Teach Your Dog How to Watch, Heel, and Come—The Complete Idiot’s Quick Guide

Teach Your Dog How to Watch, Heel, and Come

In This Quick Guide:: Motivating the Come; Making Eye Contact; Walking with You; The Heel Command

Share this with your friends

Along with Sit and Stay, Watch, Heel, and Come are the most important commands you can teach your dog. As with Sit and Stay, the commands in this guide use a step-by-step approach. Don’t be tempted to skip ahead, even if your dog has had some previous training. Repeat each step as it’s taught until your dog is ready to move on; that will help ensure reliable behavior. Introduce one new obedience exercise per training session. If you introduce multiple commands, your dog will be confused and not know how this new knowledge should go together.

Motivating the Come

The Come is a very important command, and one that could potentially save your dog’s life someday. Come means your dog should go directly to you when you call him, without any detours, no matter what the distractions.

Have your dog on his leash, held in your left hand, while holding a treat in your right hand.
Let your dog have the length of his leash. Do not ask him to watch you; instead, let him get distracted by smells in the grass or other family members.
Back away from your dog as you call him, “Fido, Come!” in a happy tone of voice. Show him the treat as you call him.
If he’s slow or distracted, you have the leash in one hand to encourage him to follow you. Do not yank him with the leash; just use gentle guidance to help him make the right decision.
When he begins moving toward you, praise him, “Good boy to Come!”
After taking a few steps backward, stop, and praise and reward him.
Do a total of five repetitions and stop for this session.

Once your dog is coming to you on his own, with little resistance, repeat the training steps in an area where there are more distractions, like the local park. Make sure your dog understands that the Come applies everywhere, no matter what else is going on around him.

When he’s doing well with distractions, use a long leash or a twenty-foot length of clothesline and repeat all the training steps above with this longer leash. This will teach your dog that even if he’s farther away from you, he still needs to listen to the Come command.

Making Eye Contact

Now that you have taught your dog a few exercises and you have some experience teaching him, we’ll introduce the Watch Me command.

With your dog on a leash, hold the leash in your left hand and have a treat in your right hand.
Have your dog Sit and reward him.
Let your dog sniff the treat in your right hand. Tell him, “Fido, Watch Me!” and take the treat from his nose to your chin.
His eyes will follow the treat. When his eyes move from the treat to your face, praise him, “Good boy!” and pop the treat in his mouth.
Repeat for a total of five repetitions and give him a break.

When your dog is watching you intently on command (usually after a week or more of training), begin making it more challenging.

Have your dog Sit in front of you, facing you, and do a Watch Me.
Take a step to your right side, asking your dog to watch you as you move. You might need to repeat the Watch Me command and hand signal to keep his attention.
Reward him when he does. Repeat for five repetitions each training session.

At your next training session, repeat the exercise while taking a step to the left. Over the next few training sessions, challenge your dog to watch you while you move around.

Walking with You

When a dog walks nicely on the leash without pulling, and walks calmly by the owner’s side, going for a walk is much more pleasurable.

Have your dog on his leash, hold the leash in your left hand, and have some treats in your right hand.
Have your dog Sit in front of you, facing you.
Ask your dog to watch you and when he does, back up a few paces, encouraging him to follow you.
After five paces or so (you really don’t need to count), reward him with praise and a treat.
Repeat for a total of five repetitions and give him a break.

At your next training session, repeat the first four steps but back up a few more paces. Reward your dog.

When you know you can keep your dog’s attention for those extra paces, you’re ready to move on to the next training steps. If you don’t have your dog’s attention, don’t move on.

Repeat the first four training steps, but instead of stopping to reward your dog, back up a few more paces and then turn as you’re walking so that your dog ends up on your left side and you’re walking forward together side by side. Praise and reward your dog lavishly.
Repeat for a total of five repetitions and quit for this training session.

At each subsequent training session for several days (even a couple of weeks), begin by backing away from your dog. This, with the Watch Me command, teaches him to focus on you while walking with you.

The Heel Command

When your dog is doing well with Watch Me and Come, you’re ready for the Heel command.

Have your dog on leash, with the leash in your left hand and treats in your right hand.
Have your dog Sit by your left side, with his shoulder next to your left leg. Tell him, “Fido, Watch Me!”
When he’s paying attention to you, step forward as you say, “Fido, Heel!”
As he steps forward with you, praise him, “Good boy!” If he gets distracted or begins to forge ahead, get his attention with the treat, letting him sniff it and repeating the Watch Me command.
After several paces, stop, praise, and reward your dog.
Repeat for a total of five repetitions and quit for a little while.

Remember to keep training sessions short, sweet, and positive, so that your dog has a chance to succeed. Later, with practice, he’ll be able to obey the commands for longer distances and times. Be sure to read our Quick Guide, Teach Your Dog How to Sit and Stay for more basic obedience techniques. Happy training!

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dog Tricks by Liz Palika