It is more me I think... I reward less than perfect fronts and finishes - so that is why I get them. Using a guide or box will take the guess work off me - so that I'm only rewarding the best ones - or so I think...?
You'll have to excuse the analogy - I'm a teacher, so I see a lot of the same problem solving issues in children that I do in dogs.
Think of it this way. Two children have a math problem to solve and have been given the basic skills required to solve it. Child #1 has easy to follow step by step instructions and guidelines on the side of his page, and is rewarded for arriving at the right answer. Child #2 is has the basic skills required, but no step by step instructions. However, he is rewarded every time he chooses a step which puts him closer towards his goal, and is given a jackpot reward upon achieving his goal. If both students have to repeat the same type of problem 5 times, and then they are both given a problem without step by step instructions, who will complete the math problem in a more independent, confident, and accurate manner? Child #2, of course, because he had to think it through. So while, at the beginning, Child #1 looked like he would excel, it was only because of the assistance he was provided. Child #2 had a slower initial progression, but has a much better understanding of the concepts b/c he problem solved his way through it.
If I were to free shape (he isn't too familiar with offering behaviors) how do I get to the precision? He will move and re-adjust himself, and then if its right and I click, he thinks he's being rewarded for the adjustment...How do I do this?
There's nothing wrong with readjusting - he's trying to figure out where you want him to be. You're not rewarding the readjustment, you're rewarding him finding the correct position. As your dog becomes more comfortable with finding the position you want him in, you will only reward the "perfect" position - everything else I just step out of. You can make more of a game of it by turning your body at odd angles and having your dog search out the correct position. Another thing you can do is restrained position calls - have a friend hold back your dog and rev him up. Walk away from your dog and call out the position - once dogs get used to this game they RACE into position, and they get a jackpot. Both of these games create drive for any position.
We use freeshaping in our performance foundations class for precision positioning, and the results have been astounding. The group of dogs we have moving up now are around 9 months to a year old, and they have better precision positioning abiiity and consistency than dogs who are in the Open/Utility group, most of whom are over 5 years old, who have been using all sorts of gadgets that they try to fade.
Admittedly, this is much harder to do with a dog who isn't used to freeshaping - you'll probably have to take some steps back if you use this method and get your dog used to offering behaviours.
Best of luck!
I can't believe I did that. 
