Chapter 10 - The Dog Trainer
Baxter’s professional trainer, Mara Ellis, became an unexpected witness.
Ambrose had contacted her after the escape incident.
He asked:
“How do you stop a fearful child from making a dog reactive?”
Mara answered:
“You manage distance and work with a child specialist. I train dogs.”
Ambrose pushed.
“Would crating help?”
“For the dog, maybe, depending context.”
That line mattered.
Mara meant:
Put Baxter in his crate so Callum has space.
Ambrose later claimed he misunderstood.
But the email continued.
Mara:
Do NOT confine the child with or near the dog as a correction. That can worsen fear and create safety issues.
There.
Explicit.
Ambrose replied:
Understood.
He did it anyway.
Not confusion.
Choice.
Why?
Because he believed Mara’s concern was liability language.
He told Rafferty later:
“Professionals always write for lawyers.”
That worldview allowed him to dismiss any instruction he disliked as bureaucracy.
May you like
Callum was the one trapped inside his certainty.
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