If you want to polish your dog’s heeling and clean up your handling at the same time, try heeling in a very small and cramped space.
If your dog can show you a left turn, right turn, about turn, fast, slow and halt – working in close to walls – you’re in good shape. The ring will feel downright spacious for both of you!
Use this to test your dog’s strong and weak points. When you identify areas that need attention, work on that outside of this testing mode.
As I look over the video, Brito needs to learn to stay closer to me even when my right side is against the wall – the pressure of the wall pushes him out. I also see that I’m not holding a straight line as I come out of my about turn. As a result, I have inadvertently taught him to go wide after about turns. I will work on that and once I straighten up my handling, it is likely that he will work closer with no additional effort on my part.
Fascinating that your right side being against the wall pushes him out. I would never even have thought a wall could apply pressure to a dog. I love how you make heeling look like so much fun.