Amped up, then not listening.
His trainer sums up the owner’s main concern: Apollo “gets amped up and then he doesn’t listen.” The nickname came from his play. In tug he was mouthy enough that his trainer counted at least 15 nips, none hard enough to hurt.
Around dogs and people he got overexcited. His trainer reads that as excitement and frustration at being held back, not aggression.
Play became the classroom.
Tug was “far and away” his favourite thing, so that is where the lessons went. Commands are asked for at the height of the game. The out often gives the toy straight back, so stopping never means the fun is over.
One rule came with it: biting is for the tug toy. “You can’t just bite at me when we’re not tugging,” his trainer tells him, with a clear “nope” when he tries.
Listening while excited.
Over the following weeks Apollo worked in parks, on trails and in stores. He held a down while runners with dogs passed. He knew his recall but would sprint past his handler when excited, so the work moved to a dragging line and then towards off-leash practice.
“Fully off leash.”
In a field his trainer throws the ball and calls Apollo off it mid-sprint. “I did not have to use the e-collar for that callback,” he says. Minutes later: “at this point Apollo is fully off leash.”
The skills travelled. On trails he was recalled away from deer and another dog, and in a busy store his trainer could look at him and say: “Three and a half weeks ago, bro. Zero.”
His owner left with the same tools: the markers, the recall rule and a collar setting for busy places.
The same dog, listening.
Apollo’s owner arrived at the go-home lesson with a plan: “he’s literally gonna come with me to go to work.” He practised the markers, the three stages of the walk and tug with a clean out, and was told 20 minutes a day keeps it going. Asked about the walk, he said it was “a lot better.”
His trainer’s verdict was exactly what the family wanted: “the same dog, just he listens.” The big change, in his words: Apollo no longer loses it when he sees dogs and people. The owner’s reaction: “I’m pretty happy with this.”
