To Heel or Not to Heel... That is the Question!

A friend asked me once why I don’t take my Irish Wolfhounds to Obedience Competitions. Ha ha ha ha ha – bonk! (Excuse me – just laughing my head off.) Wolfhounds are intelligent. Of course, they can do all that running and jumping and sitting stuff… but why would they want to? What purpose is there to it? If it’s so important to run in a circle, leap over fences, sit, lie and come here, then do it yourself!

Take Guinny, for example. There was a time when the command to heel would bring her around your right leg, behind your back, to stand by your left side. I watched my husband with her and Ahrran the other day. We were out for a walk in the bush and preparing to return home. Ahrran came on command, but Guinny, standing only a few feet away, just stood there. She looked at my husband as if to say, "Well here I am, I’m standing still, what more do you want?! Whether I walk around you and stand by your leg, or stand here within arm’s reach, what’s the difference? Will the earth still not revolve? Will the sun still not rise in the morning? Give me one good reason why over there is better than over here!"

“Heel!” My husband said in a more commanding tone. Guinny shifted her weight and just stared ahead as my husband walked to her side in the heel position. Then Guinny looked at him as if to say, “There now! That wasn't so hard, was it! Aren’t you clever!”

“This is how we heel.” My husband explained, embarrassed. I stifled a laugh, sensing that a display of mirth at this point would not be appreciated. My husband, the great dog trainer! He is, in fact, a qualified dog trainer and handler, and with any other dog, he can work magic… but Guinny isn’t just any other dog!

Wolfhounds judge each request on its merit. If your request is reasonable, they’ll consider it. If they don’t consider it reasonable, well, I’m sorry… you’re on your own. Take a simple game of fetch - throw a ball for any of our wolfhounds and they’ll look at you as though you’ve lost your marbles. As for fetching it, if you wanted it, you shouldn’t have thrown it away in the first place. Go get it yourself!

And the majority of wolfhounds all think this way – whether they’ve been well trained from puppyhood or not. It’s in their make up. Fortunately, this breed is generally well behaved, but still, because of their independent streak, training them is a must and the earlier you start, the better. But you can’t train these dogs like you would, say, your German Shepherd!

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