Who Finn is
Trainers words
On film
This is his first time out to the park, and Finney is a major flight risk. So he will bolt. He will try to run. So I've got his backup collar on, and I've got the e-collar in front, so that it helps a little bit with the collar sliding off, and I've got his flat collar on relatively tight.
he's reacted very, very negatively believe it any kind of pressure even slight pressure which you may see in some of the videos when he's asking to sit or do other things like that he uh he has a whole panic attack and freaks out um with even just a tiny tiny bit of pressure
You can see even right there he looks like a prey animal even though he's a predator. So he's definitely a really nervous case.
This is as bad as Ozzie. The only difference between Finn and Ozzie is Ozzie's terrified like this but Ozzie's about this big right and Finn weighs 100 hundred pounds so that that is a very big difference in strength so when Ozzy panics it's relatively easy to handle and Finn panics you're gonna have some problems
he goes for one of two either he freezes it's really bad if he can't get away or if you think he if he thinks he can get away he will flee flight is the is the primary he only does freeze if he feels like he can't right get away if he feels cornered or if he has a leash on he'll freeze but if if he has the opportunity he'll run
he was doing like the fear bitey thing not like because like i i draw a strict line he's not a bite risk he is a a fear snapper where he gets he was because he was so freaked out when he first came
the first time he met me he was so scared his eyes got as big as saucers and he tried to he did like a little fear bite not because he's aggressive but because he was terrified.
but he will do that all of that stuff just fine until he unless he panics right and if he panics he just goes he freezes up and I'm sure you've seen in a few videos he just freezes up and refuses to do anything he won't sit he won't down he won't do anything
when he freezes and panics like that, all of the thoughts go out the window, and so then I'm asking him to do a thing, and at first he would just eat whatever the penalty was.
pretty much like lived in a semi-shut down state
He looks so uncomfortable. He looks frozen.
with the genetic nervousness you can't just like you can't just be like oh like i'll reinforce the nervousness out of them or something like that you generally just have to open them up a ton get them to trust you and then teach them him how to manage the nerves
I don't think that you guys did anything to be very frank nor do I think any traumatic events caused this I think this is very likely his genetic makeup this is just something in most cases that I've worked with it's not nobody did anything they just kind of came out that way and then maybe like they had some event one or two events that kind of unlocked that thing they already had and made it worse
genetics can be overcome to a large extent but he'll always probably be a little weird and really like crazy situations
sometimes we get anxiety cases where it's like it's like it's like low low grade this is more like potent right like upper intermediate at best stuff
his eyes are always dilated i can never tell when he's actually nervous because the pupils stay dilated all the time because he's just scared all the time
I'm really scared to poison any command with him, especially. Because he does seem to build, like, aversive behavior very quickly.
finn is highly context specific you take him out on a walk at the park finn seems like a different dog he gets 10 times better like automatically he listens better he sits he will stand and sit he does all kinds of good stuff When we take him out of the park at home in the facility in the training room or out here in the training yard He freezes up a bunch.
he's totally capable of coping with the problem he's just being allowed to to freeze up and that's dictating um whether he's going to do things or not and so he's learned he could just get out of it if he just goes and just freezes up like that
He is nervous even under calm circumstances without all the noise in the background, without being outside, not all the chaos
with his current like whatever Whatever is contributing to his fear behaviors and his nervous set up overall where he's fearful of things in the environment and fearful of people and other dogs and stuff like that.
I try not to go on record and say any dog is like you know mess up because truthfully it's just a state of mind any dog once you change the state of mind in the associations but he's currently got some bad associations with people and to some extent some dogs
He's uh, he's just as scared as you are Then you want to make friends that's surprising buddy. He normally runs away from people you can pet him if you want
I didn't mean to let him get that close, but actually that kind of. pretty pretty neutral about that
you do want to see them act like a dog when they're kind of shut down like Ben, when they're kind of weird. So those kinds of things, I'm not going to discourage that at all with Finn because I just want him to act like a dog. just wanted to be normal do dog stuff not be all freaked out
I don't know what it is with you and that, but it drives me bananas, crazy boy. You got to stop doing it, too, because it's messing you up. It's like a weird coping mechanism for you.
it's not necessarily a a well-trained dog either I would say it's a good dog but not by like you know trained standards
finn is a physical specimen he's fast and strong so we just need to get that brain working
kelton over here just got just finished working with your boy with our boy finn i think he's like a nervous lab mix of some kind
Finn was so nervous when he first got here that he would he would try to bury himself like under the blankets in the corner but he's doing a lot better now.
if you want to learn a lot about lola if other than watching lola's videos watch finn's videos
He tried to eat Rockwell through the grave. That's some teeth, too. Yeah, but he's like super nice. But, around with the dogs. Yeah. Yeah, like him and Titan have had a few things to say to each other, mostly Korra.
Yeah, he's not doing anything except existing around us. Yeah, he's still shut down.
Family words
On film
I'd pick the second one all day.
Part of the reason we fostered him and his brother was because he stayed with us because of how dutiful he was with my son.
Yeah, and they sleep together at night.
we fostered two from that litter, and we kept him because he was the sweet one
I have not been able to take him on walks. Wow. Well, I hurt my back, right? Yeah. So both, both factors. Yeah. Well, he was yanking you. Yeah. Exactly. With a bad back and he's yanking you and barking at everybody.
I've not been able to get him on a leash without pulling it in so long.
that's what we wanted to do going on walks and hikes with the kids and i was like we can probably bring finn with us
for some help just so he doesn't so he can live comfortably
I have never seen his tail wag this much.
My wife is like, can we take him home today?
I think it was boredom, because we were taking him on walks.
Oh, did you see the fear in my eyes? Yep. But you didn't lock the leash up. No, I tried. I was ready.
go on walks and hikes with the kids and I was like, "We could probably bring Finn with us."
The program, stage by stage
1. Acclimation, 'nobody handles him', and the first trip out (thematic grouping; filming dates unverified)Turning point
The earliest footage read is Finn frozen in a room while two staff talk about video editing - 'He looks so uncomfortable. He looks frozen.' The lead had written 'flight risk' on the board and told staff not to touch him, then let several trainers work him inside: sit that breaks the moment the handler steps away, place explained as a secure area, a down that will not transfer from the living room to the backyard and a handler who ends the session on a refusal rather than force it. In the recording introduced as his first park outing, the lead takes him out, names the risk and the layered collars, predicts a confrontation over the sit, and is proved wrong under an overhang in the rain: Finn sits with no pressure, comes on the word, and is found to be resilient to the e-collar, so the level is raised until it registers and then deliberately tested to see whether it makes him bolt for the truck. It does not. Near the end something frightens him and the lead names it 'panic jumpies'. In the training-yard recording, the trainer names the context split - ten times better at the park than in the facility - and treating the freeze as something he has learned to do because it works.
The predicted panic at the sit does not come; the diagnosis shifts from 'any pressure breaks him' to 'he freezes where he cannot leave, and freezing has been paying'.
On film
He looks so uncomfortable. He looks frozen.
So he does good with sit when you're next to him, right, when you start walking away that's supposed to be a thing with some dogs, they just are not a fan of the way you step away from them.
we're not going to force him to try and do things if it is just going to shut him down i don't want him to shut him down because that's just going to make it my job so much worse and make it more miserable for him
well look at that no pressure needed at all he did just fine
and I want to see how he handles that little bit of pressure there from the e-collar, see if that makes him take off
although he's nowhere near awfully ready obviously he would uh he would take off immediately i think that he would run from me
he's totally capable of coping with the problem he's just being allowed to to freeze up and that's dictating um whether he's going to do things or not and so he's learned he could just get out of it if he just goes and just freezes up like that so i'm just not allowing that
And I want to see how he handles that little bit of pressure there from the e-collar. See if that makes him take off now to go back to the truck and see if I can do that.
2. The over-gauge: Home Depot and survival mode (thematic grouping; filming dates unverified)Turning point
A second trainer takes Finn through Home Depot on a slip lead with the e-collar on. The heel, which Finn does not know, goes reasonably and is marked for the first time. The sit, which he does know, becomes a contested quarter of an hour: verbal, marker, collar up a smidge, social pressure, a hand on the hindquarters, and a 'freedom method' of locking the leash until he complies - which fails because it needs a dog who tries to leave, and Finn freezes. By sixteen minutes he is panting and locked up; the trainer says on camera that he gauged the level too high and Finn is in survival mode, then says the word 'sit' a few times with nothing following it to test whether the word itself has been poisoned. He also admits he has not found anything Finn wants. In a separately recorded evening park session, a trainer new to Finn works him at a park in the evening: gloves on because of the pupils, markers kept quiet, a tense sit refused as 'not a sit of relaxation', the e-collar never needed, and the policy stated that every trainer now works every dog so that aversions get worked rather than hidden.
The clearest own-failure on film. In the second owner lesson, a trainer tells the owners it was the first nervous dog he ever overestimated, and the lead's account of the case pivots on it: reward access before obedience, and the freeze closed off rather than pushed through.
On film
so when working with dogs sometimes you gotta gauge the level today i tried to gauge the level and actually i i gauged it too high so he's a little shut down right now it's not a shutdown like a permanent shutdown or anything of that nature you get nothing that bad but it's just enough for his brain in terms of doing commands commands he's down like he's just kind of in survival mode
Finn sit sit see he doesn't run away and that's the problem
usually in this situation what I do if I have to really push for the the social pressure to work then i tend to go for something else the problem with him is that i haven't really figured out what else he really likes honestly like i have not figured out i i just don't he i haven't figured out what he likes yet so i'm gonna have to keep experimenting
he's just he's not feeling it but i'm gonna do that a couple times just so he knows when he hears the word there's like nothing to follow that here to test if you shut down or just a verse
it was actually the first time I've ever over like usually I underestimate the nervous dogs and actually this time I he's like the first one I've ever overestimated and I took him out to Home Depot and we were like he was fine and then I was gonna teach him a heel and I put him into the heel and he like wouldn't get in it and I just did what I would normally do where I kind of like put him back in place a couple times and all of a sudden I just saw this it was just like well And he just stood there, and I was like, hey, Finn. And he was like, like there was nothing going on behind the eyes when I said his name. He was just like not home.
it's okay hey you gotta calm down it's okay so you just gotta calm down because that's not a sit of relaxation so i'm not gonna reward that in fact i'm gonna let him get out of it i'm gonna give him about 20 seconds i'm gonna let him plop down in a normal sit and then i'm just gonna release him make him be there for like two seconds at most
the setup we have is that it used to be that you just had one trainer per dog with us. We have a setup now where basically every trainer ends up working with the dog a little bit.
3. The lead takes the case: hours, running, water, and the intake taken out loud (thematic grouping; filming dates unverified)Turning point
Its 107-minute Part 2 (watch) is near-silent, which fits the lead's remark that he fell asleep on the floor with Finn in the last half hour of the second of two long uploads. On an hour-long state-park hike the reps are widely spaced so he can return to baseline after each pressured sit; he swims and stays in longer than most dogs; his tail comes untucked. On a morning walk the lead explains the method he has landed on: personal play makes Finn lock up, prey switches him on but cannot be summoned, so running itself is the reward, touch is tagged onto the run, and the run is placed at the end of obedience so that e-collar negative reinforcement is survivable. At the first owner lesson he takes the intake he never got, lays out the board and its ten emotional states, names flight as primary and freeze as the cornered response, calls Finn a fear snapper and not a bite risk, and puts the family a choice - obedience with the panic or weak obedience without it - which they answer in a second. He states the flight-risk ladder and refuses to send Finn home that day. The live demo freezes, and the collar turns out to be on zero.
Running found as the one reward that can be summoned, and the family's mandate for what to sacrifice.
On film
now for the first few weeks we had you know different trainers working with him and then over the past like week and a half i've kind of taken him on as my like one of my personal project dogs
So I'm just gonna be spending like hours every day with Finn. We're just gonna hang out, do stuff together. I'll ask him to do random things and then his training sessions in a day. Because Finn is a special boy. He's a special boy and he needs more. He needs a special amount of work.
run as fast as we can and we're gonna run for a while and then you're gonna feel better and then we're gonna like take a then we're gonna walk for a few minutes you're gonna get back to a baseline state you feel good and you're happy and you're fine and then we're gonna do it again right
start up a little bit of personal play with Finn. So you can see he kind of freezes up, he's like, when I go to grab at him, instead of activating play drive there, he's becoming frightened and feeling like I'm going to try to do something to him, he's feeling locked up. right so I'm trying to change that feeling from that to a feeling of play
I'm like, all right, well, you know what can change an emotional state that you don't really have that much control over, hopefully, is I'm just going to go straight physiological and just start running, and you have to run with me because I have a leash.
One outcome is he learns to sit, to down, to place, to heel, to come, to do all the stuff on a leash, and he does really good, but he still panics like really horrifyingly, and does like really don't-stop-me panics. Or he kind of learns those things, but doesn't do a very good job, but he stops panicking.
where are you going what why are you terrified yeah there you go
4. The long line, the theory, and the first unforced greeting (thematic grouping; filming dates unverified)Turning point
Finn is moved onto a fifty-foot line, double-hooked, in places he has not been. In an eight-minute walk his active sniffing is read as walks having changed category from scary to exploratory. In the 35-minute park session the lead states the three S-tier stress reducers - exploration, exercise, negative reinforcement released straight back into exploration - and then gets the failure the method needs: Finn refuses a recall, freezes, hides in a thorn thicket, bolts past him in panic, and finally complies; the lead names three prediction errors, waits four or five minutes for baseline before the second trial, and two strangers then pass with Finn choosing distance and a sit. He argues against six-foot leashes and forced greeting and declines to work on the bridge because Finn could hurt himself. In the rainy park recording, Finn jumps into the crate to go, ranks the recall as the whole program, and then walks up to a stranger who asks to meet him - the first time in public. A trainer runs the second owner lesson at the family's home: genetic nervousness, no repeating a command into the collar, markers versus commands - and the tape stops before the walk. A separate social session with Zuri-chan reports staying nearby and accepting handling, and calls attention to a tail wag. Long unnarrated intervals do not establish an exact wag count or absence of play throughout. A further public walk (watch, listed for 2026-07-27, undated in the library) alternates free sniffing with down, recall and heel; the handler tells him 'You've come a long way', says his heel is doing well, and at a bridge says he now trusts Finn not to jump off it - the bridge the long-line session had avoided because Finn might hurt himself.
The park session explains the trainer’s use of time between requests; the greeting recording supplies a separate milestone in his reported public work with Finn. Their filming interval remains unverified.
On film
I'm liking this really active sniffing good he's starting to see walks I can tell as much more of an exploratory saying that's fun instead of a thing that's that's scary that is very good thing
So all three of those, like prediction error, prediction error, prediction error, all three of the techniques he tried, none of them worked. Freezing didn't work. Running and hiding didn't work. Running by me in a panic didn't work.
one of the ways that's the most reliable test learning is to do a second trial but before you do that second trial you need to let the dog return to baseline right
you can see finn did really really well there he walked by the person neutrally he didn't panic or freeze up or freak out he just created some distance and then he sat and waited for me right that is beautiful and that's like an acceptable response um that works that can work in real life
Then the most important skill possible is the recall, which he's already done totally fine on sit and on down, but without a recall, Finn's program is woefully incomplete.
This is the first time I've gotten him to do that out in public actually because the best i've gotten before that is him just walking by neutrally
The biggest thing, and I talked with Kelton over this, is don't, like, repeat the command over and over and then, like, every single time he doesn't listen, e-collar. Right. He needs a moment after you say the command to, like, let it catch up, right?
That's something. It was better than before. I didn't say okay and he ran and hid. He was just standing on you. He was letting me do stuff with him and everything.
You've come a long way, Fenn. You look happy and interested in the environment. I love that.
All right, I think I trust you now not to jump off the bridge,
on the bridge. I was kind of, like, gauging it and seeing, like, what his reactions were earlier, and he was kind of sticking his head through the bar
5. Proofing, and the line coming off (thematic grouping; filming dates unverified)Turning point
The long-line recording describes trying to make Finn fail so the recall can be proofed - he must want to be elsewhere and must blow the cue off, and he does neither; a manufactured jump scare sends him to the handler. Instead he walks up to a group of strangers on his own, and a separate store recording describes rubs and food from a woman in Home Depot, the store where he shut down on an earlier visit. In the shorter-line recording the fifty-foot line is swapped for a ten-to-twelve-foot one chosen for lightness as much as length, with the honest note that it could not be caught at speed and that the last step - nothing attached - is psychological; he recalls off a barking dog on the first cue. Then a six-foot cord is held, dropped, and removed, on a stated hypothesis that he will stay close; he stays, recalls, and is 'coming back to me for safety'. Another outing is presented as off leash beside woods: downs at distance, a recall off the forest edge, three deer stood and watched rather than fled from, and a courtesy down for people with children.
The trainer removes the line after explaining his expectation that Finn will stay nearby.
On film
in order for me to proof it, I need him to be motivated to go somewhere else other than me and I need him to blow me off. doesn't blow me off i can't practice it and if he doesn't get further away from me than this i can't practice it so i need both of those things to be true to make progress here
Finn. It's actually surprising that he came to you guys. He's uh, he's just as scared as you are
Look, she's not so bad. She's not so bad. She gives rubs and she gives food. What's wrong with that, man?
but this is also partially like psychologically he he knows he still has something on um because i'm not sure if he's fully ready for that like that moment where he's like i have nothing holding me back i'm not 100 on how he'd respond to that
So that was a good reaction. I said, Finn, and he came right back, right? That's what I wanted to see, is if that would be his reaction or not. And he did perfectly with it, so that was ideal.
But my hypothesis is that he will not do that. I think he'll actually stay pretty close to me.
He's doing perfectly well, but he has room to do his own thing and he's not bulking he's coming back to me for safety.
Finn, come. Don't go in the forest. Come. Good boy. Good job, Finn. Easy. Good job, buddy.
6. Go-home (thematic grouping; filming dates unverified)Turning point
Kelton walks the owners through a park with Finn on an unlocked retractable and hands over the rules: let him make the choice and answer it, don't manage; the walk is a sensory experience, no heel grinding; the recall is the only command that really matters; practise it on a fifty-foot line because you catch the line, not the dog; never press the collar on the heels of 'come'; never be angry when he returns. The vet gets a complete plan - flexi, loose, no muzzle to start, let him choose, correct if he acts a fool, then normal - and a request for video either way. Finn does not bark once, so the correction is never demonstrated live; the lesson's test is passed by the owner instead, who keeps the leash unlocked as a dog passes. At Petco the owners handle him with their own remote while Kelton keeps a second one, a wide flat buckle collar replaces the harness he arrived in, and the family says it is what they were hoping for.
The handover: the family's own words are 'This is what we were hoping for', and the credit is given to the handler who did nothing.
On film
it's funny in dog training a lot of times the answer is do less than you do people do way way too much with their dogs they're kind of like managing them the whole
the most important command then for Finn, by like a long shot, is the recall. All the other stuff is cool, it's nice, it's useful, but the recall is like, that one's really really really important
it will go away it's like the battery will be charged if you don't charge your phone his conditioned punisher that uh-uh will die it will die it will go away
Oh, did you see the fear in my eyes? Yep. But you didn't lock the leash up. No, I tried. I was ready. You let him make a choice. And what did he do? He did nothing.
It's like, think of it like Driver's Ed. Yeah. I got the second, the second break.
this is what you were hoping for
Skills
Recall - 'the program'
How it was taught
Ranked above every other command for this dog ('without a recall, Finn's program is woefully incomplete'). Built on the long line out of free exploration: let him range, call, and release him straight back out so coming never costs him the freedom. Line and e-collar pressure until he comes, everything off on compliance, then four or five minutes to baseline before the next trial. Proofed only where he could genuinely leave, because 'they know if they can just leave or not'. Deliberately tested against startle and against real distraction, with the trainer hoping for a refusal he could correct. Owners: practise on the flexi and a fifty-foot line; say come, wait a beat, attach the collar to not coming and never to the word; praise the return whatever came before it.
On film
so definitely his next assignment is just going to be a recall and starting to teach the radius and then we'll start pushing a little bit on his other skills
then he was like, I'm going to go to the truck and didn't want to come back. So that's when I had to use the e-collar to negatively reinforce it and I had to end up turning it up relatively high for him to decide that coming back was okay.
it needs to be in a place where he could just leave and because they know they know if they can just leave or not right dogs are not stupid right so like if he's in the training yard he knows he can't get away
right there was a wonderful learning opportunity for cent where he learned the first one results in further pressure and that hiding was not useful for him right so when i applied negative reinforcement on the command that momentarily increased stress but once he found the way out and then he did did comply with a command that reduces stress in a huge way right and it gives him a different mental model to start thinking about it with
But he has a good conditioned punisher, which is uh-uh, and he has a good sit, he has a good down, he has a good come, I just need to make the come stronger so that his recall calls more reliable to get him to the point of being fully off-leash and having that full freedom that he needs to have
so i'm actually hoping that he'll try to go to the truck and build me off because that's the learning experience that we need for him to be more reliable off the leash
His reaction lately has been to come to me instead of to take off running.
i think that that was what ended up kind of getting him in the right place was was the check-in thing i didn't really like enforce that that much he just kind of he ended up figuring that out like hey like if i just kind of stick around like he might call me back
make sure that you do not press the e-collar after you have said come okay right so don't say come and then e-collar if he doesn't come back right cuz then he's like come means I'm drunk right he will start to learn that if you do that instead you say come right then come he doesn't come but wait a second give him a minute right one Mississippi two Mississippi
but if he does get back to you channel your inner Buddha right like you feel bad right but you're like you're mad and you go good boy say good job even if he just made made you irritated and tortured you
The flight-risk ladder - containment and the radius
How it was taught
Redundancy first: two attachments so no single failure frees him. Then a ladder of line lengths, each step conditional on the last: Flexi (shortenable, teaches every command, starts the recall), fifty-foot hollow-braid line in the lightest weight available in places he could leave, ten-to-twelve feet chosen for lightness because drag is what tells him he is attached, six-foot cord held then dropped then removed. Catching the dog is never the plan; catching the line is. The e-collar is started where it registers rather than crept up.
On film
so he's been a case that's very slow going and one that we've had to be very very careful with because if he gets off it's gonna be very difficult to get him back
that's also why you see he has a he has a flat collar on because we normally just train with flat collars and knee collars but he's also got a backup on you see that little slip leap yeah because I did have him slip the collar on me one time
all I have to do is catch the 50-foot line, not him. Because I'm not catching him. I'm pretty fast, but not that fast. He'd be gone before I even thought about it.
the flexi is an amazing tool because you can get way more off the bat. because I can make it short, I can teach all the commands with the Flexi, and then I can also start teaching the recall with the Flexi really well.
just in case, you need a banter, I don't have one but just in case I don't, get you hooked up, there you go, you're double hooked, let's go buddy
part of working on the pulling is the the radius right so maybe your dog doesn't pull but maybe your dog does like run top almost the end of the leash right that can be a little chaotic
it's also very light so he feels increased freedom because the lighter the line is the less drag there is the less they feel like they're on leash
you don't have to try to catch that because that's not gonna happen good luck I don't think I could catch him instead you just have to catch a line that's 50 feet behind
Off leash
How it was taught
The line was stepped down rather than removed in one decision, and the removal itself was treated as a different test from dropping it because 'the dog knows the difference'. Prerequisites the lead named: no pulling at all, immediate yielding to any pressure, a startle response that goes to the handler rather than away, and a stated hypothesis he was willing to be wrong about. Afterwards: proof and generalise in other locations before calling it done.
On film
although he's nowhere near awfully ready obviously he would uh he would take off immediately i think that he would run from me
he would do really life-endangering things yeah in that state he would run into the road for sure in a heartbeat he would jump out a window of a moving car
you have to trust the dog more to do that because which i am starting to trust them more to not bolt but you have to in this case because the shorter that line gets the easier it would be for them to get away from you
He might be ready for it now, I just, I want to be cautious since he is a quite risk in the past.
I'm here with Monsieur Finley and this is just a six foot long petite hollow braided cord so I'm going to drop this and at this point there's a big difference between this one and the 50 foot line this one he could get away from me very very easily it's essentially equivalent to being fully off lead if the line is dropped because there's no way I'd catch Ben
And so you can see like Finley does not pull anymore at all. No pulling happens, he's just a good doggie.
so you can see finn's perfectly capable of doing this and now we just have to proof it and generalize it in some other park locations and make sure all of his commands are still functioning good and we'll be off to the races
I don't want to freak those people out. Just in case they were coming this way, I put them in a down.
hey you saw me walking around with the dog off-leash that's cool you're not me right you haven't practiced right you haven't done it with him you might not not be comfortable yet you might have the wrong reaction and kind of freak out put the line on
Acting under pressure - think instead of freeze
How it was taught
The underlying skill every command was used for. Substantial pressure for a known behaviour; the instant he performs, 'okay' and a run; walk back to baseline; repeat. Freezing treated as a learned exit and closed off - 'We're not giving him that option' - with the way out made obviously better. Worked in the contexts where he is worst, because at the park he is a different dog. The freeze deliberately provoked in front of the owners, because a problem that cannot be provoked cannot be addressed.
On film
the concept is that when pressure hits don't panic right do a thing that like do like something like think first right and trying to get them to think first right instead of just going oh my god and like just like oh god and then just do something horrifyingly done
stuff he knows he's now doing the thing instead of just going stiff yeah right um and the way i got that is i just i put a lot of pressure for him to do the thing and then as soon as he did the thing i was like okay and took off running
so you can see like the progress there the process of doing this kind of thing in different scenes generalizing it not allowing him to like freeze up like that we're not giving him that option
Because he freezes up with basic stuff that he knows, like sit, right?
it okay good boy there you go no e-collar that time huh buddy you're smart because you're smart
so getting him from that place where instead of freezing he goes oh and then like thinks about what to do to make the pressure go away and then goes and does the thing and then he's happy again yeah that's what we need cuz he's smart
it was clear to him in the training that if he just goes ahead and does it, all that pressure goes away immediately. Right. Right. He doesn't have to panic or freak out or do anything. He just does the thing.
Place
How it was taught
Framed for a fearful dog as a safe spot rather than a stay. Worked outdoors in the morning walk with several corrections before it held. Otherwise thin: the notes record the intention and the welfare outcome more than the method.
On film
I'd probably do some place work too, in between, maybe put in a bus or something like that. Place can be a secure area for them to feel more relaxed and comfortable.
You're doing really well with that place. You might do another one with a little bit more duration. We'll see how it goes.
lay on the like cot he just wants to he lays on the concrete instead really yeah he lays on the concrete so um sometimes he'll lay on the car sometimes not um but like if given an opportunity he'll definitely sit on the couch though
recently he's been choosing to sleep on the cot instead of on the floor so his elbows are getting a little better
it's healing up today I got him to sleep on the cot he wouldn't sleep on there wouldn't sleep on there and then I got him to sleep on there
Sit and down
How it was taught
Cue, minimal pressure, release, praise. Distance dropped back when stepping away broke the sit. Used as the low-cost reps between harder work, paid with 'okay' and freedom, water, or a run. Half a behaviour not marked. Where the sit was stuck by context (yard, state park), the freeze was the thing worked, not the position; a tense sit was refused by one trainer as 'not a sit of relaxation'. The 'booty method' and the 'freedom method' were tried once at Home Depot and disowned.
On film
Not much pressure with that one. At first he didn't get it, so I just added one, but he just did it on his own without any guidance, so that's good.
and you can see it's kind of like a reset. Whereas before we had to go through this just to get him to do basic things on the inside, now we have to do the same thing all over again, but on the outside.
What I'm doing is I'm not doing the butt push to teach the command. That won't teach you anything. What it does is that he does not like to be in that position at all. So if I show him that if you don't get in the position, I'm gonna push you in there and you're gonna be in there either way, then you show him that, well, you gotta do it either way.
Because he freezes up with basic stuff that he knows, like sit, right? He knows the work. He knows what to do. But he freezes up in a specific context, and we're trying to focus in on those contexts.
I can walk away and he'll stay and stuff like that without using we don't use the word stay hopefully you know that yeah it's the implied stay where it's just the release command
then sit okay good boy and that right there is like a good indicator like hey like he understands the command he went ahead and sat right and then he got a release so there's no harm done there
Finn, down. Eh, eh, down. Good boy.
so what did I do there I use e-collar oh yeah I tapped it and he went into it down right away yeah so part of the reason for that is that he understands e-collar means follow through with whatever command they just gave you
Heel
How it was taught
Position set without yanking, a two-second hold marked with 'okay', repeated until the response quickens - 'until the action gets quicker and quicker and then eventually it becomes instantaneous'. Then short sets between runs and releases. Ranked low on purpose for this dog.
On film
good heel finn good job and he definitely doesn't know the word yet but we're getting to a point where he that time was a little bit quicker and you just keep doing it until the action gets quicker and quicker and then eventually it becomes instantaneous and then you know they know it would mean you can start actually like punishing
and I think, uh, Connor's already worked on, on the, uh, the heel a little bit with him, so, because that was, that did not look like a fresh, fresh start, like a first take
I will try to work work with him on a heel, but that's not the thing that's going to make the most difference in his life. The thing that's going to make the most difference is me getting the recall right. And having his mindset change about being out here or seeing people or other dogs and being able to do stuff without freaking out.
that was a nice heel entry from finn good job man
So I'm still working on his off-leash heel, and it looks like his heel injury could use a little bit of improvement.
think of a walk as like all right like a sensory experience for thing he gets to go sniff things do stuff not like all right the whole time right here don't heel grind your dog um because it doesn't make any sense the walk's no fun for him um and it also will make a dog that's nervous or reactive a lot of times
Public neutrality and the greeting
How it was taught
Long line so retreat is genuinely available; no tightening, no reassurance, no forced greeting; distance-increasing choices allowed, barking and hackling penalised. Venues chosen for a supply of willing strangers - Home Depot revisited after the bad trip - and the handler's job reduced to being present. The bark corrected with 'uh-uh' and the collar only after he chose it. Hypervigilance treated as the target: the lead celebrates when Finn wanders off.
On film
He's starting to get more, just become more publicly neutral. I don't ever expect Finn to be like I love people and people are my jam, but he has to just not freak out.
I'd prefer that he choose to like, create distance between himself and them, than to like bark and raise his hackles and and try to repel them right i don't want that i would rather increase distance so i penalize that and hope that he increases distance and if he makes that choice then i wouldn't do anything right that would relieve the pressure
but like before his head would go straight down and he would avoid He would try to escape in this case. He just walked by you and that's like a neutral reaction. That's what I'm looking for
Then you want to go say hi Let's see if he says hi If he says hi to you that I would be pumped out of my mind.
Honestly, that's why I'm here today. I'm just here, like, hoping that we'll want to pet him.
that that is something I like I want to see this he goes away I actually celebrate when he leaves might get away from me go over there and look at stuff do things because I don't like when he's constantly stuck in like this loop where he has to be right and he's really hyper vigilant
and that's fine too right because those are both lawful choices right right an unlawful choice by uh contrast is to act a fool to bark a whole bunch and act crazy that's not a lawful choice at all right that's not allowed
The walk - leash as a prop, and the circling habit
How it was taught
The sessions describe yielding to leash pressure and handling the right-side circling habit through pauses, position changes and verbal requests. In the go-home walk explanation Kelton favours an unlocked retractable and verbal guidance. These are instructions given for Finn in that lesson, not a universal equipment prescription.
On film
he's not doing as bad as on bracing with the leaf fresher anymore he's coming off the leash
I'm just gonna wait there you go until you let me be on the left stop crowding me on the right
Can't let you keep doing that weird OCD thing where you go around the right side over and over again, bud. You're going to break that habit.
That time you were in my way, so I just walked into you.
ideally throughout the whole process of the walk you you don't lock the leash at all it's unlocked the whole time and if you need him to do something you need to manage where he is his position relative to you you ask him things with you tell him to do things instead of making him do things with the leash right so instead of leash guidance it's verbal guidance and the leash is just a prop
It depends on how busy the street is. Like here, I'll just let him walk. If there's traffic, then yeah, I'll lock the bleach up. I'll ask him to like heal or something like that. Or just like block it up and have him walk close to me.
No, just the harness. Just the harness, yeah. Never again.
Play, prey and the reward problem
How it was taught
Trainers try different activities and describe using running alongside brief touch or play, with water and exploration also offered. The explanation about pairing activities and feelings is the trainer's interpretation, not a measured physiological result. Zuri is introduced as a persistent potential play partner. The trainer also asks her to back off or lie down, so the interaction should not be described as unrestricted except for humping.
On film
usually in this situation what I do if I have to really push for the the social pressure to work then i tend to go for something else the problem with him is that i haven't really figured out what else he really likes honestly like i have not figured out i i just don't he i haven't figured out what he likes yet so i'm gonna have to keep experimenting
he's interested in that but that's the that's the the highest the highest level that'll start them up the fastest but it's not really i haven't been able to get it where it's something that's totally under my control circumstantially so it's less useful for the training
i'm tagging things with those happy chemicals by doing personal play a little bit and then running right and so tagging those two things together
I get them to play, I try to throw the ball, I try to, like, play tug, I try to do different stuff, and they're just, like, not in an emotional state where they can do it.
I don't know if Finn likes the water. He is a retriever. Look at him. Look at him go. I think he likes it.
that's why I was like, well, let's give Boogie a shot, let's let her try, because she's not going to give up
You want this tug? All right, let's go. We're going to play tug later at the house.
they go into the woods there they are beautiful deer just like you Finn come
so I'm still trying to work with him on plant hug not in this session because in this session I'm just doing doing long line work and environmental exploration and keeping those two things separate
The conditioned punisher ('uh-uh') and keeping it charged
How it was taught
The marker precedes the collar; the collar means follow through with the command just given, and the pressure ends the instant he complies. Level judged by the dog's reaction, started where it registers rather than crept up because creeping desensitises. Never pressed on the heels of 'come'. At the go-home: collar on all day for two weeks, tap behind the marker most of the time, then be selective - delivered bluntly on purpose, with the battery analogy and the speeding ticket for the fear that he will become afraid of them.
On film
that one seems to have the intended effect there you seem to actually feel that one
and so it's better to just start out high if the dog presents that way so that you don't have to end up always having it all the way up that's the best hope to have it lower
so I don't I don't want to turn up the collar too high because if you don't get a command you're turning it up higher is not gonna get you what you want
I normally tell people like for the first the first little while first two weeks make sure he wears the e collar the whole day right that he's out with you and use the e collar when you say and so say and tap the e collar like the majority of the time probably 89% of the time
you will have a temptation um because you like your dog um you have a temptation to guard him to shield him from using the e-collar um because it feels nice um and the second reason is because you will say uh-uh and it will work yeah and you will say i don't need the e-collar all i need is to say uh-uh right um but that's because he just came home from me and I've been backing the up
two three weeks in it'll die right he won't be paying attention to the eye anymore it won't work right and then you'll have to try to like restart it and you will have no muscle memory
you're not afraid to get in your car even though you might have gotten speeding tickets in the past you just don't speed right just cuz you got speeding tickets doesn't mean you're afraid to get in your car you just don't speed now
the other thing that people are afraid of is that the dog will have the wrong reaction to the e-collar especially a dog like Finn and if they'll run off because they're afraid right but that only happens if it's not clear to them how to get rid of it because at first yeah that was his his reaction he was like and just tried to go somewhere else right but that's because I was still teaching him the proper response
How the method adapted
One handler, then every handler, then one again.
On film
so i put on their flight risk on the board and was like nobody touch him please
it's actually better that way. If your dog has any weird associations with, like, a gender, how they look, accessories, what have you, glasses, no glasses, weird stuff.
So now the thing that I'll have to do, which I'm going to have to be, it's going to be, I'm going to be doing it, not anybody else. Okay. Because I'll trust any of the other trainers to do it. Yeah. Just because of his flightless problem.
now for the first few weeks we had you know different trainers working with him and then over the past like week and a half i've kind of taken him on as my like one of my personal project dogs
Time together beyond formal sessions. In watch the trainer describes spending hours with Finn, hanging out and occasionally asking him to do things alongside daily training sessions. The quiet portions are not evidence that nothing was requested throughout, nor that every planned hour occurred.
On film
So I'm just gonna be spending like hours every day with Finn. We're just gonna hang out, do stuff together. I'll ask him to do random things and then his training sessions in a day. Because Finn is a special boy. He's a special boy and he needs more. He needs a special amount of work.
the last two videos i uploaded that you might have noticed they were super long yeah yeah and the second one the last 30 minutes i fell asleep oh i fell asleep on the floor with finn
Why? Who? You don't have to sit, dude.
Running as the reward, because nothing else could reach him - and touch tagged onto it so handling stops meaning threat. Water added when it turned out he liked it.
On film
I'm like, all right, well, you know what can change an emotional state that you don't really have that much control over, hopefully, is I'm just going to go straight physiological and just start running, and you have to run with me because I have a leash.
and that enables me to make it harder and use negative reinforcement without huge fallout out from finn right so i just tap the e-collar there okay good boy and i made some duration and then let's go
that can be a very very effective mode of training with the dog who it's hard to find motivation for otherwise very often that's my that's what i will resort to if no other options open up within a certain time period and i will also sometimes use it as a lead-in to to bigger and better kinds of motivation
sit okay go get in the water buddy go get in that water buddy good boy
Exploration, exercise and releases back to exploration are central to the trainer's explanation of this case. watch and watch present his ranking of approaches to stress; the recordings do not independently test that ranking or measure the proposed physiological effects. The phrase at watch 06:19 ('plant hug', most likely 'play tug') shows other work being kept out of the long-line session, not that place work was reserved for other days.
On film
So you have different ways of trying to resolve stress and fear and panic, and the three strongest ways to do so, like the S-tier options, natural exploration, exploring the environment on a long line or something like that, like on a long line or on a flexi, and then the other Another S-tier option is physical exercise, especially like a nice jog in that kind of environment.
environmental exploration right that's king and then negative reinforcement right with the release the freedom right back into that environmental exploration and then physical exercise those are the top three like stress reducers
so putting some line pressure and to me collar pressure to make sure he comes back or does a particular command not only produces reliability in this man but also increases resilience to stress and enables finn to begin coping with his environment
The trainer explains choosing fewer repetitions and allowing exploration between them, using Finn's apparent recovery to decide when to ask again. He interprets requests made too close together as a prolonged event for Finn. That explanation informs how he structures these sessions; it is not an independently measured account of Finn's internal state or a fixed waiting interval for every dog.
On film
I went right back to it really fast which actually don't like become too distinct coherent like coherently distinct like events they're not two different events in in Finn's brain right right, instead of being two coherently distinct events, it's just one prolonged event of negative reinforcement, which is no good
but very often in these kinds of like anxiety slash nervous cases more is not more more is less less is more so less repetitions more exploration and choose the points with uh in that setting that you do the next repetition carefully
learning is to do a second trial but before you do that second trial you need to let the dog return to baseline
we're gonna run as fast as we can and we're gonna run for a while and then you're gonna feel better and then we're gonna like take a then we're gonna walk for a few minutes you're gonna get back to a baseline state you feel good and you're happy and you're fine and then we're gonna do it again
Space and choices during greetings. The trainer explains using a longer line to allow retreat while retaining the ability to request a return. He discourages forcing a greeting and describes how leash tension might change the situation. This is a context-specific handling rationale, not evidence that a six-foot line or a shortened leash was never used elsewhere in Finn's program.
On film
You can only get that by cultivating some openness and allowing some space to retreat, but then also still requiring that he does come back and do his thing. There's a balance there.
if I, like, tighten the leash there, if he's not on a long line and I have a six foot line on him and I kind of, like, rein him in and tell him, oh, no, no, no, like, he's scared, don't, like, look at him, you know, don't stand that way, Finn's going to see, like, oh, God, I was right, this is bad. Seeing people is scary, right?
and especially if then i like forced him to like greet this person and a lot of people do that in the name of like socialization um that kind of forced socialization ain't gonna work it's gonna cause more problems instead you just allow him to make a choice that's acceptable
you're on a six foot he hits the end of that leash walking over there all of a sudden there's pressure on the situation right yep um and you're not allowing him to make a choice instead it's automatic management because the leash is too short i'd ban those six foot leashes if i could
The freeze treated as an option to be removed, not a state to be waited out - and worked in the contexts where he is worst, since he is ten times better at the park than in the facility.
On film
And then, additionally, I'm using some pressure to make it not an option, you know?
then i'm showing him the way that right the way the truth of life that he can just boom take off and have a great time if he goes ahead and does what he asks
he knows how to do those things, as shown in previous videos. We're upping the difficulty level here. We're now asking him to do those same things under more intense and distracted situations
Adjusting requests when Finn appears overwhelmed. The Home Depot discussion reflects on pacing and possible negative associations; the second owner lesson teaches pausing, resetting and communicating clearly during unfinished training. These are the trainer's explanations and coaching goals. They do not establish that Finn was never overwhelmed or that a particular internal learning mechanism was experimentally confirmed.
On film
that's the problem when you try to gauge how fast can a dog do each command it can be like pretty sketchy and then of course you can build negative associations
if he's overwhelmed especially right now like obviously once he's done with his training different story but because he's in the middle of it if he gets overwhelmed just backtrack or just just reset there's no point in like a dog that's already nervous making like creating a bad aversion right to a command that's only like half trained
that's part of it is knowing how to communicate with him, be strict, without shutting him down.
when you have a dog like finn that's just genetically nervous you can fix a lot of it but you do have to know how to communicate properly in a way that he gets that if i try to communicate with him like i communicate with like a really confident german shepherd he's gonna be like nah i'm out like he's just brains tapped out it's not gonna work right
The e-collar read off the dog: resilient at first, so the level was raised until it registered and then tested for whether it made him bolt; started where it works rather than crept up; and the collar itself declined where encouragement would do, because forcing the picture costs the emotional state.
On film
so he is pretty resilient to the e-collar he seems to not even feel it
and I want to see how he handles that little bit of pressure there from the e-collar, see if that makes him take off
it's better to not start really low because if you do it really low and he doesn't get the point and then you have to like gradually go up higher they have a bunch of studies where you it's like boiling the frog
it affects the training negatively so like whatever speed you gain on the front end where it looks like you got the picture um you lose and unrepressive and then the training looks really bad it looks bad and you also lose the emotional state
And I want to see how he handles that little bit of pressure there from the e-collar. See if that makes him take off now to go back to the truck and see if I can do that.
Let him be a dog first: prey chasing encouraged rather than suppressed, tail and sniffing read as the measure, and a normal dog - not a trained one - set as the finish line for the family.
On film
you do want to see them act like a dog when they're kind of shut down like Ben, when they're kind of weird. So those kinds of things, I'm not going to discourage that at all with Finn because I just want him to act like a dog. just wanted to be normal do dog stuff not be all freaked out
I want you to look like a dog, like a deer, because like deers aren't around people. Deer aren't around people. When a deer sees a person, they freeze up and go, oh my god, and they take off, right? I want you to not look like that anymore around me. I want you to look like a dog.
Look at that nice loose tail. It's not tucked.
The commands ranked for this dog: the recall is the program; heel is nearly irrelevant; the family was asked to choose emotional change over obedience and did.
On film
Then the most important skill possible is the recall, which he's already done totally fine on sit and on down, but without a recall, Finn's program is woefully incomplete.
I'd pick the second one all day.
the most important command then for Finn, by like a long shot, is the recall. All the other stuff is cool, it's nice, it's useful, but the recall is like, that one's really really really important
Proofing built on wanting a failure: the truck as bait, manufactured startles, known triggers walked past on purpose, the bad venue revisited - and the disappointment recorded when he would not fail.
On film
So I'm going to try to make a noise here. It's a little jump scare, but his reaction was to come to me, which was good. He just checked in and came back, so not a lot to work with there.
what I've been trying to make louder noises I've been trying to take him by things that are loud things that have triggered him in in the past, or that startle him, to test what's his reaction when he feels those things, or when he sees those things, or hears those things. When the pressure is on, what is his reaction?
But it'd be convenient if he did give me one more opportunity to prove the recall with the e-collar and didn't come back right away.
i heard last time you came here with connor a couple weeks ago you didn't have that great of a time but i think that today is gonna be different it's gonna be different finn
Safety limits that other dogs would not need: the bridge not worked because he could injure himself in a panic; a passing dog would mean shortening the line for management; the stay extended past the planned go-home because off leash was reachable.
On film
Finn's the kind of dog that panics so hard that as you saw, running into that thorn ticket made zero sense at all it's like a terrible choice um and like he's tried to jump out of car windows he's tried to do all kinds of crazy things um so we can't like allow um the possibility of injury here
that could happen is that we could see somebody walking with a dog, and in that case I would shorten up the line. That's not in this case, but I would shorten up the line and not allow for like just for safety reasons for safety slash management reasons i would do that but i wouldn't put pressure on the line unless he tried to do something foolish
because I'm like I can get this dog can be off leash I know he can so I'm glad I did that I'm sure yeah yeah no because I knew on the other end of that I'm like I know they want him home but I'm like I don't know I feel like I feel like it makes sense to just do a little bit more with him because there's some there's more potential there
What the family was told
In the family's own words
I'd pick the second one all day.
And he'll sit for us, but that's about the only thing we can ever do.
Part of the reason we fostered him and his brother was because he stayed with us because of how dutiful he was with my son.
we fostered two from that litter, and we kept him because he was the sweet one
My wife is like, can we take him home today?
for some help just so he doesn't so he can live comfortably
I have never seen his tail wag this much.
I have not been able to take him on walks.
Well, I hurt my back, right?
I've not been able to get him on a leash without pulling it in so long.
that's what we wanted to do going on walks and hikes with the kids and i was like we can probably bring finn with us
Oh, did you see the fear in my eyes? Yep. But you didn't lock the leash up. No, I tried. I was ready.
I think it was boredom, because we were taking him on walks.
This is what we were hoping for.
go on walks and hikes with the kids and I was like, "We could probably bring Finn with us."
Outcomes
What the trainers reported
Off leash with Kelton; does not bolt; recalls from a distance; checks in.
Kelton, go-home
you saw the videos he can walk around with me off leash he doesn't try to bolt or anything like that and when he does go like look at some stuff and gets a little further away i can call him back he comes right back so he's doing great
No longer on the edge of sprinting away; hackles no longer go up at people; approaches to sniff instead.
Kelton, go-home
that's new right where he walks up and instead of being like oh he's like who's this interesting yeah um and i started getting that a couple weeks in um and that pleased me very greatly
The barking stopped because it stopped working; he now looks and does nothing.
Kelton, go-home
he gets scared and then he barks because it made people go away um i just made that completely not an option and he was like that doesn't work so let me not do that um and and so then he has to make some kind of alternate choice and his alternate choice is to kind of like look but not do anything
Sit and down performed instead of freezing; sit, down, come proofed at distance - 'unless he panics'.
lead trainer, In-Program Lesson #1
stuff he knows he's now doing the thing instead of just going stiff yeah right um and the way i got that is i just i put a lot of pressure for him to do the thing and then as soon as he did the thing i was like okay and took off running
Running works as a reward and he no longer lags.
lead trainer
And now he's started, like, when I go, okay, good job, and I start running, he's now picked it up where he doesn't lag anymore.
Sniffing and exploring more than ever; acting like a dog not in constant fear.
lead trainer, 08-04
You can see he's more interested in sniffing things now than he ever has been in the past. he's just exploring the environment and looking at things and sniffing things and he's just he's acting so much more like a dog that's not in constant fear or fight-or-flight or panic
Startle response now goes to the handler, not away.
lead trainer, 08-04
His reaction lately has been to come to me instead of to take off running.
Jumps into the crate to go, where before he was terrified of it.
Kelton, 07-26
he jumped straight into the crate now he's like super excited to go he wants to leave the house to get uh get to the park so he's like jumped straight in the crate and ready to go whereas before i mean he was terrified he didn't want to get in the crate or do anything because he was he was scared
Much more curious about people; only recently letting people say hello.
lead trainer, 08-03
He's just recently let people start to say hello to him.
The fear bite is long gone; he is a fear snapper, not a bite risk.
lead trainer, In-Program Lesson #1
he was doing like the fear bitey thing not like because like i i draw a strict line he's not a bite risk he is a a fear snapper where he gets he was because he was so freaked out when he first came
Weight lost during the program, judged good; sleeping on the cot now; elbows improving.
lead trainer
recently he's been choosing to sleep on the cot instead of on the floor so his elbows are getting a little better
Neutral about another dog at close range.
lead trainer, undated park session
I didn't mean to let him get that close, but actually that kind of. pretty pretty neutral about that
Tail wags more than the owner has ever seen.
owner, In-Program Lesson #2
I have never seen his tail wag this much.
He will be a fantastic dog by the time he goes home.
Home Depot trainer, 07-15
his nerves are getting a lot better nerves are better we have a nice like let's go nice recall we even have a heel now only two left are just down and sit so I'll do good I'm very I'm very confident in Finn that he'll be a fantastic dog by the time he goes home.
He will be off leash by the end of the program.
rotating trainer, 07-15
of course he'll be off at least by the end of this program
Claimed to another family on or before 2026-07-30: Finn was 'really bad', has 'gotten so much better now', and is about to go home.
copy-paste to this other case I'm working except this dog is It's way worse. His name's Ben He's horrible He was really bad. He's gotten so much better now. He's about to go home on Wednesday.
Trust near the bridge: the handler says he now trusts Finn not to jump off it.
handler of watch (unnamed)
All right, I think I trust you now not to jump off the bridge,
What the footage shows
The trainer introduces this as Finn’s first off-leash session. The line is removed around 02:43 in an upload lasting 11:46. Later narration and cues concern recall, sit, heel and geese nearby; the full upload duration is not a measured duration of off-leash performance.
In fact, I'm going to go ahead and take it off because I think Finn's going to stay with me.
Off leash beside woods: a recall off the forest edge, downs at distance, deer watched and recalled off, a courtesy down for approaching people.
Finn, come. Don't go in the forest. Come. Good boy. Good job, Finn. Easy. Good job, buddy.
A first-cue recall off a barking dog, on the ten-to-twelve-foot line.
So that was a good reaction. I said, Finn, and he came right back, right? That's what I wanted to see, is if that would be his reaction or not. And he did perfectly with it, so that was ideal.
A manufactured jump scare answered by coming to the handler.
So I'm going to try to make a noise here. It's a little jump scare, but his reaction was to come to me, which was good. He just checked in and came back, so not a lot to work with there.
Kelton describes this as the first public greeting he has obtained with Finn, compared with his earlier experience of neutral passing.
This is the first time I've gotten him to do that out in public actually because the best i've gotten before that is him just walking by neutrally
An unprompted approach to a group of strangers, with the trainer's surprise on record.
can't believe that look at that guy finn wanted to make friends
The store recording includes a stranger interacting with Finn and the trainer commenting on rubs and food.
Finn, that lady was nice to you, huh?
Two strangers passed neutrally on the long line: distance, then a sit.
you can see finn did really really well there he walked by the person neutrally he didn't panic or freeze up or freak out he just created some distance and then he sat and waited for me right that is beautiful and that's like an acceptable response um that works that can work in real life
The panic itself, on a line: a refused recall, a freeze, the thorn thicket, a bolt past the handler, then compliance - the best filmed evidence of what the fear looks like, and of the method working on it.
Okay, see, now he's making a choice that makes no sense, right? Finn. And this is why we do that work.
The trainer's own over-gauge, named mid-session, with the repair - the honest own-failure that counts as shown.
so when working with dogs sometimes you gotta gauge the level today i tried to gauge the level and actually i i gauged it too high so he's a little shut down right now it's not a shutdown like a permanent shutdown or anything of that nature you get nothing that bad but it's just enough for his brain in terms of doing commands commands he's down like he's just kind of in survival mode
The freeze provoked in front of the owners, and the e-collar found on zero.
so when you saw me tapping it it was on zero I had not turned it on I just realized that I was like why is he he's not reacting to it at all
The tail untucked after an hour of movement and water.
Look at that nice loose tail. It's not tucked.
A sit with no e-collar at the state park, marked as an achievement.
it okay good boy there you go no e-collar that time huh buddy you're smart because you're smart
The owner passes the handover's test: a dog passes, the leash stays unlocked, Finn does nothing.
Oh, did you see the fear in my eyes? Yep. But you didn't lock the leash up. No, I tried. I was ready. You let him make a choice. And what did he do? He did nothing.
The pet-store recording shows owner practice with ongoing trainer supervision; a two-remote setup is explained near the start. It does not establish independent owner handling or an incident-free period beyond the recorded material.
Let's see. Any questions about anything in the store?
An owner's down cue plus a collar tap produces an immediate down with no alarm.
I wanted you guys to ask him to do something.
The social session with Zuri-chan includes reported changes in staying nearby and accepting handling, and a tail wag is called out around 42:00. Long intervals without narration do not establish an exact wag count or that no play occurred anywhere in the upload.
Look at that tail wag.
The baseline: frozen and uncomfortable during acclimation.
He looks so uncomfortable. He looks frozen.
The baseline: frozen, shut down, 'existing around us' during acclimation.
Yeah, he's not doing anything except existing around us. Yeah, he's still shut down.
The ideas Finn's case runs on
- 'Let's go' is not 'Come' - and the recall has an ending
- A life that gets smaller, and the bargain
- A raised texture, and never a punishment
- Another dog as helper, tester or draw
- Build the handler's timing while it is easy
- Command, marker, collar - in that order
- Control is not obedience
- Dates for obedience, no dates for drive
- Don't heel grind
- Don't poison the command
- Eating the correction, and avoidance as a tactic
- Evaluate, cooperate, socialise, fulfil - then authority
- False reps: the dog reads the chain, not the word
- Food facilitates calm, it cannot create it
- Freedom is given in measured steps
- Freeze, flee or fight
- Generalisation is the whole job
- Genetic versus environmental nerves
- Handling is training
- He has to be allowed to get it wrong
- Hidden help
- Honest limits, and reliability is not permission
- Internal emotional change, not repression
- Keep the marker charged
- Look like a dog, not a deer
- Meaningful release
- Never punish the return
- Nobody is at fault; it isn't personal
- Pick the place for what it contains - life is the training ground
- Prediction error
- Reading the dog
- Reliability is what you have not tested
- Say it bluntly or it will not land
- Space to retreat, obligation to return
- Start with freedom
- Stop before you shut him down
- Teach the move, then the word
- The board, the scenes and the grades - and every trainer works every dog
- The correction that did not work
- The dog tells you the reward
- The flight-risk protocol, and the one command that matters
- The four windows, and calm liberty
- The gear list, and the reasons for each piece
- The handler wears the collar
- The leash is a prop
- The level is not a number
- The marker vocabulary: eh, good, okay - and two corrections
- The method the case can afford
- The program is reinforcement, not teaching
- The radius
- The three Ds, and the variables nobody counts
- The three stress reducers
- Thinking is what makes it better
- Two events, not one - and what the handler does in between
- You have to be able to reward him at all