The Heel:
With leash and collar on your dog, command, "Heel!",
while walking out with the foot closest to your dog.
If your dog's head or neck is not level with your
leg while walking, jerk your dog into this position.
You may have to jerk your dog continuously if the
dog constantly forages or lags. The typical side to
have the dog heel is on the left side but it is your
choice. The right side is not allowed in obedience
trials. (If someone knows this is not true, please
e-mail me.) So, if you feel you'll want to have the
dog compete in odedience trials then I'd heel your
dog to the left. (I will soon have a page up discussing
the different dog training equipment.)
The Sit and Down:
I have decided to explain the sit only with the sit-stay
and the down only with down-stay because most dog
owners want this outcome with their dogs. This will
make it easier for me and the dog owner will understand
the steps better if it is all put together.
The Sit-Stay:
With leash and collar on your dog, command, "Sit!",
while pushing your dog's rump down, pull the leash
up or hold the dog's head up. For the stay, put your
hand out with palm facing flat toward dog and the
command, "Stay!", and then step right in
front of him or her. Stay there standing in front
of your dog. If he or she moves any time after you
say this, command, "No!", and then put him
or her right back where he or she was. When your dog
stays after half a minute praise him or her vocally,
only. Petting may cause him or her to move. Continue
to do these steps and he or she will learn both commands.
Once your dog is able to stay with you right in front
of him or her, then gradually work out further standing
in front of him or her until you reach the end of
the 6 ft. leash. Once your dog does this well, you
can now try long stays. I suggest doing this in your
house, fenced backyard, some other confined area or
use a long line on your dog in open areas. The possibility
of a loose dog is just too great. If he or she goes
down, stands or dashes from position, put him or her
right back where your dog was in a sit. When you are
correcting a dog back into the position you don't
say the command because you want the dog learn when
you say it the first time you mean it.
Therefore, you just put your dog into a sit by pushing
your dog's rump down and pulling the leash up. Once
your dog stays well with this step, you can try putting
him or her into a sit-stay and go do something in
the same room or not far in the backyard. When he
or she does well with this step, you can try going
out of sight. If the dog is able to do the long sit
for 5 minutes, then you can work with him or her around
more distractions.
The Down-Stay:
If your dog doesn’t have any biting or dominating
problems then you should be fine to go on ahead and
do the down-stay. However, the minute the dog growls
or does really fight you to put him or her into the
down then please stop and go get a Halti head halter.
You should also go get a Halti head halter if your
dog is already dominating and biting. Now, you are
ready to teach the down. It is best to start training
with the least distractions. With your dog at heel
position, command, "Down!", while you take
your right hand with palm down in front of your dog's
head and bring your hand down to the ground.
Then you grab your dog's furthest leg from you and
hold the dog in place as you take your dog down. Or,
you could get in front of your dog and take your dog's
paws with your hands. When your dog has learned this
after four days, you should only grab the leash a
foot away from the snap if you command your dog 'down'
and he or she does not go into a down. You may have
to do this several times if the dog is stubborn about
obeying your command to down. Once your dog obeys
the down command ever time you tell the dog to do
it, then you can start teaching the stay command.
With your hand out with palm facing flat toward dog,
command, "Stay!", and then step right in
front of him or her, using your foot furthest from
your dog.
Stay there standing in front of your dog. If your
dog moves any time after you say this, command, "No!",
and then put him or her right back where he or she
was. When your dog stays after half a minute, praise
him or her vocally, only. Petting may cause him or
her to move. Continue to do these steps and he or
she will learn both commands. Once your dog is able
to stay with you right in front of him, then gradually
work out further standing in front of him or her until
you reach the end of the 6 ft. leash. Once your dog
does this well, you can now try long stays. I suggest
doing this in your house, fenced backyard, some other
confined area or use a long line on your dog in open
areas.
The possibility of a loose dog is just too great.
When you are correcting a dog back into the position
you don't say the command because you want the dog
to learn that when you say it the first time you mean
it. So you just jerk your dog into a down and use
the down hand signal. Once your dog stays well with
this step, you can try putting him or her into a down-stay
and go do something in the same room or not far in
the backyard. When he or she does this step well,
try going out of sight. If the dog is able to do the
long down for 5 or 10 minutes, then you can work with
him or her around more distractions.
