Labrador Retriever Dogs

One of the first training lessons your Labrador Retriever should receive is how to properly heel beside of you. The first step of this process is deciding which side the Lab should be on. Some Labs will naturally want to heel on the left of you while others on the right. So where you should you start training your Lab to be?

Conformation Training
If you are planning on showing your Lab in the confirmation ring it is standard for the dog to heel to the left side of the handler.

Hunting and Field Trials
There are no set rules as to which side the Lab should heel. This usually depends a lot upon the hunter and Labs preference. The vast majority is taught to heel on the left. The reason for this is most owners are right handed and carry the stock of the rifle in the right hand freeing the left hand to be free for hand signals.

Before starting to train consider these few safety concerns. If you are right handed and carry the stock of the rifle in your right hand then the barrel will pointed to the left where you are training the lab to heel. Obviously this is not an ideal situation and I would consider teaching the Lab to heel to your strong side.

Everyday Pets
If your Lab is simply your household pet it will not matter which side they heel. The most important thing to consider in this situation is comfort and ease of training. If your Lab prefers the right side of you, then do not try to fix what is not broken and begin training from this side.

Tendency to Heel Left
Most Labs and dogs in general have a tendency to heel to the left side of their owner. The reason for this is unknown but many believe can be traced back to dogs being used in protection work. Since most attackers would be right handed, a dog coming from an owners left would be in direct line with the potential hit to the attacker. Some believe these traits have been somehow passed through the generations, but we will that for another discussion.