Okay, I'm not some newbie with teaching dogs the heel. However, I'll be darned if I can get this dog to sit right next to me and to stop sitting off to the right or in front of me. Can anyone help me figure out how to stop this. I've tried keep the line tight, I've tried only taking one or two steps at a time...GRRR I know the problem is me!! HELP!

Things I've tried that worked:

1. Hold the reward (food/toy) so that it's right above and ahead of the dog's nose. That will make him sit straight. If it's a ball, hold it under your armpit (that will pretty much guarantee a perfect heel position) and if it's food just hold it in your left hand in a way that will keep the dog straight.

2. Reward a straight sit every single time the dog gets it right (only do a few steps + sit, repeat and do nothing else). DON'T reward any time the sit isn't perfect. Push dog's rear-end over to you with your hand so he's sitting straight.

3. Loop a leash around the dog's hips and give it a pop towards you so it pulls his butt in when he sits. The hip-leash should be held in your right hand and should go behind your back.
Tom Rose demonstrates this on Ed's heeling DVD to teach dogs to keep their butt tucked in when doing left turns. Works really nicely on some dogs (others may freak out at having a leash around their hips - those may respond better to being repositioned with your hand).

Imprinting the heel position early on with pups helps too.

I teach my pups to catch food dropped from my mouth. I'll have them sit in a front position and drop treats one after the other so they learn to be comfortable there and to look up at my face.

I do the same thing with the pup sitting in a perfect heel position - keep dropping food for the pup to catch as long as they're sitting in the right position.

Of course for this to work you have to first teach the pup to catch dropped food. They're pretty uncoordinated at first and usually just watch the food drop on their nose or head and then pounce on it once it drops to the floor. Really cute, but doesn't take them long to figure out the catching either...

Good luck!

Okay, now I have a question about heeling/fussing. Is there a hand signal for this? I tap my left thigh two times, but I was wondering if there was a correct or better hand signal?

I have a similar problem, my dog was sitting & downing crooked.

We trained using poles hammered into the ground and walked up to them getting the dog to sit or down, it acted as a subtle barrier to straighten the dog up. Simple, you can do it in the garden, or using the goal posts on a football field. Worked a treat.

Mark

Use a wall or a fence to keep the dog straight. its simple and then you don't need to keep the leash tight.