Car doors, garage doors, home.
Walks got hard after Max’s family moved. “If a car door shut two streets down, it would scare him,” his owner said. Garage doors did it too: “He would get scared and he’d start pulling.”
“I would try to comfort him, you know, but he wanted to get home right now,” she said. He would pull her all the way home.
Friendly, untrained and willing.
On day one Kelton met a sweet, untrained dog. “Max is very friendly, as you can see,” he said, but there was no down yet and the release word meant little. He started with the basics: say the word first, then move, and pair a slow rub-down with “easy” to teach relaxation on cue.
He kept that first session short on purpose: “I don’t want to overdo it with him, push him too hard on his first one.”
The toy he finally grabbed.
Max didn’t know how to play. On day one he ran right past the ball; on day two he grabbed a toy for the first time; by the evening sessions he was catching a ball. Part of Kelton’s method is simply hanging out with the dog.
In the evenings he learned to hold his place cot through a knock at the door. “Oh, he did perfect,” his trainer said, “that’s wonderful to see.”
Four stores and a lake.
Late in the program Kelton took him to Ross, Michaels, PetSmart and Bass Pro Shops. Out of command he could sniff and greet, and beside a display of kittens at PetSmart he came and sat on cue. “You see, Max isn’t scared of anything in here anymore,” his trainer said at Bass Pro.
At Lake Benson he held a down while people walked by, then met the water for the first time. “Max is a water fan,” his trainer said.
Startle, yes. Bolting, no.
On go-home day Kelton listed the places Max had trained: Michaels, Ross, PetSmart and Bass Pro Shops. “Now see, I could never have taken him,” his owner said.
His plan for walks was simple: a startle is normal, but “the further choice to try to sprint away, that can be fixed.” When he called walks one of the best parts of Max’s day, his owner agreed: “Yes, and for me, too. I mean, I love it.”
“Happy with what I see.”
Then they walked the neighbourhood together. Another dog passed and Max paid it no mind: “He didn’t care about the dog at all,” Kelton said. A noise came from a nearby garage, the kind that once would have sent him into a panic, and he let it go.
Back inside, after the paperwork, his owner summed up the evening: “I’m happy with what I see tonight.”
Kelton’s walk rule for home: a long, loose lead, and zero tolerance for pulling.
