[Rottlva]

Throwing this out there....

I absolutely love the look of a dog heeling with his head up. Both my rottweilers have done it very willingly. I am on a quest for an OTch with my youngest Cam, therefore am putting a ton of precision work into him. I haven't even brought him out for his CD because the exercises are not perfect yet, and I'm training him through his UD before we trial. My own choice to do that though! Anyhows, when he is heeling with his nose at the seam of my pants, or just a smidge forward of that, and looking up, he is able to see minor movements with my hip, and shoulder. Those are his cues that something is going to change. A slight roll back with my hip, indicates we are slowing down either to a slow pace, or a halt. My shoulder sucking in a smidge means a left turn, popping out a smidge means an about, or right turn. Read, I am not cueing my dog, rather going through the normal motions of walking an AKC obedience pattern. Because when you walk, you first turn your head and shoulders, then your feet follow, even if it is a millisecond before your feet, your head and shoulders SHOULD be what the dog is watching.....If the dog has a head that is down in "normal" position, wouldn't you think he'd miss these cues thus bump, crowd, or lag on the turns?????