# Heel’s on the left, should I train for being on the right?



## Princess Dollie (Jan 15, 2011)

Dollie and I have been diligently training for formal Obedience. So lots of sit-stays, down-stays, stand for exam, etc.

And heel – on the left side of me.

I want to leave my options open for Agility and I know a lot of action would then happen on my right side. Should I simultaneously start teaching a form of heel on my right side? How would I do that? She knows “touch” on both sides.

It isn’t hard-wired into her little poodle brain yet that “heel” means on my left. So, I think I have a perfect window-in-time opportunity to try to train for being on the right side.

A long time ago, I had a perfect little heeler of a dog. I had a friend who tried to take him for a walk and came back and declared the dog “broken” because he refused to walk on the right side.


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

_I wouldn't confuse her for obedience training by teaching her to heal on the right side too.

These are two different disciplines. When we are teaching different disciplines, we use a different type of collar for each. The poodles are smart enough to pick up on this and know which discipline they are working in.

When you start training for agility, you will use a different collar and an agility lead. She will learn to follow your direction during her training. You will be doing crossovers and such and she will learn to follow your body language to direct her to the next obstacle. 

Have fun with training! It's one of my favorite things to do with my dogs.
_


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

I agree with Spoospirit; I would think that at this point there's no need to confuse your formal Obedience with it. "Heel position" is utilized quite differently in Agility. (Question for those in the know...Is heeling on the right a component of Rally at all?)

In Agility, I use one word to mean "come towards heel position," to whichever side is towards the dog (or that I indicate). I use the word "Here," with my arm moving straight down to my side. It is useful for tight wraps, threadles, and keeping the dog from taking a tempting obstacle that's closer to them than the one you want (it switches the dog from obstacle focus to handler focus).

--Q


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## Rocketagility (Apr 27, 2010)

Well I have a trained heel and a trained Side for the right side. I also have a here command and a come ther come is like the formal obedience front and the hear is anywhere close to me.

As for when to teach it I teach my dog everything and not just one venue at a time like formal obedience I also teach Rally-O. As for agility I would so rather not have a overly trained dog start agility last thing I want is a agility dog that is heeling around the ring.

Also when I teach agility leashes are usually gone on the second class and collars can also go.


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