Who Stormi is
As the trainers describe her
Nervous on arrival, more than the staff expected - the reason her first outing had no commands in it at all.
On film
with me her nerves were a little worse than we thought
We're not, we need to be comfortable for this to work. Maybe we're a little nervous, but it's not the end of the world.
for a dog like stormy she's already kind of like nervous if i overwhelm her she'll just shut down
Shut down at first, then opening up: no sniffing at the start, 'the most open she'd been' on 2026-09-09, 'nerves doing a lot better' on 2026-09-15. The trainer reads her nerves as environmental rather than genetic, and specifically as being about people.
On film
when i first started working with her she like didn't sniff anything she was very much like i'm here for business
she's been a little shut down today Today she's, I'd say the most open she'd been the whole time she'd been here, which is good.
Yeah, I mean, she handled the e-collar really well with me, though. So, like I said, she just had some nervousness pertaining, like, people and stuff like that.
so like hers is pretty much all like just i think she just had something probably that made her nervous like and it's just more environmental
her nerves are doing a lot better and her leash yielding is pretty nice
Very smart and a fast learner, said in four of the eight recordings - once with the trainer catching himself saying it too often and standing by it anyway.
On film
because she is definitely mostly shepherd she is smart like all good shepherds are
Definitely one of the smarter dogs I've met in a minute.
getting the commands probably quicker than most dogs i've ever worked with
High energy - named as a trait of hers, not a problem, and paired with the nerves as the reason a busy street is 'a lot' for her.
On film
she does the high energy drive
is actually a fairly high like energy drive
which high energy and slightly nervous dog is a lot for her
Breed: a shepherd, probably mixed - retriever by the trainer's and a colleague's guess, 'German Shepherd mixed with something' to a stranger. A husky comparison in the earliest recording is about noise, not ancestry.
On film
quite possibly he could be or she could be mixed with a retriever or something
I think she's a retriever mix with the Shepherd
she's a german shepherd i think she's like mixed with something though because her snouts a little bit like
Not the way that a husky is. A husky is loud. It doesn't have to be loud.
Pressure: the trainer's two statements pull against each other. On the first night she 'doesn't know how to handle pressure extremely well' and does not register the collar until about 40-45. A week later he tells the owner she handled the e-collar really well and was not one of the dogs who have to be taught what it means.
On film
So my assessment so far, she actually doesn't know how to handle pressure extremely well.
And sometimes, and this isn't the case with Stormy, but some dogs you have to teach them what the e-collar means.
Sensitised to the leash, strong in the body, heat-limited to about fifteen minutes a day, and a looper who wraps around her handler when excited - which the trainer calls anxious behaviour.
On film
the reason for that is that she's very sensitized to leash pressure
she's pretty strong dogs do hit 40 though that's not a rare thing i just for some reason did not expect her to be a 40
stormy gets hot really fast so i i really haven't been able to do more than 15 minutes with her a day
and the better her impulse control is the more or the less she'll like stop doing the the wraparound thing because that's an anxious behavior
A good match for this trainer, and his favourite of the set by his own account. He says she works more for him than for others and may be the only one who has played with her.
On film
me and stormy are like a perfect match like train your personality
you're doing better just with me too yeah she likes me more
actually probably I think she might be my favorite dog of the set actually
As her family describe her
Always hyped up, with no impulse control - and, the reason it matters, she has run down the street with cars coming. This is the owner's first and main goal.
On film
to work with her was that i was never able to do was impulse control
we've had a couple incidents where she would run stormy let's go good job where she would like run run down the street like yeah cars coming and stuff like that
Reactive to people and to unfamiliar dogs: she plants and barks. The owner's example is a July beach trip. Dogs she knows at home are not the problem.
On film
a walk and there's just like random dogs like she'll kind of do the same where she like plants
i went to the beach and i took her with me for the first time which i was really you know scared about because i she was she's reactive yeah with people and that's exactly what she did like she was barking at
Plays with balls and tugs with the owner's socks; is crated when the owner is out because of the socks; used to be walked off leash and sniff everything; had never worn an e-collar before the evaluation and was not frightened of it there.
On film
she likes to play with balls especially with balls okay and she does do tug of war but she usually likes to play tug of war with my socks
so i don't want to put her in the cage but i put i leave her in there because she tends to play with my socks
And I guess he showed her, and I guess he tried to figure out, you know, what number to put it on. So she wasn't initially scared either, so that was also surprising.
Because she's never been in one before, so.
The program, stage by stage
The evaluation, off camera
Before drop-off; undated. Nothing filmed.
Kelton evaluated her at the family's, by the owner's account (and the trainer's confirmation of who it was from her description). He showed her the e-collar and tried to find her number; she had never worn one and was not frightened of it.
On film
when he came for like the evaluation was it kristin or kelton
And I guess he showed her, and I guess he tried to figure out, you know, what number to put it on.
Indoors, first days: place, and a down that does not happen
2026-09-03 by title only. Handler unknown.
Five minutes indoors with a loud laptop or TV nearby. The handler's closing remark sets the tone for the whole case: comfort first, a little nervousness is workable.
On film
You have more resistance getting on top than if you were on that floor.
Yes, it's definitely what we want to see.
We're not, we need to be comfortable for this to work. Maybe we're a little nervous, but it's not the end of the world.
The first night out: no commands, a high collar number, and the markers startedTurning point
2026-09-06, Sunday night.
Her first outing with the field trainer, chosen for night because her nerves were worse than expected. The stated plan is just to get her out of the dog room, explore, leash-yield and keep her on track. She does not register the collar at about 20 and tries to avoid; it goes to 40 and then 45 - 'the magic number' - and he is surprised she is 'a 40'. His assessment is that she has to be taught to handle pressure, which he says is unusual in a shepherd and puts down to her probably being mixed. He conditions the reinforcement marker from the start, begins a leash radius but deliberately does not enforce it because she is worked up and new to him, separates sit from the down she keeps offering, teaches the release without pressure, and ends on a high note. The same evening he tells a colleague he means to try tug with her.
On film
letting her run around explore do her thing and like just hanging out and uh just being out of the dog room
we're going to mark the e-collar up to 45 here because she really didn't respond to my pressure
i'm now conditioning her reinforcement marker so the important that you start that as early as possible
she's pretty worked up so i'm not necessarily enforcing a hurry for like radius and everything yet i just kind of starting it since it's his first time she's been out with me
i want to leave it on a high note because she did really really good
No play, and the fastest down in a long timeTurning point
2026-09-08, evening, a crowded park.
He looks for play drive with running, a ball and a flirt pole and gets very little - she is more inclined to hide under his car. Then the down. The first attempt is almost all leash pressure and she yelps; he explains his model of pressure as a blend of social, physical and collar pressure plus aids, gets the position at roughly 65/35 physical-to-aids, and when she stalls adds only about five per cent more, because a nervous dog overwhelmed will shut down. By the end she is going down on cue, he calls it the quickest down he has taught in a long time, and he has barely used the collar. The percentages are his illustration, not measurements.
On film
Yeah, I figured I wasn't gonna get a ton of play out here,
that first time i uh she did the yelp that was like pretty much all leash pressure nothing else
so i didn't change much i just applied a teeny bit of extra pressure it would be a very bad idea to go from like 65 to 85 you would overwhelm a dog
This is the quickest though. I've taught it down in a long time.
And I really haven't barely used the e-collar this whole time.
Beach Bluff: no leash, light collar, personal play - then fixation and heat
2026-09-09, early afternoon; two recordings of one outing.
A colleague who has not seen her for a couple of days comes to watch. The trainer points out that he has given every command with no leash pressure, uses the collar 'very lightly because she doesn't know the words', sits her on gravel with light pressure around 20, and says she knows every command but heel at a basic level that still has to be proved. The colleague asks whether she is further along than expected; he says she is what he hoped. He has found that high-energy personal play works with her where toys did not, and means to raise it with the owners. After a break the same walk continues: she fixates, he bumps the collar to 25 because a fixated dog feels less, says she is the most open she has been, predicts the stronger fixation is a phase of opening up, and when she tires in the heat he asks for one more sit so the session does not end on a skipped command.
On film
I actually don't know if you've noticed every command of or anything I've said there I put no leaf pressure on
literally like she knows all the commands except heel like basic understanding we gotta like prove it and stuff
did you expect her to be this far along or a little behind i mean i was hoping she would look like this is what i was hoping
But you know, she's opening up her fixations become like a little more like strong, a little stronger, a little more strong.
that is not how i would want to end the session at all it's a bad idea and honestly that's how
Down without creeping; heel postponed
2026-09-11, a hot day with no shade.
A short, sparse session: let's go and downs, with 'no' when she inches toward him in the down. He starts heel expecting her to pick it up fast, then after a stretch of her misbehaving concludes she is not ready. He wanted twenty minutes and stops early because she is done in the heat.
On film
no you cannot no you can't inch over to me i'm sorry
not good at the end but she's not ready for heal yet though not quite
she's already pretty hot so we're just gonna chill off i wanted to try to get like 20 minutes with with her but I'm be honest it's I think she's already pretty done
The first owner lesson - the family's goals arrive at the midpointTurning point
2026-09-13, Sunday morning, a park with a trail.
The owner sees her for the first time since drop-off; Stormi pulls toward her and yelps when she hits the end of the leash and the collar, which the trainer explains as the radius. The trainer's report: she knows every command but heel, not foolproof; he is now getting strict; her main work is impulse control, because she gets up before release. Then the theory: implied stay and 'okay'; two markers against commands; the four quadrants; the one rule he asks her to keep if she keeps nothing else - the collar follows the marker, never the command; 'let's go' as the reactivity reset, with the correction for ignoring the command rather than for seeing the dog; no treats, release to sniff as the reward; the strict first week; an off-leash program so commands are never maintained with the leash; say it once. He reads her sniffing as nerves improving, her looping as anxiety, her reactivity as mild and more about dogs than people, and predicts it fixed within about a week. On the walk she fixates on a passer-by and backs off, stands next to another dog without fuss, and still ignores the radius a little. Next: the house session, then recall and heel.
On film
i use that as like an opportunity to reinforce it more so that's why she did a little yelp is because she was she didn't like that i like hit the collar when she hit the end of her leash
we're kind of in the phase now I'm starting to get more strict with her too because she knows every command minus heel already yeah it's not like you know foolproof like every single time
if you can only take away one thing, one thing from this whole thing, it is that you use the e-collar after the marker.
i would expect i'll probably have her reactivity fixed within like a week like a week or less i think because she's already doing better
didn't even like sniff it or anything she just like kind of stood next to him
be at your house so you don't have to bring it but the third session is when i show you how to reinforce like the recall and the heel
Downtown, the busy side
2026-09-15, a cooler afternoon.
The last recording. Downtown again - by the owner lesson, downtown Angier, used for her trouble with people - and this time deliberately on the busy side, to tighten her radius under higher energy. Her nerves are 'a lot better' and her leash yielding 'pretty nice'. The goal of the radius is stated as engagement, not just compliance at the far end. After one reaction he lowers the collar from about 25 to 20 for the calmest reaction that still works.
On film
we're actually going to go and walk over on the busy side of things
i don't want to get to that point where like she's hitting the you know far end and it's like she listens off leash but she's not engaged with me off leash
that level was not high it was on like a 25 so we're going to mark it down to 20 because i don't want that kind of reaction i want as chill of a reaction as possible with the most results that way it's enjoyable for me and her
i'm actually out here to try to see like her energy with like all this busy stuff going around so yeah she's doing pretty good
The walk back: calmer nerves, a more collar-sensitive dog, and pressure still a little frightening
2026-09-15, title 14:05, watch (9 min), straight after watch.
The trainer walks Stormi back to the car from downtown as she tires. Most of the recording is his assessment. Her nerves are 'pretty chill' now and she has opened up. Since opening up she is more sensitive to the e-collar, which he puts down to her being more in tune with her surroundings. She was never 'deadly afraid', he says, only 'a little iffy'. He says the day's aim was leash yielding that 'looks nice', because he builds on commands only once he can trust a dog further into the city. The limit he names is pressure: she still 'freak[s] out just a smidgen' when she feels it, which he does not want. He reviews one moment where he pulled the leash over when e-collar alone would have been more efficient, 'not the end of the world'. A few downs are mentioned, not described. There is a three-minute stretch with no speech. He ends because it got hot, after what he says was a long walk.
On film
We're doing good though the beginning with her is like her nerves are pretty chill out now
She's opened up more
so but actually she's more sensitive to the eco now that she's opened up um i think because she is just a lot more in tune with her environment
she was never like deadly afraid of anything but she was a little yeah it's a little iffy
did a few downs, things like that, but
But, really what I wanted to do was just work on her leash, her yee, I hate saying, leash yielding a little bit more.
Now, when I know I can trust the dog to go a little more into the city, then it's something that I'm like, okay.
only thing is she handles pressure in a way she does still freak out just just like a smidgen um which i don't really want
i could handle that slightly more efficiently by just e-collar only in the moment i just kind of pulled the leash over um not the end of the world
it did get hot but I think we walked for a while
Skills
Leash yielding
How it was taught
Leash held short; she has to respond to pressure immediately; the collar layered in and raised until it registered. From 2026-09-09 the leash is taken out of the commands altogether.
On film
she's also learning what leash pressure means yep she's given in good job
Yeah, she gives him the least pressure immediately, too.
the reason for that is that she's very sensitized to leash pressure
her nerves are doing a lot better and her leash yielding is pretty nice
Down
How it was taught
A graded blend of physical (leash) pressure, some collar, social pressure and aids, adjusted in small steps; a first all-leash rep produced a yelp and was not repeated in that form. Then conditioned by repetition, which he says her shepherd tolerance allows.
On film
the second time where she went into it and did it pretty well that was like 65% physical pressure, 35% mixed with like the eight, right?
so she doesn't love down she doesn't hate it she's just kind of like i don't feel like doing it but within a couple sessions it'll be super tight
because she's a shepherd she has a pretty high tolerance to like command those
hey she's trying to inch over to me
but by the end we don't do that it's just all verbal she's kind of in the phase where like she still needs some visual help but you can see I didn't use any pressure from the leash
Sit, kept distinct from down
How it was taught
Repetition, then the two positions differentiated; one more sit insisted on before ending.
On film
okay good job so i just needed to differentiate the two positions first
so what's interesting is the gravel you'll think a dog knows the community you take them with the gravel and i know that sounds like cope but genuinely like it's a thing
so I'm gonna try to make her sit one more time, just because I don't want to end the session on a note where she feels like, oh, I don't gotta sit, right?
Release ('okay') and the implied stay
How it was taught
'Okay' taught with no pressure at all, sometimes repeated when the dog is unsure; no 'stay' word; getting up is corrected with a marker and the collar.
On film
The thing is we don't use pressure at all when we teach you okay, because well, if you you do then you teach them okay means something entirely different
right now because you're talking about the impulse control that's really what I'm working on with her because she'll go into the position of a command but she gets up before I release her
to have them like hold position for like a minute and a half two minutes right now i'm not like making her do that yet
when i was teaching her to sit and to lay down and stuff like that i never said a word for her to get up
Radius
How it was taught
Collar at the end of the leash or past a set point, with no marker - the one exception to the marker rule - so the end of the leash and the stimulation become one thing. Lowered from 25 to 20 in the busy street.
On film
She gave in to leaf pressure, that's good. The radius isn't amazing yet, but that's okay.
Her radius is not great,
it's actually the only time you can e-collar and not use a marker so if she hits the end of the leash i hit the e-collar and i don't have to marker it
she's like kind of ignoring the radius a little bit um which is like normal because we've only done radius a few times
it's holding a good radius for the most part
'Let's go' and reactivity
How it was taught
'Let's go' is directional, not a recall. When she fixates, pulls toward, or barks at a dog or a child, she gets 'let's go', and only ignoring that is corrected - never the sight of the dog.
On film
so she may have not learned her let's
leash right just trying to get closer and closer or like in her case starting to like bark their head off a little bit you give them the let's go and you punish if they don't listen to the let's go
she's more reactive towards dogs i've noticed
oh are you a little fixated on something yeah good job see she just kind of backed off
Heel
How it was taught
Not shown beyond the cue.
On film
I'm gonna try to start on the heel with her.
not good at the end but she's not ready for heal yet though not quite
Place
How it was taught
Cue and encouragement; nothing more is audible.
On film
You have more resistance getting on top than if you were on that floor.
Play
How it was taught
Tried, not built; the trainer's reading is that she has not opened up enough.
On film
Oh, she's not, I don't know, I feel like I could bring that drive out.
she's good with uh with personal play so and if it changes it changes but yeah personal play for now but i'm you know i'm gonna talk to the owners
i even had a ball and she was like yeah no i think it was mainly because she's not comfortable yet probably she's probably not opened up enough
Leash yielding
E-collar sensitivity
Down
How the method adapted
Stormi is a nervous-dog case run by a trainer who says nervous dogs are his speciality, and almost every adaptation is about how much, how fast, and where. Two things pull against each other and are left standing: the physical pressure on her is dosed in five-per-cent steps because she would shut down, while the collar on her first night went to 45 because nothing lower registered.
The first outing had no commands in it.
Her nerves were worse than expected, so the aim was exploring and being out of the dog room, plus leash yielding.
On film
i'm not gonna be doing any like fancy commands with her or anything
letting her run around explore do her thing and like just hanging out and uh just being out of the dog room
The radius was started but not enforced, and then postponed.
She was worked up and it was her first time out with him; later, she had been too shut down for it.
On film
The radius isn't amazing yet, but that's okay.
She was a little too shut down to do it at first, though. Yeah. So, she's good now.
Physical pressure in the down raised by five per cent at a time, never by twenty.
Some dogs give in under a lot of pressure; a nervous dog like her would shut down instead.
On film
Because some dogs, they feel a ton of pressure and they're like, all right, fine, I'll give in. in but for a dog like stormy she's already kind of like nervous if i overwhelm her she'll just shut down
so right so i threw in like five percent more physical pressure in there because she was like not going into it
A high collar number found on the first night, then the collar barely used; later levels are chosen for the calmest reaction.
She did not register about 20 and avoided him. Once she was working, he says she does not yet know the words, so the collar goes on very lightly; fixation raises tolerance, so it goes to 25; a strong reaction in a busy street, so it comes down to 20.
On film
so she's not really registering that e-collar hit at all i'm gonna take it up to about 20 here
So I'm going to e-collar very lightly because she doesn't know the words.
cuz she seems to be like it's more of a fixated mode 25
that level was not high it was on like a 25 so we're going to mark it down to 20 because i don't want that kind of reaction
The leash was taken out of the cue.
She is sensitised to leash pressure, and a dog taught to need it does not know what is wanted off leash - every program is an off-leash program.
On film
I actually don't know if you've noticed every command of or anything I've said there I put no leaf pressure on
so I didn't use the leash at all there
like I don't know like I've had it where like I used too much leash pressure took the dog off
The reward was searched for rather than assumed: toys failed, personal play worked, and sniffing became the reward he teaches the owner.
No treats on principle; the reward for obedience has to beat the reward for disobedience; her own favourite thing is to sniff.
On film
i don't know if anybody else has played with her like how i because she was so shut down yeah it took a little bit i don't know if anybody else like really has ever done like that high energy personal play with her
the way that I reward her is I let her go and like sniff around
Session length set by heat and by her, not the plan.
She gets hot fast; tired, she starts giving in to impulse and the window for new commands closes.
On film
She's giving in to her impulse a little more now. They're subtle, but I'm noticing them, which means she is getting tired, which means the window for reinforcing newer commands,
with her but I'm be honest it's I think she's already pretty done so it's a fairly hot day so gotta be reasonable
stormy gets hot really fast so i i really haven't been able to do more than 15 minutes with her a day
Venues chosen for her people problem: downtown Angier, and then its busy side.
She has 'weird stuff with people', and downtown makes her be around people and hold it in.
On film
And then we've done a lot of downtown Angier as well, actually. Um, especially cause she's got like some weird stuff with people sometimes like going downtown. It's really good for her.
we're actually going to go and walk over on the busy side of things
Reactivity corrected through the command, never at the trigger.
She is not scared of dogs but not comfortable with them either; a correction at the sight of a dog would teach her that dogs are bad.
On film
in her case I'm not gonna say she's scared of dogs but like she's not entirely comfortable with the idea of other dogs either
barking at a dog just was like hit the e-collar she would learn like oh dogs are bad
What the family was told
The implied stay and the release - no 'stay' word
command because if you if you make stay like a word you teach the dog that like to sit right down or whatever is like a temporary command and it kind of it's very confusing for the dog
stormy down and so she'll hold that position until okay good job
Commands and markers; reinforcement and punishment
two markers that we use right so you have your commands and you have your markers
funny enough that's where most people go wrong in maintaining the training though because they don't know which one is which
and then like a nope is our punishment right
The collar follows the marker - the one thing to keep
the e-collar comes into play so whenever you say one of those markers whether it's the ant or the nope then you use the e-collar you don't ever use the e-collar without a marker
if you can only take away one thing, one thing from this whole thing, it is that you use the e-collar after the marker.
She's like, every time I hear the word sit, then the e-collar hits me.
make a dog scared of grass if you don't know how to use the collar
The first week: be deliberate, and be strict
that's really weird but that's how i think for the first like week that's how you should think about
with the dogs tend to take a lot of adjustment time and their training seems very loose and you got to stay really strict with it or else it'll stay loose
then within that week they settle in really well but if you're too loose then the training's never
Equipment
it's like a 40 foot leash that we send everybody to get it's like a long line yeah i got a message with what to get her
there's like a 50 50 on that because some of them the way the clip is it won't actually let the e-collar get tight enough
You know, the e-collar is one of those things where you have to, like, it's not just, like, a be good button.
Reactivity: 'let's go', and correct the command, not the dog
if we say come right that's the recall dog comes up to me plops right here and then they wait for me to release them um a let's go is like a directional this way
know that I'm hitting the button she just sees the dog and goes oh man this is bad versus if you do the let's go and correct it then they're focused on the fact that they disobeyed a command not that they got e-collared for for a dog
what i want to get to is where it's like she can she can stare at the dog all she wants she's not like bothering anyone
Reward: no treats; release to sniff; keep her exercised
we don't train with
So, because they realize, like, the reward for being disobedient is greater than the reward for being obedient.
if you cooped her up in a crate for 12 hours a day and then made her sit and watch tv with you in the evening she would be not happy
Off leash: never maintain with the leash; say it once
yeah every dog that we train is an off-leash program
good but I also teach the dogs like when they go home don't only use the leash to maintain the command because that's how you mess up the off leash part
say a command I only say the word once and then if they get up don't listen I use the collar you don't ever say the command twice because then you start to confuse them
The crate, the socks, and what cannot be promised
she could probably I would say she could probably be off like out of the crate well you're not home I can't promise that
it's kind of hard to discipline a dog to listen when nobody's there
we also train like an out
What progress looks like
when a dog starts sniffing and like doing their thing that means like their nerves are a lot better because they're like willing to be open and explore
like they just don't care and they're magically obedient but it's not really
In the family's own words
The owner had watched the videos and came with a question from them - why nobody says 'stay'.
On film
that was that was a question because i was looking at the videos and i saw like you guys were just where you would just say you know sit and then you would expect her to stay but in my head i was like don't you have to tell her to stay
Jumping is fine with her if Stormi listens - a choice the trainer offers and she makes.
On film
i don't i don't mind it okay but as long as i can tell her you know yeah you can and she'll listen i think that should be okay
What she wants at the end: the beach without the barking, and parks off leash.
On film
i i really would like that to stop because i want to take her to like the beach
whenever she's trained i wanted to take her to like parks right okay yeah and stuff like that and i want to do it without her on the leash
She reads Stormi turning back to her as checking in, and asks whether that is normal.
On film
i feel like that's her way of checking in
Outcomes
What the trainers reported
Gets commands quicker than most dogs the trainer has worked with.
The trainer to the owner, 2026-09-13
On film
getting the commands probably quicker than most dogs i've ever worked with
Knows every command except heel, at a basic level that is not yet proved or foolproof.
The trainer, 2026-09-09 and 2026-09-13
On film
literally like she knows all the commands except heel like basic understanding we gotta like prove it and stuff
strict with her too because she knows every command minus heel already
The down went from unknown to working in one session - the quickest he has taught in a long time.
The trainer, 2026-09-08
On film
This is the quickest though. I've taught it down in a long time.
Nerves improving: the most open she had been on 2026-09-09; 'a lot better' on 2026-09-15.
The trainer
On film
Today she's, I'd say the most open she'd been
her nerves are doing a lot better and her leash yielding is pretty nice
Very walkable; what remains is a little reactivity and overall obedience.
The trainer to the owner, 2026-09-13
On film
but yeah that's uh pretty much it but she's very like actually she's very walkable now
Reactivity better than a week earlier; predicted fixed within a week or less.
The trainer to the owner, 2026-09-13
On film
which that's way better than she was like a week ago she would have been like barking at him and
i would expect i'll probably have her reactivity fixed within like a week like a week or less i think because she's already doing better
The fixation will fade on its own within a couple of sessions.
The trainer, 2026-09-09
On film
I think that within a couple of sessions, the fixation will disappear on its own.
Out of the crate when the owner is home is very possible; when nobody is home, a good chance but no promise.
The trainer to the owner, 2026-09-13
On film
and then there's a pretty good chance that you can leave them home
What the footage shows
On the trainer's live narration, the down happened on cue during the 2026-09-08 session after a yelp on the first attempt, and was repeated through the rest of it.
On film
Hey, all right, so, a little bit of a dramatic reaction,
but she did not know it down we came out here so it's quite a leap in improvement
At the owner lesson she went down with no leash pressure and held it until 'okay'.
On film
stormy down and so she'll hold that position until okay good job
so I didn't use the leash at all there
At the owner lesson she fixated on a passer-by and backed off, and stood next to another dog without sniffing or fuss - both as narrated by the trainer while it happened.
On film
oh are you a little fixated on something yeah good job see she just kind of backed off
didn't even like sniff it or anything she just like kind of stood next to him
Not yet finished at the midpoint: she still loops around the handler, still ignores the radius a little, and yelped when she hit the end of the leash pulling toward her owner.
On film
so the tangling doesn't happen by like the second session she's still doing it because she she's learned to control her impulses enough to not go crazy yeah but not enough to not tangle you
she's like kind of ignoring the radius a little bit
On 2026-09-15 she walked the busy side of downtown and a stranger stopped to talk to the trainer about her; no reaction to him is recorded, and the one reaction in the session is to the collar at about 25.
On film
she's in training just for like high energy and stuff
The ideas Stormi's case runs on
- Command, marker, collar - in that order
- Cue the trigger, correct the command
- Genetic versus environmental nerves
- Help it or press it - read which
- Hidden help
- Opening up
- Pressure, release, reward
- Quit on the good rep
- Stop before you shut him down
- The board, the scenes and the grades - and every trainer works every dog
- The dog tells you the reward
- The level is not a number
- The radius
- The settling week