Heeling

I teach the heel with the dog on my left side. Most of the time I use a ball as the reward. The ball is held up by my left shoulder next to my face. It is important to have control over the lead so it does not get in the way. Give the command you want to use and start walking. The key is to keep the dog's focus up at you. Sometimes you need to tap the ball a little to get the dog to focus up at you. The proper position is to have the dog close to you with it's shoulder even with your leg. You do not want the dog to far ahead or behind you. The positioning is very important when it comes to competing. The wrong position will lose you points. At the beginning, I go a few steps and as long as the dog is focused up at me, I reward them. Once you have a good focus, go further before you reward the dog. Incorporate right and left turns and about turns. Eventually, I remove the ball from the dogs sight and do it off lead. Look at our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/impactk9usa, to see some of our dogs heeling, and while your there feel free to like or page!