Heads Up Heeling

I wrote this after reading posts that people did not like a heads up style of heeling because they were concerned it would injure the dogs:

Of course everyone has their own preferred style of heeling, but in regards to the what some people are calling the head crank- if my dog injures her neck because I ask her to look at my face during heeling- I am doing WAY too much heeling. How long is the heeling pattern during a show? Someone recently said it was 45 seconds. Multiply that times 2 for novice. How much heeling am I doing outside of shows? Not very much because that would be boring for my dog and I want to keep it exciting. Figure, AT THE MOST, 3 minutes a day. And that would be total, not continuous. I don't train every day. 3 minutes of heeling a week is more like it. So I disagree- a healthy dog should in no way be injured by heads up heeling. If a dog has an existing medical condition involving the neck- maybe. But there are a lot of things a dog with a neck condition shouldn't be doing, probably starting with being walked on a collar
and leash.

What will the "head crank" cause? Forging. (If you don't train it correctly.) The dog wants to look at your face so they will be more likely to be ahead of heel position. Most people agree forging presents a better attitude for the judge and spectators than lagging. Sure, both are the the same points off, but forging seems to say "I'm excited, I care!" while lagging just gives off a "blah" vibe. A good trainer will not get forging because of the heads up style.

Trained correctly, the heads up/ head crank position will not cause forging, but it is easy to accidentally get it. A more natural position with the dog looking straight ahead does not lead as easily to forging.

I like the heads up because if a dog is trained from the very beginning to look at your face (small dogs are usually targeted to something lower) then the dog cannot be scanning the horizon, looking for things to be distracted by. But it is a personal preference. My only "complaint" was the feeling that it can somehow injure a dog.

And as for the prancing (people were also stating dogs who prance while heeling probably have poor conformation), I know many breed Champions that do it because they have been trained to do it. Again, a dog focusing on your face, and concentrating on prancing, is also going to be concentrating hard enough to stay in heel position. So just because a dog is prancing, don't assume they had bad conformation. I did not train my dog to prance because I was fairly overwhelmed with just getting the heads up, and actually, ears up also. (Sadly for me, I did teach her to forge. Drat.) Getting the ears up is harder than it sounds but since I also train in SchH, the ears should be up since the attitude of the dog is judged. Oh how I wish that was true in AKC!

I further went on to address the people who felt the heads up style was un-natural:
"Natural" heel position is actually AT a person's heel, which means behind them and would now be judged as lagging. Look at old paintings of people walking with their dogs. The dogs trail slightly behind the person at their heel. So while heads up/ head crank is not natural, neither is where AKC defines heel position. Why do you think it is called "heel?"

Furthermore, what exactly is natural about AKC obedience competitions? Nothing.
Starting with walking around with your left hand held across your body at your waist. And ending with leaving your dog in a group of strange dogs while you go out of sight and your dog has to maintain the same exact position, and your dog isn't even allowed to excessively sniff the ground. And perhaps I'll also mention allowing a complete stranger to touch your dog all over while you stand ten feet away and your dog is not allowed to interact with that stranger in a natural manner, such as steeping towards them. So the complaint that a heads up heeling style isn't natural is pretty funny to me. Yes it's true, but I can't think of one thing in AKC obedience competitions that are actually natural, so singling out out thing is silly.

I'm not upset obedience competitions aren't natural- that's not truly the point of them. I just think it silly to complain that one style of heeling isn't natural when nothing else in the competition is held to the same standard of naturalness.

So now everyone knows my thoughts on the matter.



Fancy looks at my face while heeling because when she offered it, I rewarded it, but I did not specifically set out to teach it. It also comes somewhat natural to her because she is a bit insecure and looks to me for guidance. Fancy's attention was so nice during her BH the judge said it was the nicest he's seen in a while. This was practicing for her BH but when I showed her in AKC, I used the hand on my belly button hand position.

Pie has never been as successful with heeling. I did not spend nearly enough time teaching her heeling- and it shows. We loose a lot of points. I had no idea that her ears should be up.


Pie makes a token effort to look up- sometimes- which is really more than I deserve. Since starting SchH I have tried to work on getting her head up more but I think it is something best trained from the beginning. I'm played with the 300 peck method and when she looks away we stop. I think it is getting better but it has taken her a while to understand I am rewarding attention and not just position. She's thinking, "I'm heeling, what's the problem?" For the most part I am not going to obsess over it. We have plenty of other things to work on.




More Pie heeling. Note this is before I started SchH and still used the hand across your body position. Not allowed in SchH. In AKC I used to use it because although it is unnatural, it is allowed, and yes, it is an extra cue to your dog.



I've tried to train Dottie correctly from the beginning. I have spent a lot of time on it. Ears up. Eyes always on my face. This is the picture I want to present. Too bad about the forging! I'd also like to look a bit happier. Hey- I was counting. In SchH you memorize the pattern (luckily it is always the same) and have to count your paces.

I have a picture of Bloom and I heeling. (First dog.) He is peering up at my face through his shaggy brow. Again, I rewarded him looking at me, but not enough to make it a necessary part of the heeling picture.

One more note I will make- even though I complain/ comment AKC obedience is not natural (but again, who cares?) I do make an effort to not stare at my dog as we heel along, as the pictures show. I cannot see my dogs while I'm heeling with them in competition. I really have no idea if they are in position or not. I know you are supposed to look at them out of the corner of your eye, but that is too complicated for me. I think Pie's heeling would improve drastically if I maintained eye contact with her, but I don't. I watch some of the top OTCH handlers and they do... not sure why I've held out on this. But it has served me well since I'm sure I would hear about it during SchH critiques. (It's cool- after each portion the judge tells you exactly why you got the score you got.)

I do gotta say that it bugs me when I go to an obedience trainers web page and they post a picture of themself heeling with a dog and THEIR (the trainer's) head is cranked to the side staring down at the dog. They loose even more "cool" points if they are wearing a bait bag in the picture. On the side closest to the dog. I'm just saying....