Who Mazi is
As the trainer describes him
A young male Rottweiler whom the trainer keeps calling 'she', and says so on camera, twice, with the reason: most of the Rottweilers he trains are female, and he reads Rottweiler puppies as female.
On film
i keep thinking this is a girl even though it's not because i just train with so many female roddies
the thing is i work with so many female rottweilers when there's actually a dude it throws me off
mozzie the dude mozzie a dude mozzie ain't no girl
High energy and low engagement, together. The trainer's own summary of him on 2026-09-14 is 'crazed': not focused on the handler, all over the place.
On film
still a little crazed in the sense of um the engagement is fairly low and he's really energetic
You're really high energy, aren't you?
he's a crazy dog
Physically strong, and on the first day read as tough rather than avoidant.
On film
She's just really strong.
she's just tough all right well at least i know she's just tough and it's not like avoiding me or something with her at all yet
Not people-focused and without the high drive the trainer associates with some Rottweilers, which the trainer says makes him easier to train.
On film
didn't bolt it didn't bolt or anything it's good she's not uh mostly people oriented dog anyway so
It's like I don't see a presence of a very high Rottweiler drive, which is fine.
It makes training him easier.
Vocal under pressure: whining, screaming, 'dramatic'. Whether the noise is protest or real discomfort is a question the trainer asks out loud more than once and never settles.
On film
She whines, but it's not enough to make her do it.
I'm going to turn it in about five because it's a little bit, he might just be being dramatic.
you're a very dramatic fellow no she didn't wait for me we're gonna have to redo it
she's been really whiny too there's nothing on her that's too tight she's just not wanting to
Intelligent but slow to process: the trainer calls him smart repeatedly and, in the same breath, says he takes information in at a slower rate than some dogs.
On film
she is processing info she's just doing it at a rather i want to say slow rate
oh that's a smart doggy
um so like right there was a great example of mozzie being a fairly intelligent dog
Mouths the leash. Seen outdoors on a slip lead and again in the indoor hold.
On film
Mozzie like caught it on his teeth
Ah, ah, ah, ah, nope, please, hey, don't toot a leaf, Mozzie, no.
By the first owner lesson the trainer describes a soft dog rather than a tough one: he works low on the e-collar, about 20 to 30 on a scale of 100, does not fight through pressure, and wants to please; on a high setting, the trainer says, he would scream and never look at the trainer again.
On film
he hangs out on about like a 30 though 25 like 20 and 30 out of 100
he's not one of those dogs and wants to sit there and be like and like fight through it
if i went on high vermont he'd probably like hate me and scream and never look at me in the eyes ever again he really that's how much like he wants to please
Fixation is his recurring difficulty in busy places - store windows, his reflection, shadows. The whine and the occasional yelp come when he is fixated: the trainer reads the yelp under the collar as startle, not pain, and the whine as a bid to be let go to whatever he is staring at.
On film
he will yelp a little bit usually because he has a fixation thing so like if we're like downtown he was like fixated on like every store
one thing he will do is if he's like really fixated he'll do like a little yell when i use the e-collar not because it hurts i think it startles him
he's whining in hopes that i'll like feel bad for him and then like let him go see what he wants to see
he's doing a lot of whining here hey and the problem with all the whining is that means that he's really fixated
Smart, and among the easiest dogs in the trainer's set: in another family's lesson on 2026-09-20 the trainer names him, with Stormi, as one of the two easiest dogs to work with.
On film
two dogs in my set right now one's Mozzie it's like a eight or nine month old Rottweiler puppy and then stormy those two they're they're like the the easiest dogs to work with they're just smart
As the owner describes him
Friendly to everyone and everything - people, other dogs, frogs, bugs - and slow to adjust when another dog greets him aggressively. The owner had feared the aggressive Rottweiler of the stereotype and says he is not that dog.
On film
He thinks everything is his friend, and so he responds with the way he's greeted.
I was scared that he'd be like that, but he's not.
A play-mate at home: he thinks he is one of the children, wants to play with every child he sees, and treats the owner as a play buddy. His way with people is to run up to them for attention, which the owner worries could frighten someone.
On film
but he himself thinks that he's a kid he looks at me like his play buddy
I don't want him to scare people, like, with his approach, because he's very loving, and his approach is to run up to people and seek attention, whereas I can scare someone.
A very high-pitched whine - the owner's "whistle" - that was growing before training, and that turns to bargaining when the family do not give in to it. When corrected at home he usually takes himself to his crate.
On film
I thought he would go right a bit, but it just seems like he's getting more and more. And when we don't give in to that, he'll then start the bargain.
whenever we correct him yeah he knows he's he usually just goes to his crate
The program, stage by stage
Day one on film: the pulling, and a dog who does not know what pressure is for
2026-09-07 (watch)
The stated agenda is pulling. The method is to layer e-collar and leash pressure together on 'let's go' so that Mazi cannot pull his way out. The trainer's read of the dog shifts inside fifteen minutes: first a dog who does not know how to handle pressure, then 'just tough', then a dog who 'feels it' and 'doesn't care', and then, on hearing a noise, a dog who is reacting to the collar pressure itself and is processing it slowly. By the end the trainer reports no more yanking, a 'kind of decent' let's go, a first check-in and a sit. The session stops at about fifteen minutes because, the trainer says, Rottweilers tire at about that point.
On film
So I'm doing is I'm just sensitizing you collar and leash pressure at the same time
I mean, she feels it, she just kinda doesn't care.
Hey, so she's just reacting to the actual pressure from the e-collar.
kind of decent let's go command now so
it's about 15 minutes which makes sense because he's like like all them rotty just tire out in like 15 minutes man
People, and the question of drama
2026-09-08 (watch)
A park walk, deliberately on the busier, less familiar side, for people exposure and to condition 'let's go' so the trainer need not haul him back. Mazi screams under the collar and the trainer declines to lower it, in case it is drama. Then Mazi screeches at a passing child and pulls against the pull-back, and the trainer changes course: stop pulling back, let him react, and turn the collar down to about 20. By late in the walk Mazi takes 'let's go' after a second-and-a-half stare without fighting the pressure, which the trainer accepts because the dog is new. The session ends with the trainer saying Mazi now answers to his name well.
On film
And in which case, I don't want to crank it down and give him like, you know, what he wants.
his urge was to pull when i like pull back so we don't want to actually negatively reinforce for something. So changing my approach where I'm going to let her freak out.
so she didn't like fight my pressure at all
Yeah, and she responds to her name really well now, too, which is like the gold ticket right there, if you will.
The down, and submission offered instead of it
2026-09-09 (watch)
A down session. The trainer expected a Rottweiler to resist the down and is surprised that Mazi goes into it readily. The difficulty is different: Mazi breaks early, and when pressed he offers submission in the hope of being excused. The trainer names the pattern, compares it to another young bully-type dog whose owner had been warned about it, and answers it by putting Mazi back into the down. The trainer also reports that Mazi no longer hits the end of the leash, though he still leans.
On film
i think mozzie downs very naturally
So what she was doing there, or what he was doing there, she kept trying to like submit in hopes.
that's the main thing is just like whenever he goes into that just gotta pull him back into it
he won't hit the end of my leash anymore though come here there's that lean
Confusion, not defianceTurning point
2026-09-11 (watch)
The trainer names Mazi's 'big thing': he will not give to leash pressure, even to a slight stop. Then the diagnosis that reframes day one: both Rottweilers the trainer is working seem never to have learned how to handle pressure, and when Mazi felt the collar he did not back off - 'he just didn't know what to do'. The response is reassurance, not more pressure. A few seconds later the trainer praises Mazi for starting to take off and checking himself. This is the point at which 'tough' and 'doesn't care' give way, in the trainer's own words, to 'didn't know what to do'.
On film
that's mozzie's big thing is that it he does not want to give an at least pressure i'm not even like tugging i'm just like slightly just stopping
he felt the pressure from the e-collar and so he didn't know what to do he didn't take that as he didn't feel the e-collar and go that's pressure let me back off he just didn't know what to do
mozzie come here mozzie hey everything everything is okay all right all right yeah nobody's mad
she saw like he started to take off he was like hold on let me chill out that's exactly what i want to see
Take the leash out of it: radius, and a first real recallTurning point
2026-09-14 (watch)
On 2026-09-14 the trainer still calls Mazi 'crazed' - low engagement, very high energy - and restates the pressure picture in its sharpest form: not a collar-sensitive dog, but a leash-sensitive one, so sensitive that the trainer could accidentally teach Mazi to depend on the leash. That matters because the program is advertised as off-leash. The session's work follows from it: a radius built by letting him reach a distance and rewarding the check-in; what the trainer calls the first real recall, which Mazi meets with visible uncertainty; and an over-excited down that nearly goes wrong, handled by staying close to build impulse control. The trainer's closing read is a dog hanging at the edge of the radius but not beyond it. Set against day one, when the method was to sensitise collar and leash pressure together, this is the case's clearest change of direction; the trainer does not say the method changed. Later accounts, at the first owner lesson and downtown on 2026-09-25, describe the leash differently again.
On film
so the big thing with him is that i have to make sure that i don't accidentally use any least pressure to train him
however it's not fine if you advertise an off-leash program because i guess it's like i always say it's really hard to have a dog off least when you need a leash
once he gets to a certain length away from me right okay he's he's doing the check-in now good job Mozzie and the check-in is what you want
he's like really hanging out the end of the radius but he's not too far
Long holds indoors, with the television on
2026-09-16, morning: two recordings, title times 10:35 (29 minutes) and 11:04 (9 minutes): watch, watch
Two indoor recordings. In the first, a staff room with a television on, several dogs are held on place around the staff - Mazi, Whiskey, Chunk and a dog called Monty are named - with place cues, a challenge when a dog gets up, and the camera left running as "the watcher" to catch any dog that leaves its spot. Mazi is named once, in passing, as a high-energy dog who has had his morning play. The second recording is a television being set up in another room, then near silence. Neither narrates any training of Mazi by name; both are read as long place holds. Most of the room talk is private conversation and is left out.
On film
He's the watcher, so it's like, rolling if he gets off.
Chunk, you cannot get up. Did anybody tell you to get up?
Okay, now I'm pointing to the dark room TV.
Public neutrality, a first heel, and a lesson on barrier reactivity
2026-09-16, afternoon (watch)
A park walk to "install a little bit more public neutrality", repeating what they had done the day before. The target is a dog who notices people and then does not care about them; the trainer calls neutrality what makes off-leash work possible, and uses let's go heavily for the first time. Downs take several cues early, then one goes all the way on a single cue, which the trainer calls a major improvement; check-ins are "becoming like a routine". Heel is tried: Mazi struggles to match pace and stop, the collar is turned "down a lot", and half a second of heel is accepted as enough for now. The trainer wonders whether he might be in a fear period and thinks it unlikely. When a passing Lab lunges, the trainer explains to camera the difference between ordinary reactivity, which comes from nerves or aversion, and barrier reactivity, a keen dog frustrated by whatever holds him back, which people mistake for aggression. The walk ends with "he's doing absolutely fabulous".
On film
because the neutrality is really what makes the off leash without the neutrality it doesn't work
So it's becoming like a routine for him now to check in.
So that's like a major improvement right there.
and we only want to get like half a second, but that, that's all we really need,
sometimes and people go oh my god that's a really aggressive dog and then the barrier is removed and the dog is like sweet as can be
we're gonna end the session here he's doing absolutely fabulous
Downtown Angier: a tight radius in a crowd
2026-09-21 (watch)
A short walk through busy downtown Angier to get him used to crowds, kept short because he is a bully breed and it is hot. The trainer wants his radius tight, because a loose one "won't be safe for him when he comes home in the real world". Early on he fixates and the collar is pressed at 25, the level the trainer was using that day; the trainer reads his reaction as confusion, and notes that a stimulation breaks some dogs out of a fixation and winds others up, so the handler has to know which kind of dog this is. He is overstimulated but checks in "big time" and stays with the trainer. Later he no longer reacts to 25, which the trainer reads as him getting comfortable; he still sometimes fixates and goes back after feeling the leash; and once he comes away on let's go with no collar pressed - "he made a good decision". He is kept out of the road.
On film
i need his radius be really tight or else it won't be safe for him out here because it won't be safe for him when he comes home in the real world
he was very fixated and he felt that and it kind of broke him out and he was like and it's funny some dogs it breaks them out of it and some dogs actually like will encourage it so you gotta know what you're looking for to see how each dog responds
you can see mozzie's checking up on me big time right now
he's really not responding to like 25 on my e-collar now which just means it's a little more comfortable
let's go and i didn't hit any button or anything he just so i didn't hit the button again he just took it off he made a good decision
The first owner lesson: the system explainedTurning point
2026-09-22, evening, at a park; one lesson recorded in two parts (watch, watch)
Mazi's owner meets the trainer at a park, and most of the lesson is the trainer explaining the system with Mazi on the leash beside them. Let's go is set apart from the recall: come means come to me and sit, let's go only means follow my direction - a reset, a pivot. A marker comes first and the e-collar after it, so the dog knows why the collar came and the command itself is never turned into a punisher. Two exceptions are stated plainly: when he hits the end of the leash the collar is pressed at the same instant, with no marker, so that leash and collar become one thing to him and he now gives to the leash at once; and at the edge of his radius the collar is pressed with no marker, "your own personal electric fence" that moves with the handler. The collar rather than the leash carries the reinforcement, the trainer explains, because a dog taught with leash pressure comes to need the leash, and the dogs are trained to go off leash, where the collar is still on. Mazi holds a down while the trainer walks away - "my valedictorian". The owner describes him at home: friendly to everyone, a play buddy who thinks he is one of the children, a high whine that bargains, pulling that began shortly before training. The owner also asks about a clip from an earlier park walk in which Mazi went at a man with a loud bark - the owner was not sure whether it was a jump or a snap; the trainer had not seen it again and thinks he was already worked up, because another dog had been allowed to run up and growl hard at him earlier in that walk. Practical advice follows: harnesses tend to make pullers pull harder, so a flat collar; the e-collar fitted snugly, two flat fingers; "out", then the collar, for things he picks up; and the more the owner takes in from the videos, the easier his homecoming will be. A door-knock rehearsal is promised for the next lesson.
On film
it's just that kind of direction so he doesn't really have to like necessarily engage with me it's just like a reset like a pivot almost
if you give the command dog doesn't want them and you you use the E collar, the dog can associate the command with the E collar, and now you've taken a command and you've turned it into a punisher.
he learns that in his mind, they're one and the same. And so when he feels me pull on it, he just gives out, like he gives in immediately. And so what that does is it fixes pulling, so he doesn't like pull at all.
so what happens when a dog needs a leash pressure to do a command and you're off leash now you don't have your tool to to work with the dog whereas the e-collar is always on
i think of it almost like you build your own personal electric fence where like as you walk the electric fence moves with you right and you build like this imaginary electric barrier
he's my uh my valedictorian if you will
There was a video I was watching of him that shocked me, where you guys were walking at the park, and he kind of, like, jumped at someone, and I was like, oh my gosh.
Like, maybe in an aggressive manner, I don't know if it was a jump or a snap, but it was a gentleman.
i have not seen it since i think he might have been i think he was a little worked up though my reason for saying that is that earlier that that session um there was somebody who like let their dog run up to mozzie and started like growling really hard at mozzie
and then have somebody come from the outside and knock on the door and be really dramatic.
Downtown Raleigh: the road, and a walk that is not a fight
2026-09-25 (watch)
A walk through downtown Raleigh with heavy traffic. Early on the trainer takes the collar "down like five levels" after a press startled a fixated Mazi, and reads him as jumpy and on edge - in the trainer's words, in a fear cycle that will pass. Then he steps into the road, the first time he has done that with this trainer. The trainer says that next time the collar will be used as the radius signal, "you got too far", so that he learns to think about his actions rather than to fear roads, since a dog cannot reason about traffic. The trainer's preferred route is to teach him what pressure means and to give in to it, so that a little leash pressure near the road brings him back; a collar every time a dog touches the road is kept for a dog that obsessively goes for the road and never learns a reliable let's go, as a last resort. Soon after, the trainer reports him avoiding the road without looking afraid of it. Later he trots happily, gives to "a minuscule amount of pressure", registers passing people without going to them, and gives a two-to-three-second heel, which is all the trainer asks for. A slightly resisted sit prompts the point that obedience near roads is about safety, not control: a fantastic sit and recall are worth little if the dog pulls into traffic.
On film
so like that was a little high so i took it down like five levels um he was really fixated too so i actually think like kind of startled the fudge out of him
Yeah, so that's like, he ran into the road. That's the first time he's done that with me,
I don't necessarily want him to say oh god the roads the most dangerous thing on the whole entire planet I just want him to to really like think about his actions
the better alternative is to just teach him what pressure means and to give in to pressure and then if he gets too close to something dangerous like the road and i pull a little bit of pressure he immediately backs off
already kind of like avoiding the roads now without necessarily like looking like he's deadly afraid of them
i added like a minuscule amount of pressure i'm talking like this teensy weensy little amount of pressure and he gave in that's what you want
So, I got about like a two, three second heel out of him, but that's all we really need.
this is where the behavioral part that I always talk about comes in is if you have a fantastic sit a great recall great let's go all the stuff but your dog pulls well what's gonna happen what if you can't say the command fast enough
The second owner lesson, at homeTurning point
2026-09-29, evening, at the family's home (watch; the recording ends mid-sentence)
The trainer comes to the family's home to teach the owner, saying the point of these sessions is to educate the owner so they know what to do when he comes home, rather than leave them to "finish the drawing". Place comes first. Home is a new area with old rules, so the rules have to be shown to matter again: on the first rep he faces away to avoid eye contact, and after two reps he is "locked into it". The owner tries it. The trainer adds a release rule - watch the face, and with a nervous dog do not release while he is staring anxiously - and advises keeping a leash on in the house for early reps, because bully breeds tend to answer pressure by running. Everyone in the house should use the same words. The implied stay looks good indoors; a sit that sinks into a down after 15 to 20 seconds is acceptable to the trainer, or can be made stricter if the owner wants. Let's go is explained as an anti-fixation command. The down is still being made fully verbal and was, the trainer says, his hardest command; heel is still in progress, to be covered more at the drop-off. The owner's own e-collar is then fitted: left side, two-finger fit (the first try is too loose), and how to pair and start the remote. Mazi now works at about 20, sometimes 25, a level the trainer calls dynamic, rising when a dog is fixated; the owner is told to raise it in steps of five, never in a jump, and not to use vibrate. On the walk with the owner, "nope" is rarely needed for Mazi, and let's go should get an instant response and be given while moving. The recording ends mid-sentence as Mazi, sitting, is confused by a let's go given while the owner stands still.
On film
really the point of these sessions to educate so you actually know what to do when he comes home
we're in a new area so like you've seen the videos he'll hold the place just fine when you're in that new area you kind of have to show like the rules matter
you can see he knew what it meant and after like two times he's already kind of locked into it
especially with nervous dogs i won't let them get up until they stop making like this kind of eye contact with me that's like really intense
The main thing is that you both speak the same language to the dog, right?
i'm still working with him on the down i want to get it like all verbal
so right now he's sitting on about 20 now that his impulse is better and he's more like regulated out and regulated it says on about 20 every now and then i'll have to boot like boot up like 25
you turn it up a little bit you don't go from 20 to 75 that's not a good idea but going from like 20 to 25 right 25 to 30 boosting it in like levels of five increments
all right so like that right there um he's a little confused because when he's sitting down
Skills
Let's go / not pulling
How it was taught
E-collar and leash pressure layered together so he cannot pull out of it, with praise when he comes along; on 09-08 the pull-back was dropped because it was feeding the pull, and the collar lowered to about 20. From 09-22 the trainer describes the collar pressed at the instant he hits the end of the leash, with no marker, so that leash and collar are one signal. On 09-29 let's go is taught to the owner as an anti-fixation command, given every time he fixates and always while moving: say it and keep walking; if he ignores it, marker, then collar; if 20 gets no response, raise it in steps of five.
On film
She can't pull her way out of it.
She's not really like Yanking on me now
after i said let's go he stared for like like like you saw maybe like a second and a half second and then he kept it rolling with me and that's what i want
mozzie always does this weird he freaking leans with my leash
let's go and i didn't hit any button or anything he just so i didn't hit the button again he just took it off he made a good decision
he learns that in his mind, they're one and the same. And so when he feels me pull on it, he just gives out, like he gives in immediately.
i added like a minuscule amount of pressure i'm talking like this teensy weensy little amount of pressure and he gave in that's what you want
if you say let's go and he does it it should be instantaneous like when i say let's go and i have the leash on he comes my direction immediately
say let's go you keep walking if he doesn't listen then you go and hit the e-collar if he doesn't respond on a 20 then he's probably trying to test with you
Yielding to leash pressure
How it was taught
A slight stop rather than a tug (09-11); reassurance when he is confused; then, on 09-14, keep leash pressure out of the cue. From 09-22: the collar at the instant he hits the end of the leash, with no marker; near roads (09-25), a little leash pressure to back him off the edge.
On film
that's mozzie's big thing is that it he does not want to give an at least pressure i'm not even like tugging i'm just like slightly just stopping
whereas a dog like mozzie i genuinely could if i didn't know what i was doing accidentally train him off leash pressure
So the e-collar, whenever he hits the end of his leash, I hit the e-collar at the exact same time. And I actually don't use a marker for that.
if you use the leash to encourage a lot of behavior and reinforce what happens is that the dog gets used to the leash pressure right and it becomes like i need my leash pressure to do the right thing
the better alternative is to just teach him what pressure means and to give in to pressure
he hit the end and he wasn't giving him the pressure
Down, held to the release
How it was taught
Repeated cues with pressure; a break before 'okay' means a redo; submission is not accepted and he is put back into position; on 09-14, stay close first to build impulse control.
On film
So, she kind of got up, like, right, like, I think a half second before I said, okay, so I'm going to make her do it again.
i was actually a little surprised because a lot of times the roddies hate down so it's really nice to he's not uh fighting me like crazy
Just trying to get out of it.
i'll stay close to him for now so we can build up that impulse control step away a little bit
So that's like a major improvement right there.
and the same thing applies where like I can walk away he has to stay in the command until I release
i'm still working with him on the down i want to get it like all verbal
that's the hardest thing he the hardest command he had with me too uh down is a little bit of awkward one for dogs
Radius and check-ins
How it was taught
Let him reach a set distance, wait for the check-in, reward it; hold him to a specific zone. From 09-22 the trainer describes the boundary as the collar pressed, unmarked, at the edge: a personal electric fence that moves with the handler.
On film
that was a check-in very nice that's what i'm looking for
he's just gotta hang out in the specific zone that i have established where i'm currently establishing with him
builds engagement very naturally in my experience doing the radius with the check-in
So it's becoming like a routine for him now to check in.
you can see mozzie's checking up on me big time right now
so we do like a radius with the dogs where once they get like a certain away from me in certain distance I'll hit the E collar and he's learned that when he feels it he's too far away
when i first started working with him he didn't care if i existed or not i would just hold the leash and he was like whatever somebody's walking me i'm doing me
once i started like in the radius he started like looking back at me seeing where i am
you can see mozzie's holding a particular radius with me right now
Recall
How it was taught
Come, sit, release; the recall voice made animated and clearly different, because dogs read tone rather than meaning.
On film
we want to try to make it as animated as possible actually probably should have thrown a little more energy in there
dogs don't actually know the words like they know the words they don't know what the words actually mean
So let's go is like a command where the recall is kind of like, if I was a dog, which I'm not going to be weird, but if you called me, I would come up to you, and I would sit down.
Name response
How it was taught
Not described.
On film
Yeah, and she responds to her name really well now, too, which is like the gold ticket right there, if you will.
Place and down duration indoors
How it was taught
Sent to a bed, downed, breaks corrected, with a television playing. At home (09-29) the trainer calls place the easiest command to learn and the hardest to mess up: point and say place; if he gets up early, marker and move him back - often a pull back is enough; a leash on in the house for early reps; release only once the anxious stare stops.
On film
He's capable of it.
I think he's a little unwilling, but he's a good friend.
He's the watcher, so it's like, rolling if he gets off.
in my opinion, it's the easiest command to learn how to do. It's also the hardest command to mess up.
we're in a new area so like you've seen the videos he'll hold the place just fine when you're in that new area you kind of have to show like the rules matter
you can see he knew what it meant and after like two times he's already kind of locked into it
Heel
How it was taught
Heel with pace-matching and stops, "eh" as a marker, a little e-collar reinforcement at a low level; a short correct rep, praise, then leave it and come back later. At home the trainer calls heel the hardest command to maintain and the easiest to mess up; with bully breeds, the trainer says, a lot of time goes into heel, sometimes five or ten minutes in it at a stretch, but heel grinding - a whole walk in heel with no sniffing - frustrates dogs.
On film
Yeah, the only command we have left
to have to use a little e-collar reinforcement with this. We're going to turn it down a lot
and we only want to get like half a second, but that, that's all we really need,
gonna hate it he doesn't like heel but we're gonna do it
So, I got about like a two, three second heel out of him, but that's all we really need.
i won't talk about heel too much because that's the command that like i'm still working on with him right now
to me the hardest command to maintain and easiest to mess up is the heel
that's why i spend a lot of time on the heel specifically with with those dogs like i'll sometimes put them in a heel for like five minutes ten minutes
heel grinding is where you put a dog in it for like 20 minutes it it's actually really bad because you'll end up like if you do it the whole walk it means you don't let them sniff anything at all
Neutrality to people
How it was taught
Walks through parks and town, let's go whenever he locks on, praise for check-ins. Acknowledging people is allowed; going to them is not.
On film
like he doesn't care when people are around like sure he acknowledged
we've been doing let's go enough to where he's interested in the person but he's not like running after him
he didn't go out to them he like registered they were there but that was it
no attention to the guy behavior that I'm looking for
Coming off a fixation
How it was taught
Let's go every time he fixates; the collar if he stays locked on; and watching whether the stimulation breaks the fixation or feeds it.
On film
you can see he'll fixate sometimes and feel the pull and then he'll go right back and i need him to not do that
some dogs it breaks them out of it and some dogs actually like will encourage it so you gotta know what you're looking for to see how each dog responds
every now in the future when they like start to fixate on something their brain goes well the past 30 times I fixated I got a let's go so it'll probably happen again and so they just don't fixate
Road safety
How it was taught
Let's go and leash pressure at the edge. The collar, if used, is to be the radius signal, "you got too far", not a way to make him fear roads; a collar every time a dog touches the road is a last resort for a dog with no reliable let's go.
On film
do not go in the road that is not allowed i don't want you to go on the road i don't think your owners want you to go on the road either
Yeah, so that's like, he ran into the road. That's the first time he's done that with me,
so the second he runs in the road next time I'm just gonna e-collar because it's too dangerous now I'm gonna e-collar it based off of he knows that whenever he feels the e-collar unprompted it's a radius it's basically a hey you got too far
already kind of like avoiding the roads now without necessarily like looking like he's deadly afraid of them
Implied stay and sit
How it was taught
Command, then release with "okay"; a break means back into position; the handler talks near him as a distraction and steps back to test the hold.
On film
and the same thing applies where like I can walk away he has to stay in the command until I release
he actually the implied stay seems pretty good in here
usually if they've been in that sit for like 15 20 seconds like he was right there and then goes into the down i'm fine with that because he's still holding the same position he's just like tired
you know he got up before though that's not allowed
How the method adapted
Most of Mazi's adaptations are one trainer revising a read of a new dog in real time, on camera, and then, from the first owner lesson, deciding what to hand to the family. They are listed in the order they happen. Where the trainer's account of the leash changes between sessions, the accounts are given as said: Angier K9's position is that how much pressure a dog like Mazi gets depends on his emotional state and on what is effective.
The collar was not lowered in answer to screaming - and then it was lowered, for a different reason.
Lowering it because he screamed would teach him that screaming works. Minutes later the trainer saw that pulling back on the leash was feeding the pull, dropped the pull-back, let him react, and turned the collar down to about 20, later confirmed as the right level.
On film
And in which case, I don't want to crank it down and give him like, you know, what he wants.
And he'll be like, yeah, I screamed a couple of times and, you know, now I get to do what I want.
I just want to turn the e-collar down quite a bit. I'm going to take it down like a 20.
yeah that's a good level so right now that was a 20
The standard was set to the dog's stage, and said to be.
A second-and-a-half stare before moving off is accepted from a dog new to the program; holding him to more now would, in the trainer's words, be wrong.
On film
at some point would that be the case yes but like right now i'm not holding that to him at all
The venue was picked for a workable dose of people.
Earlier busy game days were too distracting to get anything done; a day with some people but not a crowd was chosen.
On film
they've been having really busy games over here the past while and i was like dang there's too many people here i really can't get anything done it's like it's too distracting but like right now there's a bit of people here but it's not overwhelming so it works out
Submission was not accepted as compliance.
Offering submission is, in the trainer's read, a bid to be excused from the command; Mazi is put back into the down each time.
On film
So what she was doing there, or what he was doing there, she kept trying to like submit in hopes.
that's the main thing is just like whenever he goes into that just gotta pull him back into it
No warm-up play: Mazi goes straight to work.
The trainer contrasts him with Coco, who needs about ten minutes of play first; Mazi is not 'blasting with energy' at the start of that session.
On film
well I guess he's not like you know blasting with energy so we can get right into training which is nice
Confusion was met with reassurance instead of more pressure.
Once the trainer reads Mazi's non-response as not knowing what the collar asks, rather than ignoring it, the trainer talks him down.
On film
he felt the pressure from the e-collar and so he didn't know what to do he didn't take that as he didn't feel the e-collar and go that's pressure let me back off he just didn't know what to do
mozzie come here mozzie hey everything everything is okay all right all right yeah nobody's mad
The leash was taken out of the teaching because he is leash-sensitive and the program promises off-leash.
A dog that reacts to a touch of leash pressure can easily be trained to depend on it. On day one the stated method had been to sensitise collar and leash pressure together; on 2026-09-14 the rule is to avoid leash pressure. The trainer does not mark this as a change.
On film
So I'm doing is I'm just sensitizing you collar and leash pressure at the same time
so the big thing with him is that i have to make sure that i don't accidentally use any least pressure to train him
leash pressure to train a dog off of leash pressure is fine
Over-excitement in the down is handled by proximity first, distance second.
The trainer says over-excitement is corrected by building aversive experiences to it; in practice the trainer stays close while Mazi holds the down, then steps away.
On film
So that like down thing what we need to do is like correct the over excitement by frankly, you just Building up aversive experiences to over excitement.
i'll stay close to him for now so we can build up that impulse control step away a little bit
Sessions sized to the dog: about fifteen minutes.
Stated on 2026-09-07 as a breed rule of thumb; the outdoor sessions run 13 to 20 minutes. On 2026-09-21 heat and his being a bully breed keep a downtown walk short, and on 2026-09-25 cooler weather lets sessions run a little longer.
On film
it's about 15 minutes which makes sense because he's like like all them rotty just tire out in like 15 minutes man
he is a bully breed so i really can't go like on a longer walk like i did with storming the other day
it's cooler outside so these sessions i'm doing can be a little longer
The first heel was set at half a second, with the collar turned down a lot.
The trainer judged his energy right to try heel; for a first rep, half a second is "all we really need". On 2026-09-25 two to three seconds is accepted the same way, and heel is then left until later in the walk.
On film
to have to use a little e-collar reinforcement with this. We're going to turn it down a lot
So, now I'm going to let it cool down, and I actually won't really reinforce that again again until the latter portion of our walk
The trainer read what the collar did to his fixation before deciding on the level.
A stimulation breaks some dogs out of a fixation and winds others up. With Mazi it broke him out; when he later stopped reacting to the same level, the trainer read that as him growing comfortable, not as a reason to go higher.
On film
he was very fixated and he felt that and it kind of broke him out and he was like and it's funny some dogs it breaks them out of it and some dogs actually like will encourage it
he's really not responding to like 25 on my e-collar now which just means it's a little more comfortable
The leash and the collar were made one signal, and the collar was given the job of carrying it.
At the first owner lesson the trainer says the collar has been pressed at the instant he hits the end of the leash, with no marker, so that he gives to the leash at once, and that reinforcement is done with the collar rather than the leash because a dog taught with leash pressure comes to need the leash, and the dogs are trained for off leash. Set beside 2026-09-14 ("don't use leash pressure to train him") this is a different account of the leash; the trainer does not say whether the method changed.
On film
So the e-collar, whenever he hits the end of his leash, I hit the e-collar at the exact same time. And I actually don't use a marker for that.
so what happens when a dog needs a leash pressure to do a command and you're off leash now you don't have your tool to to work with the dog whereas the e-collar is always on
At the boundary, the collar comes without a marker.
Everywhere else a marker comes before the collar, so the dog knows why it came. At the edge of the radius, and at the end of the leash, the trainer presses the collar with no marker: a punishment marker would tell him he had done something bad, and a reinforcement marker would leave him guessing what to repeat; the bare collar says only "too far".
On film
I don't do a mark right I just hit the E collar okay the reason for that is I don't want to punish it because I punish it they're gonna think they did like a behavior that's bad
then you use eco so because that we use our marker then the eco is followed up after it and the dog understands what happened
The collar was lowered after it startled a fixated dog.
Downtown Raleigh the level had been "a little high"; the trainer took it down about five levels and read his jumpiness as a passing fear cycle, not a fearful dog.
On film
so like that was a little high so i took it down like five levels um he was really fixated too so i actually think like kind of startled the fudge out of him
he's in his fear cycle too so he's a little i think that's why this is a little jumpy
Road safety was built as a judgement, not a fear.
After he stepped into the road, the trainer chose leash pressure he already gives to, and named the collar as the radius signal for next time, because the aim is a dog who thinks about his actions near roads, not one terrified of them. An aversive collar every time a dog touches the road is kept for a dog that obsessively goes for the road and never learns a reliable let's go.
On film
I don't necessarily want him to say oh god the roads the most dangerous thing on the whole entire planet I just want him to to really like think about his actions
you really don't want to do that, it's kind of a, a last option kind of thing
if the dog has a weird thing where they like obsessively try to get in the road and they never become reliable let's go then you may have to do that aversive thing i'm talking about which is where you would actually physically like e-collar the dog uh every single time they hit uh when they touch the road essentially but again that's more of a last result
At home, the rules were shown again, with a leash on.
Home is a new area where his old house rules still hold, and the longer a family has had a dog the more has to be retrained. Bully breeds tend to answer pressure by running, so early reps in the house are done on a leash; and release from place waits until the anxious stare stops.
On film
the longer that you've had them before too the more that you have to retrain how they think about like what they're allowed to do here
when you first start training the dogs you want to have like the leash on a few times with the reps in the house because a lot of dogs and i think i talked about this before with a lot of bully breeds like rottweilers american bullies mastiffs um they're prone to avoiding like really easily so their first reaction is like i don't want to do it so i should run
especially with nervous dogs i won't let them get up until they stop making like this kind of eye contact with me that's like really intense
The owner's standard decides the sit.
A sit that sinks into a down after 15 to 20 seconds is the same position held by a tired dog, and the trainer is fine with it; a stricter standard is available if the owner wants one.
On film
usually if they've been in that sit for like 15 20 seconds like he was right there and then goes into the down i'm fine with that because he's still holding the same position he's just like tired
if it is something that you feel like really hardcore about i can make it to where he doesn't do that it's up to you
A collar level that moves with his state.
The trainer calls the working level dynamic: a dog may work at 20 when calm and 40 when fixated, because he has not yet learned impulse control. As Mazi's impulse control improved he settled at about 20, sometimes 25, on a scale of 100, and the owner is told to raise it in steps of five, never from 20 to 75.
On film
the level is dynamic dynamic when you're training a dog. So when I first get a dog for two minutes of the walk, they might sit on 20 and then they get fixated and they sit on 40, right? Because they haven't learned the impulse control.
so right now he's sitting on about 20 now that his impulse is better and he's more like regulated out and regulated it says on about 20 every now and then i'll have to boot like boot up like 25
you turn it up a little bit you don't go from 20 to 75 that's not a good idea but going from like 20 to 25 right 25 to 30 boosting it in like levels of five increments
What the family was told
Let's go is a direction, not a recall
So let's go is like a command where the recall is kind of like, if I was a dog, which I'm not going to be weird, but if you called me, I would come up to you, and I would sit down. um let's go is like a directional thing so like if you walk in that way and say let's go they'll just kind of follow my direction
let's go is a directional thing so it actually is a command we teach that is basically an anti-fixation command
every now in the future when they like start to fixate on something their brain goes well the past 30 times I fixated I got a let's go so it'll probably happen again and so they just don't fixate
Give let's go while moving, and expect it at once
So, like, if you say let's go while you're standing still, how is he supposed to be, like, following you if you're standing still, right?
if you say let's go and he does it it should be instantaneous like when i say let's go and i have the leash on he comes my direction immediately
say let's go you keep walking if he doesn't listen then you go and hit the e-collar if he doesn't respond on a 20 then he's probably trying to test with you
A marker first, then the collar
then you use eco so because that we use our marker then the eco is followed up after it and the dog understands what happened
if you give the command dog doesn't want them and you you use the E collar, the dog can associate the command with the E collar, and now you've taken a command and you've turned it into a punisher.
you have to think about like your marker make sure you hit the e collar after the marker
If he growls at another dog
what would you do if he's like growling at a dog you would use that let's go and then if you didn't listen you go and then e-collar and that way you don't accidentally confuse them
How the leash and the collar work together
So the e-collar, whenever he hits the end of his leash, I hit the e-collar at the exact same time. And I actually don't use a marker for that.
so what happens when a dog needs a leash pressure to do a command and you're off leash now you don't have your tool to to work with the dog whereas the e-collar is always on
if he actually pulls on the leash at all with you then you just hit the collar
The radius: a fence that moves with you
i think of it almost like you build your own personal electric fence where like as you walk the electric fence moves with you right and you build like this imaginary electric barrier
with the radius you build uh engagement with the attention when they learn that they have to constantly keep an eye on where you are so they don't get too far from you
He stays until you release him
and the same thing applies where like I can walk away he has to stay in the command until I release
if it is something that you feel like really hardcore about i can make it to where he doesn't do that it's up to you
Don't give in to the whine
he's whining in hopes that i'll like feel bad for him and then like let him go see what he wants to see
Well, and if you do give in at all, or even maybe you're not giving in, but he perceives it as, like, he got a little bit of distance off of it.
Jumping: your rule, and not on other people
i don't know how you feel about like jumping and i ask that because a lot of clients like their dogs to jump on them and a lot of them really don't like their dogs to jump on them
i don't want him to jump on other people just because he's a rottweiler and he carries that
you can train that like really well um with the let's go you fix that
Yeah, because not everybody knows how to differentiate between, like, scary dog or happy dog or dog that's going to bite my face.
A flat collar rather than a harness
I don't tell people what to do because I can't bust in your house like the Kool-Aid man and break your wall and be like, I knew you were using one.
they'll actually feel all that pulling on their whole body and most dogs especially bullies their instinct is like oh i feel that tension i want to like push even harder and so a lot of people train their dogs to pull
so i would definitely recommend the more the flat collar
Fitting the e-collar
you need to be able to fit two fingers like flat like this but if you can do this it's too loose
it is too loose that means that every time you put it on it's going to be like a little bit different right if you don't have like a system
so if the e-collar is on that side and he disobeys while he's in a heel you hit the button and actually encourages him to come closer to you
most people put the e-collar on a little too loose and then they find that they hit the button and the dog's like like i don't care
"Out", then the collar, for things he picks up
That's why I keep most Rottweilers now, where it's just out, and then if they don't, I hit the e-collar, and they'll usually drop it once you hit the e-collar.
Place at home
we're in a new area so like you've seen the videos he'll hold the place just fine when you're in that new area you kind of have to show like the rules matter
most of the time the place um i find that like with most dogs unless they got that dog in them like you can just pull them back over sometimes you don't always have to like hit the e-collar
um one thing that you always want to look for is actually their face while they're doing a place
especially with nervous dogs i won't let them get up until they stop making like this kind of eye contact with me that's like really intense
One language in the house
The main thing is that you both speak the same language to the dog, right?
Tone, not pitch
the big thing with like a puppy like him is like the tone of voice which you actually have very naturally
it's not like a particular like pitch or anything it's more just about like the commands they're more strong they have more like the voice is more authoritative and then the good stuff is more like it can be a little lighter a little higher right a little more like less threatening
His working level, and the remote
so right now he's sitting on about 20 now that his impulse is better and he's more like regulated out and regulated it says on about 20 every now and then i'll have to boot like boot up like 25
you turn it up a little bit you don't go from 20 to 75 that's not a good idea but going from like 20 to 25 right 25 to 30 boosting it in like levels of five increments
don't use this at all okay because it's just to vibrate and vibrate is like it doesn't really do anything okay it might work like one or two times and the dog starts to learn that i don't actually have a punishment
you want to have like just the habits of which hand has which because being a handler you do need to have some muscle memory
Heel: don't grind it
heel grinding is where you put a dog in it for like 20 minutes it it's actually really bad because you'll end up like if you do it the whole walk it means you don't let them sniff anything at all and you just put them in this one position for 20 minutes and it'll frustrate them
Reading his body
there's the head shake that's good that's uh do you know what the head shake means no it means the dog's processing info oh really if a dog yawns at you it means that they didn't want to do something
Why the lessons are filmed
the finish the drawing where you see a trainer train and you're like here you go have fun and like nobody's educated you and it's like one side of the photo is like a horse and then it's like finish the other half
that's also why we record because imagine if you had to like just memorize all of this probably wouldn't be like a blast
because the more you take in from the videos and the new sessions, the easier it'll be when he comes home.
In the family's own words
I was scared that he'd be like that, but he's not.
but he himself thinks that he's a kid he looks at me like his play buddy
I thought he would go right a bit, but it just seems like he's getting more and more. And when we don't give in to that, he'll then start the bargain.
I don't want him to scare people, like, with his approach, because he's very loving, and his approach is to run up to people and seek attention, whereas I can scare someone.
You got the down part because that was a struggle of mine. He fought me for a while.
watching the videos, I've learned a lot, and I've been able to see his temperament at some point.
Outcomes
What the trainers reported
No longer yanking on the leash, and a 'kind of decent' let's go by the end of day one.
The trainer, 2026-09-07
On film
She's not really like Yanking on me now
things are turning up so it was not a decent let's go earlier
Radius 'pretty nice', collar level right at about 20, and good name response.
The trainer, 2026-09-08
On film
but our radius is pretty nice now
yeah that's a good level so right now that was a 20
Yeah, and she responds to her name really well now, too, which is like the gold ticket right there, if you will.
Does not hit the end of the leash any more.
The trainer, 2026-09-09
On film
he won't hit the end of my leash anymore though come here there's that lean
A self-check: started to bolt and stopped himself. Also a garbled statement that 'the reinforcement marker is now powered up enough'.
The trainer, 2026-09-11
On film
she saw like he started to take off he was like hold on let me chill out that's exactly what i want to see
use the car as a drill yeah so the reinforcement marker is now powered up enough which is really nice
Holding near the edge of a newly taught radius, not beyond it.
The trainer, 2026-09-14
On film
he's like really hanging out the end of the radius but he's not too far
Check-ins becoming a routine; a down all the way on one cue, "a major improvement"; "doing absolutely fabulous".
The trainer, 2026-09-16
On film
So it's becoming like a routine for him now to check in.
So that's like a major improvement right there.
we're gonna end the session here he's doing absolutely fabulous
One of the two easiest dogs in the trainer's set.
The trainer, in Stormi's owner lesson, 2026-09-20
On film
two dogs in my set right now one's Mozzie it's like a eight or nine month old Rottweiler puppy and then stormy those two they're they're like the the easiest dogs to work with they're just smart
No longer reacting to 25 on the collar, read as growing comfort; a good decision on let's go with no collar pressed.
The trainer, 2026-09-21
On film
he's really not responding to like 25 on my e-collar now which just means it's a little more comfortable
let's go and i didn't hit any button or anything he just so i didn't hit the button again he just took it off he made a good decision
Gives in to leash pressure at once and does not pull; holds a down while the trainer walks away; checks back on the trainer; interested in passers-by without chasing them.
The trainer, at the first owner lesson, 2026-09-22
On film
he learns that in his mind, they're one and the same. And so when he feels me pull on it, he just gives out, like he gives in immediately. And so what that does is it fixes pulling, so he doesn't like pull at all.
he's my uh my valedictorian if you will
once i started like in the radius he started like looking back at me seeing where i am
we've been doing let's go enough to where he's interested in the person but he's not like running after him
Avoiding the road without seeming afraid of it; giving to the slightest pressure; registering people without going to them; a two-to-three-second heel.
The trainer, 2026-09-25
On film
already kind of like avoiding the roads now without necessarily like looking like he's deadly afraid of them
i added like a minuscule amount of pressure i'm talking like this teensy weensy little amount of pressure and he gave in that's what you want
he didn't go out to them he like registered they were there but that was it
So, I got about like a two, three second heel out of him, but that's all we really need.
Locked into place at home after two reps; the implied stay good indoors; working at about 20 on the collar now that his impulse control is better; with the trainer, let's go brings him round immediately.
The trainer, at the second owner lesson, 2026-09-29
On film
you can see he knew what it meant and after like two times he's already kind of locked into it
he actually the implied stay seems pretty good in here
so right now he's sitting on about 20 now that his impulse is better and he's more like regulated out
when i say let's go and i have the leash on he comes my direction immediately
What the footage shows
From 2026-09-07 to 09-14 he was worked in five short outdoor sessions on let's go, down, check-ins, recall and radius, with an e-collar and a leash; praise followed many let's go and down reps, and the down was often broken and redone.
On film
kind of decent let's go command now so
So, she kind of got up, like, right, like, I think a half second before I said, okay, so I'm going to make her do it again.
In those sessions the trainer's account of how he meets pressure moves from "tough" to "didn't know what to do" to leash-sensitive.
On film
she's just tough all right well at least i know she's just tough and it's not like avoiding me or something with her at all yet
he felt the pressure from the e-collar and so he didn't know what to do he didn't take that as he didn't feel the e-collar and go that's pressure let me back off he just didn't know what to do
so the big thing with him is that i have to make sure that i don't accidentally use any least pressure to train him
Later walks take him through a park (2026-09-16) and two downtowns (2026-09-21 and 09-25) for people, let's go, radius, down, a first heel and road safety; on 2026-09-25 he steps into a road once.
On film
we're out here with mozzie and downtown angier want to start getting him to get used to all these people now
Yeah, so that's like, he ran into the road. That's the first time he's done that with me,
He screeched once at a passing child (2026-09-08). The trainer narrates no later incident with people; the owner describes one clip in which he went at a man with a loud bark - a jump or a snap, the owner was not sure which - and the trainer puts it down to another dog having growled at him.
On film
the dog did kind of like screech right at the dude
i have not seen it since i think he might have been i think he was a little worked up though
Two owner lessons took place: on 2026-09-22 at a park, mostly explanation with short demonstrations, and on 2026-09-29 at the family's home, where the owner tried place, had the family's own e-collar fitted and began walking him with it.
On film
So that is pretty much all I usually cover in the first session.
All right, so would you like to try it?
before we go out we can put your e-collar on
The second lesson's recording stops mid-sentence on the walk. The drop-off is spoken of as still to come.
On film
and then have somebody come from the outside and knock on the door and be really dramatic.
i'll go over that more on the drop off though
Three indoor recordings are long holds with a television playing: one undated, and two on the morning of 2026-09-16, one in a staff room with several dogs.
On film
Okay, I'm done for now. We'll go again in a little bit.
He's the watcher, so it's like, rolling if he gets off.
Everything above comes from what is said on the recordings - the trainer's narration and, at the lessons, the owner's words. What his body did on camera has not been reviewed.
Elsewhere from Angier K9
- Read Mazi’s Angier K9 story ↗ · angierk9.com
The ideas Mazi's case runs on
- 'Let's go' is not 'Come' - and the recall has an ending
- Breed is a checklist, not a verdict
- Build the handler's timing while it is easy
- Clarity is the kindness
- Close the other door: the escape hatch
- Command, marker, collar - in that order
- Don't heel grind
- Don't poison the command
- Fit before level: check the tool before you judge the dog
- Fixation is the failure mode
- Freedom is given in measured steps
- Generalisation is the whole job
- Heat is a stop sign
- Help it or press it - read which
- Hidden help
- If it works, it stays: the strategy has to stop paying
- Keep the marker charged
- Meaningful release
- Name, then cue, in a voice that stands out
- Neutrality is the goal, friendship is optional
- Pick the place for what it contains - life is the training ground
- Pressure, release, reward
- Quit on the good rep
- Raise the criterion in steps
- Reading the dog
- The camera is part of the method
- The dose of a session
- The gear list, and the reasons for each piece
- The handler is a variable: nerves, tension, voice and energy
- The handler wears the collar
- The level is not a number
- The marker vocabulary: eh, good, okay - and two corrections
- The radius
- The settle criterion
- The settling week
- There is no stay, only the release