# Heeling on the Right



## Patrick Murray (Mar 27, 2006)

With the addition of my new pup, Fiona, I now have three dogs. My two olders dogs have been trained to heel on the left. I am thinking to train my new pup to heel on the right or possibly to heel on both sides depending on the command of "Left!" or "Right!". 

Does anyone have any thoughts about this? 

Also, do you know of any dog-sports that prohibit heeling on the right in a trial? 

Thanks.


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

Not sure about sports, but in KNPV it is an exercise for the dog to switch from one side to the other. The dogs are taught to heel where the handler tells them to heel.

Cujo is a right heeling dog, never taught him the left


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

I admit, my dogs would look at the handler like he'd lost his mind. h aha. We don't practice it. I might have to dabble in that just for the fun of it.

DFrost


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## Lynsey Fuegner (Apr 11, 2007)

Patrick Murray said:


> With the addition of my new pup, Fiona, I now have three dogs. My two olders dogs have been trained to heel on the left. I am thinking to train my new pup to heel on the right or possibly to heel on both sides depending on the command of "Left!" or "Right!".
> 
> Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
> 
> ...


I'm not sure of the other sports, but I beleive Schutzhund states the dog must heel on the left side unless the handler is unable to heel the dog on the left due to a physical handicap. I beleive that AKC obedience rules are similar regarding the left side.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

If given the chance dogs will show a natrual preference about which side they want to be on. I've not taught the right side heel but I've taught a number of dogs to finish on both sides. Just a matter of different comands. I don't see where the right side heeling would be any different.
I agree with Lynsey about the rules concerning right side due to physical handicap.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

For agility, you have to have your dog be able to work on both sides, so it would be a helpful skill. I have thought about using "fuss" for left heel and "au pied" (or whatever the French is) for right heel. Having the dog out in front of you and telling your dog which way to turn may be helpful too for various applications, including dog sledding and agility.


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## Lynsey Fuegner (Apr 11, 2007)

Maren is absolutely correct on both sides for agility! Although for me teaching a dog heeling on the left and working both sides in Agility can be two totally different things...I never taught Will (my aussie mix) to formally heel on the right side but he never had any issue working on the right, all the way up to Excellent level in NADAC Agility. Another sport (that I always forget about) is Freestyle, here it's almost a requirement that the dog works on the left and the right...most of the work is lateral and you want the dog to be fluent not only with heeling on both sides but transitioning between sides as well.


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