Training the heel without forging

[Pitcrew]

Michelle, I just saw the pics of you and Riggs on the post you put up under the "working" section.
He has great position in all of the pics. You also have a particular angle to your head, and eye contact, in all of the pics.

It looks to me that you have inadvertently trained Riggs to heel with him relying on the picture he sees when he is looking at you, rather than the position he is in relative to your body.
This is a easy and common mistake made when you have to look at them to make sure they are in the right position... then don't wean them off of the "picture", rather than know the position (or... give them a new picture).
It should be fairly easy to fix if you understand the problem.

[mnp13]

We do heelig every time we go to training because they have full length mirrors. He's getting better about it, and if I use the trick I used when I was horse back riding (soft eyes or somthing like that) I can juuuust see him when he forges. If I can't see him, he's in the right place.

[Pitcrew]

Lets put this in perspective... YOU are getting better.

Or is RIGGS somehow benefitting from the mirror all on his own.

[mnp13]

No, I'm perfict. My dog is also perfict.

heeling sucks

[babyreba]

is there a working section on the board now? where is it? or did i misread that post!

i would actually like to see the heeling pics because i chronically look down at my dogs when they heel and i've noticed doc actually seeking the eye contact from me, to the point that he kinda wraps his shoulder around my left knee so he can gaze up at me! i guess that would sort of be a kind of forge, but he doesn't go anywhere if he can catch my eye.

[mnp13]

is there a working section on the board now? where is it? or did i misread that post!

It's the "sports" section. It's there because it shows bite work.

i would actually like to see the heeling pics because i chronically look down at my dogs when they heel and i've noticed doc actually seeking the eye contact from me, to the point that he kinda wraps his shoulder around my left knee so he can gaze up at me! i guess that would sort of be a kind of forge, but he doesn't go anywhere if he can catch my eye.

Yup, that's forging, but you often get a forge when you have an attention heel... though a "correct" attention heel does not require the handler to make eye contact.