You have short arms! Seriously, I stand with my feet either side of the dog, I do have to sort of step over him. Then I do lean over his back. I had to train him not to look up and slurp my ear at this point! Being Charlie.....
Ah, well. Nevermind, I'm sure your dogs are a billion times better than Charlie anyway. I am SO looking forward to my lesson on the 13th April - it's on blinds, and I hope hunting an area too. Crossing off the days, really. But I only get to do those if I've made more progress on steadiness, so pushing on!
It doesn't help that your dog's are definitely on the tall side @Stacia I was taught that the dog will travel in the direction his chest is pointing so your arm isn't as important as your heelwork. I'm saying nothing about @David shooting skills
I agree @bbrown re dog will travel in direction of his chest and so many people have their dogs facing in quite the wrong direction they are intending the dog to go! However, I do notice that my dog will take direction from my hand if his nose is out a bit, even though his chest is right
