Big energy, no brakes.
Boog arrived as a young, high-energy Lab. His trainer’s first notes were honest: he “really doesn’t give in to the leash at all,” and “he really just doesn’t care that I exist, even though I have a leash on him.”
At home, his family had a clear wish list. No more jumping on the counter, “especially if he starts to hear the sink running,” and a place to put him “if he’s being way too chaotic.”
Channel the drive.
His trainers learned quickly what Boog needed: play first, to burn off the drive a walk alone can’t reach, then work. “Let’s go” became a key cue, because it corrects the over-excitement through the command instead of punishing the excitement itself.
The plan was clear from the first week: build that drive and use it, especially for the down, which his trainer expected to be “his big one.”
“He’s like, I’m home.”
At the owner lesson in Boog’s own house, Connor worked through the family’s list: a firm “Nope” at the counter, then place on the bed they already had, practised by both owners. Before long Boog fell asleep on that bed in the middle of the lesson. “He’s like, I’m home,” Connor joked.
Outside, the family walked him past a stranger with “let’s go,” and Connor pointed out how far he had come. “You can see he’s… walkable,” he said; before, walks had been “a miserable experience.”
“You just did like everything right.”
At the go-home lesson Connor taught the heel: one spot beside your leg where all the pressure goes away. Then both owners took the leash. “Actually, that looks really good for a first run,” he told one; to the other: “I’ll tell people how to do the heel and I’ll like forget how to do two things. You just did like everything right.”
A little looser with her, Boog kept checking in: “He’s still paying attention.” Connor admitted he had been a little nervous about how Boog would heel for them, “but that was really good.”
Personality intact. Dialed back.
As the lesson wrapped up, the family saw the change for themselves: Boog lying down beside them on the sidewalk. “It’s like, oh, okay. You’re just chilling, I guess.”
That was the goal, Connor said: “his personality’s still there, he just knows how to like dial it back a little bit.” As he had put it earlier, “he’ll always be crazy, but he should be crazy and listen.” Even the down, the one command Boog fought until the end, was “all looking good now.”
Connor’s plan for home: keep the heel alive with 10 to 15 seconds on every walk, use place in more than one spot, and practise daily while Boog is young.
