Safe Sniffing Adventures for this Chocolate Lab: Cali's Story

Meet Cali, a fun-loving chocolate lab pup from Ontario, Canada! 

Meet Cali, a loveable chocolate lab pup from Ontario, Canada! Adopted from a breeder in Springbrook, Ontario, this one-and-a-half-year-old pupper is the most affectionate love bug you’ll ever meet. She always wants to snuggle and doesn’t ever want to be left behind… Cali will actually go to the extent of stealing her dad’s shoes in the morning so that he cannot leave her! Extremely friendly, Cali loves all dogs and humans, but her best fur-friend is Nelly, a service dog who often comes over for play dates. They have been best buds since Cali was a puppy and now that she’s a little older, Cali is finally able to keep up with her! Their quality time together usually consists of running around the backyard, chewing on sticks, and wrestling one another. There have been times where they both want the same toy or stick and will run next to each other with each end of the stick in their mouth, which is hilarious to watch.

Before the SpotOn Virtual Fence, her family didn’t think a containment system was necessary since Cali was fairly good at staying in the yard at first. However, that was very short lived. Her nose distracted her often and she soon realized that she could easily take off after rabbits and into the field to roam. Her family noticed that she would all of the sudden stop chasing her ball and start sniffing in a certain direction. Very determined to discover the scent she picked up, she would leave to go investigate (sometimes even take off running!) and it was extremely difficult to get her attention back once this happened.

SpotOn Virtual Fence was highly recommended by their dog trainer, Yvonne Ferguson, owner of Quinte Canine, the first time they met her during an in-home puppy training appointment. After doing some research, they knew this was exactly what they needed for their beloved fur-baby. The family was very impressed by the custom mapping feature. With this, her owners were able to limit Cali’s access to only half of the front yard, keeping her a safe distance from the busy road. Now that Cali is trained to the SpotOn system, she has learned to stay on the property and contain herself when she sees other animals passing by. The tracking feature of the collar also provides her owners with peace of mind and reassurance that if she does happen to leave the yard, they will be instantly alerted and able to find her much easier! Also, her dog parents were pleased to find how inexpensive this solution was in comparison to other alternatives. With their fair-sized yard, installing a buried wire fence  would have been very costly.

“Cali gets very excited when we pick up the SpotOn collar because she knows it’s time to play outside.”
- Emily Bosma, Owner

This summer, her owners are looking forward to taking her off leash at the family cottage 30 minutes north of Napanee, Ontario! While the humans are camping out, Cali loves to go swimming in the lake – though she recently realized that she likes to keep her head above water when she decided to jump off the end of the dock. 

“We loved the ease of setting up a map for our yard with SpotOn. It would have been costly to install invisible fencing.”
- Emily Bosma, Owner

Is your SpotOn dog free to roam? Share their story with us here!