This video is in reposes to the following email I got from a member:

Dear Robert,

I’m new here. What I’m about to post, I already sent out to AMA, but there is just so much more I need to mention. It would mean everything to me if someone reads this.
I’m sorry if this message is too long. My heart is in the right place, and I will never get rid of my puppy, but I’m losing all hope and energy to push forward..

Over 5monthold, Malinois puppy. Reactivity started when he was 2 months old. So it’s over 3 and a half months of training him at this point, every single day.

It’s hard to specify what kind of reactivity this is, he’s reactive to absolutely everything when he sets his mind to it. What gets him boiling then?
Always:
Cars, bikes, noisy kids
Sometimes:
People, any people
Dogs
Pidgeons
Leaves in the wind

When he gets too worked up, and that happens every time at some point – he doesn’t care about me, the leash, the toys, the food, anything. He doesn’t seem to acknowledge me in any way. He has to launch towards what he’s looking at, he has to. Until taken away to somewhere quieter. We hide from cars most of the time. Before you judge, my goal is not to run away. Sometimes, when we have a good session and he’s been focused for a longer period, I take the risk of holding the ground while another car is approaching. Making my dog hold his focus, rewarding him for ignoring the car, and sometimes it works, but it’s extremely rare.
Taking that risk and failing is basically either going back home because he won’t focus anymore or trying to win him back (at least 1015 minutes of jumping like a monkey and hoping no other car will pass).
And all this time his yapping like his being set on fire. Neighbors already want me gone for the noise this dog makes. I’m tired…

How do we train? I go out with him 3 times a day. The first two sessions take 1 hour each, and the last session is usually somewhere between 30 and 45 mins.
I could go more often, and make the sessions shorter, but it takes so much from me to gather the energy needed for just one walk I feel like I can’t go without at least two coffees and an energy drink, because I will fail at getting his attention back.

I don’t know how to name exercises in English so I’m sorry if something is confusing. Training is simple, I train him generally to focus on me, my hand, my voice. I train him to walk beside me, while focusing on my hand, staying a bit behind, stopping when I stop. I reward him a lot (using just his food). We walk until he’s released and rewarded.
I also throw in some simple things in between to keep him focused and entertained, sit, down, stay, in a row, several times and quickly otherwise he will get bored and lose focus. Turn around, back off, hold positions until released. Lots, and lots of rewards, I feed him during those sessions. I need him hungry when we go out.
Sometimes I even take his bowl out there and make him eat outside, while exposed to distractions.
Also, I throw in some play every 10 minutes, he doesn’t have a high toy drive, but I try to get him to like toys by actively playing with him (tug of war). I keep the training toys specifically for training, he doesn’t see them in the house.

Also, I try to calm him down a bit, and set him to “work mode” every time we go out. That means, while we go down the stairs I teach him to walk with me, instead of just launching down there and waiting for me. I do that to keep him a bit more focused on what we’re going out for. Because, every time we step outside of the block apartment, he already pulls as hard as he can toward the street. He acts like he’s been dreaming of this moment each time. Like all he wants and needs is for me to open that door so he can sprint towards anything that moves.

We try different environments regularly, but I can’t put him in a car and drive somewhere else each session. We have to rely on the area we have.

Bonus info: He loves all dogs, and is curious of all people. No accidents so far. But he still launches towards them and gets angry because the leash is stopping him from doing so.

You can check out my online training at:
https://robertcabral.com

#malinois #dogtraining #malinoispuppy