# What Command do You use for the Different Heel Positions?



## Dan Thi (Mar 26, 2017)

What Set of Commands do you use for the different 'heel' positions? I know everyone uses different words, I was wondering what you guys are using? Or maybe you are not, and just use Heel + Physical Gesture? or just Physical Gesture?

position - command
Front Finish - 
Left Side Heel -
Right Side Heel -
Heel In Between your Legs - 

I talked to someone who said they use English at home and are rather flexible with whether the dog listens, but they keep German commands for field work and the dog must always listen. Do you guys do anything like this, or do you prefer the 'dog must always obey the command' rule?


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Front position-Bring
Left leg-Fuus
Right leg-Heel
Between legs-Under


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

"Front" or" bring" depending if it's a retrieve or a formal recall. 

"Here" for a informal, come over here recall.

"Fuus" for left side formal heeling.

"With me" for informal keeping within a couple of feet of me. Side, back or front doesn't matter.


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## Patty Beck (Mar 9, 2011)

Here - for formal front recall

His name or come - for informal (come close to me)

Volgen - formal heel left leg

Lets go - non formal walk

With me - heel between legs

I use physical gestures for the non formal stuff but not for the formal competition stuff.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

as far as the flexibility Q, that's a no brainer : i want my dog to follow ALL commends i have taught it since i try and make all commands useful and often have more than one purpose. there are no languages to a dog's ear; just sounds.....using different languages is probably more for an owner to show off....you could use 1,2,3.4 LOL

- pick whatever you like for commands once the behavior is conditioned......the more important part is to get them solid enuff that the dog will respond IMMEDIATELY without even thinking about it while under extreme distractions. training that many heeling positions seems totally not necessary, nor would one be "heeling" for any length of time in some of the positions you are describing.....so maybe i'm not understanding you clearly.

maybe this all depends on the kind of work your dog is doing, but my Q would be how many of these heeling positions can your dog respond to and move with you NOW....while under distractions ?


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