Man’s best friend for teaching your dog to stay close

Hello again from us apex-k9. We hope everyone is having a productive 2017 so far. Today’s article is about the heeling post.

William Koehler, creator of the Koehler Method of Dog training, uses the heeling post to teach the dog to stay with the handler when in close proximity to objects or poles. Its a really simple set up. Start with the dog on lead and walk towards a pole, leaving just enough room for the dog to stay on the same side you are. If the dog decides to go on the other side, the lead is wrapped around the pole and the dog gets a self-correction. As a result, the dog quickly learns to stay on the same side as the handler after only a few repetitions of this exercise.

I worked with a 10 month old Great Pyrenees today. He has very little leash time but we worked on the heeling post. It took him exactly three tries to figure out that he should stay on the same side as me. After that, he nearly pushed me out of the way to stay on the same side.

Besides being a great tool for teaching the dog to stay next to you, it amazes me how quick dogs learn things. I truly believe they are lot more clever than most people give them credit for.

Until next time, view everyday as a training day!