Am I doing right?

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Originally Posted by Sharon

I don't think so. At 6 months he should be heeling imo. I use my e collar . Correctly timed and amount of correction when the dog passes my knee and voila! in a week or less he's heeling. For me it is much more "humane" than jerking on a choke/barbed collar for weeks.

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We did the same thing with my Springer she would pull ahead when my wife would take her for a walk. The e collar did the trick after only a couple of days.

I think the e-collar is great for reminding a dog of proper positioning, however I think proper heeling should be taught prior to introducing a collar into the mix

Really depends on the dog and if the pro trainer main focus was spending time on heeling. My pro trainer didn't spend time on heeling but training to hunt. When we got her back we spent a couple of days using an e collar and now she heels perfectly. Everyone has a different approach with the same outcome with a happy trained dog. Also my wife has fibramialga and couldn't correct Elly when she would pull ahead because of the pain she has and the e collar did the trick. Elly heels for me but would not heel for my wife.

Guess this is where spaniel training and lab training diverges. We teach nothing with the e-collar. The dog is collar conditioned and the collar is used after the concepts have been taught. The e-collar then becomes a tool for correction of behaviours that are known concepts. It should not take weeks to train a dog to heel with the correct type of collar. My pup was heeling nicely when I dropped her off and the pro will continue to reinforce this and the sit before collar conditioning. He spends time with the basics like this getting to know the dog and getting it comfortable with being away from its own environment. Each dog is different and getting to know how each will react to pressure is important before the actual yard work and force are introduced.

In my experience, the best thing for teaching a dog to heel is the Wonder Lead.
http://www.canadiangundogsupply.com/...nder-Lead.html

The key to this thing is that it's stiff, so when pressure is removed it springs open. So you get corrections as well-timed as your own timing. But it is not a lead for everyday dog walking: you need to do formal heeling sessions with it in the yard.

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Originally Posted by ebenezer

Guess this is where spaniel training and lab training diverges. We teach nothing with the e-collar.

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That's not a spaniel training thing. Some spaniel people never use an e-collar, period; it hasn't become de rigeur as it has in the retriever world.

I wouldn't suggest teaching anything with the e-collar. The dog has to know heel before you use the collar for reinforcement.

I had my Elly trained to heel prior to her going to the pro trainer but his focus was to train to hunt. She was and is so bird crazy he had to use an e collar to keep her in range if he missed a bird. Not only would she not heel for my wife she was so preoccupied with birds in the sky while my wife was trying to walk her that the e collar did the trick and Elly will now focus on my wife and heel for her. I was exaggerating when i said it took a couple of days but basically took only one outing using the e collar to correct. The heeling was an easy fix when she returned and I wasn't concerned that the trainer didn't enforce the heel because he had a bird crazy Springer to get to focus with amazing end result. The e collar is an excellent tool especially since my wife has fibramialga and was frustrated initially not being able to walk Elly. Her nick name is bird brain....not my wife. But my mentor did say after training Spaniels for 45 years he has never had a dog like Elly that is so bird driven that an e collar had to be used . Normally he would not use an e collar but in her case he had to. So yes Welsh you would be correct that most spaniel people do not use e collars.

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Originally Posted by Cass

I think the e-collar is great for reminding a dog of proper positioning, however I think proper heeling should be taught prior to introducing a collar into the mix

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Absolutely the dog has had to be conditioned to the collar previously, but by 6 months ( original poster's dog), mine would be conditioned to the e collar.

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Originally Posted by ebenezer

Guess this is where spaniel training and lab training diverges. We teach nothing with the e-collar. The dog is collar conditioned and the collar is used after the concepts have been taught. The e-collar then becomes a tool for correction of behaviours that are known concepts. It should not take weeks to train a dog to heel with the correct type of collar. My pup was heeling nicely when I dropped her off and the pro will continue to reinforce this and the sit before collar conditioning. He spends time with the basics like this getting to know the dog and getting it comfortable with being away from its own environment. Each dog is different and getting to know how each will react to pressure is important before the actual yard work and force are introduced.

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Absolutely should be that way for any breed and certainly is for my setters.

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Originally Posted by welsh

In my experience, the best thing for teaching a dog to heel is the Wonder Lead.
http://www.canadiangundogsupply.com/...nder-Lead.html

The key to this thing is that it's stiff, so when pressure is removed it springs open. So you get corrections as well-timed as your own timing. But it is not a lead for everyday dog walking: you need to do formal heeling sessions with it in the yard.



That's not a spaniel training thing. Some spaniel people never use an e-collar, period; it hasn't become de rigeur as it has in the retriever world.

I wouldn't suggest teaching anything with the e-collar. The dog has to know heel before you use the collar for reinforcement.

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Absolutely , but if the dog is still lunging ahead ,( as the original poster said), the e collar works fine for a dog already conditioned to the collar.

( I knew when I posted my original post that I should have expanded on it. :) )

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Originally Posted by welsh

That's not a spaniel training thing. Some spaniel people never use an e-collar, period; it hasn't become de rigeur as it has in the retriever world.

I wouldn't suggest teaching anything with the e-collar. The dog has to know heel before you use the collar for reinforcement.

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Well said