Three bits of training that build the real thing, plus the flip of reality: why some dogs step outside and stop caring about food, toys and you entirely.
The training videos are below, the flip of reality is below, and the door to MK9Plus is right here.
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Everything you just watched is broken down visually below↓
Most "engagement training" you have seen is one thing: trying to out-compete the entire outside world with noises and flailing.
Being a silly, flailing, noise-making thing, trying to be more exciting than everything out there. That is not engagement. That is just having a good time. What happens when you stop?
The dog voluntarily chooses you, and you reinforce that choice. You are not keeping them there. They are keeping themselves there, because choosing you keeps paying off.
A room full of things your dog knows how to do. You, sat there, saying absolutely nothing except the marker word. The dog is left to figure out what gets the monkey moving.
The dog experiments. A button press? A sit? Feet on the tub?
No instructions. No luring. All voluntary. That is why it builds so much engagement.
10 to 15 minutes a day. Then take it everywhere: the garden, the car, downtown, a tree stump in the woods. Mix the rewards too. Food gets more repetitions in, but if a toy comes out every now and then, the dog wants to figure out even more.
Three voluntary choices to catch and reward. Not asked for. Not lured. Chosen.
They glance at you: bit of food. They wander over: "Brilliant stuff, there's the tug toy," then it goes away and the dog is gutted it is gone. The more you reinforce something, the more it happens.
Pipe down on the food. That is it. A dog stuck to your leg the whole walk is not a dog walk, you might as well put them on a treadmill. We want check-ins, not velcro.
Here is the uncomfortable truth: a lot of the disengagement on your walks was trained. By you. Calling the dog, then standing there waiting. Calling the dog, then following them anyway.
Number one: you never have to keep an eye on us. Number two: when I do recall, you don't actually have to listen. No urgency, no consequence, no reason to check in.
Say nothing and keep moving. No telling off, ever, that just creates new problems. The consequence is natural: lose track of the humans and the humans are gone.
Your dog will still chase things and do dog stuff. That is fine. The difference is a dog that checks back in on their own, long before they are three fields away.
Your dog steps outside and instantly stops caring about food. About toys. About you. Do we honestly think that is a lack of training?
Engagement training raises your bar. Great, keep doing it. But when a dog is that desperate for everything out there, something is inflating the red bar from underneath. And you cannot fix that with more engagement training.
Could be all of these. Could be some. For most dogs, it is the first one.
New training works at first because it is novel. If every technique slowly stops working and you are onto the next tip, that is not bad luck. That is your clue that something bigger is going on.
Solve the root cause and the training actually ends. No more carting food and toys on every walk forever. And better: new problems stop popping up in six months' time.
This is how you deflate the red bar. None of it is a training session.
Find what your dog is bred for and give it to them. Don't know the breed? Doesn't matter, every dog can be given outlets that scratch the itch you are currently leaving to squirrels.
90% of your dog's serotonin comes from their food. Wrong ingredients means lower serotonin, and lower serotonin means higher dopamine. A wired dog, straight from the bowl.
More sleep means less arousal. Learning how to encourage proper rest changes more behaviour than most training plans ever will.
If it feels like just a training issue, brilliant: play with the three techniques above for a couple of weeks and see how you go. But if the training keeps fading... you already know what is really going on.
I said I was trying something different, and this is it. Not a course to buy. An invitation to come in free, find what is ruining your dog's engagement, and fix it with me alongside you.
Frustration? Arousal? Under-stimulation? The Under the Surface lessons pinpoint what your dog is actually going through.
The exact series I mentioned: breed outlets, the feeding lessons, and how to get a dog that actually rests.
Message me directly about your dog. No more guessing which situation you are in.
Rotating Q&A, topic deep dives and Zoom calls. Recordings and notes uploaded if you miss one.
Foundation, Integration, Expand. Including the full engagement and distraction systems.
Themed rooms for questions, progress and weekly advice, plus the odd challenge.
Start with a 7 day free trial. Then, after a defined period on the platform, if you would not pick up poo with your bare hands to stay a member, you do not pay a penny. Money back. Plus you can cancel anytime and even pause your membership if life gets busy.
The training finally has an end, the red bar deflates, and you get the dog that just lives well with you.
You tell me this sucks within your guarantee period, get your money back, and keep everything you learned. At no cost.
Either way, the only thing guaranteed not to help is walking away today and going back to what you were doing before.
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