Who Madam is
As the trainers describe her
At first, too much. The trainer who later hands her over says he had doubts in the first days; the consult memory is of a dog with no impulse control at all around skaters and cars; early on she tripped him repeatedly on walks.
On film
first couple days i worked with her i was like i don't know about this she's a lot of energy
i remember there she was like trying to like we had some people like skating by or like cars and stuff and she was like like zero impulse like impulse control none
when I first took her out she was like like it's like I couldn't walk she tripped me probably ten times
Mouthy, and at the kennel a pants-biter. Two handlers in two different recordings name it, and it is the behaviour most often used as a before-and-after.
On film
she's less likely to do what she's been doing where she like bites my pants when I go on the kennel
do we first came out here she would not stop biting his pants
Like what just happened now where she took a little bite out of my jean.
Strong on the tug beyond her size - too strong for one handler, strong enough to chew the handles off the trainer's tug and climb his knees.
On film
she's way too strong for me
this thing used to have handles on it before I met madam she chewed them all off
you out of all the dogs i've trained i've never had one that if i pulled on it enough she'll just start to climb my knees
Smart, and read as smart by three handlers.
Close and physical: she likes to sit on the handler's foot, hugs, and stares into faces. The trainers treat this as a Belgian trait, not a problem, and the go-home advice is to answer the hug with the toy.
On film
is doing a sit where she's like not actively on your foot.
she'd, like, hug me and, like, want to look at my face and stuff.
And that's when you use the toy.
Never tired. Relaxed at best. The trainers repeat it enough that it becomes the frame for the whole go-home plan.
On film
Oh, she doesn't get tired very often.
i've never seen madam tired but i have seen her like relax
she's definitely like she's a high maintenance dog
Sensitive to the e-collar, by the go-home trainer's account - the opposite of what her energy might suggest.
On film
yeah it's like rottweiler level or something yeah yeah she's fairly sensitive
The program, stage by stage
Intake, off camera
Form submitted 3/2/2026.
They wanted obedience and behaviour both, named food as her motivator, had used an e-collar, and reported her sit, stay, down and let's go as usually reliable in quiet places, with no recall, no place, no heel, no out and no markers. She chewed through leashes when tied out. Nothing in this stage is on camera.
The consult and the first days - recollected only
Before and at the start of the program, approximately mid-March 2026. Nothing filmed.
Everything known about the start comes from later recollection. At the consult she had no impulse control around skaters and cars. In her first days the eventual handover trainer doubted her, had to lift her into her crate, was tripped repeatedly on walks, and found she 'spazzed out' at every leash pop. She would not release a toy and bit pants at the kennel.
On film
what was she like when you met her on the console oh she was she was fun she was nuts
got her i had to pick her up into the crate she's been jumping into it lately
it's obviously miles ahead of what it was last week or was it about a week and a half ago where she just like would spaz out every time i did the pop
Play becomes the system - and the first pressure downsTurning point
Uploaded 2026-03-19; filmed on or before then. watch.
A senior trainer, not Christian, coaches a junior handler with Madam on a long line. The lesson is that the play is the training: she is learning the out and the markers, but mostly that being with the handler is fun, and commands are kept to one because dogs learn in a good state. The out is barely there. Then the down: pressure stays on until she finds the position and is released straight into play. The handler brute-forces it and is told it does not count; she spins to escape and the trainer blocks with an arm; approximations are accepted; reps are counted aloud to four or five; after early reps she looks suppressed and is played back to baseline before the next. The session stops the down short of finished, on purpose, and ends when she is 'back in a good headspace'.
On film
No, she's learning that being with me is fun
right position pressure stays on pressure pressure pressure pressure pressure pressure pressure and then as soon as she gets to the right spot there's no delay okay boom right back to the playing
Nope, it's because you brute-forced her into it.
how did she look she looked she looked suppressed right
All right. Well, I think we're done. Yep, cuz she's back in a good headspace.
Burn it, don't calm it
Uploaded 2026-03-23. watch.
Two staff members. One had been trying to calm Madam down so she could train her; the other corrects the approach: with a Belgian you use play to amp her up and burn the energy, then ask for positions. The goal is stated - toy fixation by the time she leaves - and the drive is to be turned into patience: hold a position while the toy moves, bite only on 'okay', as is being done with another dog, Savage. Her limit today is holding a position for about two seconds. The down is still pushed by one handler; the other uses light leash pressure and a treat lure together, delivers the reward out of position, and gets one down without pushing. By the end her energy is down 'a lot' and the calming-first handler concedes it was not burning anything.
On film
so the thing with the belgian is it's not trying to necessarily calm belgian down it's using play to like to amp them up
by the time she leaves with us to be fixated on the toy
But I'm just using the Belgian obsession over the biting to build patience.
i'm using a little pressure and a treat lure at the same time but that time i didn't have to push on it
to cool her down like just get her to chill out which i think was actually not burning
The collar goes on the down, and the down comes off the handsTurning point
Uploaded 2026-03-26. watch.
A senior trainer, again not Christian, takes Madam at a park and asks the handler what the e-collar has been layered over: only the sit, a little, because she was too chaotic for more. He reinforces 'let's go' on a 30 and says she handles pressure well. The down is worked with tug, cue, wait for her to solve it, and a 'victory lap' of play; he explains that a dog who struggles and finds it learns better than one who is made to. Then he layers the collar over the down on a 10, arguing that early layering gets you to off-leash control faster. Minutes later: her first down 'mostly off cue', with no physical help but still a point. He checks sit against down, returns to the sit-duration problem Christian has reported, and coaches the handler, who is to run an owner lesson from an outline, to tell the owners how much they must play with this dog - and to talk while playing, which the handler rarely does.
On film
I mean, I've layered it up to like 15.
So what's the thing she likes the best? The tug. The tug. The game. Yeah. Good girl. So how do you get her to down? She gets the game.
Yeah, because it's better for me to layer the e-collar over early than it is late.
That was her first off cue down, or mostly off cue.
I still had a point.
have you guys had any success getting duration in her set christian told me you guys were having a tough time with duration
i'm definitely gonna emphasize like how much they need to play with this dog
Update Evaluation #1 - off camera
Between stage 5 and stage 7. Inferred, not filmed.
An owner meeting at which play was discussed, and at which the handover trainer seems to have used an analogy he later half-remembers. Its content is known only by these two back-references.
On film
what i want to go over today is we were talking about play a little bit last time
Update Evaluation #2 - the system handed to the ownerTurning point
Uploaded 2026-04-06; she is about six months; 'going home in a couple of days'. watch.
The trainer who will hand her over shows the owner how to keep every command inside the tug game - out, sit, down while holding the toy, then 'okay' and the bite - and warns against playing wildly and then drilling afterwards. Handler energy must match hers; she must not always win; never let her know your next move. His routine is about 45 minutes of play and a 20-minute cool-down walk. His report: commands with a little assistance, the down still needing a slight pull, the heel now mirroring his pace with some lagging, no more chasing other dogs, no more mouthing, the crate now something she jumps into. Next: verbal-only at the park in a day or two, then a store to generalise. He gives the owner a jumping plan with the e-collar at around 15 or 20 and asks him to bring his own e-collar and prong to the drop-off.
On film
so the main thing with teaching it is that everything you teach her should be while you're playing
right now her down is kind of like I to sit down then i have to pull her a little bit and then she'll do it but we're trying to get it obviously all on verbal
she's also not mouthing I don't know if you notice that because she's that her outlet is the toy
So pretty much what's next for her is mainly just like getting her off verbal in the park here, which would be like the next day or two and then we're going to take her out to the store and prove her and do all that stuff just to like generalize it
Verbal work, the store, and the owner's sessions with Connor - off camera
Between the update and the handover.
Known only from the handover: a Tractor Supply outing where she wanted the plush toys, a store video with Connor running heel, sit, down and recall that was still in the editing backlog, and owner sessions with Connor that the senior staff member checks on.
On film
yeah the videos got her doing i think like a heel sit down recall
i took her in a tractor supply and uh she saw like the plushies
Go homeTurning point
Probably mid-April 2026; uploaded 2026-05-15. watch.
A senior staff member, probably Christian, checks her over first and calls her bite grip great and her recall fast. The handover trainer gives the owner her tug to keep and restates the rule: train everything inside the game, because she is a puppy and needs no cool-down between commands. Her down is sticky today, which he puts down to a long morning's work; the implied stay is demonstrated with someone walking behind her while she waited for 'okay'. Most of the lesson is the first week home: dogs test whether the owner is as strict as the trainers; a broken sit goes back to the exact spot; the out is enforced with a small collar pop; 'nope' is kept for behaviour to be eliminated; the e-collar sits around 15 to 20 of 100 and must not be cranked because she is fairly sensitive; punishment only for real wrongdoing. He says impulse control, not commands, was most of the work, and sets the one rule for the world outside: she may look at cars, people, dogs and birds, but may not chase. About 40 minutes of exercise a day, minding the heat, or she will go back to biting pants. He raises a temperament re-evaluation for protection at 10 to 12 months. During the talk she lies down on her own and later comes without a command.
On film
with it is just teaching everything that she already knows in the game so like during the exercise you do with her it's really efficient to just do the training in the exercise already
i already like took her out today and worked her a lot so i think she's just kind of mentally out of it a little bit
They're trying to see if you're going to be as strict as we are.
that's most of the work we had to do was just teach her like it's okay to just sit there and not do something
she just can't chase right that's the rule
oh she did the down naturally that makes me happy
Skills
Out, inside the game
How it was taught
Asked for mid-play, followed at once by 'okay' and more play, so that letting go costs nothing; later backed by a light collar correction when she refuses.
On film
and she'll know the out fast out but then it's quick right goes right back to playing
She spit it out and flipped to a sit.
she doesn't out and we do a correction we pop the collar a little bit
Down
How it was taught
Three handlers, three variants of one idea. Small steady leash pressure held until she finds the position, released instantly into play, with approximations accepted, an arm blocking the spin, and reps capped and separated by play to baseline (watch). Pressure plus a treat lure, the reward delivered out of position (watch). Tug, cue, wait, then a victory lap, with the e-collar layered at 10 once she was doing it (watch). Common to all three: do not force her into it; let her work it out.
On film
she restarts the game down down nope down she just does it differently
I'm creating a physical barrier because right now she thinks you can get out of it by spinning down
i didn't have to push on it she's still coming out of the down to get the reward
At least it, no physical help.
yeah so our commands pretty much she's doing with a little assistance
she's being real stubborn with it
Sit, sit duration and the implied stay
How it was taught
Patience built through the toy: position held while the toy moves, bite only on the release. For the owner: every command is an implied stay, a broken sit goes back to the exact spot, and the release is the only way out.
On film
build patience with the toy
yeah i sometimes i can get her to as long as i can
and it's like the implied stay is the most important part right so like we don't say stay
And, like, even behind her, he walked back and she couldn't see him.
When she heard okay, she was like, oh, and she flipped around, right?
Sit and down kept distinct
How it was taught
Alternate the two; mark the wrong offer with 'no'; an unasked behaviour is 'never an option'.
On film
i just want to make sure that she understands the distinction between the two.
Don't do that. That's never an option. That does not work.
Heel
How it was taught
Leash pops and a heel entry; almost none of it is on film.
On film
girl you did good that's a nice entry
you can see she's just mirroring my speed
she kind of sometimes tends to like lag behind a little bit
Recall and let's go
How it was taught
Informal play recalls on the long line; let's go reinforced with the e-collar at 30.
On film
So that was on a 30.
I just reinforced the let's go.
madam come good girl not even the dog could distract you
like a heel sit down recall yeah yeah yeah her recall actually her recall is my favorite
I didn't even put her into command.
Impulse control, settling, and not chasing
How it was taught
Energy burned first through play; patience built by holding positions around the toy; a couple of corrections when excitement spills over.
On film
yeah mostly that impulse control yeah she can do the she can do the commands all day but she doesn't have the impulse control to do this or she'll like sit and wait for us to do stuff then she's unmanageable
correct her a couple times and like hey calm down you don't have to do that right and then like she can watch cars go by and people and like it's okay right other dogs birds it doesn't matter
teaching a belgian is like teaching a workaholic they don't know what to do if they're not working
Mouthing, pants-biting and jumping
How it was taught
The toy as the outlet; bite control through the patience game; for jumping on other people, 'nope' with the e-collar at about 15 or 20.
On film
like 15 or around 15 or 20 and you just say nope and you hit that and like each time she jumps
she's only been jumping like for affection and like play stuff
just make me very happy to watch her just sit there and not try to bite anything
From the Shorts
Short clips posted from Madam's training. They are undated, so they sit beside the program rather than inside it.
Handover day: how she left
Going through the closing paperwork, a staff member tells Madam's owner she ate all her food, was given a full check with no scrapes or bug bites found, and was bathed that morning. He reminds the owner of the sessions with Connor on the e-collar: why it is used, how, and how to use it safely. In another clip from the day, someone remarks that she has 'mellowed out'.
On film
on this day she went back home with you um she ate perfectly fine ate all her food
made sure she didn't have any scrapes or like bug bites or anything like that we didn't see any um gave her a bath make sure she was clean this morning
you did the sessions with Connor you understand like why we use it how we use it how to safely use it
I'm sure she'll be happy that this dog's mellowed out.
Protection training, maybe later
On her go-home day someone says it would be good to see Madam come back for protection training. The staff member who does protection work agrees, and the group describes it as teaching a dog to control aggression for a purpose, comparing it to martial arts.
On film
Well, if she comes back for protection, it'll be pretty cool to see her all big and strong.
I do the protection part of it.
Martial arts is not violent. They're teaching you how to control the violence for a purpose
How the method adapted
Madam is not a fear case and not a bite case. She is a very young, very driven working-line puppy whose family named food as her motivator. What her file records is the program building a new currency - the tug - and then putting everything on it: the out, the down, patience, impulse control and the go-home plan. The adaptations below are the specific moves made for her. Two of them pull against each other and are left standing.
Energy is spent, not soothed. A handler who tried to calm her before training was corrected: amp her up in play, burn it, then ask.
Because impulse-control work alone will not make a Belgian calm, and an unspent young Malinois destroys kennels or bites by accident.
On film
i was trying to get her i was trying to calm her down so i could train her
just working on impulse control is not going to magically turn your Belgian into like a no
We're all destroying kennels and biting somebody accidentally, something like that.
The currency was built rather than found. Food appears once, as a lure; the stated goal was a dog fixated on the toy by the time she left.
She had 'the genetics for it' but not yet the obsession, and a toy the dog will die for makes every command worth doing.
On film
We haven't quite figured out that yet, that part yet, but she has the genetics for it.
she's pretty much conditioned at this point to where if she sees the tug in my hand and i tell her to sit like she knows once she does what i say she gets this
Commands live inside the game, with no cool-down between them - and the handover trainer calls this a property of her in particular.
She stays in momentum; many dogs need a pause after a command and she does not.
On film
the great thing about her is that a lot of dogs they need like a cool down
She just wants to play command, play command.
The down was capped and bracketed by play because she looked suppressed after repetitions - two trainers, two sessions, the same reading.
Dogs learn better in a positive state; the next rep waits until she is back to baseline, and the down is stopped before it is finished.
On film
take a little longer get her into a great mindset super happy again
more rep and we'll call it that'll be it for her down for today right because you don't need to get it all the way there
I think she's a little suppressed right now, too.
Pressure, not force: the distinction the coaching keeps drawing. A small steady pressure she can turn off is a puzzle; yanking or pushing her into position removes the puzzle.
Learning requires problem-solving, and a dog who is made to do it has not solved anything.
On film
Learning requires that they do it on their own, right?
figure it out because this isn't like I'm not crushing her
like if you think about it like if I like make you do it and like physically like force you to do something it's you you don't learn as well
The e-collar was layered early, and kept low.
Early layering gets you closer to off-leash control faster; she is small and 'fairly sensitive', so the home level is 15 to 20 of 100 and the trainer rarely needs it because play does the work.
On film
Because if you get the e-collar layered over early, that gets you to where you're closer to off-leash control faster.
um she's like small right so you don't need to be like too crazy with it
i don't find myself having to use it very often with her because play is just more efficient
The handlers were coached as much as the dog: talk while you play, make the toy live, vary the pattern, let her win sometimes.
A toy is only valuable if the handler looks like he is having fun, and predictable games die. One handler was 'almost silent' through play.
On film
want to emphasize talk to him you hear like the whole time i'm talking to him
If she doesn't think you're having fun with a toy, toy's no fun for her. It's got to seem like a valuable object.
Games that are predictable, they die.
What the family was told
Train inside the game, never play-then-drill
we're like we're like playing and going crazy out and then i try to get her to like after she's done that now i call her back and i try to start drilling commands on her that way is not really gonna work
at this point because she sat you want to say okay and then hold the toy out for her to bite it
because she's a puppy and we're still training and everything it is more convenient for her to do it in the play
How to play with her
giving our dog commands i'm not like calm okay like it's got to be real hyped up and energetic
she cannot always win because again if she wins every time it's going to get boring
never let them know your next move
that pop is like the the secret weapon
Exercise is the precondition
I usually do that for about 45 minutes and then just to like cool her down just like 20 minute walk
she needs a lot I'd say I would recommend about like 40 minutes of exercise a day at least
Like, don't let her get too worked up in the heat, you know.
the thing is she'll get back to that level if she doesn't get the sufficient amount of exercise and play
The first week home, and the implied stay
so the way our commands work is they're all implied
with the training you have to be very strict but within the first week
there's a lot of testing that goes on.
if you put her in a sit and you walk away and she gets up then you drag her right back to the spot she was at
then the dog learns like oh i can move all i want
Markers, collar level and when to punish
definitely don't use the nope that's going to confuse her a lot
madame sits on like a 15 or 20 out of 100 on the e-collar like you do not need need to crank that thing up
only use it if she's actually doing something wrong
it's like a kid that gets beat for everything eventually they just get repressed and get scared to do anything
jumping it doesn't bother me but if she jumps on other people because you can can generalize jumping right
Out in the world: look, don't chase
if you're just standing talking to somebody this is what it should be it should be like settled
she just can't chase right that's the rule she just can't take off and try to chase
go to work and then every once in a while like just get her out and do some game work with her
Call early
wait a couple months and then yeah call us all upset where I'm like please call me right away
we'll probably look up like a follow-up session a couple weeks from now
Protection, later and conditionally
with the bite stuff we did and the toy stuff she has a a pretty good base i think she will be okay to go into protection if you want to later
like a reevaluation of the of the temperament stuff to make sure it is a good fit if you want to later like between 10 and 12 months somewhere in there
In the family's own words
The owner is almost inaudible in both sessions. What survives: he takes a dog to work a lot, and he tells one story from home - Madam reaching out of her crate for a toy and destroying it within half an hour. His account of his other dogs is garbled.
On film
i take it to work with me a lot
she stuck her feet out there and rich and grabbed the monkey
one a year and three months
Outcomes
What the trainers reported
No longer mouthing; the toy is her outlet.
The handover trainer, at the update
On film
she's also not mouthing I don't know if you notice that because she's that her outlet is the toy
i'm very glad she's not mouthing my legs anymore
No longer runs up and chases other dogs.
The handover trainer, at the update
On film
like oh every time i go in the crate we go outside and do fun stuff because she's not like running up and chasing the dogs anymore she kind of knows to stick by me
Heel far better than a week or so earlier; mirroring his pace.
The handover trainer, at the update
On film
it's obviously miles ahead of what it was last week or was it about a week and a half ago where she just like would spaz out every time i did the pop
Impulse control much better and calmer - conditional on exercise; bite grip great; recall fast.
The handover trainer and a senior staff member, at the handover
On film
her impulse control is a lot better she's a little calmer as long as she gets her exercise
And her bite, her bite grip is pretty great now.
she does of all the commands just because she's like once you say it she's like a speed bullet
Jumping reduced to affection and play.
The handover trainer, at the handover
On film
she's only been jumping like for affection and like play stuff
What the footage shows
A down with no physical help, called her first mostly-off-cue down, with the handler's own qualification that a point was still used.
On film
That was her first off cue down, or mostly off cue.
I still had a point.
An out with no pressure, followed by an offered sit.
On film
Good, no pressure that time.
A recall near another dog at the update, narrated as it happens.
On film
madam come good girl not even the dog could distract you
At the handover, an unprompted down while the adults talk, and later a recall without a command. The cued down in the same session is sticky.
On film
oh she did the down naturally that makes me happy
I didn't even put her into command.
she's being real stubborn with it
The implied stay, as narrated to the owner immediately after it happened: a position held while someone walked behind her, broken only on 'okay'. The audio has the narration, not the event.
On film
She was looking and waiting.
The ideas Madam's case runs on
- Breed is a checklist, not a verdict
- Build the handler's timing while it is easy
- Escape before avoidance: the collar backs a word the dog already knows
- Hidden help
- Meaningful release
- Play becomes the reward - and play is a contest
- Pressure, release, reward
- Proof it against his own currency
- Punish the act, not the feeling: he may look
- Quit on the good rep
- Teach the move, then the word
- The level is not a number
- The outlet comes first
- The settling week
- There is no stay, only the release
- Two events, not one - and what the handler does in between