BOOP K9

On Wednesday Ludo got introduced to the prong collar.

Ludo showed up terrified of almost everything. He peed whenever any attention was given to him. He darted away. At home he was terrified of going on a walk. He’d plant at the front door and wouldn’t budge, so his owners, not wanting to stress him out, didn’t make him go on walks. So he learned early that being scared and running away/planting got him out of those things.

Ludo also has a big brother dog at home that he leaned on a lot for security. When you took that away from him and got him in a new environment, he was lost.

The prong collar comes in for control and communication. It lets me apply pressure in the direction I want. Instead of Ludo feeling all the pressure of the environment, Ludo now was focused on the prong pressure. Ludo learned how to turn off that pressure, that he could make a choice, and making the right choice felt good.

It’s not always pretty…most good dog training isn’t despite what you may see on social media. But showing him the way opened him up to trying something else. Once a dog is trying, that’s when things really get rolling.

We start with simple things. Loading up into the BOOPmobile. Then climbing onto picnic tables at the park. Showing a dog they can actually do something is very powerful. You can see the confidence that has never been there start to come to the surface.

So yes, I put a prong collar on a terrified 6 month old Newfie pup. And it went great.