps over and over until he starts to get the hang of it. Then add the cue word, “heel.”

Milestone #4: Sit the dog, then cue to walk

Before walking, I like to get Ezra into a sit so that I can rearrange the leash in my hand and get more treats ready. Ezra had a hard time sitting next to me and facing forward without leaning on his side or sitting facing me. To avoid that, I would practice heel next to a wall so that when he sat, he was forced to sit facing forward.

Once we are ready to go, I tell Ezra “let’s go,” which is his cue word for us to start walking. I take a step forward with my left foot and start walking with him at my side. Walk a few steps and pay with treats if you need to keep him at your side. Then give your dog freedom to walk wherever he wants with a cue word. Ezra’s cue word is “break.”

Now all that’s left is to keep practicing! Over time you can practice walking further and further with him at your side to lengthen the time he’s next to you.

You can do this by putting his bed a few feet away from you and walking to his bed. Once you get there, break the dog. Then try it again. As he improves, move the bed further away so he has to heel a longer distance.

Common questions about teaching your dog to heel

Conclusion

Food luring is a great way to teach your dog how to Heel. Start with converting meal times to training sessions. Focus the dog on you, and then use the treat to lure the dog to walk behind you and stop walking exactly at your left-hand side. Over time, you will be able to add the cue word “heel.” Then you can put the dog in a sit and re-arrange the leash so your holding onto it correctly. When you are ready, give your cue word to start walking. Ezra’s is “let’s go.” Keep walking a few steps. Feed your dog treats as necessary to stay at your side. Then break your dog so he knows he doesn’t have to stay at your side anymore. Ezra’s break word is “break.”

Over time, your dog will be able to walk further and further by your side. And when he does stray, you’ll be able to get him by your side again to continue walking.