Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Canine Intervention’ On Netflix, A Reality Series Where Jas Leverette Trains Dogs Who Are On Their Last Chances

We all know that dogs, like other pets, can get traumatized and carry emotional baggage as complex as any human does. The way it comes out is usually through aggression, which, if left unchecked, can lead to tragic results. Jas Leverette trains dogs with histories of aggression, and his methods have led to a very successful business, as well as saving numerous dogs from being euthanized. On Canine Intervention, he travels to different locations to visit pups who need his help.

CANINE INTERVENTION: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Closeups of dogs’ faces. Jas Leverette says in voice over, “Dogs are complex creatures with complex emotions. They feel joy, hurt, fear and love.”

The Gist: Leverette owns Cali K9 in San Jose, and he’s considered one of the best dog trainers in California. He’s the trainer that owners look to when their dogs are on their last chances. He trains dogs that have been considered vicious due to previous attacks on people and other dogs; in many cases, Jas is the owners’ last hope that their beloved pets don’t get euthanized.

In the first episode, Leverette goes to Malibu to train a 2-year-old pit bull named Lady Macbeth. She used to live on the streets of Los Angeles with her person, but six months prior her person was shot and so was she, causing her to lose one of her front legs. She has a new owner, but her aggressiveness has caused her to bite three houseguests. This is because, due to her history, she perceives new people who walk in the house as a threat to her person.

Leverette demonstrates how scared Lady is by standing his ground when she lunges instead of running. He determines that she’ll have to come back with him to San Jose for 3 weeks in order to be taught how to substitute the fear with a dopamine response. He slowly teaches her how to react when unknown distractions invade her space, generally by pulling on her leach and saying “NO!” immediately. Then he introduces a new trainer into the mix.

But what we find out from Leverette is that the case of Lady is near to his heart. Growing up in Oakland, his dogs always had his back; he had to put down one of his dogs, Sinbad, when he killed another dog. “I had no idea what to do” to curb Sinbad’s aggression, and he learned over time that not only does he need to get into a dog’s head and figure out what scares him or her and try to train him or her how to avoid those thoughts, but also how to train the owners to set expectations and know how to work with their dogs to help them navigate the world.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Canine Intervention has the feel of shows like Pit Boss, but more serious, with higher stakes and less reality BS.

Our Take: Jas Leverette is the centerpiece of Canine Intervention, and his unique view of how dogs think and feel comes through from the first minutes of the series. But what we appreciated about the series is that he’s trying to train at-risk dogs, ones that are facing being euthanized if Jas isn’t successful.

The dogs are just as important to the success of the show as Jas is, however. Jas and the dog’s owners have to convey that these beloved pets are not vicious and that their aggressiveness is due to traumas that can be corrected. What we wish the series, at least in the first episode, showed more of was Leverette’s training methods and the ups and downs he and the dogs experience along the way.

When he brings Lady back to his owner, for instance, he warns that she’s always going to be a work in progress and the owner needs to be mindful of that. We wish that some of that work in progress was seen on screen, so instead of just hearing from Jas that there’s still more work to do, we see that.

The other thing we’re worried about is that Leverette’s clients are going to all be wealthy or upper middle-class. We’re hoping that he varies the people whose dogs he helps; the guy in Malibu, for instance, not only had to pay for Jas’ services, but likely a hotel for him to stay overnight, and kennel fees for Lady to stay at Cali K9 for three weeks. If Jas’ services are truly the last hope for some dogs, we would like to see him offer his training to dogs who don’t have wealthy owners.

Parting Shot: Lady’s owner says “She’s kind of a real-life miracle. What a turnaround story,” as he jogs down the street with her.

Sleeper Star: We just went “awwwwwww!” every time Lady Macbeth jogged around onscreen. She has very quickly gotten used to running around on three legs.

Most Pilot-y Line: None.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Canine Intervention is a feel-good show where we see dogs get past their aggressive behaviors because they’re trained by someone who not only cares, but knows canine emotions as well as any human we’ve seen.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Canine Intervention On Netflix