More Steps 👣

🐾 From one step to two

Once the first step works really well, we can finally move on to two steps.

But again:

Only increase the number of steps once the previous step is really clean.

The process stays exactly the same:

➡️ Your right hand stays under your left armpit
➡️ The dog sits cleanly and focuses on the hand
➡️ Give your cue, for example “Come”
➡️ Walk two steps
➡️ Stop immediately
➡️ Make sure your dog sits straight next to you
➡️ Then reward

🗣️ Why do we use “Come” instead of “Heel”?

In dog training, we introduce a signal only when the dog can already show the behaviour reliably.

At this stage, the final heelwork behaviour is not fully built yet.

That is why we first use an auxiliary cue, such as “Come”.

Once your dog can walk around 10 clean steps in heel position, you can introduce the actual heelwork signal using the rule:

New before old.

For example:

➡️ “Heel” → “Come” → start walking

After several repetitions, the new signal becomes connected to the behaviour and you can gradually remove the old cue.

📈 Increase the steps gradually

If two steps work well, you can move on to three.

But always watch your dog carefully.

If your dog starts:

❌ tilting the head
❌ swinging the rear out
❌ moving too far forward
❌ losing the correct body position

then you have progressed too quickly.

Some dogs learn these steps very fast, while others — especially young dogs — need more time.

💡 Take the time to build each step cleanly. The effort you invest now will save you a lot of correction work later.