A few different thoughts for your various questions:
1. A Heel is a tiring behavior for a dog - It is like asking a 2yo child to march like a soldier and with a blindfold [b/c the dog can't sniff.] It's a very useful behavior when needed for a controlled walk.
2. A loose lease [or Silky Leash ... look up both terms on Google and Youtube] is usually adequate for more noncompetitive, everyday companion dog walking.
3. On the daily walk, you'd like to let her sniff part of the time (so she can 'look' at the scenery and read the news). If she pulls or is distracted too much, then you want to try to anticipate and distract her 'before' she is distracted. For example only - if she looks at something, then you want to stop her before she begins to move in that direction - I'll suggest a method in a moment. If you interrupt her distraction that is much less stress for both of you, than if you have to pull or yank her away from a deep sniff session.
4. Method to Break the Distraction - Turid Rugaas [International Norwegian Trainer] came up with the tongue click method. She like a tongue click rather than a word, b/c it's more neutral, with not one or emotion attached. It is similar to clicker training except it triggers a behavior rather than serving as secondary reinforcement, like a clicker.
5. Prepare 5 - 10 small treats, like 1/2 a cheese cube, or a small piece of boiled chicken or freeze dried liver. Let you dog roam off leash in the house, and click your tongue. If she looks at you, toss her a treat. Repeat for a few minutes, then stop. A few hours later, or the next day, repeat the process. Many dogs learn to attend to the click, by the third training session or faster. [This is similar to charging a clicker.]
6. If possible, reinforce the training off-leash in the backyard. If that isn't practical, take her on a 10 min., uneventful walk where there will be few distractions. Repeat training for 3 - 7 days.
7. When she is reliable to look at you for a treat, take her on an average walk. When she looks at a potential distraction, click your tongue, try to freeze to interrupt her pulling or trying to sniff, and give her a treat when she looks at you.
8. Continue in training mode for about 2 - 3 weeks. Reduce the treat schedule from every click to a variable schedule - every other, every third, and then random treats. The goal is to have her look at you as reliably, as when you ask her to Sit [I hope you don't treat her for every Sit. ;-) ]
9. Again, the important thing is to anticipate a distraction, and click your tongue before she can pull, etc. If you miss a distraction, in the beginning, don't try to click your tongue. Later on, you might try clicking to see if she will 'return' from the distraction, and if she does, praise and treat!
10. Adapt this to your circumstances, let us know if it helped. Be sure to look up loose leash walking and silky leash walking ... Both Kikopup and Zak George have some good Youtube videos about this topic.
1. A Heel is a tiring behavior for a dog - It is like asking a 2yo child to march like a soldier and with a blindfold [b/c the dog can't sniff.] It's a very useful behavior when needed for a controlled walk.
2. A loose lease [or Silky Leash ... look up both terms on Google and Youtube] is usually adequate for more noncompetitive, everyday companion dog walking.
3. On the daily walk, you'd like to let her sniff part of the time (so she can 'look' at the scenery and read the news). If she pulls or is distracted too much, then you want to try to anticipate and distract her 'before' she is distracted. For example only - if she looks at something, then you want to stop her before she begins to move in that direction - I'll suggest a method in a moment. If you interrupt her distraction that is much less stress for both of you, than if you have to pull or yank her away from a deep sniff session.
4. Method to Break the Distraction - Turid Rugaas [International Norwegian Trainer] came up with the tongue click method. She like a tongue click rather than a word, b/c it's more neutral, with not one or emotion attached. It is similar to clicker training except it triggers a behavior rather than serving as secondary reinforcement, like a clicker.
5. Prepare 5 - 10 small treats, like 1/2 a cheese cube, or a small piece of boiled chicken or freeze dried liver. Let you dog roam off leash in the house, and click your tongue. If she looks at you, toss her a treat. Repeat for a few minutes, then stop. A few hours later, or the next day, repeat the process. Many dogs learn to attend to the click, by the third training session or faster. [This is similar to charging a clicker.]
6. If possible, reinforce the training off-leash in the backyard. If that isn't practical, take her on a 10 min., uneventful walk where there will be few distractions. Repeat training for 3 - 7 days.
7. When she is reliable to look at you for a treat, take her on an average walk. When she looks at a potential distraction, click your tongue, try to freeze to interrupt her pulling or trying to sniff, and give her a treat when she looks at you.
8. Continue in training mode for about 2 - 3 weeks. Reduce the treat schedule from every click to a variable schedule - every other, every third, and then random treats. The goal is to have her look at you as reliably, as when you ask her to Sit [I hope you don't treat her for every Sit. ;-) ]
9. Again, the important thing is to anticipate a distraction, and click your tongue before she can pull, etc. If you miss a distraction, in the beginning, don't try to click your tongue. Later on, you might try clicking to see if she will 'return' from the distraction, and if she does, praise and treat!
10. Adapt this to your circumstances, let us know if it helped. Be sure to look up loose leash walking and silky leash walking ... Both Kikopup and Zak George have some good Youtube videos about this topic.
