Nellie – Labrador Retriever

Nellie has come to us for a three week Board & Train program. She’s a kind and loving dog with a fairly serious pulling issue. If fact, Robert said that Nellie is a stronger puller than several 200+ pound Mastiffs that we’ve had in for training over the years.

These short video clips are at the one week milestone of her stay, during which she was given the opportunity to acclimate to her new world. A dog needs to be given the opportunity to learn to trust the people who have become her new caregivers. With out trust, there’s no point in asking a dog to respect and honor boundaries like, “no pulling” when we walk together on a leash. Nellie had to come to know that she would be fed and give times to exercise outdoors. She needed to understand that we were reliable and predictable. It’s very important that a dog feels secure before asking her respect the people who are asking her to follow their lead.

VIDEO ONE shows a few important things to note. Here, Robert is simply walking with Nellie on a loose lead, expecting her to remain at his side and change direction and pace when he does. To help Nellie understand those requirements, Robert changes direction often, including “inside circles” where she must yield to his position and travel slower than he is going because she’s on the inside of the circle. While we do not actively teach a “watch me” command (which is usually done using treats to bribe the dog to look at the handler – often in very unnatural manner), when you employ fair and clear consequences / corrections for pulling or failing to change direction and FOLLOW the handler, a dog will naturally begin to pay attention, look up or check in with her handler. This is authentic “attention” and not a contrived trick. The dog looks up naturally because it makes sense to do so in order to work within the boundaries that are set by a person she can trust and respect.

VIDEO TWO: This short clip shows early training of the down command, including the correction necessary to set the standard that Nellie must lie all the way down.

VIDEO THREE: Here, Robert practices “outside circles” with Nellie. This action puts her on the side of the circle where she must move more quickly than her handler in order to stay up with his movement. You may notice at the end there is a sound that distracts Nellie when she has been asked to sit. She is corrected at the level necessary to remind her she must sit when told. A correction is delivered at the intensity necessary for the infraction. This demonstrates the ART and fineness of training because even if you’ve heard it repeated very often in some realms of dog training, training is not just about the science.

VIDEO FOUR: Here, you’ll see Robert walking calmly (some might even say slowly.) Most dogs can heel quite well if the handler is moving briskly, especially if it’s at the dog’s “trot” pace. Nellie may become a fully functioning Service Dog in the future. She may need to walk exceedingly slowly next to a disabled handler. Heeling isn’t about moving at the speed the dog enjoys. It’s about teaching the dog that the handler sets the pace. You will also see Robert stop and ask Nellie to sit, but he continues to walk a circle around her. It may not be obvious in the video, but Robert did not tell Nellie to heel with him once she sat, even though he moved forward. We teach dogs to refrain from triggering on the handler’s movements. After all, the person should be able to bend over and tie her shoe or take a step (or more) away from the dog to open a door, shake someone’s hand or pick up a dropped item. If the last command the dog heard was “sit” she should remain sitting until told otherwise. Triggering on the human’s movement is just a bad thing to teach a dog – at least that is what we believe. In this clip you will also see Robert deliver collar corrections when Nellie beings to sniff the ground. Note that he remains moving and he remains calm when delivering those corrections, which are very light because that’s what Nellie required.

The final thing you’ll observe on this last video is that Robert offers Nellie affection and she doesn’t take advantage of that and get overly excited and remains sitting. This is an important lesson that all dogs should learn because, hey, we people love to lavish our dogs with affection. But, affection can be a poison cue to a dog that causes the dog to forget how to be well mannered. We love to pet dogs, we just don’t want them to go crazy when we love on them.

These videos were shot one week into her training. She’s well on her way to be a dog that her owners can easily handle when they come for the Handler Instruction pick up appointment. Good job, Nellie (and, of course, Robert, too.)