The answer
Yes, on film - the small precursors, not ordinary interaction. Kelton gives two families the same instruction. Sputnik, a blue heeler, controls the family's nervous dog Bear: pushing him away from people, guarding bowls and the door. Kelton gives the owners one authoritative penalty - 'nope' and a leash pop, repeated, with spatial and social pressure - and asks them to be 'pretty liberal' with it, because the small moments are easy to let go and 'that's what leads to the next thing... it's like a domino chain so you want to stop the first domino'. Done consistently, he says, it will happen less and Sputnik will get the point quickly.
With Murphy, back home with two other dogs, Kelton is careful about both edges. He tells the family not to keep the dogs from interacting, because working things out is good; what he wants stopped is a habit happening many times a day - Murphy standing over Wiley and guarding space - caught 'as soon as humanly possible every time'. Then he sets the floor: Murphy going at Wiley while Wiley greeted an owner 'is about the smallest thing. If it's smaller than that, just leave it alone. Anything that and up, you immediately do.' He also reverses his own order after a mistimed collar tap landed while the dogs were face to face: separate first with the leash, collar afterwards.
Stated: the rule, the floor and the order. Not on film: how the households fared after the first weeks.
What to do
Know your dog's first domino - the stare, the block, standing over, guarding a space - and stop it every time: 'nope', a pop, and pressure, calmly and without anger (watch 28:51). Don't stop the dogs interacting, and leave alone anything smaller than the first move (watch 53:02; 85:04-85:12). Separate first; any collar correction after, not while they are face to face (84:01-84:25).
What the trainers say
everything stops when he does that particular thing and i want you to be pretty liberal with
might be tempted to be like yeah right but that's what leads to the next thing
right it's like a domino chain so you want to stop the first domino essentially
this situation is one um one thing you should not do is just try to keep them from interacting with
and then I see he's avoiding now what we're gonna do is catch it as soon as
minute before preventing right prevent it as soon as you see it him doing the thing that could lead
happening. It's more of a space issue, right? So that's about the smallest thing. If it's
smaller than that, just leave it alone. Anything that and up, you immediately do. So maybe
How it looks, dog by dog
Sputnik
At go-home, in a three-dog house where Sputnik controls nervous Bear. The owners get one penalty for Sputnik going at Bear, applied liberally and without anger; Kelton also tells them to stop Bear invading Sputnik's space, so Sputnik sees the owners handle it.
On film
have to freak out you don't have to be angry it's just pop right you say nope and you pop
you can tell him to knock it off right and what will end up happening is if you do that frequently
Murphy
At go-home with the household's two other dogs, Kelton watches Murphy stand over Wiley and guard space. The plan: catch it at the smallest onset every time - maybe ten times a day at first - with the leash first and the collar after; leave smaller moments alone; and let the dogs interact.
On film
humanly possible every time so for the first week it might be annoying because
That kind of thing and then the other thing is you won't use the e-collar first, right? You'll use it later on
Why it works
Stated: small precursors lead to the next thing, like dominoes (watch 29:31); stopping them consistently makes them less frequent (29:58-30:09). Stated: interaction itself is healthy (watch 53:02). Stated: a correction delivered face to face can be taken as coming from the other dog, so separate first (Murphy arc, watch 41:31). Inferred: the floor keeps the rule about the chain toward a fight, not about suppressing normal dog communication.
Common owner mistakes
- Letting the small push or block go because nobody got bitten.
On film
that because the kinds of things can be easy to let go right like say bear wants
Watch at 29:19 ↗ - Keeping the dogs apart instead of letting them interact.
On film
each other sure right because letting them interact and work things out is a good thing
Watch at 53:10 ↗
Questions owners ask
How small is too small to correct?
Kelton's floor for Murphy: going at the other dog to guard space while it greets you is about the smallest; anything smaller, leave alone.
On film
smaller than that, just leave it alone. Anything that and up, you immediately do. So maybe
Do I need to be angry or loud?
No: 'you don't have to yell... you don't have to be angry it's just pop'.
On film
if you don't make it bad enough and you don't have to yell you don't have to scream you don't
The lesson
The goal
Identify and interrupt the first precursor to inter-dog conflict, consistently, without suppressing normal interaction.
Learn first
The drill
As handed to Murphy's family: when he stands over or guards, separate with the traffic leash and a big pop with 'nope', then the collar a couple of times afterwards, then follow on as in the lesson (watch 84:07).
Watch out for
- Letting precursors go
- Correcting everything, including normal interaction
- A collar correction while the dogs are face to face
Check yourself
What is Kelton's floor - the smallest thing he would correct - in Murphy's house?