# Informal heel



## fortiesz24 (Jul 30, 2013)

I am trying to teach Kolby an informal heel, but am really struggling. I've never been one to use treats to train, but I tried it this time. Wants nothing to do with treats once we are outside. Maybe I should use a high value toy? The treats seem to work inside, but not outside. Any other thoughts on how to do this? I can handle him if he lunges, but walks would be way more pleasant for both of us if he didn't. When we run his focus seems to stay on me way more than when we walk.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

By "informal heel" do you mean loose leash walking? Basically staying fairly close to your side without pulling or lagging? For me, a LLW has certain criteria that I require, but that does not include focusing on me the whole time, like in a competition heel. For long distances that's just not practical, IMO. 

First you need to decide what criteria you want, and then work on training them. For me, the dog can be a foot or two from my side, with any part of their body from the head to about mid rib cage next to my leg, as long as the leash is slack. It's nice if they're aware of me at the other end of the leash and look up at me from time to time, but it's not critical. I spent way more time training Halo LLW, she's actually the first dog we've had where I was determined that she walk nicely on leash, and she is way more attentive to me than Keefer is. When she was in heat and on house arrest for a month I decided to start taking him out to train leash skills several times a week, and he now walks nicely too, but doesn't look at me unless I say his name or ask for a "watch". 

With both of them, if there's something they're interested in sniffing and they pull towards it, I stop, make them come back to me for a sit and watch, and then I release them - "okay, go sniff", giving them the length of the leash. When I think they've had enough time I say "let's go", which is my LLW cue, and we continue on our way. I find that if I allow them to be a dog and check stuff out occasionally they're much more inclined to want to obey me the rest of the time.


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## Merciel (Apr 25, 2013)

It sounds like you're dealing with a couple of different issues.

Heeling is heeling. The only difference between "formal" and "informal" is the strictness of your criteria. You train it the same way in either case.

If what you want is loose-leash walking (doesn't matter exactly where the dog is so long as he's not pulling on the leash or getting in your way), there are lots of threads about that. This youtube also covers basic loose-leash walking:





 
If you're dealing with lunging and reactivity, then that's another separate-but-related issue, and there are lots of threads and different approaches on how to deal with that, as well. If you know why your dog is lunging, or at least what the most common targets are, you'll have a head start on winnowing through the various methods to find one that's likely to work for you and your dog.

re: taking treats indoors and not outdoors -- this is a focus/proofing issue. Your dog is either too stressed or too distracted by other things in the environment to focus on what you're offering, and because other things in the world are taking precedence, the treats don't seem as interesting.

There are, again, a million different ways to handle that, and how you tackle it depends on you, your dog, and the reason for the distraction (fear? frustration? immaturity/low attention span? disinterest in handler?). My preferred approach is to combine the following:

-- focus/impulse control work to increase dog's attention span and reduce distractibility;
-- indoor proofing with controlled distractions before attempting same exercise outdoors with uncontrolled distractions;
-- use of higher-value rewards in more distracting environments (i.e., if you're training with kibble inside, use warm grilled chicken outside);
-- motivational games and exercises to build up interest in/value of interaction with handler;
-- management to prevent self-rewarding via undesired behaviors;
-- short sessions, lots of play and mental relaxation breaks (Find It! and building in mini-chase sessions by tossing treats instead of just handing them to the dog are helpful in giving a real quick mental break and chance to run off a bit of physical energy);
-- Premack principle: do what I want (gimme a Sit-Stay), you get what you want (chase the pigeon).

If you're not already using a no-pull harness or other management device, that can be helpful to reduce frustration while you're training the behaviors you want.

Patience is key here. It often takes months to lay foundations in training, and loose-leash walking is particularly hard one for lots of people.


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## fortiesz24 (Jul 30, 2013)

Loose-leash walking is what I was trying to get at! I guess an informal heel just represented what I thought I was trying to get across. I may have mispoke when I said lunge. Its more of a pulling trying to get at what he wants ie. tree, bush, hydrant. He has learned to ignore other dogs, people for the most part.

I've only been working with him for a couple months and I can see improvement, I'm just trying to get to the point where the leash is loose I guess. More work in a less distracting environment seems to be the way to go and I think I know just the place to do that.

I will also do some more searching around here on loose leash walking.

Thanks for the info!!


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

fortiesz24 said:


> I may have mispoke when I said lunge. Its more of a pulling trying to get at what he wants ie. tree, bush, hydrant.





Merciel said:


> -- Premack principle: do what I want (gimme a Sit-Stay), you get what you want (chase the pigeon).


I agree with Merciel, this is exactly what I do, I Premack it by asking for a sit with eye contact before being released to go sniff that interesting thing over there. I like to give permission to do so from time to time on walks because otherwise it can be boring for the dog. Premacking gives the dog "real life" rewards rather than, say, a food treat, for obeying. I read about it explained one way as "if you eat your vegetables you'll get dessert".  It can remove the conflict between the dog doing what they want and doing what you want, because doing what you want becomes the path to get what they want. It's a terrific technique that can be applied to many different situations. 

I like the LLW link she posted too. Other than Kikopup, I also like these tips from Ahimsa Dog Training: Leash Walking Ahimsa Dog Blog

With Halo I used Silky Leash (#1), and #2, #3, and #4 to train leash skills. I also like Helix Fairweather's method of shaping polite leash skills. She has 3 steps, but I skipped over step one as too rudimentary, and went right to #2 and #3:


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