Tests for Readiness: Pre-heeling; 6-ft lead 1.         Stand at the corner of a building, four feet back, with your dog next to you. 2.         Have a distraction (bouncing ball, cat, person) appear from around the blind corner. 3.         Upon appearance, make a right-about turn and trot away. 4.         If the dog received any correction, it is not ready to begin heeling. Post-heeling; 6-ft lead 1.         Do not ‘warm’ the dog up.* 2.         Heel directly to a NEW distraction 3.         Stop at the point of temptation. 4.         If dog stops and wonders what’s next, great! 5.         If not, repeat many times a day with corrective turns. * Work only for a few minutes, without a warm up. Auto-sit 1.         When the dog is sitting automatically 50% of the time before the command, you may correct for not sitting automatically 2.            ‘Character Test’:  when the dog sits automatically 10 times in a row, begin character testing by heeling to a new temptation and correcting for not auto-sitting. Pre-sit/stay 1.         Begin with a VERY short heel, no warm-up and test for the auto-sit. 2.         If any correction is required, return to the Auto-sit exercise/testing. Polishing: Heel/sit Polish: 1.         Heel as normal; do a few right turns at distractions. 2.         Move toward a tempting distracting, slow down, do a left turn. 3.         When the turns are no longer surprising the dog, heel as normal, do a right turn - speed up for 3 steps and then return to the normal pace.  Repeat with all turns. Auto-sit Polish: 1.            Practice the auto-sit as outlined in the Pre-sit/stay test. 2.         Require perfect alignment. Down Polish: 1.         Require proper alignment. 2.         If the dog is downing before the command, allow only enough slack for him to start, but do not give the command.  Let him run out of slack before getting to the down a few times and he’ll stop this nonsense.* *To correct for this would be unfair, because the dog is trying to please you. Do not correct, let him learn by the lack of slack. Sit & Down Stay Polish, 15-ft. lead: 1.         Do not follow sit-stays with down-stays. 2.         Use a building corner again: place the dog in a stay 2 ft. from the corner. 3.         Go around the corner. 4.         If the dog breaks, correct IMMEDIATELY. Stand for Exam Polish: 1.        Do not correct w/ the leash, but do use the slap of the belly. 2.        Have those approaching and handling push down lightly on the rear, the dog should push up in slight resistance.