Right or Left Side Heel?

[weekendwarrior]

I was in a discussion today about which side to train your dog to heel. I understand it's common to heel on the left for right handed shooters and vice versa. Is this largely because of the spent shells, noise, etc? The discussion was that if you were right handed you carried a shotgun muzzle down and it is always pointing at your dog if he's on the left.

Thoughts?

[Christopher]

Sounds like you got it down. Whichever side you heel to, always heel the dog to that side. Soon he'll learn his place.

[4dabirds]

If you carry the gun hanging on your right side the dog will not hit his head on the barrel when he is healing . You will learn to carry so you are not pointing it at dog.

[gonehuntin']

I was in a discussion today about which side to train your dog to heel. I understand it's common to heel on the left for right handed shooters and vice versa. Is this largely because of the spent shells, noise, etc? The discussion was that if you were right handed you carried a shotgun muzzle down and it is always pointing at your dog if he's on the left.

Thoughts?

That's it. Lefties heel the dog on the right, righties on the left. The dog doesn't care.

[EvanG]

Those are the basic guidelines. However, it's not all there is to it. I train all my dogs to heel on both sides - at my direction. The reasons are several, but pertain far more to handling than to simply walking at heel. Click here and scroll down to the third article http://www.gundogsupply.com/smartarticles.html

EvanG

[DonF]

I've always heard that heel on the oposite side of the gun so it's out of the way of spent shells and noise is on the opposite side of the dog. That might be true for dogs in a blind but doesn't work for me in the field. What are you doing, flushing the bird then running back to the dog to shoot it? I suspect that which side they are heeled goes back a lot farther.

BTW, I have never ever seen anyone heel a dog on the right even though they are left handed.

[RayGubernat]

I get into this discussion occasionally. I am right handed and I have always heeled my dogs on my right side. I was and still am of the opinon that it is safer for the dog if I lose my balance, step in a hole, whatever... causing the barrels to drop from 10 o'clock where I normally carry when walking to and from the field.

I suspect that the only folks to whom this makes a difference are those where heeling in a particular manner is a part of the performance standard.

RayG

[Munster]

I've always heard that heel on the oposite side of the gun so it's out of the way of spent shells and noise is on the opposite side of the dog. That might be true for dogs in a blind but doesn't work for me in the field. What are you doing, flushing the bird then running back to the dog to shoot it? I suspect that which side they are heeled goes back a lot farther.

BTW, I have never ever seen anyone heel a dog on the right even though they are left handed.

I have been told that it goes back to when dogs were used in the military. Most people are right handed and that wwould be the side they carried a side arm at. Dogs heeled on the left wouldnt be in the way of reaching for the side arm.

Whether that is fact or fiction is beyond me.

To me Heel is a position, not an action WHich ever side I stick my arm out at is the postion he goes to.

I think this is similar to the argument about always mounting a horse from the right. I was always taught this.but why. We have one sided horses?

[Ron R]

I'm right handed and heel my dogs on my right side. No real reason for it, I guess when I start on lead I'm holding it with my right hand. It has never been a problem so I don't have any plans to change my training routine. I will add that if for some reason I have my dog heeled in the field my barrels are empty. I always have them at heel when coming off the field after a NSTRA brace.

[birddogger]

I have always heeled on my left side. I guess the main reason is that when doing yard work, such as heel, whoa drills, it is just easier and more natural for me to have the dog on my left side. I don't think there is any right or wrong side. JMO

Charlie

[Christopher]

I always want my dog heeling to my left since I'm right handed. It makes handling easier, you can hold his collar with left hand and release cc with your right. You can heel him to the left and toss the dummy with your right, you can heel him to the left and cast him into the field with your right hand and he will see it, you can do work his steadiness with cc in your left and have your right hand free to fire blanks, hit the remote launcher button or ecollar transmitter button (if that is your desire). We could go on and on, so I think it is also matter of coordination, since I'm about as coordinated as a pig on roller skates I need all the help I can get, so I heel to the left and plan my handling around that.

[jimbo&rooster]

I heel my lab to the left and my GSP to the right...... It was just easier for me to have one dog on either side of me especially when I am on a horse. since 90% of the time if heel is a concern it is off lead anyhow it is a non issue.

That said, it hs been so long since either of my dogs heeled I doubt they remember how

Jim

[Duckdog81]

I've always heard that heel on the oposite side of the gun so it's out of the way of spent shells and noise is on the opposite side of the dog. That might be true for dogs in a blind but doesn't work for me in the field. What are you doing, flushing the bird then running back to the dog to shoot it? I suspect that which side they are heeled goes back a lot farther.

BTW, I have never ever seen anyone heel a dog on the right even though they are left handed.

I have been told that it goes back to when dogs were used in the military. Most people are right handed and that wwould be the side they carried a side arm at. Dogs heeled on the left wouldnt be in the way of reaching for the side arm.

Whether that is fact or fiction is beyond me.

To me

I think this is similar to the argument about always mounting a horse from the right. I was always taught this.but why. We have one sided horses?

The horse is mounted on the left because your sword is on your left hip. Also, for side saddle, you only have a left stirrup.

[AHGSP]

I've always heard that heel on the oposite side of the gun so it's out of the way of spent shells and noise is on the opposite side of the dog. That might be true for dogs in a blind but doesn't work for me in the field. What are you doing, flushing the bird then running back to the dog to shoot it? I suspect that which side they are heeled goes back a lot farther.

BTW, I have never ever seen anyone heel a dog on the right even though they are left handed.

I have been told that it goes back to when dogs were used in the military. Most people are right handed and that wwould be the side they carried a side arm at. Dogs heeled on the left wouldnt be in the way of reaching for the side arm.

Whether that is fact or fiction is beyond me.

To me

I think this is similar to the argument about always mounting a horse from the right. I was always taught this.but why. We have one sided horses?

The horse is mounted on the left because your sword is on your left hip. Also, for side saddle, you only have a left stirrup.

To add to that. History has a funny way of carrying long standing traditions and dictating the future with those traditions. Because you mount your horse on the left due to the "past practice" mentioned by Duckdog, the horse was always walked with the right hand and thus the dog was heeled on the left, as told to me by a very wise and traditioned "dog man" and "horse lady".
Kind of like how width of the roads we drive on, the width of our vehicles, the width of railroad tracks, etc..... are all determined by the width of 2 horses a$$e$, going back to the horse pulled wagon. Look it up, pretty funny really.

Now as to which side you heel on personally, whatever works for you.

[Duckdog81]

I've always heard that heel on the oposite side of the gun so it's out of the way of spent shells and noise is on the opposite side of the dog. That might be true for dogs in a blind but doesn't work for me in the field. What are you doing, flushing the bird then running back to the dog to shoot it? I suspect that which side they are heeled goes back a lot farther.

BTW, I have never ever seen anyone heel a dog on the right even though they are left handed.

I have been told that it goes back to when dogs were used in the military. Most people are right handed and that wwould be the side they carried a side arm at. Dogs heeled on the left wouldnt be in the way of reaching for the side arm.

Whether that is fact or fiction is beyond me.

To me

I think this is similar to the argument about always mounting a horse from the right. I was always taught this.but why. We have one sided horses?

The horse is mounted on the left because your sword is on your left hip. Also, for side saddle, you only have a left stirrup.

To add to that. History has a funny way of carrying long standing traditions and dictating the future with those traditions. Because you mount your horse on the left due to the "past practice" mentioned by Duckdog, the horse was always walked with the right hand and thus the dog was heeled on the left, as told to me by a very wise and traditioned "dog man" and "horse lady".
Kind of like how width of the roads we drive on, the width of our vehicles, the width of railroad tracks, etc..... are all determined by the width of 2 horses a$$e$, going back to the horse pulled wagon. Look it up, pretty funny really.

Now as to which side you heel on personally, whatever works for you.

Very interesting! That makes sense (horse on right, dog on left)

[Grange]

I've got two dogs and the first one I trained to heel on my left side. When I got my second dog I trained her to heel on my right side. Not so much because I'm left handed and hold my gun in my left hand, but to have a dog on either side when walking. It worked out well.

[dakotashooter2]

I have always worked mine on the left side but there are times that they would be better on the right like when walking down roads or streets.