Who King is
Trainers words
On film
honestly he just seems like a dog he doesn't know his commands or anything he actually should be from what I'm looking at my assessment so far he's a pretty standard like he'll be really fun to train and he's not like so anxious or anything
so kings of course is shepherd so he's stupid smart sometimes the biggest problem with shepherds is just too smart for their own good they're so smart that and neurotic of course that might be crazy king doesn't seem to be very neurotic though as of yet
the good thing is he doesn't seem to be so impulse heavy like distracted like some shepherds where they're like i'm gonna just run up to you so we're not gonna have to work on that so much with him
but he seems like a really active dog which is always nice. We can use that kind of energy for his training. They're not suppressed in any way.
it's the strongest reinforcer for King King cares about that more than he cares about anything else like if I throw the ball he is way more amped up than if I have food or then if I pet or praise or whatever he likes the ball
because he has like a pretty strong like startle thing where he's kind of like weirded out by some stuff randomly so taking him to like more I've been taking him to like is like downtown's a bit busier there's a lot of cars and like other random stuff that he's gonna see so taking him there so he's able to still like function and listen to command
like he doesn't want to get on top of stuff like I tried to get him on a picnic table the other day he did not want to do that he resisted hard so I have noticed that he has he has weird little fear points I've noticed they're not of people they are of random objects
Come on. Come on. You can do it. There you go. Good boy. It's alright. King has some random fear stuff. Good boy. You did good.
yeah he's got a little bit of a phobia we're gonna try to work on today uh i just discovered it um like a week ago um he's got a weird thing with fans you know like the box fans you guys have on the floor in there that blow air he's got a little bit of a weird thing where he freaks out he's scared of him so we're gonna see how it goes
I think it might be context specific where it's like big area, lots of other stuff going on and then like maybe it's the fans plus just like the whole thing
he gets all freaked out no not the road he's scared of random like tight tight spaces he's scared of what tight spaces all tight spaces yeah sometimes rambling especially he's artificial i've noticed
I've learned that he does have some prey drive like he likes to like go bite. Um, but that's not his strongest entry uh towards the protection. His strongest entry is through his fear, right? So he sometimes feels suspicious of stuff randomly.
but that's not the case with king because he's not exactly trying to bite people no he's pretty happy to see people for the most part
King, catch up. Good boy. King down.
Because he needs to be able to control the impulses that he has, basically.
And so now it's just continuing to increase his confidence to give him back down. Because that's always the hardest part.
Yeah, he's a young boy, so we've just been trying to build his resilience and build his confidence, you know?
So because of his fur I knew like I had to crank up the e-collar to find where it was good. It was good around 75 Yeah, so that's where he feels like he like twitches a little bit
Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. Because he gets thick fur. Oh. So he like, he barely felt it and he was like... I mean, sometimes it's just like, because they get startled. It's not always because of the fur.
He just didn't think he could do it or didn't feel like doing it.
the stick you like to hold it down so hold it down for a long time but he doesn't like to hold the stick that much it's not something i would press on that much because i tell people normally i'm like hey why put them in a stick when you put a minute down i try to focus on whatever is the most gonna be like the most useful
Okay, it's recording This is King. He is I love him. He's annoying though. He is one year and three months
Family words
On film
So, I mean, it's it's my wife's side of the family, but it's it's generally at a gathering anywhere from 10 to 15, maybe might be a little bit more, but I just I I just want him to hold commands. To be able to be in his own space instead of me putting him in a kennel,
Cuz the moment I leave the room, he'll get up and hear him yelling again. But if I come back, he'll scurry over like I can't hear his claws on my hardwood floor running back to his spot.
I like his um his last name. Or maybe it's his middle name. King Legend. Oh, the kids named him. That's lit. The kids named King Legend. They named him.
He gets all ramped up and wants to jump all over people. If we tell him the place, he'll be there for like two minutes and then come and gets up.
still be in his space he I don't have to put him in his in the garage where it's nothing in there it's just him in the kitchen you know him okay so you're gonna be using the place command a lot then sure I'll be using place a lot and And then we walk the neighborhood and stuff a lot. As you can see, it's in the middle of nowhere.
yeah that is the biggest thing because I guess it's not more so for me it's the wife and kids so if something happened and somebody suspicious is around and you know that has to be said she could tell them watch yes he can bark and tell them to go away yeah yeah um
like right now he's a great dog, but if my wife was here, he probably would not listen. That's why we do the home lesson. That's his person.
Yeah, I do. I do watch the videos. I pay attention to a lot of that stuff. Um, I've been watching all of them. I gotta watch the most recent one because we're gonna plan to take walks and stuff like that so that way I know what to look out for. I don't usually take him to like Lowe's and stuff.
because usually it's him chasing after them because he'll be on his four-wheeler or something right while we're walking or my daughter's on the bike or so I I mean he'll try to he's definitely as you can see when we were walking once he went back he was like nah I don't care about y'all no more my focus is on him
cuz he broke out once or twice. So there was no way he heard pressing it to come back. He digs if he's outside for a while. He did. Y he's dug holes in a couple of our kills. He didn't get out, but he dug holes straight down.
Um, he lost a lot of weight. We were in between foods cuz he was being very, very picky.
Like you said earlier, when he told King to get down, King didn't. You know, usually when a kid's done, he's like, nah, I just want to play with y'all. And now he's starting to listen, he's understanding what he's doing, what he's supposed to do.
I don't want, you know, I don't want to take the fun out the dog, or take, you know, take all of it. No, because that sucks. Yeah, I'm not trying to do that. I just want him more disciplined.
his dog yeah that sounds like chris's son alex they're about the same age they've been him and my son been at the hip since we got him we got him in like five months old so my son was the one walking them and doing all the stuff they were terrorizing my old house
He must know he's staying home now.
I'm grateful for you. Kids are grateful for you, truly.
The program, stage by stage
1. Arrival: place on day one, and the first read (2026-06-24 to 2026-07-02)Turning point
He passes all of it and falls asleep on the pillow. The e-collar is set high, around 75, because of his coat, and the level is read off a twitch. The other 06-24 upload is five minutes of staff discussing a grading scale over unrelated footage. A week later a trainer takes him to a park for his first public outing on a long line (the flexi snapped on arrival), runs the shepherd checklist on him and clears every item, teaches 'let's go' from nothing, gets a beginner recall, and walks him past four dogs earlier than he says he normally would. The session ends on a colleague's 80/20 question and a decision to stop at twenty minutes with good reps banked.
The assessment: not a problem dog, a dog with no commands who will be fun to train - and one whose reward is obvious.
On film
practice with him with scene four which is place and settle. He's already been and The skill is place which he is doing itself So, I think this is his first day training.
Place. No, wrong way. Wrong way. Come on. Place. I see you. I see what they chose. I'm going to keep the door wide open.
for him. So they want him to stay. So I have to keep him here for a little bit longer.
i usually don't do this kind of stuff this early but like you know he's worked a little bit at the facility today's his first day like out in public
basically it's better to like get the 20 yeah i mean that makes 80 of the impact for that session and then quit go home
I got to raise up the difficulty because it seems like he doesn't want to get out of his comfort zone.
2. The play-based apprenticeship, the swapped positions and the collar that would not land (2026-07-07 to 2026-07-17)Turning point
King is the demonstration dog while a senior trainer teaches juniors the method. On 07-07 it is a lecture: the dog knows whether you are in the game, every stuck moment is an emotional problem plus a clarity problem, never default to pressure, budget a few clean reps between many rounds of ball, and ten minutes of real energy beat thirty flat ones. On 07-12 it is possession games: a junior has spent eighteen minutes waving a toy at a dog who would rather look at the other dogs; the senior takes the toy, taunts him, lets him win, keeps score, and within minutes King is carrying and hiding a toy he did not want. The out is taught as the rule that makes the game fair. Around this the solo sessions show a dog whose recall is 'looking real good these days', whose heel is loose, whose sit and down have swapped (fixed and lost again in one session, and a known issue), and whose thick coat keeps the e-collar from landing - two handlers stop mid-session to check the tool rather than turn it up, and one catches on his own footage that he was not leaving King time to answer. Two undated first-session clips by new handlers belong here by content.
The toy becomes his currency, on purpose, and the staff learn to blame the tool and their own timing before the dog.
On film
There's normally an emotional component, so like what's the dog's emotional state, and then there is a clarity response.
He doesn't want me to have it now. Yeah. Right. Why is it important to him? Why is the toy important to him now when it wasn't before? Because he's I want it. I want the toy. And he can tell I want the toy.
good boy right so then we both neither of us have it right so then it's fair okay
I can tell you are not responding to the e-collar at all you should be there's not make sense
I just have to remind myself to give him time to comply because I find that one of the things I'm doing, I was reviewing some of my own video footage and I found that I was not giving enough latency, not giving enough time between giving the command and giving the command again or correcting.
Sit. Now you're doing it again. Sit. Now he's doing it again. You got the first one. You were doing it with me earlier on.
3. The fan phobia (2026-07-23)Turning point
A week after Christian and Claudia found him terrified of the box fans at a hardware store, the trainer takes him back to a store on purpose. The method is stated in three short passages and then done for twenty-six minutes: no-show the reaction - no comfort, no correction, no leash pressure, keep walking; wait when he locks up; bring the ball in to loosen him; drop in easy known commands and spend the release word, which has value banked in it; run away from the fan as the relief and narrate every pass back to him as survival. The dose is decided on the clock - one more pass on the way out. He balks at the automatic doors as well as the fans and ignores a fan outdoors. By the end he is 'not freaking out anymore', and the trainer refuses to say he enjoyed it.
On film
And I'm just going to no-show it if he has a reaction. So like, if he has a reaction to the Phantom, I'm just going to no-show it and just do nothing. And just kind of like keep walking.
I'm not gonna pull on you. I'm just gonna wait.
I have a lot built up in the release command that I can use as a positive feeling.
Look, now we're good. It didn't kill us. He didn't kill us.
Alright, I would ask if that was fun, but I don't think it was. But did you learn? I think you did. You did really good, buddy.
4. Protection through the fear, the maintenance sweep, and the first owner lesson (2026-08-04 to about 2026-08-11)Turning point
On 08-04 the suspicious side of him is turned into work: three boogeyman sets in one day with Jayden as decoy, hidden behind a car and coming out slowly. Nothing is corrected, over-eagerness is left alone on purpose, the decoy is coached to leave only when the barking has earned it, and the lever for progression is time, not pressure. He is put up 'hot' between sets. The next day a walk checks that the ordinary commands survived the protection focus - they did, except heel. On 08-06 a 39-minute trail at a new park re-tests the heel entry from a new angle, drills the down in motion on the bridges he balks at, extends the route to walk past a stranger on purpose, and states the plan: proof the heel downtown, then off leash, because everything else is 'off leash ready'. On 08-07 his positions are proofed against the ball - produced, thrown, chased by the handler - and the collar is turned down for heel because he is already wound up. The first owner lesson falls here: the intake priority re-read, the progress report, the fans and the bridges explained, the boogeyman named as his entry, and two frameworks - the four windows and the quadrants - taught to the owner in the parking lot. On 08-11 he holds a place on a park platform through a long phone call and a down through the truck door opening; the trainer will 'keep working that along with doing more of the protection drills'. The downtown walk and the sleeve session belong to this stretch by reference.
Fear becomes the entry to protection, and the owner is told what the family actually needs is a calm-liberty window and a working correction, not more obedience.
On film
So we're not going to correct him for being overly eager or anything like that right now.
and it's a threat barking makes the bad guy go away
Everything else is perfectly down in place. His recall is fantastic. The only one that I'm still spending some time on is the heel. Still have some work to do there, but it's not atrocious honestly. It's actually pretty darn good.
the ball so that's a big thing for him, being able to hold position when the ball is thrown by him is a very very big distraction for him
that's what we're using as the entry into the protection, right? So, you may have seen there's some videos uh that have gone up recently that were uh boogeymans.
If you can tell them to chill and you can tell them to stop and you can ask them to come, life gets way better, right? Um, everything after that is bonus.
That's exactly what I want to see. The temptation part. You need temptations.
5. The second owner lesson: the program reordered around the family (2026-08-16)Turning point
The trainer brings King to the family's property and reports what has been built - duration, the down in motion, recall pushed around distractions, an off-leash heel - and shows the owner how to seat the collar through the coat. The owner's problem is guests: King ramps up, jumps on people, breaks a place after two minutes; the kids are fine. The trainer's rule for the last weeks is frequency - put the most work into what the household will use most - and that comes down to two things: the deterrent display on 'watch', for the wife and kids, and place with duration while people are in the house. A neighbourhood walk hands over the commands: 'come' versus 'let's go' at length, the invisible bubble, passing people, heel as a tool, the heel entry and heel in motion off leash, the legal drag leash. Indoors they choose a place spot, he recommends a cot over the pillow, and catalogues the fear points with the prescription 'make him do it'. The last fifteen minutes are the case against band-aiding bad choices with obedience: calm liberty, the traffic ticket, the spanking that was survivable because it was explained, option A or option B, with Louie Toop named as the extreme case King is not. The dog goes back with the trainer, next session Friday.
The owner's goal - a dog who barks a stranger away on command, and who can be loose while ten to fifteen people are over - decides what the rest of the program is spent on.
On film
so i i think about this kind of stuff in terms of like frequency right so I want to make sure that I as I'm like you know finishing up the program I want to put the most work into the things that are going to be used and the most frequently right because those are the things that are the most important
So getting him to not back up and move forward and bark and deter things, and then continuing to strengthen the association between the word watch and him putting on that big display so that you can be like, watch, watch, watch, and point at somebody and he goes, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, to get them to go away.
very often people's first thought is is sit, down, place. They band-aid it with obedience. Don't do that. Don't band-aid it with obedience. Instead, just tell them to stop doing that thing.
problem he can go off leash on an off-leash walk in the park subject to legality right right? Um, sometimes what I do, cause like I like to walk my dog off leash
sometimes in like a tight spot like a tight area to freak him out but I basically just go hey like come on let's go and I just like make him do it and then he figures it out after like one or two passes through whatever it is so if that happens to you at any point you just literally just make him do it
6. The last week and the handover (2026-08-18 to about 2026-08-22)Turning point
Evening walks because of the heat. At the Stone Houses with Zuri Chan he is on cue throughout and the one teaching point is why the down in motion confuses dogs at first. The last evening is Dix Park - King mostly on leash because the park requires it (though an 'off leash heel' is announced with him at 31:28), Zuri off leash - then Hillsborough Street downtown after dark: downs on the pavement with strangers stepping around him, a dog called Emma walked with, the tight-spaces fear named, and 'he's going home tomorrow'. The park conversation is where the trainer says why he does not take client dogs off leash in leashed places, quotes his own dog's reliability with the squirrel exception, and admits trainers' dogs go stale. The go-home is at the family's house: the owner runs the commands so handler error surfaces, 'let's go' versus 'come' in a sentence, 'out' backed like any command, no passes for a dog who learns the loophole fast, the tug-and-ball game loop as maintenance, the truck chase as the ball by another name, then the acknowledgement document, health reporting, 'it's all about latency', and 'King is home'.
On film
I've been working on his down in motion. Because most of the time they get confused the first time I do a down in motion. Because they feel like they're supposed to keep walking with me.
all it takes is one moment that either the dog doesn't listen right away Or the dog gets scared or something whatever and then all of a sudden they get hit by a bus.
I almost stepped on him. Uh-oh. I almost stepped on him, too, when he was on the down.
like i don't give him any passes on getting up from the down don't give him any passes um and that will make it where it's like more reliable than that right where he won't get up
You want him to make good choices. Yes. and then if he's making a bad choice to stop the bad choice and then if you need to tell him to do something specific for a while
And I don't think he came with anything, just his collar, right? The big collar. The collar and his tag. That should go all the way. That's it. Yeah. Okay. Good. Well, then he's good. Leave him alone. Okay. You're not leaving with him. We're not going, bro. He's staying here now. Go over there. Go over here. Alright. Thanks, man. King is home.
Skills
Place with duration
How it was taught
Day one: a thirty-minute clock, difficulty raised each time he looked comfortable - toy, hat, second dog, open door, dropped chip - whining and puppy eyes named and not answered. Then duration under genuine disengagement (the phone call) and against his own currency (the ball) and his own temptation (the truck door). The enforcement rule for the family: if he gets up, tap the e-collar and put him back, at a level that depends on the situation; after forty-five minutes a stretch is allowed and he is sent back a few minutes later. A raised cot is recommended over the pillow because it makes on-or-off unambiguous. The go-home adds: reinforce every time and give no passes, because he learns the loophole fast. A downtown bench serves as a place.
On film
Place. No, wrong way. Wrong way. Come on. Place. I see you. I see what they chose. I'm going to keep the door wide open.
I'm gonna taunt them with Doritos. Or not taunt them, but... Touch them. I dropped a Dorito next to him. He better not get out.
Alright so Kings done really good on like holding his command for a longer duration with distractions more distractions there were dogs walking by and stuff like that this whole time a little far away that they were walking but still good to see
I'm going to run towards the ball this time. He did good. He stayed on place.
for 45 exactly you can get up stretch your legs but then I'm gonna tell you to go right back to you yeah I'm not gonna get super ramped up about that but like two minutes later I'm just like yeah happy yeah I'll put him back right
the difference between me being like okay like if I tell him place right there on the ground well am I still on place it's simple they know there's either foot on the ground or four feet on the cat one foot off the ground and out if it's off the cot it's not you're not in place
yeah he did we were in the garage talking he stayed there till I gave him okay even when the kids came when my son came to touch them he still stayed in his spot yeah he wanted me to say okay
So as an example, you can leave him on the bench.
Sit and down - keeping them distinct, and the down proofed against the ball
How it was taught
Discrimination sessions aimed at making the two 'clearly distinct' (watch); the swap was 'fixed' in one session by a method the handler never states, and came back the same afternoon. Latency: the 07-17 solo handler found on his own footage he was repeating too fast and made himself wait. Proofing: the ball produced from a pocket during a down, then thrown, then chased by the handler; the release is the permission to go get it. Body pressure applied to a held down. Down used as everyday equipment - parking him while a poop bag is binned. At the first lesson a sit that slid into a down was left alone because he has no authority problem.
On film
so he got confused with sit and down he switched them i've seen that he has that issue what did you do so i tried to help with that so i i fixed it
So we're going to be doing some sits and downs and trying to make sure that we have clear
You gotta give him time to respond.
And the first four or five times I did that, he broke down and took off. I threw the ball, right?
Um and now he'll stay in the down when I throw the ball.
king down, down, I'm going to count, see how long he'll hold it down for here, probably been about 20 seconds so far, alright, squatting down didn't make him get up
Well, I I kind of get it cuz down is much more comfortable than sit. So, normally I don't force the issue that much unless they have something that I need to like work on like with forcing the issue, which he does not.
sometimes i use it to like i just say i need to go grab something off the shelf at a store or i need to like grab you know like actually i did it i do it with the poop bag all the time i gotta pick up their poop so i'll pick up their poop and if like say it's from here to like over at the edge of that driveway i'll just put them in a down and i'll go walk and put their poop away and then come back over here where we were at and then i'll say okay
Down in motion
How it was taught
Down cued while he is moving, repeated many times over a long stretch of trail, often at the exact spot he was uneasy about; the bridge narrated as safe. The trainer's stated expectation is that dogs are confused by it the first time because they think they are meant to keep walking.
On film
I'm just working there on like a i just want to see i want to see to it that he has a good down in motion
okay good boy see bridge isn't scary bridge is not scary everything went fine
I've been working on his down in motion. Because most of the time they get confused the first time I do a down in motion. Because they feel like they're supposed to keep walking with me.
The down in motion that I was looking for.
the other one that i've worked um a lot on is being able to do a down in motion because the difference between the two is like a lot of times when when a dog hears down he will um he'll come to you right and down uh versus downing where you ask him to down like if you're walking
Heel - the entry and the heel in motion
How it was taught
Never ground. Heel entries - repeated calls into position from wherever he is - to 'clarify the position for him', with sniffing between; the entry re-tested from a new angle so it is not pattern-matched; then duration and pace changes; then a plan to proof it downtown and take it off leash. On a failed rep the leash is used openly to help, a recall is put in front of the heel, and he is asked to crowd in. The e-collar is turned down for heel because the exercise already has him aroused. The heel is split for the owner into entry (doable from a standstill) and in motion, with the fix for a missed turn - negative reinforce and pat the leg. Heel is defined as a tool for passing something, not a way to walk.
On film
I can clarify the position for him a little bit.
All I was doing there i was trying to tighten up his position there in the he the hwl um because um he's really kind of lagging uh and he was um going out to the side
you can hold the ball I don't care. That is the exact opposite of heel. Let's go!
I'm gonna check on his heel entry again today. I'm gonna try it from a different angle
King, heel. So he lost it on the turn
Turn it down just a little bit because of the context. He's already kind of like, ooh, with the heel. Good boy. Good job.
say you're turning and walking somewhere else and he doesn't follow you you do what i just did you just go negative reinforce it and then sometimes i'll just pat my leg to make it more clear to him
heal is very useful. It's useful in my opinion for temporarily keeping him close to you while something else is happening that you need him close to you for
Recall, and 'come' kept apart from 'let's go'
How it was taught
Called off free movement on a long line and praised; used as the safety valve for walk-bys; the name treated as a recall (a handler is corrected for saying it to get a look). For the family: 'let's go' means move with me - a direction change, or leave that tree - and he may pass right by; 'come' means all the way back and stay in my area until 'okay'. Mixing them teaches him that 'come' allows a fly-by, and the recall is what you reach for when he is heading somewhere he should not. The owner decides the radius - the invisible bubble - and calls him back every time he crosses it.
On film
king come king come oh good boy good boy all right let's keep it moving king let's go
These recalls looking real good these days.
So you know it. You just need to be consistent.
King, come. Good. I know that's hard. Okay.
so the important thing is to not mix the two so let's go is more so if I change directions
somebody else is walking their dog king's like king runs towards them you don't want you to say come and then he thinks okay come is the same as let's go now and he comes to you and then circles right back around leaves
you can you can think of like an invisible bubble and you decide how big that bubble is right so like if you're okay with him going all the way up there that's up to you right if you don't want him going that far well then every time he goes that far just tell him like and come right
Play, possession and the out
How it was taught
The 07-07 lecture: play first and genuinely, few clean reps between many rounds of ball, lure when confused and drop it when not. The 07-12 possession game from the Training Without Conflict school: take the toy, taunt, let him win first, keep score, never rip it from his mouth, sell your losses, raise your level as he improves. The out as fairness - after it neither has the toy - and as the rule that the toy does not come back until 'okay'. Carrying the ball as the prize; the bouncy ball preferred to the dead one; sniffing offered when he declines the ball. For the owner: break the game with 'out', ask for anything, pick the toy up, release back into the game; 'out' is backed with the collar like any command.
On film
right and mess with them and try to make it like competitive but also cooperative where you guys are like having fun together
Right. Not that. No. Like you got to make it a game where you have possession and he doesn't. Oh. Oh, I have it and you don't, dude. Oh, that's mine. No, you're too slow.
it's like if you're way put a video game in somebody, if the first time they ever play, if you just crush them and then you crush them over and over and over again, will they want to play more? No. You let them win the first time
And the best way to do that is that you say out and he can't have it again until I say okay. Right. Um so he doesn't get the toy back until I say okay. Right. I reinitiate the game. So he's on break now.
Out! Good job. Oh, you dropped it. Oh, you didn't. Out! Uh-uh. Good. Good boy.
So that word out, that's how you get him to let go of stuff, whether it's he bit a sleeve or bit a person or bit, you know, is holding a ball or a piece of trash that he shouldn't have or a tug toy or whatever it is, anything that he's holding, you say out to tell him to drop it and get rid of it.
because if you do that then you use out right out he lets go and sometimes I'll let go too we'll both let go and he outs you out okay cool then you ask me me to do something anything sit down play this whatever it is and then you pick the toy up and then you say okay and release him to the game
King down okay go get that ball go get that ball King go get that ball you don't want it let's go go get the ball you don't care about the ball that's okay
Public access: walk-bys, downtown, and going looking for the pass
How it was taught
Use the traffic already there - people, dogs, a squirrel pointed out by name - and ask a command next to it. Venues rotated on purpose and chosen for what they contain: parks, a new trail, downtown for cars and random objects because he startles. Passing people is handled by recall then down-and-wait or heel-and-keep-walking, justified partly by other people's nervousness of a German Shepherd. Two dogs walked together to bond them.
On film
i'm pretty much having where he won't go up to any dogs now already like we already got the let's go he's already good with it but i just fine-tuned his let's go a little bit
There's a squirrel right there, King. There's a squirrel. King, squirrel. Look. Oh, he's going up there now.
Alright, well, we just extended our walk slightly Because we're gonna walk by this person Definitely not passing that up
so many people do that they see another dog they avoid them with their dog because their dog can't behave good boy let's go up up here that is sad it's a bummer we're gonna use that hang heel
if somebody else is walking towards me or kids on a bike is coming or anything you might think like okay they might feel uncomfortable I just recall them and then I do one of two things I even put them in the down wait for them to go by or I put them in a heel and I keep walking
All together, we're besties now. That's how you bond.
The fear points: box fans, the store, bridges, heights, tight spaces
How it was taught
No-show the reaction: nothing for the fear to feed on - no comfort, no correction, no leash pressure, keep walking. Wait when he locks up. Play to loosen him. Easy known commands beside the trigger, paid with the release word. Move away from the fan as the relief and narrate survival. Cap the passes on the clock. Pair the place with good things only. On the bridges and in tight spots: 'come on, let's go', and 'make him do it' for one or two passes - which on film is insistence and encouragement without leash pressure or correction. Downtown chosen so he keeps functioning around random objects. The owner is given 'make him do it' as the rule.
On film
Oh, I'm not going to punish it.
You can get them to engage in something else, like play. Then you can get them to ease up a little bit, feel a little more comfortable.
We've already gotten a lot more comfortable, he's not freaking out anymore.
and then I just made him do it. Uh, we walked over a couple of them and walked back over them and then by the end of it, he was like confident going over more confident going over the braid.
probably have to turn back pretty soon king oh you're scared king let's go come on
like he doesn't want to get on top of stuff like I tried to get him on a picnic table the other day he did not want to do that he resisted hard
Good job, originally used to do good things. Good things, good things only. Good boy, like play, and pets, and praise.
um he's got a weird thing with fans you know like the box fans you guys have on the floor in there that blow air he's got a little bit of a weird thing where he freaks out he's scared of him so we're gonna see how it goes yeah so i'm hoping to test it out and see see if i can help him get through it a little bit
The deterrent: 'watch', the boogeyman sets and the sleeve
How it was taught
Boogeyman sets: a helper hides behind a car and comes out slowly; 'watch' cues the display, 'get him' drives it, 'run' sends the threat away; the decoy's retreat is withheld until the barking has earned it; over-eagerness is not corrected because confidence is the goal; progression is 'a little bit of time', not pressure; he is put up hot between sets and several sets are run in a day. The trainer simulates real fear beside him so repelling the threat becomes the dog's job; his wife has worked as the decoy in a suit. It is scoped as a switchable deterrent, explicitly not an attack or police dog. The owner is to be taught to run it in a later lesson.
On film
um one of our helpers jayden often works as a decoy he's uh he's hiding a little bit behind one of the cars now and he's going to come out real slow and as king fixates and barks he's
Don't run yet. Come back slow. He just ran and you left.
We want him to learn that when we hear him watch, he needs to do something.
the only way we do that is if we add a little bit of time and boost that confidence up
He sees it, he's like he'll start barking and he's not backing off as fast anymore. Um because really that's all it is. is you're trying to get them to feel confident about it and then be able to turn it on and turn it off with a queue.
There's the the defense, which is like 99% of the time all that you actually really really need. You need a deterrent that you can turn on and off.
Yeah, you feel somebody beside you is scared, that's now your job to repel that thing.
my wife came in real fast with like a big thing on and he was like...
We're putting him up after he's all jacked up.
Off leash
How it was taught
Not described as a ladder. The commands went verbal first; the leash is absent from most late sessions. The limit is stated rather than the method: no client dog off leash near roads or in leashed areas, because one moment of hesitation or fright ends under a bus; his own dog is 99.99% reliable except for squirrels, cats and birds. The bubble is the owner's decision.
On film
um i usually press him this soon but king seems to be a little better impulse than your average separate so we're gonna see what he does here
It's just increasing the duration on it and I'm gonna take him downtown maybe like downtown raleigh some busier areas and proof it and then just get it off leash in areas like this because he has off leash ready so he's good to go on all that but i want to get his heel fully off leash
he knows all his commands without a leash on because he doesn't need any kind of guidance it's all verbal so like if you ask him king down then he knows the down and he'll stay and like sometimes i use it to like i just say i need to go grab something off the shelf
a just like a regular retractable is just let them drag like a little tiny leaves like this and then you can always just pick it up if anybody says
King, let's go. Well, King's being a good boy on his leash. Yeah,
Yeah. And he does fine off leash out here. Um no no issues at all.
Calm liberty at home: guests, jumping, the house rules
How it was taught
In program: other dogs in the room while he is on place, people walking around doing normal things. For the family: no commands at all in the house; a private list of what is off limits and everything else allowed; 'uh-uh' followed by a real consequence, the e-collar being the easiest; no command before or after; do not band-aid it with sit, down or place. A correction has worked if he stops at once and does not return in ten to twenty seconds; if he returns, escalate rather than repeat. The correction is a battery the dog decides the recharge interval for. Jumping and the truck chase are the ball by another name: cut him off.
On film
Yeah, that's why we've had other dogs in the room while he's on plays and people walking around doing normal things, you know?
So people free shape with both all the time, with reinforcement and with punishment. So to keep the calm liberty window and that's the family gathering style thing, you need to free shape with punishment with king.
There's no rules in terms of you have not put him in the obedience window. He's not in the work window. You didn't tell him place or sit or down or anything. He's just free to walk around, do his thing. But you decide in your mind, these things are off limits for him to do.
And if that works right away and it's like strong, it's obvious that he did not appreciate it. Oh, and he chills out immediately and doesn't go right back to it after 10 seconds, then that was it. You're good, right? You punished it. It was penalized.
I normally just let my dog do whatever she's doing. And then if she does something boneheaded, I just tell her, uh-uh. and then I reinforce I penalize with some kind of punishment and I don't tell her to do anything after that I don't put her on place or tell her to sit her down or anything I don't give her any commands after or before I just tell her to stop
The e-collar on a thick coat
How it was taught
Set the level by the dog's visible response, not a number, and expect it to be high for the fur. When he does not respond, suspect the tool before the dog: check contact, tighten, re-test on a known command and confirm 'he felt that one'. Separate his theatrical reaction at low levels from the level he works on. Lower it when the exercise itself already has him aroused. For the owner: ruffle the hair up, seat the contacts, let the hair fall back; tap on every 'eh' for the first month even at a level too low to matter, to build the handler's habit; never show him the collar; let him wear it all day and charge it at night; a finger-button transmitter on a carabiner so it is actually carried.
On film
So because of his fur I knew like I had to crank up the e-collar to find where it was good. It was good around 75 Yeah, so that's where he feels like he like twitches a little bit
Got a lot of fur. Make sure the e-collar is connecting properly.
he's either much tougher with the e-collar than I initially considered, or it's too loose
I mean, sometimes it's just like, because they get startled. It's not always because of the fur.
Exactly, that way it's over it, because otherwise he probably won't make any contact, he'll press a button and he won't feel it at all. Because it's just hitting hair.
the first month that he's home, every time you say uh, you should tap the eco, even if it's on a relatively low level, not for him. his charged for you, right? Because you need to develop a habit and you need to develop muscle memory that you back up your penalties or your negative reinforcement.
if you start showing him the e-collar, right, and being like, "Hey, uh that takes the power away from your voice and puts it in the sight of this object." You don't want that. You want it to be you, not this, not the e-collar.
The truck: loading, the door as a temptation, and the chase
How it was taught
Do not boost from behind; pull forward on the collar so getting in becomes his own solution to the discomfort. The open door used as the temptation a down is proved against. The chase treated as the ball by another name - cut him off.
On film
So instead of boosting them up from their back, I just pull forward on the collar. So then they're like, what do I do? And then they end up getting in there themselves. And then they start going like, I'm gonna avoid that cause that's uncomfortable. I'm just gonna jump in there myself
and then you know like being able to reinforce it down when I opened the door that's another big one so at least for him because he likes to go jump as quickly as possible.
he always chases me in my truck he chases you in your truck what are you supposed to say what are you supposed to say because you can never stop the walk around again yeah so if he chases him in the truck it's the same thing you cut him off
Place and settle
On film
so today we are working with him with for which is scene four which is place and settle which he is settled and then the support skill
He's already doing that. He's been doing it for three months.
How the method adapted
The ball as the currency, and therefore as the proof: the thing he is paid with is the thing every position is tested against, and the release is the permission to chase.
On film
And he's going to get the release command and he's going to go get the ball.
So, I've been using that as um a proofing target. So, as an example, I put him in a down and then I chucked them all.
most of his training I've been doing it with um with the ball and with with the tug, right? because that's the most efficient way to train. They learn the best through that and you can just add in distractions, duration, distance, and stuff like that within the game. So, you build the game um and then you uh you work the obedience into the game.
Play made into a possession contest because toy-waving did nothing for him; the toy's value comes from the handler wanting it.
On film
So his reward in this scenario is checking out the other dogs. I'm trying to stop him. If he really wants to do that instead of play time, that's fine. Whatever motivates him, you know.
See, he was in the pool and I started walking towards it and he ran over. He wants it.
Freedom and sniffing as the opening of every session and as payment between reps; hard play stopped when he tires; the walk kept a walk.
On film
So for the first few minutes, I'm still letting him do his thing. Maybe give him a command or two.
Okay, good boy, off you go. Okay, go, go, go. Good boy, King. Good job, buddy, go, go. Sniffies. All the sniffies, go, go.
drop it let's go let's go I'm not throwing the ball again right now I'll do it later we're just on walkies it's for nature
I think Kings definitely starting to get get tired out so we're gonna start heading back
Short sessions on the minimum-effective-dose rule, and a few clean reps spaced by play rather than drilling.
On film
so like if you've already gotten the 20 that's going to make 80 of the impact for the session and you could get another 20 of impact if you stayed for another 25 minutes yeah that's double the time
In that short 10 minute period, if you do two reps of sit, three reps of down, two reps of pump, some outs, a whole bunch of ball, and some rest, You'll get more done in that than if you do 30 minutes and you do like 20 of each.
The fear given nothing to feed on - no-show, no punishment, no leash - with the dose capped by the clock and the place paired with good things; the same fear then used as the doorway into protection.
On film
This is one of the plans, see how long we've been going, probably do one more pass through those fans to go out.
We're just going to no-show it.
I've learned that he does have some prey drive like he likes to like go bite. Um, but that's not his strongest entry uh towards the protection. His strongest entry is through his fear, right? So he sometimes feels suspicious of stuff randomly.
Corrections withheld in the deterrent work, and duration used as the only lever, because confidence outranks precision at that stage.
On film
Because we want his confidence to go up.
We want him to feel like he needed to do something.
Busy venues chosen because he startles: downtown for cars and random objects, a new park each time, and the route lengthened to meet a stranger.
On film
because he has like a pretty strong like startle thing where he's kind of like weirded out by some stuff randomly so taking him to like more I've been taking him to like is like downtown's a bit busier there's a lot of cars and like other random stuff that he's gonna see so taking him there so he's able to still like function and listen to command
Part of my job I like. Tired of going to the same parks too many times in a row, so I like to switch it up here and there.
The coat: contact checked before every assumption about the dog, a high working level read off a twitch, the level turned down when arousal is already up, and a reaction distinguished from a level.
On film
I can tell you are not responding to the e-collar at all you should be there's not make sense
Turn it down just a little bit because of the context. He's already kind of like, ooh, with the heel.
Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. Because he gets thick fur. Oh. So he like, he barely felt it and he was like... I mean, sometimes it's just like, because they get startled. It's not always because of the fur.
Heel worked as entries and short bouts, never as the way to walk, because it was his weak point and a whole walk in heel is a boring walk.
On film
A few of those heel entries. I'll let him keep sniffing around.
if you do this the entire walk you just have him in a heel there's a boring ass walk for the dog
The handler's own timing audited on tape and slowed down, so the dog gets a response window.
On film
so trying to allow for a little bit more time for him to comply
The last weeks triaged by frequency of use in this household - the deterrent and place - rather than by what would look impressive.
On film
so i i think about this kind of stuff in terms of like frequency right so I want to make sure that I as I'm like you know finishing up the program I want to put the most work into the things that are going to be used and the most frequently right because those are the things that are the most important because like you know like say I teach him like a random command now like rollover like okay cool that's awesome like we just know he can do later yeah like how important is it right it's not very important it's low on the totem pole but like if you often leave the area and leave him on place while other stuff's happening around him that's something that I want to put more
one purpose is to keep working on the fists um specifically putting putting a big display on and increasing his confidence so that he can be a good deterrent on command
No manufactured authority: a down offered instead of a sit is allowed, and the family are told to ask for the position he can hold.
On film
Um, so I don't really have to manufacture situations to stamp authority. It's not unnecessary with him. So if I know he likes down better, I just put him to down.
Fewer passes than the trainer would give another dog, because he learns the loophole as fast as the command.
On film
but with him i probably would err on the side of less passes um just because he tends to if he's if he he learns quick so like if he sees that he gets some passes he'll start taking them pretty quickly like he'll start he'll just oh he'll go oh this is optional
Owner education front-loaded into two long in-program lessons so the go-home is application; the videos narrated so the owner learns the method from his own dog.
On film
I guess we did talk a long time both times so I kind of tended to front-load it like that that way to go home lessons a lot chiller a lot of this stuff is want to be more so putting it into effect and putting it into action as we do things
because I want to be as transparent and document as much of his training as possible and then commentate like tell you what I'm doing while I'm doing it so that you can watch those videos and know this is how he worked with the dog.
Night sessions because of the heat, with the cost to the client's footage accepted and explained.
On film
And I was like, yeah, unfortunately due to the heat we have to train them at night and sometimes we have light and sometimes we don't.
Put up hot after protection work rather than wound down, with the next set later the same day.
On film
Alright so King did great with that, he's immediately going to do a defensive protection drive mode, which is what we wanted, and so I'm going to put him up, and then we're going to do another one of those later today.
We're putting him up after he's all jacked up.
What the family was told
In the family's own words
So, I mean, it's it's my wife's side of the family, but it's it's generally at a gathering anywhere from 10 to 15, maybe might be a little bit more, but I just I I just want him to hold commands. To be able to be in his own space instead of me putting him in a kennel,
I don't want, you know, I don't want to take the fun out the dog, or take, you know, take all of it. No, because that sucks. Yeah, I'm not trying to do that. I just want him more disciplined.
Cuz the moment I leave the room, he'll get up and hear him yelling again. But if I come back, he'll scurry over like I can't hear his claws on my hardwood floor running back to his spot.
He gets all ramped up and wants to jump all over people. If we tell him the place, he'll be there for like two minutes and then come and gets up.
yeah that is the biggest thing because I guess it's not more so for me it's the wife and kids so if something happened and somebody suspicious is around and you know that has to be said she could tell them watch yes he can bark and tell them to go away yeah yeah um
like right now he's a great dog, but if my wife was here, he probably would not listen.
Yeah, I do. I do watch the videos. I pay attention to a lot of that stuff. Um, I've been watching all of them.
I will take him to like the dog park, you know, something eventually. So, I just want to know what he can do and can't do.
So we I'm sure we'll use them on our walks. We live in the middle of nowhere, so we'll use them. It's a lot of people they walk and do stuff with pets and stuff like that.
because usually it's him chasing after them because he'll be on his four-wheeler or something right while we're walking or my daughter's on the bike
cuz he broke out once or twice. So there was no way he heard pressing it to come back. He digs if he's outside for a while.
The cot, I want to get as soon as possible so that way if I tell him to stay, he doesn't get down if he knows he's in place, I definitely want to do that.
now these six weeks have been crazy i'm sure it's been hard because the kids been asking every other day is he home yet is he home you're like no where is he
my son been at the hip since we got him we got him in like five months old so my son was the one walking them and doing all the stuff they were terrorizing my old house
I'm grateful for you. Kids are grateful for you, truly.
Outcomes
What the trainers reported
Place now holds thirty to forty minutes or longer with someone nearby and can be sent; sit and down are much better around distractions; the on-leash heel is much nicer and the off-leash heel close.
the trainer, first in-program lesson
if any of us are anywhere nearby he'll he'll hold place for like now he'll he'll hold place for 30 40 minutes no problem or longer however long you need him to stay there um and we can send him there which is nice. Um and his sitting down have improved a lot around distractions especially the down. So like he'll he'll hold a long down now. Um his heel has gotten better. I'm still uh I still want to make some more progress on that, but he's getting pretty close. Okay. Um, his on leash heel looks much much nicer.
The ball-retention problem the owner complained about is already fixed.
the trainer, first in-program lesson
Now, the biggest issue we had with the ball is he don't give it back. I fixed that. That's already done. Yeah. You'll see like there's another video I'm gonna post today um that I I took it this morning.
Everything except heel is finished; recall is fantastic; he is off-leash ready.
the trainer, 2026-08-06
Everything else is perfectly down in place. His recall is fantastic. The only one that I'm still spending some time on is the heel. Still have some work to do there, but it's not atrocious honestly. It's actually pretty darn good.
The commands are fine: heel good off leash, recall fantastic, down excellent.
the trainer, second in-program lesson
Yeah, so then that kind of directs me on what to spend the rest of the time on, that he's with us. The main two things I'll be spending most of the time on, because as you can see, all his commands are fine. His heel is looking good off-leash now. We've taken him to a bunch of different areas. His recall is fantastic. It was already pretty good. It's gotten better.
He can go on off-leash walks around the neighbourhood now.
the trainer, second in-program lesson
gonna fight yeah um but yeah i mean he does great off leash um at this point i i trust him quite a
He went immediately into defensive protection drive, which is what was wanted.
the handler, 2026-08-04
Alright so King did great with that, he's immediately going to do a defensive protection drive mode, which is what we wanted
In the boogeyman work he barks and is not backing off as fast anymore.
the trainer, first in-program lesson
He sees it, he's like he'll start barking and he's not backing off as fast anymore.
The fan reaction is gone by the end of the store session; he learned.
the trainer, 2026-07-23
i think that went a long way i think you learned a lot in that outing
He was more confident going over the bridges by the end.
the trainer, first in-program lesson
and then I just made him do it. Uh, we walked over a couple of them and walked back over them and then by the end of it, he was like confident going over more confident going over the braid.
He is ready to go home.
the trainer, the last evening
Well, he's ready. I can tell. He's a good doggy.
He was returned healthy and performing, per the acknowledgement document.
the trainer, go-home
What the footage shows
A thirty-minute place on day one through food, a hat, a second dog, an open door and a dropped chip.
I dropped a Dorito next to him. He better not get out.
'Let's go' from nothing to known, and a recall off an approach to four dogs, on his first public day.
yeah so now he actually knows the word which is splendid i like kind of relocate him a little bit move him around he doesn't get fixated
A toy he ignored becoming a toy he carries and hides, in one session.
Can you see now what he's doing? Yeah. See how he's carrying it around? Yeah. He's like, "This is mine, honey. He didn't care about the toy. He would grab it just like Yeah. How do I make And he hid it. He hid the toy now.
Working obedience beside the fans after twenty minutes of exposure.
King come. Down. Can you heel? Heel. Come on. Heel. Heel. Okay. Good boy. You did good. Smart dog.
Place held while the ball is thrown and while the handler runs at it.
I'm going to run towards the ball this time. He did good. He stayed on place.
A down held while the truck door opens.
Nuh-uh. That's exactly what I want to see. The temptation part. You need temptations.
A position held for a photo until released - a down, which he offered when asked to sit and which was accepted.
King, come here. Sit. Oh, he went for a down. It's okay. King! good boy good job waiting to be waiting to be released
Downs on a downtown pavement with strangers stepping around him.
I almost stepped on him. Uh-oh. I almost stepped on him, too, when he was on the down.
Off-leash heel entry and heel in motion demonstrated in the family's neighbourhood, with a missed turn corrected.
So technically the heel entry could be done from not moving. So if I go king, heel, come on, heel, then he should come into the heel, there you go,
The boogeyman set itself: he is praised throughout and keeps checking back where the decoy went.
You keep looking back, too. That's good. That's good.
Loading himself into the truck.
now he does this dumb thing let's see if he does it okay oh he didn't do it yay he uh he has a stupid habit sometimes of instead of just going around and getting in he goes he goes under the door
A down held through an entire photo session because nobody released him.
Look at Scooby Doo. He was sitting there the whole time waiting to be waiting to be released.
The ideas King'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
- Breed is a checklist, not a verdict
- Build the handler's timing while it is easy
- Collar awareness: the collar is a paperweight
- Contingent, avoidable, and the right size
- Control is not obedience
- Don't heel grind
- Don't poison the command
- Down in motion
- False reps: the dog reads the chain, not the word
- Fit before level: check the tool before you judge the dog
- Freedom is given in measured steps
- Freeze, flee or fight
- Give him time to answer
- Go and look at the scary thing
- He has to be allowed to get it wrong
- Heat is a stop sign
- Heel entry versus heel in motion
- Help it or press it - read which
- Hidden help
- Honest limits, and reliability is not permission
- Maintenance is use, not practice
- Meaningful release
- Pick the place for what it contains - life is the training ground
- Play becomes the reward - and play is a contest
- Pressure, release, reward
- Proof it against his own currency
- Quit on the good rep
- Say it bluntly or it will not land
- Say the criterion out loud before the rep
- Show what not to do, allow everything else
- Start with freedom
- Stop before you shut him down
- Swapped commands: keep sit and down distinct
- Teach the move, then the word
- The board, the scenes and the grades - and every trainer works every dog
- The boogeyman: barking makes the threat go away
- The camera is part of the method
- The correction that did not work
- The dog is a different dog for his owner - and authority transfers
- The dog tells you the reward
- The flight-risk protocol, and the one command that matters
- The four windows, and calm liberty
- The leash is a prop
- The standard is set by the job
- The three Ds, and the variables nobody counts
- Two events, not one - and what the handler does in between