Boo, our second dog
I told you about Abby, our first dog who we had to return to the shelter we adopted her from, this post is to tell you about Boo, our second dog.
We were living in Maryland at the time, and my sister and I had brought Luc (who was three years old) to the park to play. There was a gorgeous dog running around. It took us about an hour, but we managed to catch her and bring her home. Luc named her Boo, and it was clear she had not had any training. She had no leash manners, would not listen, chased our cats, pottied in the house, and so on. She was a mess!
I started her training with a video my parents had from years before (it was a VHS), which was based on Koehler (even thought I didn’t know who he was at the time). I would train Boo multiple times a day in our yard, while Luc played outside with us.
She eventually became a therapy dog, as well as my first service dog. She was the dog who really got me into dog training. We would have people approach us at the parks, and at our apartment complex, asking questions and seeking help for their dog.
When we moved to Florida, I called the different dog trainers in the area, to see what fun classes they had for us to do together. None of them got back to me. I joined the local dog club, which offered training at the time, and started training with them. Soon, the instructor and I would discuss lesson plans and how the dogs were doing, and I instructed some of the classes. When people in the dog community started sending struggling owners to come and see me about training their dogs, I knew I had skills. Luc would even come with me to client’s houses, sitting at their kitchen table coloring while I worked with them and their dog.
Boo was an awesome dog, and came with us on vacations, and everywhere we went. Boo had a problem with her recall (come when called). If she got out, she was off running. This was before I started using e-collars, which would have taken care of it. We would hear people exclaim “Did you see that? A WOLF just ran by,” and we knew what direction she was heading in.
Boo was not only my gateway dog into the world of professional dog training, but taught me that when you limit the tools you use, you limit the results you can get.
