05/12/2025
Training takes hard work. No “easy” fixes here 😊
Ps. I’m not judging those who choose to use these tools because I believe we’re all just doing the best we can with the knowledge that we have and I believe in meeting people where they are. I’m just saying science has proven they aren’t necessary and there is a more compassionate, humane way 💟
I have contemplated all day how to tastefully write this post. Unfortunately, the event that transpired does not warrant a tactful or subtle response. Why? Because all it deserves is Kelly Coleman, raw and uncut.
During our Tails to Trails, my clients all worked to have their dogs wait patiently on the side of the trail if a group of walkers, joggers, bikes, or dogs passed. Two of the dogs are working on not reacting when things pass, so since we are a grouo, we all work together. The dogs really did an amazing job.
At one point, a woman comes down the trail with a German Shepherd Dog. I knew from a distance she was using a prong collar by the way she first je**ed the leash then choked up on the leash to keep the dog smashed against her side in some ficticious sort of madeup "heel." An older client commented to the woman, "Your dog is so well behaved." I immediately thought, 'has she learned nothing from me' because I was bewildered as how she could not read the stress in the dog and that the only reason it was not moving towards us was because the lady was choking the s**t out of it. Thankfully my other clients peeped game and saw what it was hitting for. What killed me was when the woman responded, "oh thanks, we have done obedience." 🤯
First off, you cannot tell me this moron could not tell I was teaching my clients as I was instructing the two with reactive dogs what to do. Second, who the fu
