Originally posted by IRescue452
I still don't get what is so important about heeling on the left side.
I'm not sure what it is about the left side. I actually just searched (google & yahoo) and found no reason why they chose the left side.
But if I were to GUESS I would say it is for showing purposes. *Most* shows the dog works clockwise, with the judge in the middle, therefore the dog needs to be on the left side of the human in order for the judge to fully see the dog.
I also think that to make judging fair they should have the dogs all do it the same way. The more uniform the dogs are the fairer it is.

But I would love to find out if I am correct or the reasone behind it. I'll be searching some more to see what I can find.

If I was never an assistant in obedience, agility & behavorial training, and my pets were not used as specimans & I if I was not interested in showing I think I would of taught my dogs to heal on both sides but just using the one word, heal. But since they were specimans & my next dog I will be showing I don't want to confuse them and have them accidently heal on the wrong side.