# Heel



## debjen (Jan 4, 2010)

For formal obedience the dog heels on your left. However for agility a dog needs to learn to work on your left and your right so from the begining I reach my dog to "heel" on both sides but for the left I call it Heel and for the right I call it Side.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Formal heeling is on the left.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Wow - the power of reward training with an intelligent dog! Well done to both of you.

As others say, formal heeling is on the left - I believe because formal obedience work started with the military, and they wanted to keep the right hand free to operate a weapon! I teach my dogs to walk either side, but prefer the right - we drive on the left in the UK, so in order to have the dog on the safest side when walking on roads and facing oncoming traffic they need to be on my right.

For agility the dog needs to be happy working either side, and at different distances from you. I have a number of cues when we are out walking - "Loose" for loose leash, "With me" for when they are off leash. I tend not to use "Heel", just in case I ever need to use it for "Keep your nose on my trouser seam while walking" in formal obedience! I don't really want my tinies that close when out walking - it is dangerously easy to step on a paw or worse!


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## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

I can tell you from painful hindsight that if you start your dog early on learning a cue for each side, agility will be much easier.

Mine learned heel (on the left) very young, and we now struggle when agility work calls for him to work on my right. 

I've started teaching him to heel on the right (using the German word for heel to distinguish), but his default position is left.

As fjm, I use several cues ... heel means stick very close to my left calf, "stay close" is when he's off lead and I want him nearby, "easy" for loose leash walking, etc.

Good luck! Training a poodle is great fun.


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## Princess Dollie (Jan 15, 2011)

debjen said:


> For formal obedience the dog heels on your left. However for agility a dog needs to learn to work on your left and your right so from the begining I reach my dog to "heel" on both sides but for the left I call it Heel and for the right I call it Side.


Dollie and I have just started our formal obedience training. Would you start working on both Heel and Side at the same time? Or is that too confusing and so would you work on Heel (on the left) and then Side (on the right)?


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