Heel training a puppy

I have an eleven week old labradoodle, lab and standard poodle. She already knows sit and down. I take her out on a retractable lead to potty and for short walks. When do I start heel training? Is the retractable lead giving her a bad habit of forging or can she be a puppy and have fun at this stage? She carries the lead in her mouth as we walk. Another bad habit to let her start? She picks up every leaf and stick as we walk so carrying the leash didn't seem so bad and it is cute. Any help would be appreciated.

I think puppies AND DOGS should be allowed to walk without ALWAYS being made to heel. Knowing HOW to heel and what the command is will definitely be something you want to teach your pup, but in answer to your question, yes, she can have fun at this age and any other age. You might even want to start with the word "easy" if she is forging ahead or pulling on her leash, just to help her slow down and stop pulling when you communicate with that word. It might be helpful in teaching this word to use a little longer leash, maybe around 10', but not the retractable kind. This would give her some room to get ahead of you and then if she starts pulling you can give her a slight tug using the word "easy". Unless she is one of the more willful dogs, you should be able to communicate what you want in this way. As for when to start the actual "heel" training, I'll let someone else answer that.

Far be it from me to give heeling advise, but here's my tail...In puppy kindergarden at 4 months, Cody learned to heel fairly quickly, after having his little paws stepped on a few times. But when on walks, it was yank, lunge, and pull, he walked me! Cause he's so big and powerful, it was an ordeal, not fun so then everytime he pulled I'd dig my heels in and stop, yank the leash back, sternly say "stay" Then I slowly started saying "Wait for me" , otherwise, I didn't move and he got the hang of it. It took a while. I agree with Rachel, because Cody is in the house most of the day when I'm not home, so he looks forward to his "sniffing tours" and I hate to restrict him. We walk from one side of the street to the other, where-ever he wants to go, providing there is no pull. I can hold the leash with 1 finger and even wrap it (6 foot leather) around my neck and walk closely with him. For years I used a loose pincher collar but I realized he knows exactly what is expected of him and stopped using it and he was fine. I think heeling, and walking without pulling was the hardest thing I had to teach him esp; since he has 4 strong legs and is soo powerful. He still has his rare bad days but I do the stop mode again and keep telling myself "I'm the boss"!" cause he knows how to get the best of me. (big brown eyes!) http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/biggrin.gif By the way, a Labradoodle sounds adorable!

[This message has been edited by karen israel (edited April 09, 2001).]

I would not use a retractable leash while training. Once your dog is pretty good at leash walking and knows your commands, then it'd be okay to use it again. When I take my dogs for a walk, I let them sniff anywhere as long as my arm holding the leash can hang comfortably by my side. If they start to pull then I just stop walking. Then they know they have to come back to me and sit before we start again. An important thing to do is not let the dog get anywhere when she pulls. If she pulls and gets to her destination, then she is being rewarded. Good luck http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/smile.gif