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Fauquier dog trainer teaches Bo to behave

April 25, 2009 12:35 am

BY EDIE GROSS

Bo knows Fauquier County.

That's right. Before his well-publicized romp across the South Lawn with the first family two days after Easter, Bo Obama learned a thing or two at the Hume home of dog trainer Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz.

When the curly-haired pup with the tuxedo-like coat, then known as "Charlie," showed up at Sylvia-Stasiewicz's house in March, his future was uncertain.

His first home hadn't worked out, she was told, because the family's older dog hadn't taken to the frisky youngster.

Sylvia-Stasiewicz was already training one of Charlie's littermates, Cappy, the youngest of three Portuguese water dogs owned by Sen. Edward Kennedy and his wife, Vicki.

She was asked to evaluate Charlie to see if he'd be good for a family with kids.

The fact that the family in question was the one living in the big white house on Pennsylvania Avenue wasn't revealed until several weeks into the dog's training.

"I trained and lived with him as though he were one of my own," said Sylvia-Stasiewicz, 51, who occasionally walked him around the Warrenton Petco to gauge his response to other dogs.

"I put him around kids, got to know his temperament. He's sweet and cuddly and he pays attention to you," she said. "He's a very loving dog."

Her month with Charlie-turned-Bo was nostalgic. Sylvia-Stasiewicz, who has owned and worked with just about every breed of dog over the past two decades, had owned a "Portie" named Ebony in the '80s.

Ebony was especially loving with her three children, she said.

"There's practically not a picture of the kids without her there," she said. "She was good with everybody."

Bo was similarly good-natured, she said, and a quick study. Both he and brother Cappy were easily house-trained, she said.

"With both of those dogs, I had not one accident ever," she said. "It's been years since I had one like that--a bladder you would kill for."

She crate-trained Bo, taught him some basic commands and brought him along to the Merit Puppy Training class she teaches each week at the Jelleff Boys & Girls Club in Georgetown.

No one knew the playful pup was White House-bound, and he never put on airs, said Washington resident Jacqueline Eyl, whose beagle-German shepherd mix, Ruby, faithfully attended the class.

"She probably slobbered all over him," Eyl added.

Bo's identity was still a mystery the Thursday before Easter when Sylvia-Stasiewicz brought him to Marshall Dog Grooming for a shampoo, trim and blow dry. But owner Laurel Beveridge had an inkling he was bound for bigger things.

"I can't speak highly enough about his temperament. The whole time I worked on the dog, I'd get in his face and all he did was lick me to death and give me kisses," said Beveridge, who later recognized Bo from all the media coverage. "With a job like this, you never know who's going to walk in the door."

Just before Bo's big debut, Sylvia-Stasiewicz gave the Obamas a no-pull harness for the energetic dog.

"He's at that age where he's going to start trying different things," she said. "He has his puppy moments, as all puppies do, where he runs around. But it's short-lived."

She's also planning to teach the family how to train Bo, using the same positive reinforcement she teaches in her classes.

"I don't train the dog and give the dog back to the owner and say, 'See ya, good luck,'" she said, adding that it's a lifelong process. "Not every day is an 'A' day. Dogs are like us. They have good days and some days are a little off. I tell people: 'Do not ever take any good behavior for granted. Keep working.'"

She predicts that Bo's approval ratings are likely to remain high.

"He really, really loves people," she said. "He's going to be loved. He's going to be very happy. He's going to have a great future, a great life."

Edie Gross: 540/374-5428
Email: egross@freelancestar.com