SIDEWINDING

              It will cost you some points in the heeling exercise if your dog sidewinds while heeling.  Sidewinding is defined as the dogs rear end angling out as you are heeling forward.  In this article we will touch on a few methods to combat this problem, that generally happens most with dogs who are taught to watch their handlers face while heeling forward.

            The first method to use is to use a dowel rod, clear plastic rod or a touch stick to hold in your right hand behind your back and gently tap the rear end of the dog toward you.  You will need to get coordinated to do this while heeling with your dog and it is good to associate a word to the tap, such as “in” so the dog will start to voluntarily pull its rear end in when you say the word.  This will take time and patience until you can see the dog moving its rear end in before you can get the rod/stick by the dogs rear. 

            The second method to use is to heel the dog next to a wall.  The wall should be on the dog’s side, and you need to be quite close to the wall so that there is just enough room for the dog to heel comfortably but not enough for the rear to swing out.  Again, this method takes lots of time and patience, but will eventually teach the dog to heel in a straight line.

            The third method, which can be used in conjunction with the other two, is lots of left turns in a box.  Take 2-3 steps in heeling and turn left.  This method works well if you also associate the “in” word as you are turning left.

            All of these methods will work for re-training the dog to heel straight but are ones that will take the perseverance of the owner to work the problem through.  One of the faults that we as trainers have is that we want a quick fix.  Plan on spending as much time in days or months re-training the exercise as you have allowing the dog to

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