Build calm connection in new environments.
Heel Work is a step-by-step, six-week online course that teaches your dog how to stay connected with you while moving through the world together. You'll gradually introduce movement, distractions, and real-life environments while building confidence, focus, and emotional regulation outside the home.
Heel Work is currently offered as a single, complete option — the full course plus live weekly Office Hours for hands-on support.
Not sure if Heel Work is the right next step? I'd be happy to help you decide. Contact me before enrolling.
The first three weeks establish the foundation. The final three weeks teach you how to apply those skills in everyday life.
Gradually begin taking the skills into everyday environments while maintaining connection and emotional regulation.
Learn how to help your dog recover, re-engage, and regain focus after becoming overwhelmed or distracted.
Create routines that continue strengthening communication long after the course ends.
No. Heel position is simply a communication tool we use during training. The goal isn't for your dog to spend an entire walk glued to your side. Instead, Heel Work teaches your dog how to reconnect with you, work through distractions, and navigate challenging situations with greater confidence and emotional regulation.
During everyday walks, dogs should have plenty of opportunities to sniff, explore, and enjoy their environment on a loose leash. When you encounter a trigger or notice your dog becoming more distracted or aroused, you can return to the Heel Work exercises to rebuild connection before continuing your walk.
No. Heel Work is about building communication, emotional regulation, and confidence while moving through the world together. Heel position becomes a place of safety and connection — a way for your dog to reconnect with you, navigate challenges, and gradually build confidence in new environments.
The goal isn't to create perfect obedience. It's to help your dog stay connected with you, recover more easily from distractions, and make thoughtful decisions in increasingly challenging situations.
Even when a dog's biggest challenges happen outside the home, I recommend starting with Mat Work. Mat Work builds the communication, emotional regulation, and shared language that Heel Work builds upon.
Once those foundation skills are established, Heel Work gradually introduces movement, distractions, and increasingly challenging real-world environments. Rather than jumping straight into overwhelming situations, you'll build your dog's confidence step by step, giving them the skills they need to stay connected while navigating everyday life.
Heel Work helps dogs become calmer and more connected while moving through the world together. Rather than teaching dogs to ignore their surroundings, the course gradually teaches them how to stay engaged with you while navigating increasingly distracting environments.
As your dog's confidence, communication, and emotional regulation improve, many owners find that reactivity naturally becomes less intense and easier to work through.
Yes. Excitement, pulling, and reactivity are often connected. Rather than simply teaching your dog to walk beside you, Heel Work helps them build the emotional regulation, communication, and confidence needed to stay calmer while moving through the environment.
As your dog learns to stay connected with you and recover more quickly from excitement, loose-leash walking often becomes a natural result rather than something that has to be constantly managed.
If you're still deciding, we'd love to help. Visit our Contact page if you have questions or would like help deciding whether Heel Work is the best place to begin.