Who Coco is
Coco is a female Rottweiler whose owners sought help with everyday manageability and basic obedience. On film the trainers describe her as high-energy, easily distracted and nervous: one calls her 'the crazy one' of two Rottweilers he is working (on 20 Sep a trainer describes Coco and another Rottweiler he is working as 'crazy not like a scary way but just really out there'), says she 'panic avoids' pressure rather than digging in, and describes her as very skittish at first and more confident later. The later lessons emphasize communication, walking and transferring handling to the owners. The two latest sessions, filmed on 21 and 25 September without the family, go back to the work still unfinished: a recall to a sit, the down she still resists, and a walking radius she must now keep with a second staff handler as well. The available record is an unfinished program, not a completed success story.
The program, stage by stage
Working with a different handler
2026-09-09
Coco is asked for sit and place early, with repeated prompts and short acknowledgments. The important contextual statement is that this is the current handler’s first time working Coco, while Connor has already worked with her in outings. It therefore cannot be labeled her first day in the program. Later the handler requests place, sit and down in a brief sequence. The recording contains long unrelated conversation, which is not summarized here. It does not establish the physical assistance used, successful duration, command fluency, or a session-level improvement. Near the end staff discuss the camera following a different dog rather than the animal being trained, a useful reminder to check which dog a recording actually follows.
On film
It's her first time with me.
I haven't gone to work with her yet. I know the guys did though.
Oh yeah, Connor's been working with Coco.
Outdoor practice
2026-09-09
Coco is called, moved with let’s go, and asked for sit and down during a mostly sparsely narrated outing. The trainer reports that running play was attempted the previous day but is not wanted with this handler today. The trainer turns on an e-collar, subsequently says it was too high, and reports a level around 35. The audio does not establish the device, adjustment sequence or physical response. A moment is called decent public neutrality but immediately qualified as isolated. The session ends with more down requests and a favorable trainer impression. These are bounded reports, not measurements of generalized neutrality, emotional change or command reliability. Earlier the same afternoon, in a session filmed with Mazi, the trainer working Mazi says Coco is his next dog and 'very much needs' about ten minutes of play before training.
On film
So we did a little bit of a running play with her yesterday
Yeah, she does not want to do that with me today
okay so the e-collar was too high for her
let's go very good that was decent public neutrality right there well isolated of course
Coco very much needs um about 10 minutes of play before
First in-program owner lesson
2026-09-11
The trainer uses the first-week owner lesson to explain Coco’s foundation work rather than claim a finished set of commands. Leash/collar-pressure understanding is described as a prerequisite still being built; the trainer says more groundwork is needed than with some dogs. A sit demonstration requires repeated requests; implied stay is explained as remaining until the release word, and later the trainer says down provides a better demonstration. Let’s go is distinguished from a recall, while a radius and improved attention around distractions are described largely as next steps. The lesson explains operant-conditioning terminology and two marker functions, emphasizes the order of cue/marker/collar events, and warns about negative associations with a command. The owner reports short-lived sits, jumping and other prior difficulties. The trainer discusses expectations for later lessons and makes optimistic forecasts about readiness and nervousness. Those forecasts are not follow-up evidence, and genetic/environmental explanations here are the trainer’s interpretation rather than established diagnosis. Personal off-topic material is omitted.
On film
So I'm going like really light with her and we're like slowly building up to it.
the let's go is a directional thing so if I tell Coco like Coco let's go it's just like we're moving this way
all that all that fancy stuff hasn't happened yet
Street-side walking and down practice
2026-09-14
During a downtown Angier walk, the trainer works on let’s go and down and explains wanting a clearer directional response before using it around other people. The trainer acknowledges the need to trust Coco near a road before allowing more latitude. Repeated down requests and assistance are mentioned without an exact physical method. Later, markers and let’s go are framed as a communication system that makes a walk easier to manage, rather than merely a collection of position commands. The trainer gives favorable in-session impressions, but the audio does not measure independent reliability or establish an emotional outcome. A rough percentage offered about what owners want is an informal opinion, not business research.
On film
do more, but I just, I need to trust her that she won't like go and walk off into the road
So actually what I really wanna do is get her let's go nice and really like reinforced. That way I can start to give her let's go with other people and stuff and it'll be a lot better.
Then, all of a sudden, the walks become a lot more enjoyable for the dog and for the handler.
Radius work and handler transfer
2026-09-15
The trainer chooses a park rather than downtown, describes establishing a moving radius as impulse-control teaching, and distinguishes intended correction for a missed let's go from correction merely for watching geese. He makes the reason explicit: correcting the stimulus rather than the ignored command is, in his words, how you 'build up high aversive fears', and the dogs come to him to have anxiety calmed, not raised. The session includes a marker-use exception for radius work, a withheld 'conditioned punishment' to allow processing time, a rationale for deliberately higher real-world distraction at this stage, and discussion of transfer from trainer to owner. Closer walking and check-ins are reported, including a check-in at the car. Down remains uncertain: the trainer says Coco does not know the request, names a down she offers naturally, and says he will pull her down when she refuses. The audio does not independently establish impulse control, fear reduction, owner transfer or completed training.
On film
Coco's case in particular I don't want her to be scared of geese I want her to know that I gave her a let's go and she didn't obey and that's why she got the e-collar
it's sort of like I'm creating in her mind a electric fence that moves with me
coco down all right so she really doesn't know what i'm telling her to do
Check-ins and down repetitions
2026-09-16
The trainer works on walking within a radius, spontaneous check-ins and down requests in a park. The trainer reports some walking improvement but insufficient checking in, then repeated difficulty with down. His explanations are authority ('doesn't view me yet as like the ultimate authority'), avoidance and pressure: Coco 'panic avoids' where Titan, a dog he has just finished, 'double down' avoided, and she avoids a lot 'even for a roddy'. He calls repping through avoidance his least favourite but a much needed part of the process. These are the trainer's interpretations. A better down repetition is reported after moving to shade and smoother concrete, making surface and setting relevant alternative explanations. A lower collar setting and removal of visual help are proposed for another repetition, followed by a slow approach to the car as a contextual radius test. The trainer calls this the first day he can move past walking into commands and mentions the owner session in a couple of days. This is ongoing training with unresolved difficulty, not a finished outcome or a safe unsupervised technique prescription.
On film
but the funny thing is she she panic avoids as opposed to like double down avoids
this is probably my least favorite thing to do with training is where you have to rep over and over of a dog not listening because their instinct is to avoid. It's not a very part of the process, but it's a much needed part of the process.
but today's like the first day where like i can start to like move past like the getting like a dog that can walk and actually like venturing into the command process
Second in-program owner lesson
2026-09-18
This in-program owner lesson emphasizes an ordinary manageable walk rather than drilling commands. Owners describe previous pulling (being dragged down steps at Christian's consultation), excitement, crate difficulty and jumping, and later report much less pulling during their coached walk. The trainer, who says his speciality is nervous cases, demonstrates leash/radius handling and explains leash pressure paired with the collar so that leash length sets her space ('not necessarily like suppressing her'). He explains a marker exception for leash-boundary work, tells the owner to always follow the marker with the button in the first week, coaches owner practice and distinguishes let’s go from recall. Recall-to-sit remains inconsistent; he names 'release to freedom' for a dog that runs from the collar, and says the remaining step is responding exactly when asked. Closer dog-distraction proofing is explicitly unfinished. A shutdown interpretation prompts a stated collar-level reduction, explained as bully-breed avoidance of a stillness command. He says he has gone slower because of her nervousness but thinks she is ready for higher-intensity corrections, and reports her more confident than when she was 'very skittish'. Later informal off-leash and car/crate demonstrations are described, but the audio does not establish general off-leash reliability or completed training. Informal diagnostic labels, equipment-safety assertions and service-policy remarks remain attributed source speech rather than validated findings or public promises.
On film
i'm not gonna like drill a ton of commands with her i just really want to more this time just go over like the walk
and you can see she's actually more confident too like she's not as like um like she was very skittish when i first started like anything was like oh but now she sees stuff and she's like more confident in her environment
you're not you're not you're not coming home yet not yet
Recall, and following through on the down
2026-09-21
A short session on a walk, with no owner present. The trainer says the dogs in general are working on heel that day ('basically everybody's learning to heal'), but that he wants to strengthen Coco's recall, and most of what follows is come, sit and an 'okay' release with praise, plus a few let's go cues. Early on he stops her by mistake when she pauses to pee, then lets her finish and apologises to her. The down is still the command she resists. During the first one he calls it 'that bully breed avoidance that I talk about', and he reads her slow response as a test: 'she's trying to figure out if i'm gonna make her do it or not the answer is yes i am'. His way through it, in his words, is to 'pull down' and 'hold that tension and not give in', and he adds at once: 'Obviously you can pull too much'. The last down comes after two 'eh' markers and a 'nope', then 'there we go, okay, good'. He closes by saying a longer session may follow, maybe tomorrow. Nothing on the audio shows a change in how readily she downs, and what 'pull down on the e-collar' means physically is unclear: on 16 Sep he describes pulling down on her collar. The day before, 20 Sep, in Stormi's owner lesson, the trainer working Stormi named Coco as one of two Rottweilers he was working, both 'crazy not like a scary way but just really out there', who 'just avoid just because they don't want to listen'.
On film
I want to strengthen her recall as well
come sit hey sit okay good job
you're good go pee sorry coco
down it down hey down yep down good job that's that avoidance baby that bully breed avoidance that I talk about
she's trying to figure out if i'm gonna make her do it or not the answer is yes i am she's kind of trying to test see how far i'm willing to go depending on how far she's willing to go right
so I think what I do is I just like pull down on the e-collar and if you're willing to hold that tension and not give in
Obviously you can pull too much, but the way that I do it, it's very hard to take it too far.
Coco, down, eh, down, eh, come on, you got it, nope, come on, there we go, okay, good
a little longer one, maybe tomorrow
I say that because actually one of the dogs that I work with the most, funny enough, is Rottweilers. Or with a lot of Rottweilers. I'm working with two right now. one's name is Coco the other one's name is Mozzie they're both crazy not like a scary way but just really out there and they'll just avoid just because they don't want to listen
Radius through fixation, and a second handler
2026-09-25
A walk on a hot afternoon, worked in the shade, with no owner present. The trainer walks Coco first; once he 'almost had to hit that button', but she backed off. He explains that he is tuning up her radius: her let's go is good, but she fixates, so when she locks on he keeps walking, and once he has passed that point she gets the e-collar, so that she learns to stay aware of him even while she is fixated. When she stops to pee he says he is not going to punish her for it. He then hands her to a second staff member, Claudia, to see how her heel, down, sit and radius hold up with someone else. His instructions to Claudia: on the flexi lead, locked, if Coco pulls, hit the e-collar and hold it until she stops pulling, so that it ends the moment the pulling does; otherwise keep the leash completely loose and let the e-collar reinforce everything. How long the radius is, is up to the handler, but Coco should feel it with whoever is walking her, straight away, 'because everybody's radius is different'. Pulling, going too far and an ignored let's go all get the e-collar. A sit and a down follow on the walk ('All the way down. There you go.'); who gives those cues is unclear. When another dog appears he tells Claudia to have the let's go ready, because Coco 'might not do anything depends on how she's feeling in the moment'. Handling the flexi lead comes up too, and the answer is that it is a skill anybody can build. Most of the recording is personal conversation between the two staff members, which is left out here.
On film
Almost almost had to hit that button she backed off though
I'm trying to tune up her radius, because her let's go is good, but she gets fixated, so I'm actually like, when she gets fixated, I just keep walking, and then once I pass that point, then she gets the e-collar, so she's going to have to learn, like, to be be aware of me even while she's fixated
I'm not gonna punish her for peeing
okay so what I want to do is I want to see how her heel is or not use me let's see our down is with you our sit and her her radiuses
so whenever she pulls uh when she pulls in the flexi's lock just just hit the e-collar and just hold it till she stops pulling
I want you to keep the leaf completely loose. And then just use the e-collar to reinforce everything.
so that part as up to you like while you're walking her it's more of a thing i want her to feel the radius with you and then to it into it immediately okay because everybody's radius is different anyways
any kind of pulling immediately gets like punished with the e-collar too far radius all that all that stuff and then like you know if there's people um you say let's go if she doesn't listen then that needs to get punished too
Alright, come here. Coco. Sit. Down. Down. All the way down. There you go.
all right so there is a dog here so just have that let's go like ready let's go with that e-collar she might not do anything depends on how she's feeling in the moment
it's a skill but i think but i think like anybody can build the skill
Skills
Walking without pulling: leash pressure and leash length
How it was taught
The trainer pairs the e-collar with the end of the leash, so that whenever she feels the leash run out she also feels the collar and 'they both become one of the same'; the aim, in his words, is that she backs off immediately. Once she understands that, the leash length sets her space: long gives her room to 'do her thing', short keeps her close. He calls this teaching her where to be, not suppressing her. At the end of the leash no marker word is needed; an ignored let's go gets a marker first.
On film
And so what that does is that if she feels every single time she hits the end of the collar, then she also feels the collar. She like basically they both become one of the same.
and so she learns to just anytime she feels the end of the leash like back off immediately
start doing the pressure part uh she like started freaking out because because she doesn't really know what it means.
So I'm going like really light with her and we're like slowly building up to it.
we're to the point now where she doesn't like yank or pull on me really.
right there you see how like i hit the end of the leash and she's not pulling back on me at all
so the other thing too is like we sensitize the least pressure right to the collar so the cool thing about that is that if I want to have it really long she can do her thing but if I want to make it like really short and do this kind of thing then she'll stay by me really tight
I'm not necessarily like suppressing her I'm just teaching her like hey wait like wait till you feel the pressure and then when you feel it would be like oh okay that's like where need to be right now
i didn't get that one ounce of push
so whenever she pulls uh when she pulls in the flexi's lock just just hit the e-collar and just hold it till she stops pulling
I want you to keep the leaf completely loose. And then just use the e-collar to reinforce everything.
Let's go: move with me, past distractions
How it was taught
Let's go only means 'we're moving this way'; it is not a recall. The trainer says it whenever she fixates on a person, a dog or another distraction, and if she does not come along she is corrected for ignoring the cue, never for what she was looking at. His stated aim is that distractions come to predict 'let's go', so that she walks straight past them. On 14 Sep he wants it 'nice and really like reinforced' before using it around other people; on 15 Sep he says he does not want her to be scared of geese, only to know she got the e-collar because she did not obey the let's go.
On film
she's still fixating so that's another thing that like i'm going to be working with her a lot on is she'll like lock on to something and then it's just like that's the only thing that exist in the world
the let's go is a directional thing so if I tell Coco like Coco let's go it's just like we're moving this way
every single time she fixates when I say let's go her brain starts to learn like every time i fixate he says let's go so then she just starts doing it automatically
when i'm training the dogs i say let's go whenever they see a person or something that distracts them and then if they don't listen i punish for that
So actually what I really wanna do is get her let's go nice and really like reinforced. That way I can start to give her let's go with other people and stuff and it'll be a lot better.
Good job. He's like that work. He just did it. You know, just the people were there. That's what I want
Coco's case in particular I don't want her to be scared of geese I want her to know that I gave her a let's go and she didn't obey and that's why she got the e-collar
I'm trying to tune up her radius, because her let's go is good, but she gets fixated,
all right so there is a dog here so just have that let's go like ready let's go with that e-collar she might not do anything depends on how she's feeling in the moment
Radius and checking in
How it was taught
On 15 Sep the trainer says he has the e-collar 'in about 20' (a level on his remote) and taps it whenever she leaves the range he wants, without a marker, stopping the moment she comes back: in his words, 'a electric fence that moves with me'. On 16 Sep he wants her to break the radius 'a couple more times' so that checking in becomes worth it to her. On 25 Sep, when she fixates, he keeps walking, and she gets the e-collar once he has passed that point, so that she learns to stay aware of him. With a new handler the length is that handler's choice, but Coco should feel it with that person straight away, 'because everybody's radius is different'.
On film
so right now she's not hitting the end of my leash but she's going as far as the leash will let her go
It's like some space for the dog to move around
Cause then it's just like a permanent heel.
i'm going to try to establish a radius with coco like a lot better so i have the collar in about 20 right now um and every single time she kind of gets out of like the field of like range that I want her to be in then we're gonna go and tap on the e-collar
it's sort of like I'm creating in her mind a electric fence that moves with me
i basically just kind of keep tapping it until like she's like oh okay it's not worth it i'm going to come back and then it goes away immediately
She's a little better
what I want to get is still not checking in with me and That's the part that I don't like that. She's not not checking in with me yet.
So, I just need her to break the radius a couple more times, and e-collar it, and then like, that'll be good, because that will make her wanna check in a little bit more.
really good it's very nice on the radius a lot of dogs will break once you get close to the car so i'm walking really slow
I see what you're talking about, that little side eye thing.
I'm trying to tune up her radius, because her let's go is good, but she gets fixated, so I'm actually like, when she gets fixated, I just keep walking, and then once I pass that point, then she gets the e-collar, so she's going to have to learn, like, to be be aware of me even while she's fixated
so that part as up to you like while you're walking her it's more of a thing i want her to feel the radius with you and then to it into it immediately okay because everybody's radius is different anyways
Down
How it was taught
A cue, a marker ('eh' or 'nope') when she does not go down, help into the position, and praise when she does. On 16 Sep he pulls down on her collar while she whines, says she 'panic avoids' rather than digging in, and calls repping through avoidance 'my least favorite thing to do with training' but 'a much needed part of the process'. A better repetition came after they moved to shade and smoother concrete, and he then said he would turn the e-collar 'down a lot' and drop the visual aid. On 18 Sep, when she 'shut down', he said he would turn the level down a little, and put the shutdown down to bully-breed avoidance of a command that needs stillness. On 21 Sep he reads her slow down as a test of whether he will follow through, and answers by holding the tension, without giving in, until she lies down.
On film
coco uh coco down so we're gonna help her out coco hey
coco down all right so she really doesn't know what i'm telling her to do
yeah so you can see she's whining i'm just pulling down on her collar that's it so it's more of a thing of she's being pretty dramatic
but the funny thing is she she panic avoids as opposed to like double down avoids
this is probably my least favorite thing to do with training is where you have to rep over and over of a dog not listening because their instinct is to avoid. It's not a very part of the process, but it's a much needed part of the process.
so that was a lot better we are also in the shade on like smoother concrete as opposed to like the gravel over there
so i'm going to turn the e-collar down a lot let's see like how she handles it down no like visual aid or anything just down
so she's a little like shut down right here right so what i would do here is i'm just going to turn this down a little bit
she's a bully breed type dog right so the big thing i was talking about this before is they avoid a lot
the biggest thing now is just like getting her to do the command like exactly when i say it
she's trying to figure out if i'm gonna make her do it or not the answer is yes i am she's kind of trying to test see how far i'm willing to go depending on how far she's willing to go right
so I think what I do is I just like pull down on the e-collar and if you're willing to hold that tension and not give in
Obviously you can pull too much, but the way that I do it, it's very hard to take it too far.
Coco, down, eh, down, eh, come on, you got it, nope, come on, there we go, okay, good
Alright, come here. Coco. Sit. Down. Down. All the way down. There you go.
Recall: come, then sit
How it was taught
'Come' means coming to the handler and ideally sitting in front, unlike let's go, which only means moving this way. When she runs from the e-collar the trainer uses what he calls release to freedom: he holds the leash so that she cannot run off while the collar is on, and 'she learns basically if I don't listen like the alternative sucks'. The sit is then held until 'okay'.
On film
Coco. Sit. Nope. Sit.
the different way to let's go is let's go as a directional thing whereas come is like she's gonna actually come and like ideally sit in front of you she's not she's still a little iffy with that one
here what she's doing is she's like and then she's like if he e-collars i'll just run away so what I'm doing is it's called release to freedom it's where I'm gonna hit the e-collar and she doesn't get I'm gonna hold it here so she can't run away and she learns basically if I don't listen like the alternative sucks
I want to strengthen her recall as well
come sit hey sit okay good job
Coco, come. Sit. Okay, good job.
Sit and place, held until 'okay'
How it was taught
There is no separate 'stay': the dog holds the position until the release word, 'okay', instead of hearing 'stay stay' every few seconds, which in the trainer's words teaches 'that sit is like a three second command'. If she gets up early the marker comes first and the e-collar after it, never the other way round.
On film
like i can get her to sit but she'll she has to be really close to me and she'll like only hold it for i'd say maybe like five seconds
Place. Come on. You gotta get up.
honestly you teach the dog that sit is like a three second command
case shoot she'll stay sat until what you say okay and that's a release cue
she did it right there it's not like 100% but
i can show off the implied stay a little bit better with her down because her down is a little bit better than her sit
you hit the e-collar after. So the e-collar always comes after.
When I train my dogs, though, I need the sit to be a sit and the down to be a down, right? I tell people, I'm like, it's up to you.
Walking with someone other than the trainer
How it was taught
The trainer shows the walk, hands over the leash and remote 'not forever just for the walk', and coaches. The end of the leash gets the button with no marker; an ignored let's go gets a marker and then the button; and especially at first the handler must always follow through, so that Coco does not learn to test whether they will. Claudia is given the trainer's own rules: pulling, too wide a radius and an ignored let's go all get the e-collar, and the radius length is hers to set. Handling the equipment is called muscle memory, a skill anybody can build.
On film
It's her first time with me.
Oh yeah, Connor's been working with Coco.
because the dog already knows it they just kind of haven't really generalized it with the idea of like okay i do it with connor so that means i do it with my you know i do with mom and dad do right that's not sometimes it doesn't click they don't realize like oh this applies to basically anybody that's walking me on a leash
i'll give you my leash for the walk not forever just for the walk
the only difference is if she just hits the end of the collar you just hit the button you don't need to say marker if you say let's go and she doesn't listen then she's ignoring a command and you want to reinforce it
when you say you need to follow it up with the button the reason for that is she's going to be like seeing like when he says is he going to follow it up
it takes some muscle memory to build it up
okay so what I want to do is I want to see how her heel is or not use me let's see our down is with you our sit and her her radiuses
any kind of pulling immediately gets like punished with the e-collar too far radius all that all that stuff and then like you know if there's people um you say let's go if she doesn't listen then that needs to get punished too
it's a skill but i think but i think like anybody can build the skill
yeah I mean you just that's muscle memory
Crate and car
How it was taught
The crate is followed by something she enjoys: 'every time she goes in the crate right we go to the park'.
On film
she would not go on her crate yeah she didn't like the crate the first couple times
she get too excited like she'd be in her cage running side to side
Coco now when I open my crate in the car she jumps into my car and gets in the crate
every time she goes in the crate right we go to the park so at some point she's like i really like the crate because the crate means i'm about to go have a lot of fun
How the method adapted
Foundation before promises
The trainer says Coco needs more groundwork than most dogs before the commands, goes 'really light' with pressure, and says plainly that the 'fancy stuff' around distractions has not happened yet. The first indoor session on file was also the first time that staff member had worked her.
On film
It's her first time with me.
So I'm going like really light with her
past like it doesn't matter but you know all that all that fancy stuff hasn't happened yet so
Slower pace for a nervous dog, then more pressure
The trainer says Coco meets pressure with panic and avoidance, so he went slower to avoid giving her bad associations with the commands, and on 18 Sep he says she seems ready for more. On 21 Sep he treats her slow down as a test that he answers by following through.
On film
but the funny thing is she she panic avoids as opposed to like double down avoids
whereas in Coco's case she doesn't want to do it she avoids an e-collar and she panics because she still has to learn how to handle the pressure
but with her it's just i don't like want to work her so hard that she builds because she does have some nervousness so i don't want to like build um any kind of like mental pattern that will make her go like having bad associations with any of the commands so like i i've taken a little more slower with her um but i think she's kind of ready to start like moving at more like high intensity like e-collar punishments that kind of thing
she panics very easily and that can be counteracted but it does take some work to make sure they counteract properly
she's trying to figure out if i'm gonna make her do it or not the answer is yes i am she's kind of trying to test see how far i'm willing to go depending on how far she's willing to go right
Correct the ignored cue, not the thing she noticed
The trainer wants the e-collar tied to the ignored let's go, never to the geese or whatever she is watching, because correcting the thing she noticed is, in his words, how you build up fears. On 25 Sep the same idea shapes how he handles her fixation.
On film
so in this case like i'm trying to communicate to her like you got punished for not listening to me the command you didn't get punished just because the animal was there that's how you build up high aversive fears and really weird stuff
we want to try to calm the anxiety of our dogs they don't come to me to crank it up i mean that would be terrible
I'm trying to tune up her radius, because her let's go is good, but she gets fixated, so I'm actually like, when she gets fixated, I just keep walking, and then once I pass that point, then she gets the e-collar, so she's going to have to learn, like, to be be aware of me even while she's fixated
Walking as the immediate practical task
The trainer's priority is an ordinary walk without pulling rather than a list of commands; the length of the leash decides how much room she has, and the later sessions keep coming back to the walk.
On film
so the other thing too is like we sensitize the least pressure right to the collar so the cool thing about that is that if I want to have it really long she can do her thing but if I want to make it like really short and do this kind of thing then she'll stay by me really tight
i didn't get that one ounce of push
I want you to keep the leaf completely loose. And then just use the e-collar to reinforce everything.
any kind of pulling immediately gets like punished with the e-collar too far radius all that all that stuff and then like you know if there's people um you say let's go if she doesn't listen then that needs to get punished too
Conditions change with the exercise
The trainer names the conditions himself: a better down after moving into shade and onto smoother concrete, heat noted on several outings, and on 25 Sep work kept in the shade because it was too hot.
On film
so that was a lot better we are also in the shade on like smoother concrete as opposed to like the gravel over there
It's really hot over here.
She's probably getting a little hot now.
Whatever we do, I want to do it in the shade. It's too hot.
Transfer is taught, not assumed
A dog that listens to one person does not automatically listen to the next, so Coco is walked by her owner under coaching on 18 Sep and by a second staff member on 25 Sep, each coached through the same basics: the end of the leash, the radius and let's go.
On film
because the dog already knows it they just kind of haven't really generalized it with the idea of like okay i do it with connor so that means i do it with my you know i do with mom and dad do right that's not sometimes it doesn't click they don't realize like oh this applies to basically anybody that's walking me on a leash
so ideally what i'm working on with her is i kind of want to look like look like this let me see that real quick that's and she's still like iffy with this so like i didn't expect her to do it with you coco stop circling
i'll give you my leash for the walk not forever just for the walk
okay so what I want to do is I want to see how her heel is or not use me let's see our down is with you our sit and her her radiuses
so that part as up to you like while you're walking her it's more of a thing i want her to feel the radius with you and then to it into it immediately okay because everybody's radius is different anyways
Retain the qualification with the positive report
Each good report comes with its limit: 'well isolated of course', more testing still to do around dogs, and on 25 Sep the remark that her response to another dog 'depends on how she's feeling in the moment'.
On film
let's go very good that was decent public neutrality right there well isolated of course
and you can see she's actually more confident too like she's not as like um like she was very skittish when i first started like anything was like oh but now she sees stuff and she's like more confident in her environment
um i'm gonna start testing her by getting like closer though but she she doesn't like go at like she doesn't fixate towards like dogs that have some distance on her um i just need to do some more like proofing and testing to make sure
you're not you're not you're not coming home yet not yet
all right so there is a dog here so just have that let's go like ready let's go with that e-collar she might not do anything depends on how she's feeling in the moment
Following through on the down
On 21 Sep the trainer reads Coco's slow down as her checking whether he will make her do it. His answer is that he will make her ('the answer is yes i am'): he will 'hold that tension and not give in', and he adds at once that 'you can pull too much'.
On film
she's trying to figure out if i'm gonna make her do it or not the answer is yes i am she's kind of trying to test see how far i'm willing to go depending on how far she's willing to go right
so I think what I do is I just like pull down on the e-collar and if you're willing to hold that tension and not give in
Obviously you can pull too much, but the way that I do it, it's very hard to take it too far.
I'll see if she's gonna force me to do it again.
Coco, down, eh, down, eh, come on, you got it, nope, come on, there we go, okay, good
A bathroom break is not a correction
When Coco stops to pee she is not corrected for it: on 21 Sep the trainer apologises for interrupting her by mistake and lets her finish, and on 25 Sep he says he is not going to punish her for peeing.
On film
you're good go pee sorry coco
I'm not gonna punish her for peeing
Play first, when she wants it
On 9 Sep the trainer working Mazi says Coco 'very much needs' about ten minutes of play before training, yet later that afternoon her handler finds she does not want the running game with him that day.
On film
Coco very much needs um about 10 minutes of play before
So we did a little bit of a running play with her yesterday
Yeah, she does not want to do that with me today
What the family was told
Walks, not drills: the goal is a dog you can simply walk
i'm not gonna like drill a ton of commands with her i just really want to more this time just go over like the walk
A marker first; the e-collar always comes after
you hit the e-collar after. So the e-collar always comes after.
the disobedience is the first action and the e-collar is the last there's always the last so if you're gonna use the e-collar the dog needs to know why
like i tell people if i can only stress like one thing do not tell the dog a command and then just hit the e-collar
Never let the command word itself become the punishment
they'll go sit and then the dog doesn't sit and like they hit the collar and what that teaches the dog is that sit is a bad word
with the nervous dog you can mess things up really fast dogs in general you can but nervous dogs build associations like negative associations really fast you can poison a command really easily with a nervous dog
Let's go means move with me; come means come and sit
the let's go is a directional thing so if I tell Coco like Coco let's go it's just like we're moving this way
the different way to let's go is let's go as a directional thing whereas come is like she's gonna actually come and like ideally sit in front of you she's not she's still a little iffy with that one
She holds a position until 'okay', with no repeated 'stay'
honestly you teach the dog that sit is like a three second command
case shoot she'll stay sat until what you say okay and that's a release cue
At the end of the leash, the button with no marker; for an ignored let's go, the marker first
the only difference is if she just hits the end of the collar you just hit the button you don't need to say marker if you say let's go and she doesn't listen then she's ignoring a command and you want to reinforce it
Always follow through, especially at first
when you say you need to follow it up with the button the reason for that is she's going to be like seeing like when he says is he going to follow it up
so anytime time you say especially like that first week you gotta follow it up
Think about every word at first; it takes muscle memory
first start training I think you should go like why am I saying this word right like what am I telling the dog it becomes natural but it's very awkward at at first
it takes some muscle memory to build it up
Don't go off leash until you are confident on leash
i tell people i'm like honestly if you aren't like really confident on leash don't go off leash
The calm has to be kept up at home
So, like, yeah, the biggest thing with overexcitement is that I'm sure you've noticed, like, she's significantly calmer. The big one is when she comes home, it'll come back if you don't keep it with her.
A sit should be a sit and a down a down, but that part is your call
When I train my dogs, though, I need the sit to be a sit and the down to be a down, right? I tell people, I'm like, it's up to you.
In the family's own words
like i can get her to sit but she'll she has to be really close to me and she'll like only hold it for i'd say maybe like five seconds
she get too excited like she'd be in her cage running side to side
she would not go on her crate yeah she didn't like the crate the first couple times
i said she pulls back he said okay walk around once see what she said wow like she's about drug me down the first flight of step
So should I stop and just let her go until she turns around?
I see what you're talking about, that little side eye thing.
i didn't get that one ounce of push
Outcomes
What the trainers reported
She is significantly calmer, though the over-excitement will come back at home if it is not kept up
the trainer, 18 Sep owner lesson
On film
So, like, yeah, the biggest thing with overexcitement is that I'm sure you've noticed, like, she's significantly calmer. The big one is when she comes home, it'll come back if you don't keep it with her.
She is more confident in her surroundings than when she was 'very skittish' at first
the trainer, 18 Sep owner lesson
On film
and you can see she's actually more confident too like she's not as like um like she was very skittish when i first started like anything was like oh but now she sees stuff and she's like more confident in her environment
No pulling on the coached walk
the owner, 18 Sep owner lesson
On film
i didn't get that one ounce of push
She now jumps into the crate in the trainer's car
the trainer, 18 Sep owner lesson
On film
Coco now when I open my crate in the car she jumps into my car and gets in the crate
She hasn't really jumped up again since one e-collar correction for it
the trainer, 18 Sep owner lesson
On film
you can see she's not even jumping on you know i hit that e-collar like once and she hasn't really done it again
if she jumps on you again what i'm gonna do is i'm gonna hit the collar i'm like i'm gonna say nope hit the collar and i'm gonna pull her down
Her let's go is good, but she still fixates
the trainer, 25 Sep
On film
I'm trying to tune up her radius, because her let's go is good, but she gets fixated,
What the footage shows
On 21 Sep the down is still resisted: each one comes after repeated cues and 'eh', and is then praised
On film
down it down hey down yep down good job that's that avoidance baby that bully breed avoidance that I talk about
Coco, down, eh, down, eh, come on, you got it, nope, come on, there we go, okay, good
On 21 Sep come, sit and the 'okay' release are repeated several times, praised each time
On 18 Sep the owner walks her under coaching, and the trainer says her recall finish is still 'iffy'
On film
So should I stop and just let her go until she turns around? Oh yeah, so you can do that. I would say like right here, like just say like, let's go and start walking this way.
the different way to let's go is let's go as a directional thing whereas come is like she's gonna actually come and like ideally sit in front of you she's not she's still a little iffy with that one
On 18 Sep, with the leash off, the trainer says she is 'just as chill off leash' in that one episode
On film
you can see like she's just as chill off leash which is really good because that means like it's not just a temporary band-aid
On 25 Sep a second staff member walks her under the trainer's coaching; how Coco did is not described
On film
okay so what I want to do is I want to see how her heel is or not use me let's see our down is with you our sit and her her radiuses
so that part as up to you like while you're walking her it's more of a thing i want her to feel the radius with you and then to it into it immediately okay because everybody's radius is different anyways
A close-range test with other dogs is not on film: on 18 Sep the trainer says it is still to come, and on 25 Sep, with a dog nearby, her response is not described
On film
um i'm gonna start testing her by getting like closer though but she she doesn't like go at like she doesn't fixate towards like dogs that have some distance on her um i just need to do some more like proofing and testing to make sure
all right so there is a dog here so just have that let's go like ready let's go with that e-collar she might not do anything depends on how she's feeling in the moment
Elsewhere from Angier K9
- Read Coco’s Angier K9 story ↗ · angierk9.com
The ideas Coco's case runs on
- 'Let's go' is not 'Come' - and the recall has an ending
- Attach fun to the scary place
- Breed is a checklist, not a verdict
- Build the handler's timing while it is easy
- Don't heel grind
- Don't poison the command
- Eating the correction, and avoidance as a tactic
- Fixation is the failure mode
- Generalisation is the whole job
- Heat is a stop sign
- Honest limits, and reliability is not permission
- Pressure, release, reward
- The board, the scenes and the grades - and every trainer works every dog
- The camera is part of the method
- The dog is a different dog for his owner - and authority transfers
- The dog tells you the reward
- The dose of a session
- The gear list, and the reasons for each piece
- The radius