Quote Originally Posted by Dixieland Dancer
The most fundamental part of any training is solid attention work. In teaching attention you are teaching the dog that nothing is as valuable as you are. Attention starts with the dog sitting in front of you and something enticing in your hand. Extend your hand with the treat all the way out. Immediately when the dog glances your way instead of looking at the treat, you give it to him and give a "YES" or if you do clicker training a "click" (I'm a big advocate of clicker training). It has to be at the exact second the dog looks at you instead of the treat. Be patient if the dog stares at the treat. Eventually he will glance at you. Keep repeating this until the dog understands looking at you gets him the treat.

Then start to increase the time the dog looks at you to a couple seconds instead of just a glance. If he looks back at the treat give a "oops" sound and break out of the position then start over. It is important to break out of the position and say "oops" so the dog understands something wasn't right. He'll figure it out eventually that he was the cause of the treat going away for that second.

You must be very repeatitive at three seconds and be consistent in getting the dog to do it correctly at least 20 out of 15 times before increasing the time by a few more seconds. Your goal is at least 30 seconds of attention on you instead of the treat. When you get to 30 seconds you are ready to start all over again in heel position and introduce distractions on purpose.

Once the behavior is shaped I put a verbal command on watching me. I never give a verbal command to behavior until I believe the dog understands it. I use the words "watch mamma" and point to my eyes.

This is a starting point. Let me know how it goes and I'll supply more information when your ready to move forward. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much info at once. Eventually, you will get to the point of working on recalls but for now, you need to establish solid attention work. In other words you need to learn to crawl before you can walk or run.
I really got a lot of info from this, and am i missing your post or have you been gone for a while??