Field notes · Dog training in Angier & Raleigh, NC
Should I let my dog sniff before training?
Yes. Sessions open with sniffing and exploring before anything is asked, and freedom is the payment at the end too. A dog never allowed to just be a dog has nothing worth working for.
In the trainer's words
That freedom, that's the reward. He gets to go do whatever he wants and sniff.Kelton, Head Trainer, Angier K9 Consultants
Seen with 6 dogs: Bun, Kane, Kodak, Beo, Finn, Reaper
67 recorded moments, each one linked to the exact second it happens in a full training session published unedited. Trainers call this start with freedom.
0:26
Tension means back off — at any leash length
0:52
That's the only rule
3:11
Why he isn't picky about which side yet
7:45
Does it hold on the way back?
4:49
Let him run first. Then work.
18:57
What the body position comes to mean
37:45
Consistently, when people walk by, he avoids them
39:26
Recall with nothing at the end but freedom
12:00
Another rep, still physical
25:01
Verbal fluency requires letting him struggle
15:31
Pressure he doesn't know what to do with
44:01
Ears up, tail right, not reactive
54:59
One clean heel entry
9:24
Zuri sniffs past what he's fixated on
4:50
He came off the sniff and came back
5:21
"What I want you to notice" — the down, and the wait
10:02
It makes a dog's life less fulfilling
21:12
Investigative, not reactive
Related questions
Recognize your own dog in this?
Most people who call us have already been told their dog is a lost cause, or that they should manage it and hope. We train dogs in Angier, Raleigh and across the Triangle, and we take the serious aggression and reactivity cases that other programs turn down.
How it works: tell us what your dog is actually doing. We tell you honestly whether we can help, including when the answer is no. If we can, you leave with a plan and a start date.
What you get back is a dog whose world gets bigger instead of smaller.
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