This is a very typical first lesson in teaching a new dog the heel position. We start nice and slow, not worrying about the position so much as the dog’s attention on us.
In this session, Babe is on a level 4-10 out of 100. That’s an incredibly low number: just high enough so that he feels it, but low enough that it isn’t causing him any anxiety or fear. Every time he gets ahead of me, I’m going to hold down the e-collar button while I change direction. I release the button as soon as he is at my side, teaching him that he can turn off the e-collar by walking at my side. With repetition, he starts to understand this and stays closer to me (he also does it for all of the praise!).
We’ll do lots of short sessions like this to make sure that he really understands the position I want him to be in. Once I see that he is ready, we’ll start going to more distracting environments and testing his new skills.