General Care and Nursing

Turns

Turns

The pupil must now learn that you will always walk straight ahead, that you may turn to the right or left, and that he must turn with you without tangling you or making you fall over him. 

You are walking forward now, the dog on your left side, the leash and coiled in your right hand, and your left hand fingering the leash loosely but ready to stiffen your hold at eh proper moment. Command “Heel!” if only to alert the pupil’s attention as you turn sharply, squarely to the left, at the same instant tightening up on the leash with your left hand to prevent the dog from walking across your path. You turn on the left food and bring your right food around into the new direction. If the dog bumps against you instead of turning, jerk the leash and say “Heel!” rather sharply. He will probably bump your right leg as it swings on the turn, and this combined with the leash jerk will teach him what to do. 

The right turn is done the same way, although the dog in this case has further to go. You turn on your right food, swing your left around, and as your order “Heel!” bring the dog around you on a taut leash.