“A lot of nervous issues.”
Dory arrived as a nervous dog. At their first session, her trainer recalls, “she kind of stared at me,” and the first time he walked her on their route she stayed “velcroed” to him, “not wanting to look at anything.” He told a passer-by she had “a lot of nervous issues.”
So the first days were about trust, not commands. “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her, and let her sniff and explore between sits.
“Always a great sign.”
Her trainer walked her lap after lap on a route she knew, then over a bridge into new areas. Soon she was “starting to want to sniff other people,” which he calls “always a great sign.” By about the second week the pulling was gone: “she’s checking in.”
When a child startled her, he kept it calm: “it’s okay though, we’re gonna get there.”
“So full of life.”
By late April her trainer could say it plainly: “Dory’s opened up quite a bit.” The dog who once stared at him was now “running around really happy,” fast, vocal and, in his words, “so full of life.”
Indoors she held place with another dog in the room, “a fantastic distraction” she had learned to tune out.
Heel first, down last.
Heel came together fast: “She’s taking to the heel very well.” Down was the last command she learned. When she found it confusing, her trainer came back the next session with a food reward hidden in his hand, and soon “it’s killing it already.”
Off leash in Home Depot.
Then the big test: off leash inside a Home Depot, first in a calmer corner and then in the central aisle “where people are walking around.” She sat, came, heeled and lay down on cue.
She was so excited she dashed off now and then, and came back when called. “You look so happy,” her trainer told her.
“I’m really proud of her.”
At her owner lesson, days before she went home, her owner took the leash, and Dory walked beside her without pulling; she used to pull every time. Her heel needed almost no correcting. “I’m really proud of her,” her owner said.
Left in a sit while her handler faced away, Dory looked “ready to bolt,” and held her spot anyway. Her owner summed up what matters most: “As long as she loves me, that’s what’s important.”
The plan for home: a strict first week, place when visitors arrive, and every command kept in daily use.
