Focus Aid: Ball ⚾

🐾 What if your dog keeps looking at your face?

Some dogs simply do not want to look under the armpit into an empty space and keep searching for eye contact instead.

This is actually quite common.

To make the focus point clearer, you can use an additional visual target, for example:

✅ a ball
✅ a toy
✅ another visual target

The ball or toy is placed under the armpit or attached behind the shoulder area, for example with a magnetic holder.

👀 First teach the dog to look at the target

Before using the aid in heelwork, teach the dog separately that looking at the target is worthwhile.

For example:

➡️ Dog looks at the ball
➡️ Mark the behavior
➡️ Reward with food or throw the ball

This gives the dog a much clearer idea of where to look.

⚖️ Advantage and disadvantage

The big advantage is that the dog has a very clear focus point.

But there is also a disadvantage:

Every external aid we add has to be phased out again later.

That means extra work.

So I generally recommend using as few additional aids as possible.

📈 Build it up in small steps

If you decide to use the ball, build it up just as carefully as everything else:

➡️ Focus in the basic position
➡️ 1 step
➡️ 2 steps
➡️ 3 steps

Do not rush the process.

💡 When do I use this method?

I mainly use this approach for dogs that can already heel but have developed the habit of looking at the handler’s face.

In that case, the ball can be useful as a troubleshooting tool to redirect the focus.

If you have already used a ball extensively for heelwork before, this method may be less suitable because the ball itself may already have a different meaning for the dog.

In that case, it is usually better to go back to food and rebuild the focus more cleanly.

🐕‍🦺 Try to keep the setup as simple as possible and only add extra aids when they are really necessary.