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Josi

Who Josi is

As the trainers and owner describe her

A dachshund, said many times by trainers, and a littermate of Milo. The Astro trainer calls them twins. He came out short-haired and she came out long-haired.
On film

I love these little dachshunds.

Watch at 2:18 ↗

yep he came out short she came out long-haired

Watch at 46:23 ↗

i actually just had that happen i had uh that little dachshund and she has a twin brother um named milo josie milo

Watch at 7:32 ↗
Tiny, short-legged and long-bodied, with a coat that needs work.
On film

nice slow walking for her because she's not the fastest doggy because she got these little legs

Watch at 3:33 ↗

yeah yeah you can say hi she's headlocking her she's got a long body she's like a hot dog

Watch at 17:07 ↗

Well, her bottom end has just started growing out in the last four months.

Watch at 8:09 ↗
Openly friendly with people. Strangers pick her up and kiss her, and she lets them. In November she is the 'more temperate' of the two dogs.
On film

Hi baby. Good girl Josie. Friendly or no? Oh super friendly. Can I pet? Oh yeah. Josie say hi.

Watch at 0:00 ↗

Some of the two I always found Josie to be the the more temperate temperate.

Watch at 0:12 ↗

that face well everybody loves her initially and then she starts kissing them and they're like

Watch at 20:28 ↗

lovers she's a little bitey bite they love hugs they love hugs

Watch at 5:08 ↗
Her response to pressure she does not understand is to disengage: stand still, freeze, hide or leave. Three different handlers name a version of this. It is the thread that runs through her whole case.
On film

milo's like i'm sitting okay so what she's doing there is she's freezing up a little bit

Watch at 11:00 ↗

of just like because like josie does that to you where she just stands there and it looks like she just doesn't care

Watch at 5:38 ↗

getting caught good girl come on good girl so there she just kind of suppressed and decided she didn't want to come with me

Watch at 2:51 ↗

okay when Josie as an example felt the e collar she ran the opposite direction

Watch at 43:21 ↗
Scent pulls her away. Handlers put that down to breed. In the March stay the opposite problem appears: she and Milo will not leave the trainer at all. Neither handler reconciles the two.
On film

Sometimes on distractions a little bit more even if it's just sniffing stuff for her Her and Milo, they're breeds. They get on the trail of something.

Watch at 7:15 ↗

My goal is that they walk away from me a few times.

Watch at 0:00 ↗

see josie do it too she doesn't go as far most of the time in my experience so far

Watch at 18:07 ↗
Treats do little for her with the March trainer. People and petting do the most. She plays, but not hard: she mouths a rope where Milo pulls on it.
On film

that honestly right now for them the biggest reinforcer for them is to just interact with somebody and get petted

Watch at 22:41 ↗

get Milo to play with me separately like without too much issue but I couldn't get Josie to play with me separately very much

Watch at 11:37 ↗

good so like getting her to play easy right getting josie to play hard hard

Watch at 19:09 ↗

The program, stage by stage

An earlier program, never filmed

Between March 2025 (when the form says she was acquired) and November 2025. Date unknown.

The owner says so, the staff greet her in November as a returning dog, a trainer credits her release word to 'we worked with her on it', and the form lists Angier K9 as prior training (source: intake). She arrives at the November lesson already wearing an e-collar. Nothing else is known about that program: not its length, its trainer, what it taught or how the collar was introduced.

On film

Long time no see.

Watch at 0:22 ↗

before I sent her to you guys

Watch at 23:11 ↗

November 2025: her brother's lesson, and Josi as the easy one

14-15 November 2025. One lesson, uploaded as three parts. Josi is on camera only in part 3.

The lesson is about Milo, who had reacted to a small dog. Josi appears in the owner's stories in parts 1 and 2: rough play between the siblings that the owner calls normal, an episode in which Josi clamped Milo and he pinned her, and a walk on which Josi barked and went after a child. In part 3 she is fetched from the car. She has a prong fitted above her e-collar and works a stay with the owner, which the owner says is 'about the same'. The trainer says she is responding well to the release. The trainer describes her as the more temperate of the two, and less likely to need the correction Milo got.

On film

You'll probably get a chance to practice it with Josie if she does anything stupid, but she's less likely to do that.

Watch at 0:01 ↗

but he flung Josie and like it stood on top of her and everybody was still

Watch at 14:02 ↗

Would it be okay to grab Josie and see how she does with the pearl?

Watch at 22:39 ↗

The intake form, off camera

Submitted 25 November 2025

The owner fills in the form for both dogs on the same day and asks for one week of training (source: intake). Her priorities for Josi are check-in, obedience and not running away. She wants Josi able to hike off leash and to be around children. She records barking and dashing as the problems, and she rates most cues as unknown. Two lines matter more than the rest: Josi seems afraid after the collar's vibration and lowest level, and she acts as though she does not understand her commands. None of this is mentioned on camera.

December 2025: the down in public, and a collar that was not touching her

In care by 1 December; uploads 1, 3 and 10 December 2025

A staff handler takes Josi into public places: a Sheetz while waiting for an order, and a Home Depot, the latter on the same trip as Milo. The current project, in his own words, is the down. It takes several cues and 'nope' marks per rep, one physical nudge, and he calls it 'doing good'. The heel needs many 'nope's, and twice he asks 'What's going on?' and does not say what she did. Once, during a recall in the store, he asks 'What's wrong?' and picks her up. On a late-night off-leash walk in downtown Angier, a missed recall leads him to turn the collar up. Then he finds the contact points are not touching her, tightens it, turns it back down, and tells the camera why fit matters. She then needs several stimulations, which he says she felt, before she comes. That is the first on-camera sign of the problem the March trainer will call poisoning. In December nobody frames it that way.

On film

how's your hand oh it's doing fine it's a little scratch yeah yeah we've been working with josie on down she's doing good

Watch at 1:33 ↗

What's going on?

Watch at 7:39 ↗

e-collar up just slightly because she did not respond to that. Josie, here. Here. Nope. Either that or it's not making contact. Yep, it's not making contact.

Watch at 5:12 ↗

something it's just a reminder that it's important to make sure that your e-collar is on tight enough for the contact points to make contact because if they don't you can press it on any level you want and the dog feels nothing if it's not touching them

Watch at 5:41 ↗

All right, I know she felt that one.

Watch at 7:36 ↗

The December go-home lesson: hiding as learned escapeTurning point

Uploaded 15, 16 and 19 December 2025. One lesson in three parts, in a public place.

The handover. The trainer corrects Josi's attention-barking at passers-by until, in his words, she is 'done with it'. He tells the owner that a correction she does not care about is not a correction. On recall he says Josi is more likely than Milo to ignore it, and puts the tapped recall at 80 to 90 percent reliable for him. Then the owner describes the problem that defines this stage: at home, asked to sit, Josi walks under a covered chair and hides. The trainer says she has done the same to him under his truck. His diagnosis is about 90 percent learned escape and 10 percent confusion or fear: hiding worked, because the pressure stopped, so it became a habit. His prescription is to turn the pressure up, pull her out and have her finish. If something else is going on, he says, go back to the relationship and play first. In the last part he tells the owner to say 'nope' once, not repeatedly, because Josi will either ignore it or start to worry. And he tells her not to drill downs: drilled, Josi drops 'too fast' because 'she just thinks oh crap', which he takes as a sign of general suppression rather than learning. This is the point at which the two readings of her - stubborn or confused - are first set out, and the trainer chooses 'stubborn, mostly'.

On film

had to do until i saw that she cared right because that's all it is is if if you see she doesn't care well then you didn't correct her

Watch at 9:40 ↗

way, which Josie is more likely to ignore it than Milo is, if they don't start coming

Watch at 14:13 ↗

me and then walked underneath my chair and like it's covered um so you know but she can get under and you can't see her and so it's like i'd give her command and she'd run and go hide under the chair

Watch at 13:30 ↗

Um, so here's the way that I kind of think about that, that scenario most of the time, and it's true of Josie. I happen to know that because of work, uh, is, um, there's two potential problems there and it can be like a kind of hybrid, uh, for her, it's about 90% one thing and about 10% the other thing.

Watch at 14:23 ↗

the only reason that that would turn into a habit is if it worked

Watch at 15:33 ↗

happened with her i don't think it's a lot of like a like a problem i think she has clarity but like in the wrong direction she has clarity that that works

Watch at 17:04 ↗

trying to like when we're demonstrating stuff is then they she starts to go into that mode where she goes into it too fast right because she just thinks oh crap right so don't like drill like a whole bunch of them in a row

Watch at 6:04 ↗

December to March: nothing filmed

About mid-December 2025 to about 10 March 2026

Nothing is filmed. The only trace of this period is a line from the March trainer to the owner: something 'that you had happen once', when Josi fled on feeling the e-collar. So at least once at home, the collar produced flight. Why the family came back for a second in-care stay is never said on camera.

On film

it flipped her she's she's flipped her response to it successfully so instead of doing that thing that you had happen once where she fled when she felt the e-collar she just responds to the come

Watch at 20:52 ↗

March 2026, week one: place, and a checkpoint standard she is measured against

About 10-11 March 2026 (watch, uploaded 03-11, the same day as Milo's 'Training Session 1')

A different trainer runs her. He says he did the same session with Milo earlier that day, and states the plan for later days: fix the distinction between sit and down 'again', then recall. The session runs play, then loose-leash walking in named phases, slowed for her legs; at one point she 'suppressed' and he talks her out of it. Then place. First comes a run of short, happy repetitions, to make sure the cot is a place she likes and the release word is good. Then a few small taps of pressure until she is on, with the pressure off the instant she is. Then a 15-minute timed hold in a quiet yard. She breaks once, before the timer starts, and no correction is reported during the 15 minutes. While the timer runs, he explains a document he is writing for the in-care dogs: weekly checkpoints, each of which counts only if it is recorded. By the end of week two a dog must hold place for 15 minutes on a cot in a park beside a walking trail, with people passing with their dogs and no more than one correction; otherwise it is a fail. That is the standard Josi's own record should be measured against. See outcomes.

On film

just like we did with Milo good girl and then and then on another day we'll get started on doing a little bit of the position work again you see where she's at with that we're gonna fix the distinction between the set and the down

Watch at 0:38 ↗

So, the important thing about teaching the place is that you might have a little bit of pressure until they get on and that pressure increases as they know the behavior better and then the pressure must turn off immediately as soon as they're on the place got

Watch at 8:22 ↗

good come on come on please good place so I'm gonna have her stay up there a little bit longer we're gonna see if she can do 15 minutes and see how many mistakes she makes

Watch at 9:02 ↗

or walking out of sight or doing other things like that and then by the end of week two they should be able to do it on a cot at the park next to a walking trail during a time of day where people are walking by with their dogs and the standard is that you can't do more than like one correction during the 15 minutes otherwise it's void

Watch at 17:01 ↗

This is a weekly video checkpoint, so you can't just say, oh, yeah, I did that. It needs to be recorded for it to count, and then I'll review it at the end of every week.

Watch at 19:32 ↗

The backyard session: a helper to leave, and a collar she stops running fromTurning point

Uploaded 15 March 2026 (watch), at the trainer's mother's house by his own later account

The turn in her case. The trainer's problem all month is that both dogs stay glued to him, so there is nothing to recall them from. He refuses to give Josi a formal recall while she has no collar or line on, because he could not enforce it. Then a helper holds each dog in turn, so the dog has somewhere it does not want to leave, and he recalls the dog away from her. He frames both dogs as choosing flight: running from the collar worked, because the pressure stopped and nobody could make them come. The fix he describes is to teach them how to escape the pressure, so they can later avoid it altogether by coming on the word. Josi vocalises on one recall ('you sound like we're torturing you'). On the last recall she comes without any stimulation at all, and the collar comes off. Every later upload refers back to this session. The trainer credits it with most of the recall improvement - 80 percent in one lesson, 60 percent in another.

On film

prong collar Josie what you doing and then very importantly here I'm not doing a formal recall because I don't have a way to obligate her I don't have a long line on her I don't have any collar on her

Watch at 2:13 ↗

is they have to have a clear understanding of how to escape the pressure and get the pleasure

Watch at 34:13 ↗

that leg is so muscular he does have muscly legs otherwise in this case both of them have a tendency they choose flight right so they'll run instead of obeying the command

Watch at 34:24 ↗

come oh that's so dramatic that's so dramatic you sound like we're torturing you

Watch at 40:54 ↗

oh that was so good and josie did not have to feel anything she got she avoided everything

Watch at 43:26 ↗

quickly like to be honest with you probably 80% of the recall improvement that you see now with the two of them came from that one session

Watch at 7:04 ↗

Proofing: the response flips, place holds with cars passing, and a recall away from a person

Outings built around getting the dogs away from the trainer. In a wet dog park Josi wears the only micro educator. For the first reps it turns out to be switched off. At the end the trainer says her response to the collar is now to come, not to run. A play session with no formal recall at all is, by his own account, meant to make them wander off. In a new neighbourhood she holds place on a cot in a parking area while he walks off with Milo to search the truck and cars pass. Christian then makes himself interesting, and she is recalled away from him: 'That's a nice recall ... Dachshunds are trainable.' In the Major session she may be the second dachshund used as a distraction; the audio does not say.

On film

Josie come Josie Josie come Josie come oh I never turned it on

Watch at 8:07 ↗

Josie come come that's a much better response than before to the e-collar her response now instead of to run is to come good girl that's what we need

Watch at 21:52 ↗

We got a few reps in of the recall. call and Josie responded properly to the pressure this time

Watch at 10:26 ↗

there. We're gonna be able to walk away with Milo while Josie's on the place cat.

Watch at 14:28 ↗

Josie has stayed.

Watch at 15:24 ↗

That's a nice recall.

Watch at 24:01 ↗

The owner lessons and the off-leash claim

Uploaded 31 March, 1 April and 2 April 2026 (watch with watch; watch; watch). The order of the last two is uncertain.

Lesson one teaches the owner the trainer's framework, demonstrated mostly on Milo. Josi's turn covers place, the sit-down distinction and the recall. Her sit problem is the December problem under another name: she downs when asked to sit. It has been fixed, he says, by calmly showing her the mistake, because she is plainly trying to comply. He explains her earlier flight as a poisoned collar, probably an accident by one of his trainers. With the owner watching, a tap at about 18 makes Josi speed up and come, and the owner's next call needs no tap. At home, the second lesson tightens both collars a notch, because they were sliding, and teaches a property boundary. Josi stops at the line on her own, then gets one collar correction the trainer says was more than needed, and then actively avoids that spot. He says that making a place aversive is normally wrong and justifies it as life or death. In a busy park, with leashes and lines off and collars on, both dogs are recalled away from the owner, people, kids and a football game. No stimulation on Josi is reported. She does a 'fake sit'. Separately, on 1 April, the trainer tells another client they are 'fully off leash now'.

On film

right because she was downing sometimes when you're asking her to sit right

Watch at 1:02:51 ↗

because it's just a mistake right um she's obviously trying to comply why did she down

Watch at 5:21 ↗

You'll see it later on the camera. Hopefully but I tapped the collar on like an 18 And she sped up and came to me right so it clarifies it

Watch at 20:32 ↗

yeah so like one thing to remember is i think both of their e-collars they're about one notch too loose okay yeah just because they were sliding around and they're not going to make consistent contact

Watch at 2:55 ↗

but let's see how it goes i'll turn it down a little bit from it was on like a 12.

Watch at 25:06 ↗

Sit. Oh, she is sitting. Okay. Oops. She's not doing her normal sit. She's doing his fake sit.

Watch at 18:54 ↗

she has a twin brother um named milo josie milo they're fully off leash now

Watch at 7:37 ↗

Skills

Recall, and her response to the e-collar

At the startOwner's form: 'come' usually reliable with low distraction; afraid after the collar's vibration and lowest level (source: intake). December: good on the flexi and long line; off leash, ignored until stimulated, once while the collar was not touching her; 'more likely to ignore it than Milo'. Between the stays: she fled from the collar at least once with the owner. March trainer: when she felt the collar, 'she ran the opposite direction'.
By the endRecalls away from a helper with no stimulation (03-15). Response 'now instead of to run is to come' (03-19). Recalled away from Christian (03-24). A single tap at about 18 speeds her up in front of the owner, and the owner's next call needs none (03-31). Recalls off leash, collar on, in a busy park, with no stimulation reported on her (04-02). Claimed 'fully off leash' to another client (04-01). Never shown recalling with no collar on.

How it was taught

Two stays, two frames. December: say 'here'; if she does not start back, tap the collar and pop the leash together, using the leash for direction. The fault found on camera is fit, not level. March: no formal recall unless it can be enforced. Create something she wants to leave: a helper, Christian, the owner. Cue, give her a chance, then light taps with a line for direction, off the instant she heads in, then cheerlead and let her go back. The explicit aim is escape first, then avoidance. The March trainer checks the collar is on and making contact, and adds informal calls for when he does not want to enforce.

On film

they seem to confused because they normally know like it's about 80 to 90 percent reliable for me right now that I can see that if I tap the e-collar

Watch at 14:46 ↗

This is where the e-collar comes in and she recalls great on the flexi on the long line and she normally recalls perfectly well, but

Watch at 7:03 ↗

right and that can happen when to be very frank with you it's not made clear to the dog what turns it off

Watch at 43:28 ↗

if i go josie come good job and see she avoids the e-collar entirely

Watch at 7:55 ↗

there they go milo josie come yeah beautiful that's good all right

Watch at 18:19 ↗

Down, and the sit it keeps replacing

At the startOwner's form: down 'doesn't know at all'; sit only with a food lure (source: intake). December: the handler's current project, several cues per rep in the stores, at least once finished with a nudge; the trainer says she prefers down to sit.
By the endMarch: a down on the cot after a few collar taps, and a trainer's statement that she is 'doing really great on her duration for everything'. The sit-for-down confusion is said to be fixed, but in the park on 04-02 she still offers a 'fake sit'. Never graded.

How it was taught

December: repeated cue with 'nope' for non-compliance, a leash pop down and forward for the owner, 'nope' once before any pop so that 'down' never comes to mean a pop, and few repetitions spread over an outing. March: for the sit, a calm 'uh-uh, not quite', help into position, pressure off, release. The explicit reason is that her error is a mistake, not a refusal.

On film

how that goes instead down down nope nope down nope nope josie down down down okay good girl

Watch at 0:22 ↗

Okay down we'll work with the down she likes it better down down what

Watch at 12:25 ↗

nope then if they don't then you can start yeah yeah say nope once you don't have to keep saying

Watch at 5:17 ↗

right so i just go uh-uh not quite and then i just help her and she gets into the sit

Watch at 5:28 ↗

I also tapped the e-collar a few times.

Watch at 27:21 ↗

Place

At the startOwner's form: 'doesn't know at all' (source: intake). Nothing on place is filmed in November or December.
By the endA 15-minute timed hold in a quiet yard (03-11). Holding while cars pass and the handler walks away with Milo (03-24). With the owner (03-31) she still needs help getting on.

How it was taught

Positive first: short, happy repetitions with a quick release to check the release word. Then small taps of pressure until she is on, with the pressure off the instant she is on, so the cot never becomes a bad place. Then duration in low distraction. Then distraction and distance, which the trainer calls more important than duration once 15 minutes is reached.

On film

good, good, good, good. Come on. Come on. Good job, mama. You did good. I'm just making sure that her release word, her release marker is good and that she actually enjoys going

Watch at 6:34 ↗

up. Nope. Place. So one mistake there. Place. Good. No pressure on the play scott.

Watch at 9:44 ↗

the funny thing is that like increasing duration in this setting is like it's fine and all but it's like if they can do 15 minutes they can do an hour right so what's more important is that I increased the other two D's

Watch at 16:01 ↗

And so the video that we did, I did one with Josie and one with Milo. um with a pretty good deal of distractions around um for I think it was like 15 minutes each

Watch at 2:06 ↗

Loose leash and heel

At the startOwner's form: heel on leash usually reliable with low distraction (source: intake). December: heel in a store needs many 'nope's and stalls, and she is 'a little sticky on the turn'.
By the endMarch: follows through every turn in a quiet yard; the pulling phase is deferred to the park because she will not pull here. Walks beside the owner when free. No heel work is filmed in March despite the titles.

How it was taught

Named phases: U-turns with a tiny pop when she lags, sporadic changes of direction, then straight walking with pulling punished. Pace slowed for her legs.

On film

girl you did it you did a good job you got a little sticky on the turn there

Watch at 8:06 ↗

good girl come on good girl a plus so she's just following me on all these turns now she's not really trying to get away from me

Watch at 4:34 ↗

So with her, we're going to have to do that at the park because I have a feeling she's just going to walk with me just fine here.

Watch at 5:17 ↗

they just default to walking beside beside you which is or at most like the other thing i noticed is like josie will walk like right here

Watch at 10:25 ↗

Boundaries: the yard line

At the startNot trained. The owner reports that a neighbour's German Shepherd came into the yard and lured one of the dogs away; by the pronoun, Josi.
By the endStops at the line on her own at more than one entry point. After one collar correction she avoids the spot 'actively'. Milo does the road-surface rule; Josi is not shown on it.

How it was taught

A treat thrown over the line as temptation, blocked with body language, a walk back and praise, repeated at three or four entry points. The criterion: she walks on with the handler without needing a release. Then a collar correction at the line, so the rule is attached to the ground and not the handler and holds when nobody is there.

On film

so there's so they have a German Shepherd that dog that's walking around that's the one that came in the yard and lured her that way

Watch at 7:14 ↗

it's right there yeah good girl come on good job she did that one on her own

Watch at 20:08 ↗

they're listening to me i want it to be like a thing where it's like associated with the ground

Watch at 24:18 ↗

Public manners: barking and greeting

At the startBarks for attention and at passing dogs, and the owner says she once went after a child while barking. Greets everyone.
By the endDecember: stops after a correction continued until she 'was done with it'. March: greets strangers in the park calmly; the owner is told to down or heel both dogs when people approach. Nothing shows whether the barking stayed stopped.

How it was taught

Excitement allowed and greetings nearly always permitted; inappropriate expression marked with 'nope' and corrected until the dog shows she cares, then 'okay' and move on.

On film

And the reason that I did a little bit more very great there at the end is because all I wanted was I wanted for

Watch at 5:10 ↗

off leash right she she barks really loud at the dogs that have passed by um but she wasn't trying to like engage them in a negative way which is always him doing that

Watch at 15:08 ↗

just feel like if i can have them like if i see people approaching like go hit them down yeah you can yeah or you can just put them in heel and walk by

Watch at 16:37 ↗

Recall, and her response to the e-collar

Update. Off leash, beside other dogs, with the e-collar worn. The handler says the response to the collar is 'much more active off the leash', which is what he wants. No stimulation on either dog is narrated, and no recall is shown on its own; 'come' is named in the list of what they know.
On film

You know the proper response to the e-collars much more active off the leash

Watch at 0:14 ↗

Down, and the sit it keeps replacing

On film

test a little bit of duration Josie Milo down Josie and all the way down Milo

Watch at 1:56 ↗

Loose leash and heel

Update. Heel is cued off leash here ('Josie Milo heel').
On film

Josie Milo heel good dogs

Watch at 1:10 ↗

From the Shorts

Short clips posted from Josi's training. They are undated, so they sit beside the program rather than inside it.

Off leash with her brother, past other dogs

A handler takes Josi and Milo off leash together and walks them past an area with lots of dogs as a test. He cues both by name to sit, down, heel and 'let's go', and lists what they know: come, heel, sit, down, let's go, 'okay' to release, 'nope' to mean no, and place. He then puts them in a down and walks away to test how long they hold it; Josi needs a second prompt to go all the way down. He ends by saying they do really well and he is very happy.

Watch the Short at 0:00 ↗

On film

They're looking good. I'm just going to test them

Watch at 0:00 ↗

I'm gonna walk by an area with lots of dogs

Watch at 0:08 ↗

Josie Milo heel good dogs so you can see they know come they

Watch at 1:10 ↗

know heel they know sit they know down Josie Milo let's go

Watch at 1:30 ↗

test a little bit of duration Josie Milo down Josie and all the way down Milo

Watch at 1:56 ↗

so I can create some distance and for some duration good job guys and they do really well

Watch at 2:11 ↗

Free time with Milo and Major

Josi and her brother Milo are let loose with another dog in the program, Major. The handler says Josi and Milo are running all around while Major would rather sniff. In two companion clips the same three dogs come out together in the morning and explore a room with a cat tree; there the handler names only Milo and Major.

Watch the Short at 0:01 ↗

On film

josie and milo are running all around i love the way these doctors run

Watch at 0:01 ↗

they are having the time of their lives

Watch at 0:18 ↗

their paws are all wet from the the dew of the grass

Watch at 0:33 ↗

How the method adapted

Most of the adaptations are made for her size, and are shared with Milo. The ones that are hers alone are about the leaving: what to do when she freezes, hides or runs. On that, the two stays adapted in opposite directions.

Hiding was answered with more pressure, not less (December).

The December trainer judged it about 90 percent learned escape: she hid because hiding had ended the pressure before. The only way to reverse that, he said, was for hiding to stop working. He made an explicit exception if something else was going on, in which case relationship and play come first.

On film

i actually turn pressure up when they hide uh from me like that unless there's something else going on but in this case there's not

Watch at 17:32 ↗

right so then i'm gonna uh kind of be like nope nope nope you're not gonna do that that's not gonna work mister or that's not gonna work little girl like that and then i'm gonna like pull them them out of there and then make, make sure they still do it.

Watch at 18:09 ↗

Running was answered with clarity, not pressure (March): a helper to leave, a line for direction, and relief the moment she turned.

The March trainer judged that she did not know what turned the collar off, so she tried fleeing, and fleeing worked. The fix was to make escape obvious and quick, so she could learn to avoid it. His stated limit is 'a little stressful', not 'extremely stressful'.

On film

good good dogs good job guys yeah and so if you teach this very clearly from the beginning it does not have to be extremely stressful just a little stressful

Watch at 36:02 ↗

to the dog what turns it off right and so then they try other things because they have options what are their options to try to turn it off well they could come to you or they could flee or they could freeze and hunker down

Watch at 43:33 ↗

Her wrong position was treated as a mistake, in a quiet voice.

Offering a down for a sit reads, to the March trainer, as trying to comply. So the correction is 'uh-uh, not quite' and help into position, not authority. In December the same default was met with firmer delivery and a 'cracked out' release to lift her out of looking suppressed.

On film

And you notice that like my tone is not like, like really authoritative and like, no, you did the wrong thing.

Watch at 5:16 ↗

Right. Right. But the important part is is making the release command like as as like cracked out as possible.

Watch at 11:42 ↗

No drilling. A few downs spread over an outing, not a run of them.

Drilled, she drops into the down fast out of worry. The December trainer reads that as learning to be suppressed in general, not learning the cue.

On film

just doesn't care um what will happen is if you keep doing keep doing keep doing it then she's going to start to go she's going to start to kind of like freak out a little bit like what's going on

Watch at 5:42 ↗

Equipment and pace scaled to a tiny dog: micro educator, micro or mini prong, slower walking, collar fit checked twice.

Her body. A standard collar's contact points sit too far apart on a dog this small, and a loose collar slides off contact. The December fit failure and the April 'one notch too loose' are the same fault.

On film

gonna i think they thrive on a mini prong collar yeah the mini prong collar fits them a lot better and the micro educator is a lot better for them

Watch at 33:35 ↗

nice slow walking for her because she's not the fastest doggy because she got these little legs

Watch at 3:33 ↗

Never recalled formally when the recall could not be enforced.

An unenforceable 'come' that she ignores teaches her she can ignore it. When she wore nothing she was not called, and informal calls were used whenever the trainer did not intend to follow through.

On film

Josie and I'm just giving her an informal recall there so I don't have to reinforce if she doesn't come because I'm not trying to do a recall rep right now

Watch at 4:26 ↗

Kept away from large dogs, and the owner told to think about the other dog's safety first.

Size. A meeting that would be harmless for a large dog could kill a small one.

On film

know like a situation that um I would encourage you to think more about the other dog yeah and whether or not they're safe for them than the reverse

Watch at 2:00 ↗

I mean, even generally, you got dachshunds, I don't let dachshunds play with large dogs typically.

Watch at 12:42 ↗

Reward chosen from what she actually wanted - people and petting - while play was built in parallel. The owner was told to get her excited in her own way.

She ignored treats, and she would not tug.

On film

the training yeah i can't just be like all right i played with your dogs for four weeks now they know how to play now we have to finish the training

Watch at 23:07 ↗

No, yeah, get her amped up however you can and then play with her.

Watch at 12:24 ↗

What the family was told

When she hides or leaves

i actually turn pressure up when they hide uh from me like that unless there's something else going on but in this case there's not

Watch at 17:32 ↗

where like they're like yeah then i'm like okay we need to like change direction here and try some other things and get you more engaged with me and improve the relationship and play with you

Watch at 17:42 ↗

Corrections have to land

had to do until i saw that she cared right because that's all it is is if if you see she doesn't care well then you didn't correct her

Watch at 9:40 ↗

it most of the time and and for something like this it's just obedience i don't keep saying nope nope nope nope

Watch at 5:24 ↗

The recall and the collar

So all that would mean is that you would say like here, and then if they didn't start coming back to you right away,

Watch at 14:06 ↗

Yeah, just tell her eh eh again. Tell her to come.

Watch at 19:40 ↗

yeah so like one thing to remember is i think both of their e-collars they're about one notch too loose

Watch at 2:55 ↗

Yeah, put it up above the e-collar.

Watch at 2:56 ↗

Place and the release

And come on place good. So then you see how that's negative reinforcement There was pressure, and the pressure went away as soon as she got up there.

Watch at 3:47 ↗

Yeah, and so if they don't get off right away, I normally just encourage them. I'll just cheerlead for them.

Watch at 3:00 ↗

Other dogs, people and children

know like a situation that um I would encourage you to think more about the other dog yeah and whether or not they're safe for them than the reverse

Watch at 2:00 ↗

just feel like if i can have them like if i see people approaching like go hit them down yeah you can yeah or you can just put them in heel and walk by

Watch at 16:37 ↗

Boundaries

so like think of it like this so if you walk that way and they stop and they go and then you walk back and you walk by them and they get up without you saying okay then that means they're seeing that as a border that they're not supposed to cross over

Watch at 17:37 ↗

actively right she doesn't want anything to do with that area um and normally it's like hey we don't want that that's a bad thing you don't want to train dog that way right but in this case it's one of the few cases where it's like no

Watch at 25:21 ↗

Play

No, yeah, get her amped up however you can and then play with her. And then just like ask her for obedience while you guys

Watch at 12:24 ↗

Film your practice

why i like taking videos and i also recommend that

Watch at 13:46 ↗
In the family's own words

The owner's account of Josi at home is the only evidence of the hiding, and she is candid about her own part in it.

On film

under the chair yeah and she would just like man i'm not doing this and then walk away

Watch at 13:52 ↗

like you know reaching out to you like i don't know what she's like zero percent yeah and maybe she wasn't zero percent i was just user error

Watch at 14:10 ↗

She tried to call Josi out of an excited state in public and could not. That was her question at the go-home lesson.

On film

played with them and walked off and i was like okay here josie here they were still in that mode

Watch at 8:35 ↗

then i had to really like correct and she just did not care

Watch at 8:46 ↗

In April her worry about off-leash freedom is not running away but losing sight of a dog this small.

On film

oh there you are they freak me out though when i'm when i have them off leash um not because i'm worried they're going to run off but because they're so small i can't tell where they're at

Watch at 14:44 ↗

At home Josi plays best in her own way, and gives way to Milo over toys.

On film

Um, when Josie even would play at home, um. She's slightly more docile with it.

Watch at 11:15 ↗

play fighting yeah i'll kind of get on my knees and make her noise and she will just come at me

Watch at 12:01 ↗

Outcomes

What the trainers reported

The down was going well in December.

The December handler, to a shopper, Home Depot

On film

how's your hand oh it's doing fine it's a little scratch yeah yeah we've been working with josie on down she's doing good

Watch at 1:33 ↗

The tapped recall was 80 to 90 percent reliable for the trainer, at the December handover - for both dogs, with Josi the more likely of the two to ignore it.

The December go-home trainer

On film

they seem to confused because they normally know like it's about 80 to 90 percent reliable for me right now

Watch at 14:46 ↗

Her response to the collar has flipped from running to coming.

The March trainer, 03-19 and again to the owner on 03-31

On film

Josie come come that's a much better response than before to the e-collar her response now instead of to run is to come

Watch at 21:52 ↗

it flipped her she's she's flipped her response to it successfully

Watch at 20:52 ↗

Most of the recall improvement came from the one backyard session - 80 percent in one telling, 60 percent in another.

The March trainer, 03-31 and 04-01

On film

quickly like to be honest with you probably 80% of the recall improvement

Watch at 7:04 ↗

was done in that session you saw in that in my mom's backyard like that was like probably 60 of the learning for the recall happened like in that session

Watch at 23:31 ↗

Good duration on everything; close to being trusted off leash.

The March trainer, 03-31

On film

doing really great on her duration for everything

Watch at 26:20 ↗

let's go find it yeah but she also is getting pretty close to the point where i'm gonna be okay having her off

Watch at 10:09 ↗

Fully off leash.

The trainer, to another client in the Astro update evaluation, uploaded 2026-04-01

On film

she has a twin brother um named milo josie milo they're fully off leash now and i was off leash with them we were walking around

Watch at 7:37 ↗

They recall about 95 percent of the time without the collar.

On film

of the time even 95% of time without the collar it's just the 5% that I worry

Watch at 22:05 ↗

What the footage shows

A recall away from a helper, completed without any stimulation, after which the collar was taken off.

On film

oh that was so good and josie did not have to feel anything she got she avoided everything

Watch at 43:26 ↗

A 15-minute place hold in a quiet yard, timed, with one break before the timer and none reported during it. Long stretches of the timed hold have no speech, so a silent break cannot be ruled out.

On film

She's been good. She's been up there for five and a half minutes

Watch at 14:51 ↗

A place hold on a cot on pavement while the handler walks away with Milo and a car passes.

On film

A car cometh, a car goeth. Josie has stayed.

Watch at 15:22 ↗

One tap at about 18 speeds up a slow recall in front of the owner; the owner's next call needs none.

On film

now yeah good girl good okay so go ahead and call her okay i didn't have to do it at all

Watch at 21:05 ↗

Recalls with leashes and lines off and collars on, in a busy spring park. No stimulation on Josi is reported. A 'fake sit' near a football game.

On film

there they go milo josie come yeah beautiful that's good all right

Watch at 18:19 ↗

She stops at the yard boundary on her own, at more than one entry point, before the collar is used there.

On film

walk across that whole area good and so you see there she stopped on her own

Watch at 21:22 ↗
How it ended. Josi went home. Josi came out well in the end.

The ideas Josi's case runs on