At a park, on a long line, Bo's trainer lets him run to the end of it and reels him in. At the instant Bo is already coming, and not while the line is tight, he says the word. He says in advance what he is doing: 'as soon as he's coming in off the leash pressure right away I'm gonna use that to attach a word to it.' A few minutes later Bo turns on the word alone, and the trainer stops to point it out. The whole method is in that minute: a small pressure, the dog finding the way out, and the word placed on the relief.
and then I'm gonna reel him in and as soon as he's coming in off the leash pressure right away I'm gonna use that to attach a word to it as soon as he does it right really quickly
And you can see how quickly it could happen that's the first time that he responded to the verbal cue like he knew it
The chapter in one paragraph
This chapter is the unit the whole method is built from. A small, steady pressure goes on. The dog works out what turns it off. The pressure comes off at the instant he does, and something he wants follows: freedom, a game, a run, a belly rub. The dog learns at the moment of relief, so the word is attached there, and it comes to name the way out, not the pressure. New positions are taught first as movements, with the lightest help that works, and are named only once the dog moves into them smoothly. Then the help is faded until the word alone does it. Because a body pushed pushes back, the first thing a dog is taught is to give to the leash. The pressure is built to shrink: leash and collar are paired until they mean one thing, and then a light touch or the word carries it. The e-collar joins at a level the dog only wants to escape while he is learning. Once he knows the answer it rises to a level he will work to avoid. So the collar backs a word the dog already knows and never teaches one he doesn't. Two limits are stated on film. The pressure must be something the dog can control and escape, and what comes out must be understanding, not suppression. Within those limits the trainers make a claim owners find counterintuitive: for a nervous dog, pressure with a clear answer and a big release lowers nervousness.
Principles
The unit is pressure on, the dog solves it, and pressure off at the instant he does. The dog learns from the relief, so pressure kept on after he has complied reinforces nothing, and he must be let back to baseline before the next rep.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
forcing them into the down it's like how will you learn from that well you learn from uh we all do we learn from pressure pressure gets put on us yep and then we like are like oh my gosh how do i get out of this and then we like try to figure it out when we solve the puzzle about how to get out of the pressure and we get out of it
pull down on a leash and they go into a down, you stop pulling on the leash. If you kept pulling on the leash and they have already gone into the down and then they get back up and they're like, I don't
But what you want them to learn is the opposite is if they just go ahead and give to it Then they they win Because the pressure is gone because that's what winning means
But if I don't allow him to return to baseline, the pressure never ends. And so then he learns the wrong thing.
Concepts: Pressure, release, reward
Exceptions
- Nobody puts a number on how long pressure may be held or how strong 'a little' is. The dose is read off the dog in the moment.
The word goes on at the moment of relief. A new position is taught first as a movement with no word at all. The word is added once the dog moves into it smoothly, and then said again with a slack leash so he links it to the action, not to the tug.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
and then I'm gonna reel him in and as soon as he's coming in off the leash pressure right away I'm gonna use that to attach a word to it as soon as he does it right really quickly
I'm not saying sit. I am only teaching her the move. The not the command, the move.
up here up here up here not attaching a word to it yet because she doesn't do it very smoothly
because if you say down early um when you're using negative reinforcement she could think down means i'm getting punished
he's down so he he smoothly goes into it but he needs to learn the word so what i do is i say down and i just like slightly tell him and then he just automatically goes down and i say it again like down but like without any pressure on the on the leash
Concepts: Pressure, release, reward, Teach the move, then the word
Exceptions
- A behaviour the dog offers on his own is not trained until someone names it: 'He's gonna put it on cue' (Bo, watch 01:49).
The release is the pay, not just the end of the rep. Every pressure is followed by something the dog wants, and there are long stretches with no pressure at all.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
Of course, they're like a release of freedom, so there's always positive reinforcement on the back end.
Yeah, so pressure goes away, play comes back,
command and then of course you saw afterwards and this is important we do it every time i try to do it every single time i put any pressure on a dog we reconcile afterwards somehow she's got to get a release to freedom
large swaths of time when there's no pressure that she feels. She doesn't feel like I'm requiring anything of her. She's completely free to choose.
Concepts: Pressure, release, reward, Release to freedom
Pressure must be something the dog can control and escape. Pressure he cannot understand or turn off does not teach. It produces panic, or in the trainers' words psychological trauma.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
whether it's like pressure or any kind of like um which we'll go into this next is like penalties yeah they have to be contingent on things we control yeah otherwise it just creates psychological trauma right if we don't know why it happened and we can't avoid it
Si ella no sabe cómo evitarla porque no está clara, eso está muy mal.
that's a problem if they don't know why it's happening and they don't know how to escape it that just sends them into a panic
Concepts: Pressure, release, reward
Don't let the fight win. If the handler gives up when the dog fights, the dog learns that fighting turns the pressure off. The pressure comes off for the answer, not for the protest.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
is how she gets out of it okay okay because what dogs learn sometimes is if they fight it enough you'll give up yeah and if you fight it enough and they give up and you give up yeah they win
lead pressure or anything like that at all then she thinks if she barks and kind of plants herself and doesn't want to do it then she doesn't have to do it
Concepts: Pressure, release, reward
Exceptions
- Ozzy's handler held steady through the flailing. Stormi's trainer changes the mix and raises it in small steps, 'because... if i overwhelm her she'll just shut down' (watch 11:52).
- Pressure is a blend of social, physical and collar pressure plus aids. Change the recipe before the amount (Stormi, watch 09:46).
There are four levers: add something the dog likes, take pressure away when he gets it right, take away something he wants, or add a penalty. Each is judged by the next repetition, not the present one, and by what the dog actually does.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
works a little better is if you think about the four behavioral levers there's four one you add
So it's always the next rep.
the most powerful combo to create behaviors is you add pressure and then when they do the thing you
time right so it's never training is never about getting them to do it now
the next thing but it could look exactly the same as an example a pop on the prong collar or a tap
understand are that each of the levers affect the next repetition they do
Concepts: The four behavioural levers
Exceptions
- The model is taught at go-home lessons in at least seven households, sometimes in plain words ('penalty') and sometimes in quadrant terms, from a PDF worksheet and slides.
A dog who leans into the leash is showing a reflex, not defiance: a body that is pushed pushes back. Giving to the leash is therefore the first thing taught, because once the dog goes with pressure, pressure can stay small for everything that follows.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
doing an oppositional reflex he's pulling against the pressure you teach
where they're staying and then also learning baseline concepts that aren't commands so like an example of a baseline concept is if you feel the end of a leash or you feel at least pulling a certain direction you should move you should go with it you should give to leash pressure okay instead of bracing
because it makes it easier to teach them everything else if when they feel pressure they go with it
of leash tension is a no-no you should never brace against the leash so if I'm
bracing pulling away like that is not an option that she needs to have on the table
Concepts: Bracing and the oppositional reflex
Exceptions
- Before correcting a brace, read what it means. Beo braced only when deep in a smell and came straight off pressure on bare concrete: 'a little bit of the hound' (watch 11:46).
- Stormy's trainer uses a brief pop, never a pull or a tug. Daisy's trainer normally pops, but uses steady pressure, waited out, because pops raised her stress (watch 14:52).
The pressure is built to shrink. Leash and collar are paired at the same instant until they mean one thing, and then the lighter channel (a small tug, a tap, the word) carries it. A dog taught this way answers the pressure he feels, not the length of leash he has.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
every time he yanks on me and he feels the pressure from his collar and literally at that exact moment that the pressure hits he gets a knee collar too
it automatically, in her brain, she's like, oh, the end of the leash is electric.
No matter how short I cut it. If I cut it right here, he stops. All the way out there, he stops. Right here, he stops.
they'll take as much lead as you give them but they won't take more because we teach leash pressure sensitivity
kind of snap him out of it because the e-collar it doesn't provide direction on where or what to do right the leash does
Concepts: Pressure, release, reward
Exceptions
- Sensitivity can overshoot. Drago became so responsive to leash pressure that he looked scared, and his pressure was turned down (watch 25:43). Nobody states where the line is. Carried under conflicts.
- The collar gives no direction, so where a dog panics into avoidance under it, he goes back on a line until he knows where the relief is (Bane).
Ask, don't make, for what the dog already knows. On a known behaviour the leash is a prop: the handler asks with the word and does not steer with the lead. Loading into a truck is done the same way, by pulling forward and letting the dog choose the jump, never lifting him from behind.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
the leech is just a prop now because ideally throughout the whole process of the walk you you don't lock the leash at all it's unlocked the whole time
right um so the leash should become more of like a prop instead of a tool that you use to constantly make the dog do stuff
I can pick this leash up and I don't have to like hold it tight and make the choice for her by managing. I can just hold it at the end. Mhm. Just make sure she makes a good decision.
So instead of boosting them up from their back, I just pull forward on the collar. So then they're like, what do I do? And then they end up getting in there themselves.
Concepts: Teach the move, then the word
Exceptions
- Nobody on film states the rule that separates this from the next principle, that is, when to ask and when to produce the position. Every handler behaves as though it is a question of stage.
For a position the dog does not have yet, produce the movement with the lightest help that works, pay it the instant he arrives, name it once it is smooth, then take the help away step by step until the word alone does it. If he is stuck, shrink the criterion until something is winnable.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
probably her first time using doing down at all. So don't even say down. Okay. Just guide her into the position and then say okay and release it. But start it out. Start it with the tug.
so that you don't get stuck having to use the physical manipulation because we want her to feel the tug and go, "Oh, the physical manipulation comes next." And then she skips that.
life a lot easier so just think about it whenever you're like helping a dog with with the leash or you're helping the dog with your hand or whatever you're helping them with remember what does their body have to do to do it
will I'm not gonna use any like technical jargon here I'm gonna make it very simple your first phase is basically mechanically teaching the dog what the position is and then linking the word
so I'm gonna have to push her into that shape because she is just not gonna be in love with them and we're gonna have to use several of those drills while keeping things pretty fun
even just standing next to you, that could be a good That's like a first criteria.
So sometimes I'll give them a little bit of extra time. I'll say the command multiple times yeah if I see they're like because the best is when you get them to figure it out themselves
Concepts: Teach the move, then the word, Hidden help
Exceptions
- Where there is compulsion it is named as force, and it is paid straight away. An ugly first rep is taken and called ugly (Bo, watch 11:06). A rep that reads as suppression is rejected (watch 09:22).
- Both count as the lightest aid that works for that dog.
- The exact phases are chapter 13's.
Escape before avoidance. While a dog is learning a word, the collar sits at a level he only wants to escape, with the leash showing the way out. Once he knows the answer, the level rises to one he will work to avoid. So the collar backs a word the dog already knows and never teaches one he doesn't. Staying at the escape level on a known command is nagging.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
We want escape, where he's motivated to escape that feeling, but he can't avoid it yet because he doesn't know how.
right now he felt that one but it didn't move him to any kind of action it doesn't mean anything so you have to attach action to the word first
reinforcement once a dog already knows a thing you move you have to move from escape to avoidance
But if you want him to avoid it in the future, you have to raise the level of the punishment.
Because he's motivated to escape that amount of pressure, but he'll go back to pulling he's not motivated to avoid that
he probably just doesn't know the word yet so jumped the gun a little bit on that
different if they don't know a thing you can't teach them that way at avoidance levels but you
Concepts: Escape before avoidance: the collar backs a word the dog already knows
Exceptions
- Most trainers on film wait until the dog is fluent (Akira, Neo, Baxter, Roofus). At Madam's session a senior trainer layers it early at a low level: 'it's better for me to layer the e-collar over early than it is late' (watch 13:45). Both keep the level low while the dog is learning.
- A nag is defined by its effect, not by the number on the dial. Specific levels are spoken in many of these sessions.
The trainers claim that for a nervous dog, a small, clear pressure on a command she already knows, with a big release straight back to freedom, lowers nervousness. They say the calm comes from the dog learning that her own action ends the discomfort.
Said as a rule on filmOn film
Um, so, um, giving him a little bit of negative reinforcement, and, like, putting a little pressure on it, and then relieving that pressure in a big way, clarifies things for him, obligates the command, and also, uh, counterintuitively for many, actually reduces his nervousness,
I send him straight back out to liberty, so that release to freedom is huge.
the concept is that when pressure hits don't panic right do a thing that like
it was clear to him in the training that if he just goes ahead and does it,
but it is a breakthrough for him mentally to learn that if he can push through that and figure out the right thing to do if he does the the the thing that like is the solution to that puzzle the the pressure from both things completely melts away
Concepts: Thinking is what makes it better
Exceptions
- It can look worse first. With Lola, a trainer warns that adding pressure to a known command can make the dog 'look like they're depressed' while she works out the harder puzzle (watch 23:43).
- The opposite error is named too. Pushing a frightened dog into stillness is 'a band-aid': it addresses her body and not her state (Kelton, Sage, watch 21:37).
- Only on known commands. The claim is the trainers' reading of these dogs, not a measured result.
What owners are told
Put a little pressure on, hold it, and let go the instant he does the thing. Then pay him with what he actually wants, whether that is sniffing, a game or his freedom. Say the word as the pressure ends, not while you are still pulling. For a new position, help him in as lightly as you can and don't name it until he goes in smoothly. For anything he already knows, ask with the word and leave the leash loose. Don't give up because he fights it. Use the collar only on a command he already knows, at the level where he just notices while he is learning. Once he knows it, use a level that makes him avoid the mistake next time. If he answers the word, leave the button alone. Give him long stretches with no pressure at all. Judge what you did by the next repetition, not this one.
On film
is how she gets out of it okay okay because what dogs learn sometimes is if they fight it enough you'll give up
will run to me yeah as long as he knows as long as you're confident that he knows exactly that
So it's always the next rep.
large swaths of time when there's no pressure that she feels.
What trainers know
Build one pressure system. Introduce collar and leash together and pair the stimulation with the instant the leash tightens (Shadow: no marker at the leash end), then let the lighter channel carry it. Before an off-leash heel, pair every collar correction with the leash first (Ace). The collar gives no direction, so for a dog panicking into avoidance go back to a line (Bane). Think of pressure as a blend of social, physical and collar pressure plus aids. Change the recipe before the amount, and raise it in small steps (Stormi). Return to baseline between reps (Rocky), reconcile after every pressure, and leave stretches with none (Piglet). Watch for over-sensitisation: a dog who looks scared or suppressed needs less, not more (Drago). Decide the stage before touching the dog: known means ask, and not known means produce the movement silently. The aid ladder runs tug, then tug plus hand, then tug alone, then the word, with the tug before the hand so the dog learns to skip ahead. Every aid follows the body: pull toward the belly button, and teach the down from a stand. Name the position when the dog goes in on the tug. Test with a slack leash and with your hands down. Compulsion is named as force and paid at once. On a brace: say the word first, then a brief pop, hand low. Wait until you feel the tension. For a frightened dog, use steady pressure. On a known command, a brace gets the command and a light collar tap, not a harder pull (Kane). Collar: find the level the dog perceives ('what was that', not a jump) while layering. Once the command is known, move to a level judged by its effect: the dog stops and is less likely to repeat it. Leave the button alone if he answers the word.
On film
off-leash heel so I'm gonna start doing paired corrections with the e-collar and
i think of it like essentially three three like three ways you can blend right so you have social pressure you have physical pressure
yeah that was it she was like the hell was that okay um and that's because see like when you're first kind of like layering it on that's all you want to see you don't want to see oh right you want to see the jumping you only want to see that later in the process when she knows everything
so i just um and and i gave him a let's go first right so i'm reinforcing the command there
one thing you'll want to make sure you feel pressure from her first because sometimes we anticipate the pressure there you go yep let them make the mistake
In the dogs
Bo
At the park the trainer lets Bo hit the end of the line, reels him in, and names the recall at the instant he is coming. Minutes later he points out the first time the word works on its own. Collar and leash were introduced together so that Bo learns one pressure system.
On film
And you can see how quickly it could happen that's the first time that he responded to the verbal cue like he knew it
Roxy
The stages as separate jobs. The sit is produced with a light tug and no word, after two forced reps the handler admits to. The word comes after a break, and in the same household the word is then tested with a slack leash.
On film
The first there was like two times I had to fight her to sit down, but then I now I'm just like lightly tugging the leash and then she just sits.
Kodak
The counterintuitive claim is made on him: a little pressure on a known sit and a big release reduce his nervousness. A down he had never been asked for arrives through play with hardly any pressure, and the trainer, who had predicted otherwise, says on camera that he was wrong.
On film
okay kodak down okay good boy well i was wrong i was very wrong we did in fact
Finn
A big dog who went stiff under pressure. He was given pressure on a known sit or down, then 'okay' and a run together the instant he did it. At go-home Kelton tells the family it had become clear to Finn that doing it makes the pressure go away.
On film
But you see, he kind of still goes, he started,
Stormy
The whole loose-leash curriculum over three private lessons: a pull, a tug and a pop told apart, give-to-the-leash first, escape then avoidance. The family is told what the dog learns if they give up first.
On film
that's that's all it is so you're teaching pressure and then release so she feels pressure and instead of pulling into it she gives to it
Piglet
A reactive dog shown the way out of pressure at Bass Lake. The trainer stops for belly rubs and states the rule he holds himself to: reconcile after every single pressure, and leave long stretches with none.
On film
it every single time i put any pressure on a dog we reconcile afterwards somehow she's got to get a release to freedom
Drago
The method's own cost, admitted at handover. Leash work made him responsive and then too sensitive: 'a little too suppressed' with some trainers. The prong was retired and the family told to use only the pressure needed.
On film
and um and sometimes with a couple of our other trainers he was a little too suppressed he was like and you're going to see it in some of the videos
Zeus
The loop working. The release is the positive reinforcement 'on the back end', and a sensitised dog stops at any length of line the handler gives him. At the first lesson the family is told the leash should become a prop.
On film
No matter how short I cut it. If I cut it right here, he stops.
Lola
Day one is not obedience but a 'baseline concept': give to the leash instead of bracing. A trainer later warns the family that added pressure on a known command can make her look worse before she finds the answer.
On film
because if i tap an e-collar right if i just tap this right now right that gives no direction
Sage
It is coached step by step: elbows, not a halfway sit, from a stand in one movement, tug before hand, no word at first. At go-home Kelton refuses to command her into stillness when she is frightened.
On film
okay okay good girl so i always make sure that we teach them that way where they go from one smooth movement so the down is from a stand and the sit is from the stand you don't go to the sit and then the down
Cosmo
Connor pairs the stimulation with the exact instant the leash tightens, and later with a word. Days before go-home he lays out the three phases in plain words, and by then the word alone works.
On film
to take my arm and with the down and the final step of course being um you know getting getting all of those cues off and all i say is down it's a boom instantaneous and that's how it is with every command
Baxter
The fullest escape-and-avoidance teaching, given to the owner at home. The pinch and the punch, the collar as meaningless until an action is attached to a word, and the rule that if he answers the word the button stays alone.
On film
Yep. If he responds without the button, then you're good.
Ozzy
A nervous dog who flails on the lead. His handler holds steady pressure through the freak-out, because pressure he cannot get out of leaves calming down as the only exit.
On film
to like feel the pressure and be like i can't get out of it so i have to calm down there's no option
Daisy
One of two very frightened sisters. On day one nothing is asked except yielding to leash pressure, released to freedom. Later her trainer drops his usual pops for steady pressure, because pops raised her stress.
On film
at first I'm going to require absolutely nothing except for yielding to leash pressure.
Neo
In a busy public place his trainer catches himself using the collar on a down Neo doesn't yet know. He goes back to luring until the word is known, and only then reinforces it with the collar.
On film
He'll know what the word means,
Where the trainers differ
On film
It means that the sensitization is kind of in full effect for him, which is really good.
On film
and um and sometimes with a couple of our other trainers he was a little too suppressed
On film
trying to make them don't, don't make them do it. You know? Um, you know, just
On film
no idea how to do down so I'm just gonna help her I'm just gonna guide her even if I have to force her down and just release her immediately
See, he's kind of resisting it right now. hey bud I'm gonna kind of make him do it once
On film
If you guys know of a better way to train the down without without food, let me know.
On film
i'd like to see if he can do one for me um without me having to do very much uh pressure at all
On film
And it's because there's more pressure out of the puzzle that they have to solve.
On film
her down you are addressing the physical state of her body we're like okay she's
On film
and then the last lever is you uh you penalize so um i like the word penalty a lot better now
On film
So you got positive reinforcement,
On film
I do have to start using some kind of avoidance level for known commands like
As a course unit
The learner can run one complete repetition (pressure on, the dog solves it, pressure off at that instant, then pay) and attach the word at the moment of relief. He can teach a dog to give to the leash, produce a new position with the lightest aid and fade it, name which of the four levers he is using and judge it by the next rep, and keep the e-collar at escape level while a word is being learned, moving to avoidance only once it is known.
Lessons, in order
- Bracing and the oppositional reflex
- Pressure, release, reward
- Teach the move, then the word
- Hidden help
- One layer at a time: the order is part of the method
- The four behavioural levers
- Escape before avoidance: the collar backs a word the dog already knows
- Thinking is what makes it better
Drills
- Give to the leash, as in Stormy's third lesson: four to six feet of leash, hand low at your side, and walk back and forth with U-turns. On any tension, a quick pop, and the pressure is gone the instant she comes off it. In phase two change direction at random, and wait until you feel her tension before popping. Check with the locked-leash test given to Bandit's owner: lock it, pull back a little, and see whether he turns or braces.
- The word at relief, as run on Bo at the park: the dog on a long line, most of the session his own time. Let him reach the end, reel him in, and say the word at the instant he is moving toward you. Pay the arrival, then release with 'okay' straight back out.
- Movement first, word second, as run on Roxy and Ramsey: produce the position with a light tug and say nothing. After a break, add the word as he goes in, then say it again at once with a slack leash, and test it standing with your hands down.
- The aid ladder, as coached with Sage: tug, then tug plus hand, then tug alone, then the word. Down from a stand, one smooth movement, elbows on the ground.
- Name the lever, as with Thumper's handler: after each rep, say which lever each of your actions was, and predict its effect on the next rep.
- Escape to avoidance, as run with Baxter: 'come' once. If he doesn't turn, 'uh-uh', then a tap with a small leash tug for direction, and encouragement back. The owner first practises the timing on the trainer wearing the collar. The collar is used only once the owner is sure the dog knows the word.
Assessment
- In your last repetition, what changed for the dog at the exact instant he got it right, and what did he get afterwards?
- Your dog plants and leans back when you ask him to come along. Is he being stubborn, and what do you do first?
- You tap the collar and your dog comes to you. Later you tap it when he jumps on a guest. Which lever is each, and how will you know if either worked?
- Your dog has known 'come' for weeks. You tap the collar when he ignores it, he turns for a second, then goes back to sniffing. What does that tell you, and what changes?
- According to Kelton, what part of the sequence lowers a nervous dog's nervousness?