I use the ‘with me’ command instead of ‘heel’ because I think ‘heel’ is a confusing command. At least it confuses me.
When we are in training class and are told to ‘heel’ our dog, my understanding is I want my dog to come and stand at the side of my leg.
When we start moving and I want my dog to stay with me, I think it’s confusing to say ‘heel,’ because I’ve just asked her to stand at my side using the same command.
So I started using ‘with me’ for that command. Delilah seems to understand it and is easily corrected with an “ACK, ut oh, or ut unh.”
I share this with you because Delilah had a another successful walk yesterday!
It was my Saturday for dog food so I ran errands all morning, met my friend Mindy for lunch and then came home to take our walk in the afternoon.
I let Delilah off-leash as soon as she exited the car and let her walk in. I leashed her near the top of the trail, where she used to run off and kept her with me for a couple of minutes, but let her go again as soon as we passed the danger point.
The next time we approached I called her to me and said, “With me.” I kept her focused on the treats in my hand and she stayed right with me.
When we left the park she walked out off-leash. Of course there also weren’t any other dogs or distractions to lead her astray.
Flash forward to today. Hubby joined us on our walk. I think I am more anxious when Hubby is there because I want to prove to him that positive reinforcement works.
She went into the park off-leash, she did run off to chase a squirrel but came right back, we walked the trails a couple of times and then took the dogs to the field to let them run.
This was the true test because you may remember the day that she ran off from me at the field and got herself stuck.
Hubby walked away from us then called Sampson and Delilah and in this manner we ran them back and forth a couple of times. I then decided to have them sit and walk away from them towards Hubby with the intent of calling them to me.
I got about half-way to Hubby and I heard Delilah tearing after me. I brought her back and sat her down and tried again, but again she came tearing back to me. I said to Hubby, while I want her to obey me, how can I be mad at her for wanting to be with me?
I know it’s important for her to listen to me but I think my focus right now needs to be on her returns, at least outside. I can work on her stays in the house.
Once the dogs were in the car I asked Hubby how he thought she did and he said, “She walked out to the car without the leash, so that’s pretty good. ”
As we pulled into the driveway I said, “She will have to go on leash to the house or she will run to the neighbor’s yard.”
Hubby said, “I don’t think she will.” At my raised eyebrows he said, “I’ll assume responsibility for her.”
He opened the door and she ran right to the neighbor’s yard.
I didn’t say a word.
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