“She likes to ignore.”
Fiona is a chug, a chihuahua-pug mix, and on her first day of training she wore a prong collar for the first time. “Fiona has never had any formal training,” her handler said on that first walk. “She likes to ignore… Well, we’re gonna fix that.”
Her family had brought her in for three things: reactivity on the leash, reactivity with people, and pulling. Kelton did her consult.
“She’s pretty good now.”
Fiona’s first board-and-train built the basics her family needed: a clear “nope” for pulling and barking, “let’s go” to move on from people, a recall that ends in a sit, and “bed” for the bed she has at home. Her trainer described two quick corrections the first time she tried to pull, and then: “she’s pretty good now.”
At the go-home lesson her owner said it simply: “I’m glad you came home with manners.” Her trainer was just as clear about what comes next: after a year of the same habit, the work continues at home.
The homework: more walks, new neighbourhoods and pet-friendly stores, with the same cues every time.
The leash was the trigger.
In late May Fiona came back for a second board-and-train, this time with an e-collar, calm liberty and one well-charged “uh-uh.” Her trainer had a theory: Fiona had only ever reacted on a tight leash or behind a barrier.
So her trainer tested it in the yard. As two dogs walked through, Fiona was let go towards them and called back, and she came; off leash beside them, she “seems to have no interest. I think it’s because there’s no leash tension and there’s no barrier.”
Her trainer’s advice to every owner watching: “Stop putting leash tension with your dog.”
Calm without a cue.
Her trainer also filmed a lesson just for her owner: what a dog should do in a living room. With the TV on and nothing asked of her, Fiona went and lay down: “We didn’t tell her down, we didn’t tell her place, we didn’t tell her sit… she’s choosing to go lay down now.”
Out in public the work held up too. At Bass Pro she placed on benches and store fixtures and held a down, and her handler noted that she used to bark at people sometimes, “but she hasn’t done that in a while.”
Sitting, without being asked.
At her second go-home lesson the trainer kept it simple for her owner: words first, the leash lock only as a last resort, and one “uh-uh” kept charged “like a battery.” The goal, in the trainer’s words, was “total welfare”: a happy dog, a happy owner, and neighbours glad to see her.
Then they visited a neighbour, and Fiona was released to say hi. She jumped, heard “uh-uh” from several people, and sat; “What’s interesting here is that I didn’t ask her to sit,” her trainer said. Her owner’s answer: “This never happened.”
Kelton says Fiona comes back periodically for refresher courses.
