Ivan’s approach to competitive heeling is vastly different than the teachings of most other trainers. Ivan’s main focus is to allow the dog to express his emotions and feelings through the movement. Competition heeling must be free, with natural animation, and the dog must be allowed to demonstrate their own beautiful gate. Heeling is a window to the soul of the dog while they are walking.

There are a few ways to teach competition heeling, most of which strive to create robots; identical dogs walking with the same meaningless head position, pretending that they are focused on their handler, manipulated by food luring techniques, or toy, placed strategically in places for the dog to stare at, keeping their heads in the most unnatural position so their front legs look like they are prancing with joy. While this can fool the common observer, world class competitors and judges know that it is a fabricated picture.

Ivan’s unique method requires no food deprivation, no “slavery” or expectations of requiring your dog to perform behaviors to satisfy their primal need to eat. All the gadgets and toys many other trainers strategically place or hide to force the dog to appear to be heeling are thrown out the window thanks to Ivan’s ability to allow a dog to freely express themselves during the exercise.

In this lesson, Ivan teaches you the foundation of how to create the exact picture of competitive heeling that you are looking for. In addition to expressive and emotive free heeling, Ivan also enhances your partnership with your dog by teaching you how to be a team with your dog, instead of expecting your dog to do all the work. Ivan begins by teaching the absolute perfect picture and then expands on the lesson by explaining how to maintain it.

This video is a must watch pre-requisite lesson for the upcoming Competition Heeling Part Two