[Dave's hand comes up, pointer finger towards the sky 'obey'. Kim takes several steps back immediately and nods to show she'd heard. Pokemon are fairly intelligent, often more so than people. It's a lot like animals, he guesses.

The fire dog stays where she is till Dave beckons with his hand. In moments they're back to the same position they'd been in before.] Do it one more time.

I always start off with showing her the gesture/sound/pose twice before I do it at least twice a day to ingrain it. Not that she's animal level of smart, she's above that. It just never hurts to remind someone of what they need to remember.