Ares | Belgian Malinois | Simi Valley, CA | In-Training
Updated: Aug 29
Meet Ares! Ares is an eighteen-month-old Belgian Malinois here for our Old School Three-Week Board and Train Program. Ares is a recently adopted typical Belgian Malinois. He is a loving young pup that has a few unwanted behaviors. Although Ares doesn’t pull too hard on the leash, he does wander off to do his own thing. His obedience is unreliable. Ares will jump on furniture and on people at times. Ares can perform a command or two with proper motivation; however, he lacks structure and performs tasks inconsistently. Over the next twenty-one days, Ares is going to learn to be an obedient pup through consistent, clear communication and balanced training at home and by discovering new people and places. Ares will learn to perform all these things on and off leash through a positive and balanced training environment. Through structure and consistency, Ares will demonstrate how great a pup he can be! Stay tuned for Ares’s three-week transformation!
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/08/26
Today, Mr. Ares joined me for his Old-School-Three-Week Board and Train Program. On the way home, we stopped at a local park to see what commands Mr. Ares could perform. He performed a sit. That was it. He kept trying to sniff the ground and was interested in the people at the park. He was hyper aware of all the activity going on at the park. I think you know all that, and that's why he's here. After I tested his skills, we had a mini photoshoot for his profile picture for his blog. I don't know if you know this, but as soon as dogs see a phone or camera in front of their face, you are now invisible to them, and they must ignore you at all costs. Once we got what we needed, we loaded up and headed to Mr. Ares's temporary residence for the next two weeks. Mr. Ares had no issues with the car ride.
Once we got home, I let Mr. Ares smell Ms. Toji and Mr. Moose through the front gate. All the pups were excited to meet Mr. Ares. Mr. Ares sniffed them through the fence. I observed no reactivity in this initial meeting. Mr. Ares had no problems getting into the house. I let him explore each room and meet everyone. Throughout the introductions, Mr. Ares showed a happy interest in everything in the new environment. He was excited to meet everyone. I let Mr. Ares smell the pups through my screen door to the dog run area. Once again, I did not observe any adversity. I took Mr. Ares outside to meet Ms. Toji and Mr. Moose. This meeting went well. Mr. Ares was standoffish with the other two pups but didn’t show any signs of discomfort.
We then went on a long walk around the block so that he could get used to the sights, sounds, and scents of his temporary new neighborhood. He didn’t pull too hard or lag. He mostly walked in front of me. He did mark a few trees, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. He ignored all the other dogs in the houses that barked at us as we went around.
I put him into his assigned crate for his stay with me. He needed a little motivation. Once we have him introduced to the e-collar, we will use that to motivate him to enter the crate. When he was next to Mr. Moose, he started to growl at him, so I don’t think they are going to hang out together very much. I let them out to hang out in the office, and they didn’t get along. Mr. Moose is a young pup, possibly going through puberty, but he is the sweetest guy. He was licking Mr. Ares’ face, and Mr. Ares did not like that for some reason.
I expect to see him work well with the structure and positive reinforcement. I expect him to respond well to treats if he isn’t overwhelmed by the structure and e-collar. With clear, persistent communication and expectations, he will learn to be a well-mannered pup!
I gave him dinner and observed how much he ate. I keep track of his weight and will ensure that he maintains his weight while he is with me.
I've attached the e-collar familiarization video. Please review the video a few times before Mr. Ares's turnover. We'll practice together to make sure you are comfortable with the system before using it with Mr. Ares. I will introduce the e-collar for tomorrow’s training. I will see how he reacts to training with the e-collar and pinch collar.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/09/26
Today was another scorcher! Sheeeeesh! That mildly bothers Mr. Ares. For today's training, I introduced the e-collar to determine the appropriate level for Mr. Ares. As you can see, I started by throwing the ball with Mr. Ares to put him in a good, playful mood. Although you have introduced your e-collar to him, I wanted to take my time and do it the usual way to make sure that Mr. Ares doesn't have a negative view of the e-collar. Who am I kidding? He's a mal; not much bothers them. I play, put the collar on loosely, play more, put the collar on snugly, play more, then start to raise the levels up, 5 at a time. I observed his first change or indication around level 5, which is really low and really good. I then worked up to about 20 to see what his max level would be. He was still fine at that level.
Once I had a good range of levels, level 10-15 with Mr. Ares, I took off the e-collar and switched over to the prong collar. Mr. Ares was a much better-behaved pup with the prong collar on. This is a good sign. Now my job will be to pair the prong collar with the e-collar. We want the pressure of the prong collar to mean the same thing with the e-collar. I reviewed "sit", "place, "down", "heel", and "come-to-sit". We will have to teach him "under", send away to "place", and come to "heel". We will need a stronger foundation of the basic commands before moving on to some of these.
I can assure you he has adjusted well to being here. He does love the Chuck-It ball I have. I thought he would be tired from the hot sun and the training, but he came inside, drank a little bit of water, and has been playing with the ball incessantly. Once again, typical Mal behavior.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/10/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to Rynerson Park in Lakewood, CA. We continued to practice with the prong collar and integrating the e-collar stimulation. Mr. Ares was being quite sensitive to the prong collar today. It requires a deft hand and timing to get the most out of the prong collar, especially when he's trying to jump on me. Jumping on people is no longer authorized, Mr. Ares! This will take some time to get out of him. He really likes me and wants to be with me, but jumping on me is not going to get him what he wants from me. I did forget to bring his ball, but I will be bringing it with me wherever we go from now on. He is going to learn to work hard for his ball.
We worked on his "heel" to start. He went straight to Velcro mode. I'll take Velcro mode for now. He was stuck to me as if his life depended on it. With time, I'll allow him to be a little less clingy, but for now, this works as he can pick up on when I turn or move. We then went to work on his extended "sit". My first goals are duration and then work on distance. I moved too far away from him, and he broke the "sit". I'll stay close for now until we get a consistent, longer "sit". Then we went back to "heel" and mixed in a few "come-to-sit" exercises. With either treats or the ball, this will be easier to entice him into position. I had him perform "place" and "down". He was good with this one. We are headed in the proper direction with Mr. Ares. All of our e-collar levels were between 5 and 15 as needed.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/11/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to Liberty Park in Cerritos, CA to continue his training. There were low distractions here. A few people were running on the track, a few people were playing beach volleyball, but nothing too busy. It was still a little too warm for all the activities to be kicking off, but it was good enough for us to get work in outside.
I am still working with Mr. Ares on the prong collar + e-collar combination. He is quite strong-willed and stubborn. It is ok. Typical Malinois mentality and stubbornness. He's eager to please, but their minds are going 100MPH. As you can see, I started with a simple "heel". He's doing well with this one. Next, I tried to get him to perform an extended "sit". This is challenging for him to slow his hyperactive Mal brain down to not move for an extended period of time. I worked on his "come-to-sit". That's a work in progress. I then had him "place" and attempted to get him to "down" on his own. I used downward leash pressure and gently, then firmly pushed down on his back. He was resisting both at the same time somehow. I then had to just slide his feet out. I kept asking him to do it to see if he was learning or just relying on me. He's still relying on me. We will stay consistent and persistent with this task until he masters it on his own. Because he was struggling with the down, I skipped introducing the "under" command today. I want to see him have a better understanding of this before we introduce this one.
I brought his ball with me to use as a motivator and a reward for doing well. He wasn't as thrilled about this as I would have liked. I wanted to use something more positive rather than relying on a prong collar. I'll try to find a happy medium, or some treats might work instead. If I give him too much physical reinforcement, that causes him to break his commands and want to come closer to me.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/12/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I reviewed his manners around the house. We continue to practice with the prong collar and e-collar combination.
I started with the most common form of door manners. Mr. Ares must sit and wait until we open the door. Whenever he attempts to get up or breaks the sit, we must reset him. If we open the door quickly, it could induce him to break his command. We close the door and reset the whole process. This is the most frequently used version of door manners.
The second method involves having Mr. Ares perform a "place" and "down" at the door. This allows us to go in and out with mail, deliveries, groceries, etc without him chasing us inside and out. It's also a good way to allow Mr. Ares to meet people as they come over. He can go to his "place" and then wait to meet the new people. They can ignore him if he's being too hyper or give him a quick hello if he's behaving nicely.
Next, I demonstrated the food manners. This is a simple process that involves having Mr. Ares perform a "sit" prior to being allowed to eat his food. Mr. Ares isn't too picky, but he's not a food hound, so this mid-day snack was only slightly appealing to him.
Lastly, I demonstrated for you his car manners. This involves having Mr. Ares perform a "sit" and then saying "Load Up!" when it is time for him to go into the vehicle. Mr. Ares is good at this command. No real issues for him.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/13/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to Home Depot in Lakewood, CA. Overall, Mr. Ares is improving each day. I switched over to a slip lead instead of the prong collar. Both work on the same premise of using consistent pressure all the way around his neck, applied all at once; however, the slip lead is quiet, and the pup doesn't hear when the pressure is coming. Also, the pressure of the slip lead can be more constant without causing Mr. Ares to be too upset. He can be vocal at times with the prong collar. I found it to be a very good transition, and Mr. Ares was just as responsive to the slip lead as he was to the prong collar.
We reviewed "place", "down", "sit", "heel", and "come-to-sit". I tried to introduce under as you can see in one of the pictures, but he still wasn't having it. When I put too much downward pressure to encourage the "down", Mr. Ares is noncompliant. I find that standing in front of him and then asking him to "down" is a lot more consistent. I did attempt to ask him to "come-to-heel," which he actually performed quite well. He has a lot of repetitions in his future for "down" and "come-to-sit". His "heel" is looking and feeling a lot better. With Mr. Ares, it will be important for me to slow down my pace and make Mr. Ares slow down as well. He will have to pay more attention to me when I walk slowly. This forces him to stay in position and not think we're on cruise control. I have a few strategies to teach "under." I will have to dedicate an upcoming training day to working on "under" and "down". I'd like to have him know or be introduced to all the commands by the end of this week.
He did show a little reactivity towards another pup while we were at the store. I gave him an "off!" plus leash pop with the slip lead. I will need to keep an eye on this. This is something you mentioned that he does on walks, and we want to address. As long as we can get it under control, we can carry forward with off-leash work, but if he is unable to control himself, we might have to reconsider how safe it is for him to be off-leash. No need to worry about it yet, as it only happened once. I like when the pups perform unwanted behavior because that allows me an opportunity to teach them wanted behavior in those situations, i.e., ignore the other dog, focus on us, and stay on task.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/14/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to Liberty Park in Cerritos, CA, to continue to work on his obedience commands in public places. I brought his ball to try to help with his obedience. I have been playing with him at the house and using the ball to motivate him. I wanted to show you that on camera.
We worked on "heel", "place", come to heel", "down", "come-to-sit"; we attempted to teach send away to "place," but he was too keen on the ball, and I finally introduced "down" using the ball. As of today, we have introduced all of his commands.
My favorite thing about training with Mr. Ares is that it just feels like playing with him more than training. I even tried to introduce "through" or "middle". I may or may not be able to teach him that, but he is so eager to please and willing to work with me that I have to control myself and not try to teach him all the tricks. Once we get mastery of the commands that he needs to learn, I'll start teaching him a few others.
Great job today, Mr. Ares!
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/15/24
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA, to practice a few of his commands around higher-level distractions. I tend to let the pup show me what we need to work on based on their abilities and reactions to the environment. With that being said, I could see that the hyper-vigilant Mr. Ares was constantly scanning and taking in the environment from the moment we walked in the doors. This led to a distracted "heel," which in turn led to us focusing on this task. As a result, we made a very slow walk through the entire mall. At the end of the training, he was doing a lot better at staying in the proper position. We conducted all of today's training on the flat collar and e-collar.
We were also able to practice his "down," which we have been working diligently on mastering. We practiced his "come-to-sit", his "place", and his "sit". He does get distracted at times by other pups who may bark or act tough when they see Mr. Ares. I apply a well-timed "Off!" + e-collar stimulation, and then remind him to "heel". If he doesn't perform the task immediately, I go up on the e-collar levels until I have his attention. The great thing with Mr. Ares is that he is not too reactive or fixated, and he is sensitive to the e-collar stimulation, which means that we usually only have to go from level 10 to 15-20 or level 15 to 20-25 (depending on where we are working), and we have his attention. If we go too high with the e-collar, Mr. Ares gets overwhelmed and confused.
Lastly, we were also able to let a stranger say "hi" without breaking his "down".
Good job today around all the distractions and stimuli, Mr. Ares!
P.S. Mr. Ares was getting a lot of attention at the mall because he is a handsome, well-behaved Malinois.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/16/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I had a fun day of training in the backyard. I continued to reinforce his "under", "down", and really tried to work on send away to "place," but that wasn't going how I would have liked. As you can see, I had my mini trainer assist me today. Mr. Ares did get her hands when she tried to get him to perform the "down". He is quite obsessed with the ball and will paw, jump, and engage in other unwanted behaviors to get the ball. I am trying to motivate him to perform these tasks with the ball; however, he gets a little too fixated. Also, he sometimes does not perform the command properly despite being asked multiple times. This results in me having to hold the stimulation down a little longer.
Overall, the "under" is looking much better. He is even giving good "down" behavior when the ball is not present. When it's present, he tends to break the "down" in anticipation of the ball. This is a fine balance of rewarding him for good behavior, but he also needs to perform the tasks more consistently. I'll vary when I use the ball or not to make sure he is properly learning and understanding the tasks. We shape the commands, prompt him with verbal prompts and rewards, and then we have to fade out the ball.
Lastly, a big step was that we did almost all of the training without the leash, and we are at the end of week one of training! This is a good sign for his progress. I don't know if you can see it in the videos, but he is fixated on me the entire time. He wants to do whatever I ask him. He is a really good pup!
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/17/26
Today, Ares and I headed over to Rose the Riveter Park in Long Beach, CA. We mainly focused on Mr. Ares being calm. He did get to meet Mr. Oso and Ms. Ruby. Mr. Ares was a little reactive to the pups at first, but I quickly shut that down and let him know that was not appropriate. Then, he was just fine with Ms. Ruby and Mr. Oso, as you can see.
I did practice his "under" at the benches, and he went right under there. His "down" was a lot more consistent today than it has been. I kept resetting him whenever he would get up. I relied on the e-collar as a primary communication tool with him. He was able to respond well to this. Once again, we operate around 10-15, but when he is being impulsive and breaking commands, I'll go up to 20-25. I find that if I have to go up to 25, I hold the stimulation button down, and that is enough to get him back on track.
We are getting closer to being off-leash. Hopefully by the end of this week, we can go fully off-leash in public places. I still have to keep an eye out for how he responds to other dogs. I will also recruit my kids to ride bikes around Mr. Ares and me as we go on a walk. Look forward to seeing that sometime this week.
I also tried to give Mr. Ares his medicine, but he won't eat it. I wrapped it in sandwich meat, and he ate the meat but not the medicine. I'll keep trying to sneak it into his food, as he already is picky about how much and when he eats it.
Good progress today, Mr. Ares!
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/18/26
Today, I worked on Mr. Ares' reactivity to bicycle riders and his obedience. I recruited my daughter, aka my mini-trainer, to assist me with the training today. Mr. Ares is so sweet with her, and she really likes him. As I advised before, I wanted to practice his reactivity to bike riders. I will be going to a local skate park after today's session to see if he shows any other reactivity. Today, he showed none. This is a step in the right direction. I had my mini-trainer ride back and forth while he was in the "place" and "down". I also had him perform a leash-dragging "heel" while she rode on the opposite side of the street. He never showed any reactivity to trying to get to her. I had the leash on in case he did go after the bike, so I could then step on the leash while using the e-collar to control him.
I threw in a couple of send-away to "places," but they aren't very far yet. I am going to have to dedicate a day of training just to this task. I tried putting the ball on the cot and then sending him to get it, but that didn't work as planned. He went to the cot and got on it.
He occasionally gets spun up and won't listen or can be a little overwhelmed. I move the e-collar levels up to about 20 and hold it down for a few seconds. This is enough to get his attention and get him back on track. Then we go back to level 10-15 and go back to our business.
P.S. He did eat his medicine yesterday.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/19/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to El Dorado Park in Long Beach, CA, to continue progressing with his obedience tasks. It went really well today. The only downside was the lack of stimuli, but we'll start increasing that over the next week he's here.
The biggest net positive was that we conducted all of the training completely off-leash! What a great job today, Mr. Ares! We practiced all of his commands: "heel", "sit", "place", "down", "come-to-heel", "come-to-sit", "under", and " send away to "place". The only hiccups were with him going to the correct side on the "come-to-sit" and the "come-to-heel". Mr. Ares is clever and is trying to take a shortcut to the proper side. I'll see if I can fix it or if that's easier for Mr. Ares. If he's willingly giving me good, wanted behavior, then I'll capitalize on this behavior and shift my training.
A few bikes went by, and he paid them no mind while fully off-leash. We can continue pushing him into higher-stimulus environments.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/20/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I stopped by Rynerson Park in Lakewood, CA. This will likely be our last time stopping by here. I wanted to show you how high-drive Mr. Ares is for his ball and how we can have fun with him. He ignores everything when the ball comes out. So we started with some quick obedience skills before initiating ball play. I got him worked up with the ball drive and then tried to bring him back to obedience. As you can see, he struggled with this a little bit. I had to put the leash back on him and get him to calm down. Once I got him back in line, I let him play with the ball again. I don't know how long we could be out there before he would get tired. The Malinois mind would let him work endlessly, but we don't do that for his own safety.
Tomorrow, we are making a trip over to Santa Monica Pier to see how he does around that level of distractions. Stay tuned for that update!
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/21/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, CA. This was a fun trip out there. It was a warm 80 degrees, blue skies, and a nice breeze- a perfect SoCal day. Mr. Ares is always panting like he just ran a marathon, but it's par for the course for the Malinois - everything at full speed.
Mr. Ares did ok with this experience. Because of the perfect summer day, the pier was pretty full. Mr. Ares can show signs of stress or being overwhelmed with his excessive drooling. I observed this behavior in him today. We went off-leash a few times, but I needed to use the e-collar remote more often than usual, which caused him to become more overstimulated. It was a balancing act of managing his stress while ensuring that he was carrying out his tasks. We did get some friends to say hi to Mr. Ares, and he had no issues with this. He did get focused on a few pigeons that were walking around, but with a well-timed "Off!, he ignored them. Once again, the hardest or most challenging task with Mr. Ares continues to be his send-away to "place". I'll have to reinforce this as much as I can over this next week. Hope you enjoy all the pictures from today!
It was another hot day, and I managed his time outside so that he enjoyed the AC and the cool air inside.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/22/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I worked on his house manners fully off-leash. As you can see, he has been doing great with his obedience overall. We continue to push him with all his tasks off-leash.
I display the regular door manners, where Mr. Ares performs a "sit" at the door, and then we allow him to go out. Remember, we go first and then Mr. Ares. Or we can go out at the same time, but try to be consistent by having him wait until we are outside.
Next, I demonstrated the door manners where he has to perform a "place" and "down" at the door while we go in and out. I also threw in some practice "send-away-to-place."
Next, I demonstrated his car manners, where he needs to load into the car. He has no issues with this command. Sometimes, he is a little too zealous with this command. He will run and jump right into an open vehicle. He knows what I expect of him and anticipates. Ensure we keep everything structured for the young Mr. Ares.
Lastly, we played with the ball a little bit in the front yard. It's best to just save the ball for the end of a training session. He loses his mind. His drive goes through the roof, and he goes to a different mental space. I tried to get him to jump over the fence, but he's not that crazy a Mal. He's smart enough to just go around the fence. I tried to get him to go through the middle and try some other things to motivate him to perform with the ball, but he just loses his mind and wants to chase it.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/23/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA, to review his commands in a very busy mall with my mini-trainer. It was busy, likely due to another 90+ degree day, and people were looking for somewhere to cool off.
Have you ever seen a seven-year-old girl walk through a crowded mall with a Belgian Malinois? Apparently, neither have most of the people at the mall, who couldn't help but stare at my mini-trainer, making sure Mr. Ares stayed a well-behaved pup throughout. She was not managing the remote; that was my job. I used it sparingly, and we watched for distractions, such as other pups.
I think Mr. Ares is doing a great job with all of his obedience! This was a nice break away from the heat and from staying all day indoors.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/24/26
Today was the hottest day of the week according to the weather reports. I did unconventional training because of the heat. I trained with Mr. Ares and Ms. JoJo at the same time in my living room. The heat didn't slow down, and we needed to get our training in.
I had Mr. Ares practice his "under", "place", "down", recall, and "sit". Mr. Ares was struggling with his "sit" today. My mini-trainer said she wanted to train Mr. Ares since he's "easier" to train. Not today, he wasn't. He was off on his own program. That's fine because then we have to go up a little bit on the e-collar remote to help him. Things like lying down when we ask our pup to "sit" are not acceptable. If we want them to "down" or they are showing us signs of tiredness, then it is our idea to "down" and not his.
We'll head back out and about tomorrow and for the last few days. We'll have to be efficient and strategic with our time outside to ensure he doesn't overheat or have any issues. I know you live where it can get quite warm, and you take him on daily walks, but I don't want to put him in any compromising positions with the heat. We'll have to head back to the mall or other indoor locations to work on send-away to "place" and a few other tasks.
Lastly, I let the pups hang around the house a little more today, and they had a blast. Mr. Ares is a great pup and fits right in with the family.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/25/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to El Dorado Park in Long Beach, CA. I waited until late in the day and sought out a shaded area to conduct our training. Despite my efforts to mitigate the heat, it was still pretty hot, but bearable.
As you can see, I had Ms. JoJo out with us while I trained with Mr. Ares. I started with a nice little double "heel" with both of them. Mr. Ares and Ms. JoJo have been getting along so well, so I figured, why not see if they could tolerate it. They had no issues.
I had Mr. Ares hang out in the "place" and "down" while I trained with Ms. JoJo. Once I completed Ms. JoJo's training, I switched over to training Mr. Ares while Ms. JoJo relaxed in the "down". My main focus today was the send-away to "place". I had him on the leash to practice this. I was able to work up to sending away to place. I tried to stand in the middle and send him from over 20' away, but he wasn't too keen on that. It was a lot easier to conduct this while moving toward the place cot. I was able to get him to go to the cot from over 15' away, so great training!
I do want to add that Mr. Ares did take off towards a private soccer lesson. He was fixated on the balls and ran over there. I had to ramp up to level 40-45 to get his attention and bring him back. The good news is that he came back; the bad news is that he is hyper-fixated on balls due to his drive. As long as we are consistent, persistent, and willing to be more distracting than the distraction, we will be successful. This was a very high level for Mr. Ares, as he is usually a little vocal even at level 20-25. He was deep in drive mode for the balls.
Lastly, I put both of them on the cot, walked away, and hid behind the tree to see if they would stay. Of course they did because they are good pups. I gave them the "Break!" command and gave them love and attention. I let them play with each other, as we've been locked up inside for most of the day due to the heat. A few more days of training left, and Mr. Ares will be back home!
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/26/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to Lakewood Mall in Lakewood, CA. It was a good, cool reprieve from the heat, but unfortunately, there wasn't much more going on over there. We did traverse the entire footprint of the mall, practicing his "heel". We did get to practice our greeting manners with some strangers. We stopped at a photo booth for Mr. Photogenic. He's so funny because, despite displaying many atypical Malinois behaviors, he refuses to jump over stuff and didn't want to jump down from the photo booth. He needed a little bit of encouragement to jump down.
Over the next few days, expect to see a comprehensive review of all of his commands and another trip over to the Santa Monica Pier.
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/27/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to Liberty Park in Cerritos, CA, to review his commands in a public setting prior to our trip to Santa Monica Pier tomorrow. He completed the first few "send away to place" commands before becoming a little distracted by the family playing with a soccer ball and the other mini-human soccer practice happening nearby.
Overall, another really good day of training. He did wander off at me at one point, and then I ramped up the e-collar remote and recalled him back. I have been giving it one big turn up and then pressing and holding the e-collar remote to get his attention. He required a few more "Off!" commands than usual due to the soccer balls being kicked around, but as you can see, we were able to work through it.
Good job today, Mr. Ares!!
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/28/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I headed over to the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, CA, to do a comprehensive review of all of his commands around a lot of distractions. Add in the humidity, and it was a challenging day for Mr. Ares.
We covered "send away to place", extended "place", "down", "come-to-sit", "heel", "under", and extended "sit". We had an "Off!" in there as well. Lastly, we had a few people say "hi" to Mr. Ares while we were at the pier. I know you guys live out in a warmer part of the planet and walk him regularly, but the humidity and the stress of all the stimuli definitely wore out Mr. Ares.
Remember, although he can do everything off-leash, especially when he is rested and in low-stimuli environments, having him on a leash is always safest. In addition to that, as I have stated before, if he starts to wander off, as he did at one point to my wife's side instead of mine, it is very important to ramp up the e-collar remote as high as possible, as quickly as possible, to get his attention. He may become slightly vocal; however, when moving up by 5 at a time to get his attention, he will not respond quickly enough to deter unwanted behavior such as wandering away from me or even moving toward a small dog, like he tried to do today. He is a sweet pup who usually works fine around level 10-15 in low-stimulus environments.
Tomorrow, we will conduct a comprehensive review of his manners around the house, and he'll be ready to go!
Ares | Belgian Malinois | Pupdate 08/27/26
Today, Mr. Ares and I had a comprehensive review of his manners around the house. We reviewed his door manners, food manners, and car manners. Of course, he did a great job with these commands, as he's been a great pup to work with. I'll miss Mr. Ares and how sweet he is and how trainable he has been.
I've attached pictures of the e-collar that I used for Mr. Ares that he will be coming home with. I also added a picture of the antenna that I picked up for you for your other e-collar.
As a reminder, here are the obedience commands that he has learned while with me:
Sit/Extended Sit: Press the black "S" button + say "Sit".
Down/Extended Down: Press the black "S" button + say "Down".
Place/Extended Place: Press the black "S" button + say "Place".
Come-To-Sit: Press the black "S" button + say "Come" + use your hands to guide them into place and say "sit" when they are on your left side.
Come-To-Heel: Press the black "S" button + say "Heel" + use your hand to tap your left side while walking to recall Mr. Ares to his heel position.
Heel: Press the black "S" button + say "Heel".
Under: Press the black "S" button + say "Under" while casting Mr. Ares in the direction of the item you want him to go under.
Food Manners/Refusal: The pup must patiently wait in either a "sit" or "down" while you prepare the food and then say "break," allowing the pup to access the food.
Car Manners: Press the black "S" button + say "Load up!"
Greeting Manners: Have the pup "sit," then allow the new person to say hi
Door Manners: Place the pup in a "sit", open the door, and then allow the pup to go through with you, or say "ok" and let the pup inside
"Off" + black button "S" to stop the pup from performing unwanted behavior. Always press the black "S" when using this command.
"Break!" - no stimulation, and the pup can freely sniff or go potty.
We will be reviewing how to perform all this tomorrow during the turnover! We can't wait to show you how much he has learned and how great a pup he will be in the future!
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