How do I stop my dog running off on walks?

Luna

Luna's file is where the radius is built, tested, scored, argued with and given away, and it is the case that should define the concept. She is a nervous case typed on day one as environmental rather than genetic, and the radius is both her treatment and her thermometer: a nervous dog's radius is wide, so tightening it is the physical proof that the nerves came down - "it was affecting her radius". The procedure is stated to the owner in full: set the leash to a specific length, give her the e-collar every time she hits the end of it for a session or two, then loosen the leash and let the occasional excursion go. Free room first, then close the circle. What is left is the "mental field" - a sense of distance that survives any leash length because she is answering the collar rather than the line. It is scored on a long line a week later as "locked in fairly decently", given an explicit upper bound - not glued to me - and then handed over as a dial the family may turn: he tunes it to a medium and tells them how to keep it where they want it. And the same file contains the strongest argument against the whole method, twelve days earlier, in what reads as the same voice.

Sage

Sage gets the mildest version, because she is nervous and because the handlers working her are junior. Her number is the small-dog number - about ten feet, eight to ten - and it is confirmed out loud by the senior handler when her handler asks. The enforcement is barely there: an unlocked line, one almost imperceptible tug when she turns toward a distraction, a correction reserved for actually pushing past. In the store her handler says he would correct her for going out of it, but she has not given him the chance - and in an earlier session the senior handler has to trick her into going far enough away to show where the boundary is. Sage's radius is the one that is talked about rather than shown, and it is honest about that.

Deuce

The mechanism is that the pressure teaches, not the length. The e-collar is fired at the exact instant the flat collar comes tight, so the lesson is about the sensation of the end of the line rather than about a number of feet - which is why the rule holds on a leash locked short and on one fully extended. The test is the shortest sentence in this concept: he doesn't hit the end of the leash, we're good. And his lesson catches the failure mode of success on camera. He has stopped hitting the end and started riding it - "he's not hitting the end but he's hanging out right at the end with you" - which looks like a pass and is not, and the answer is to lock the line shorter for a while until the radius resets.

Louie

Louie's file is where the method is taught rather than used, and where it is called house standard rather than preference. The number is the big-dog number, fifteen to twenty feet at most, and the installation is one sentence: recall him every time he gets to the edge, and he will start checking in and circling back without being told. It also carries the argument for why the radius is not just loose-leash walking under another name. Louie does not pull; he lives at the end of the line, and the handler treats that as a fault to fix rather than a standard met - he watches the leash and the collar continuously and tightens the radius up rather than letting him ride the end. In a later session radius and recall are described as one job with two names.

Bullet

Bullet arrived at zero - no sit, no down, no heel, no recall - and finishes the program with ten to fifteen feet of self-imposed range and a line he wears for other people's benefit. The method is the same as everywhere else - cue him every time he reaches the edge, either a recall or a let's-go - and the result is described as inbuilt, meaning the dog's own range rather than the equipment's.

Dolce

Dolce is a protection dog whose obedience ran months ahead of her confidence, and her file treats the radius as a named exercise in its own right - worked before the leash comes off, separately from both heel and recall, and enjoyed: "radius is a thing it's i i enjoy doing radius quite a bit". Two things are distinctive here. Its real product is named as self-control rather than obedience - the perimeter is what makes dropping the leash thinkable. And by mid-July it is what a session is scored on: not the commands, but the fact that she keeps herself in range and checks in unprompted.

Dutchess

Dutchess supplies the criterion, and the way to test it. Her last recording before the drive home is a short off-leash check in which off-leash readiness is defined as an uncued behaviour rather than as obedience: she checks in with him without being called, and that is what an owner should be looking for. What makes it method rather than observation is how he tests it - he deliberately keeps quiet and stays off her, so that the answer cannot be something he produced. It is the only definition of off-leash readiness anywhere in her file, and it is checkable by a family with no equipment and no trainer present.

Lola

Lola's file argues the negative case, which is the half most owners never hear. Good-looking commands are worthless without a check-in, because a dog who does not care where you are cannot be reinforced at any distance - and the counter-example is a shepherd with immaculate obedience who ran halfway through a Home Depot before noticing his handler had gone. For Lola, a nervous pound dog, the check-in on a long line is the thing praised at the end of her last training session, above any command. The households' own version of a successful walk, recorded in her second owner lesson, is the same measure in lay words: the dogs stay with the group and look back, rather than being held close.

Zeus

His handler will not install a radius at all. He teaches the words and the communication system; the number is the household's to choose, because anything he built would be generic and would then have to be undone - if he set it further out, the family would have to bring it in. So what is handed over is a parameter and the tools to set it, not a finished behaviour. He is also the one who says what actually makes it real, and it is not the number: it is never changing the number. An inconsistent radius produces a confused, frustrated dog rather than a boundary. His estimate for how long a consistent family needs is five or six walks.

Finn

Finn is the case where it is named as an assignment and then explicitly withheld. He is a major flight risk who bolts, and on his first trip out the radius is set as his next piece of work alongside the recall. Weeks later, with a handler new to him, it is deferred again in plain terms - not tonight, he is not ready, he needs to ease up around her first. His file also supplies the cleanest owner-facing framing of why the radius is not the same as not pulling: your dog may not pull and still run to almost the end of the leash, and that is chaotic. By the go-home lesson he is reported keeping his own radius while other dogs have to be called back onto one.

Roxy

This source collection contains separate work with Roxy and Ramsey. In Roxy’s solo session, the trainer states that he will improve recall before tightening the walking radius (watch, 02:09), with release to freedom described as a reward at 01:14. That is the plan for her session, not proof of completed off-leash reliability. In Ramsey’s separate session, Roxy is absent. The trainer describes holding the leash at an intended length (watch, 12:49), then reports an unwanted reaction and lowering the collar setting (13:30–13:44). At 13:44 he apologizes and announces a pause in using the collar, but at 14:38 he discusses increasing the setting again. The source sequence needs audiovisual review before characterizing the complete equipment use or the dog’s response.

Coco

Two Coco recordings use the approach to the car as a place to examine the walking boundary. In watch at 16:19, the trainer reports a check-in after stopping near the car. In watch at 13:33, he explains walking toward the car slowly because it can be a place where a dog leaves the intended radius. These passages identify a practical situation to observe, not a measured change in check-in frequency or proof of off-leash readiness. The September 16 session note also records that checking in was still insufficient at its opening. Keep that starting assessment with the later favorable report; independent footage review and owner follow-up remain outstanding. A later session (25 Sep 2026) works the radius against fixation: the trainer keeps walking when she fixates and presses once she passes the point, so she has to stay aware of him even while fixated, and then hands her to Claudia so the radius holds with a second handler.

Samson

Samson is a big, fast dog who ranges far, and in August 2026 Kelton builds his radius explicitly for his owners: about eight to fifteen feet, so that they never have to recall him from a distance. The edge is marked with the conditioned punisher and a let's go, the check-ins praised, and the collar held back unless Samson ignores him. A later session drops a light six-foot line and teaches what the trainer calls a true off-leash radius of fifteen to twenty feet with 'too far' and a recall, so that the radius is already reinforced when the leash comes off. Owner-proofing and safety around other dogs are the stated reasons.

Mazi

Mazi is described as crazed: very high energy, low engagement, not focused on the handler. That is the moment his trainer chooses to start a radius. The method is spoken plainly: let him reach a certain distance, then wait for and reward the check-in, which the trainer says builds engagement very naturally. Together with let's go, the radius is what makes a dog easy to own, because you can actually take him out and exercise him. At the in-program lesson (22 Sep 2026) the trainer explains the edge to the owner: a bare press with no marker, because a punishment marker would make Mazi think he had done a bad behaviour and a reinforcement marker would leave him guessing what he did; the picture he gives is a personal electric fence that moves with you. In town the radius has to be tight for his safety, and near a road the trainer says he will press the moment Mazi runs toward it, because the unprompted press means only 'you got too far'.

Stormi

Stormi is a nervous dog, and her radius is started gently on her first night outing and deferred while she is too shut down. By the owner lesson it is described as the end-of-leash zone, marked by the collar the moment she passes a certain point - which the trainer says is the only time he uses the collar without a marker. On a busy downtown walk he tightens it under higher energy, and states its purpose: not a dog who listens at the far end, but one who is engaged with him. At the second in-program lesson (20 Sep 2026) the trainer calls the radius 'the more advanced version' of leash yielding, and gives the reason: leash pressure alone cannot hold her in range once the leash is off. On a later walk he shows the before-and-after, a dog who once had no regard for the handler now keeping 'her range', and on another locks the leash so that the end of it means the collar, not a pull.

Daisy

On her first visit to Bass Pro Shops (July 2026) Daisy's handler names the radius as a walking standard - how well she walks around the handler within about six to ten feet - and gives her freedom to explore as the reward. She is unsure what to do with it at first; then, even while exploring, she goes out about six feet and circles back.

Max

Max, a young dog who loves to sniff, starts his program with few rules and freedom to sniff as the payoff: 'they don't have to be robots or statues'. By the owner visits (May 2026) he walks out front on a flexi like a detection dog, as long as he stops and checks in, and the trainer explains to the family that he stays in the radius as he does on the flexi and only pulling or leaving it is corrected. More freedom, the trainer says, means more chances to fail and be corrected - the rules stay the same.

Pepper

Pepper's store trip (September 2026) names two walking standards side by side. In heel she stays inside a box beside the handler; out of heel she may go ahead or to the side as long as she does not pull or leave 'our bubble'. The bubble is the radius under another name, and the pairing makes freedom and precision two distinct states. With the line dropped in a controlled area she sniffs around but stays in the area.

Bandit

Narrating an off-leash session (24 Sep 2026), the trainer describes a radius that grew out of the equipment: so much of the work was done on the flexi that Bandit turns back at about its length, somewhere between 20 and 26 feet, which works as 'a default radius' with no line on.

Boog

Connor teaches Boog's owners the radius as their own number with a floor: how far is up to them, but a couple of inches is not fair to a dog; when he passes it, the collar. He says a tuned radius builds engagement, with check-ins every little bit of the walk. At the go-home (28 Sep 2026) he contrasts it with the heel zone: same idea, but heel is a command and gets a marker, the radius does not.

Bun

A contrast with the files where the radius is a taught object: narrating to camera (29 Sep 2026), the trainer says Bun keeps a nice radius relatively naturally, not something he pushed hard on, and puts it down to Bun's temperament; he calls it a nice result for a dog who was very reactive at first.

Chunk

At the in-program lesson (22 Sep 2026) the trainer shows the owners his own distance, says theirs is up to them, and gives the procedure: once Chunk goes too far, the collar, and nothing said. He warns against keeping him too close, because a dog glued to you never gets the chance to do the right thing.

Whiskey

On the walk at the first in-program lesson (19 Sep 2026) the trainer shows the family that Whiskey has a boundary even on the flexi, and that because of her nervousness he does not correct her for wandering a little to sniff.

Anna

Anna, a nervous dog, normally holds the radius her handler has set - about the same distance, mostly ahead or to the left - but when something startles her she bolts and forgets it entirely. The handler moves her to a short leash so she learns she cannot just take off when nervous.

Apollo (the Bully)

Christian teaches Apollo two sizes: indoors a tight 'bubble' he checks in from, so that people around feel comfortable even though nobody is holding the leash, and wider wandering outside. At go-home he tells the family a recall makes little sense to a dog already inside the owner's 'bubble box'; how strict to be about it is their call.

Bernie

Proofing Bernie in public on a flexi, the trainer unlocks the line on purpose: he does not want Bernie to learn that there is automatically a six-foot radius.

Bubba Gum

Released in a store with people and noise, Bubba Gum stays nearby with nobody touching the leash, 'within like our radius', and is free to look at whatever she likes.

Max (Goldendoodle)

The leash-length version at Lake Benson. Max does not have to heel: he can sniff and go where he likes within the six-foot radius, and the only thing corrected is pulling. The trainer says he does not much like six-foot leashes, but families will use them, so the dog has to manage one.

Milo

At the off-leash recall lesson the trainer describes the radius as 'moving invisible barriers': on a leash the barrier is the leash, and off it you decide the circle - six, ten, fifteen, twenty feet - and hold it with your voice, backed by the e-collar. He also warns about overdoing it: call a dog back every time he goes a little further and he stops going out at all - which, he adds, leaves the distance under your control.

Oscar

On an outing after a spell of lots of freedom, the trainer sets Oscar's radius again on the lead and asks him to respect the leash pressure.

Rocky

By his second day Rocky has learned where the end of the 26-foot line is and mostly stays off it - the same equipment-made radius described for Bandit.

Titan

Connor names the exercise outright - 'radius control' on a flexi, keeping Titan in a certain area so his off-leash work looks good. A week later Titan tests the edge and looks back, which Connor reads as Titan knowing it is the radius.

Is the thing being taught a distance, or a response to pressure?

How to read it

Both positions are in Luna's file, in what reads as the same voice, twelve days apart. It matters practically, because the two accounts imply different drills: one asks you to fix the length and mark the edge, the other asks you to make leash pressure meaningful at any length and never let the dog become dependent on it.

Should the program install a radius, or hand the family the dial?

How to read it

Both handlers are talking about the same handover moment and reach opposite conclusions about what the client should receive.

Whose benefit is the radius for?

Where to start the e-collar level when marking the edge of the radius.

How to read it

This one runs against a concept already on the site. `start-high-not-low` is in the bible; the radius work in Luna's and Deuce's files does the opposite, and one of the two handlers notes that starting low is unusual for him.

Whether the edge of the radius is marked with a word first.

How to read it

Not necessarily a disagreement: the no-marker version is described as a deliberate exception to the marker-first rule for this one association. Recorded because an owner taught one version will find the other contradicts it.

How many feet should the radius be?

The examples use different distances. Daisy’s handler gives about six to ten feet; Louie’s trainer describes roughly fifteen to twenty feet; Zeus’s lesson emphasizes choosing a distance for the household. These are examples of plans, not a size-based formula. Agree on the purpose and conditions of your own walking boundary before choosing a number, and distinguish that intended distance from the length of the line.

How do I actually build it? What do I do differently on tomorrow's walk?

In Louie’s lesson, the trainer describes recalling him when he reaches the intended boundary and looking for check-ins that begin without a cue. Other passages discuss leash tension and different ways of handling the line. Those accounts should not be combined into one universal sequence: cueing before the line tightens and responding to tension are different events. Ask your trainer to demonstrate the sequence that belongs to your dog’s plan, including the release and what counts as progress. The selected clips do not establish how many walks your dog will need.

How do I know whether it is working, without a trainer watching?

Record distance, line tension and check-ins separately. Deuce’s trainer evaluates whether he reaches the end of the leash; Dutchess’s handler stays quiet to look for an unprompted check-in. A return after a cue can demonstrate a response to that cue, but it does not demonstrate an unprompted check-in. Compare repeated observations under similar conditions. These examples are not a stand-alone test of off-leash readiness.

Isn't this just teaching him to be clingy?

The stated goal includes room to sniff and explore. In Luna’s lesson, the trainer says he does not want her glued to him; Lola’s lesson discusses excessive checking back. That distinction is useful: staying near the handler and comfortably exploring within an area are not identical outcomes. If exploration changes, describe what you see and review the context rather than infer the cause from distance alone.

He was great at this when he came home and now he isn't. What happened?

The cited Luna session emphasizes maintaining the radius and teaching owners how to do that. It does not establish that every change at home has the same cause or that this is universally the fastest skill to decline. Compare the handler, setting, cues, distractions and response before deciding what changed. Bring a specific example to your trainer so the next step follows the case rather than an assumed failure of follow-through.

Do I need an e-collar for this?

The archive includes both cue-based explanations and sessions involving an e-collar. A rep completed without stimulation does not establish that the dog’s prior learning was equipment-free, nor does a session using a tool establish that every dog needs it. Read these as descriptions of those dogs’ training histories and plans. The differing handling instructions remain a topic for trainer review; the page does not supply equipment settings for another dog.

Is the radius for my dog, or for me?

On film it is sized for the household. Kelton builds Samson's radius close so that his owners never have to recall him from a distance; Zeus's trainer leaves the number to the family; Bullet's trainer says he installs it because clients want it. The check-in inside it is what the trainers value for the dog.