Meet Jijesh S, Malayalam cinema’s dog whisperer, who fed Eko's animals by hand & trained them

In Dinjith Ayyathan's movie 'Eko', one scene stands out: a dog dashes across the wind-blown grassy path towards a man on the edge of a precipice. The beast appears maniacal in its run, like possessed by a devil. In one quick leap, it is air-borne, swerves sideways and shoves the man with the hindlimbs.

The act looks sudden, even scary, and entirely natural on screen. But the dog does not spring by instinct or accident. Every movement happens because of a cue that lasts less than a second, delivered from just the right angle, at just the right distance. On screen, it reads as sudden violence. Off screen, it is the result of weeks of conditioning, trust-building and precision.

That precision was overseen by Jijesh S, a professional dog trainer from Thiruvananthapuram, who handled the training of the dogs used in 'Eko'.
The jump was achieved using a method called the rebound technique. It involves giving the dog an immediate, acceptable behaviour to return to after completing an action. This helped control the movement and complete the shot safely.

This is the kind of detail most viewers never notice, but it is exactly where 'Eko’s' dogs elevate the film. They are not decorative or atmospheric. They are active agents of threat. They intimidate, corner, and frighten. For that to work on screen, it had to be exact off-screen.

One of the first challenges Jijesh faced was the dogs themselves. In the film, they are introduced as a rare Malaysian breed. In reality, they are Kombai dogs, an indigenous breed from Tamil Nadu. The choice was not aesthetic alone. The production needed dogs that could convincingly pass as unfamiliar and intimidating, but without using foreign breeds that audiences might recognise. Using multiple breeds was ruled out. The dogs also needed to look consistent, act in coordination, and respond to training under pressure.

On paper, Kombais fit the requirement. In practice, they posed a serious problem.
Kombais are territorial dogs, traditionally used for guarding land and homes. They are known to be aggressive when threatened and deeply loyal to their owners. They are not commonly trained for performance-based work. “Our concern was whether dogs from this breed would cooperate with training at all,” Jijesh says. “They are not an easy breed.”

Time was another constraint. From the moment the requirements were finalised, the team had roughly one-and-a-half months before shooting. A significant chunk of that time went into selection alone. Jijesh and his team travelled to Kombai and examined 58 dogs before shortlisting those suitable for the film. Behaviour, responsiveness, physicality and tolerance to unfamiliar environments were all considered. By the time the selection was completed, nearly 10 to 12 days were gone.

That left about 20 days to train the dogs.
In total, nine Kombai dogs and one husky were used in 'Eko'. Most of the Kombais were rented from owners who were unwilling to sell them. “These owners were extremely attached to their dogs,” Jijesh says. “Selling them was not an option.” One dog, Kurumbi, was different. The owner refused to rent him out. Jijesh eventually bought the dog, largely because Kurumbi showed the strongest potential for training.

Training did not begin with commands. It began with familiarity.
Kombais are not typically chained or confined. They live openly, often on farms, moving in groups. Film sets, with their equipment, lights, crowds and repeated takes, are the opposite of that environment. Before any structured training started, the dogs had to learn to tolerate the space and the people in it.

To build trust, Jijesh and his team introduced what they called a relation class. The dogs were fed only by hand, never from bowls. “We became their only source of food,” he explains. “That’s how the bond formed.” Over time, the dogs began responding to the trainers’ presence, voices and movements.

Only after that did formal training begin. The basics came first: sitting, standing, responding to hand signals. From there, dogs were assigned to specific tasks. Not every dog did every action. Some were trained for general movement, others for high-intensity scenes. Kurumbi and another dog, Roshan, were selected for stunt-heavy moments, including the jump sequence involving Vineeth.

According to Jijesh, stunt training with dogs is always incremental. “You break it down step by step,” he says. “Once the dog understands what is expected, repetition becomes easier.” Rewards played a key role. Food and toys were used consistently to reinforce correct behaviour.

The aggression seen on screen was not forced. There are no direct commands for growling. Instead, the team worked with the dogs’ natural instincts. For certain shots, a toy was placed in front of the dog, triggering a resource-guarding response. The dog’s focus on protecting that object created the desired aggression. “We didn’t add anything unnatural,” Jijesh says. “We only amplified traits the breed already has.”

This distinction was crucial. The dogs in 'Eko' are shown as fear-inducing, even weaponised. But Jijesh is careful to stress that this portrayal is rooted in the Kombai’s protective nature, not cruelty or coercion. Each shot required a different cue. Each response was controlled.

Training dogs for cinema, he adds, is fundamentally different from training household pets. Dogs must respond to commands and hand signals coming from different angles, distances and directions, often while ignoring distractions. In 'Eko', dogs were required on set for nearly 32 days, a demanding schedule that required consistency and patience.

Kurumbi, meanwhile, moved from being a working dog to becoming part of Jijesh’s home. “He lives with me now,” he says. It is a natural extension of a life spent around dogs.

Jijesh’s entry into cinema came relatively late in this journey. He had been training dogs professionally for years before he worked on films. His first film assignment was Valatty. The opportunity came through Friday Film House, which was looking for a dog trainer. Trainers were asked to audition by training dogs on the spot. Jijesh was selected.

His connection with dogs, however, goes much further back. As a child, he regularly brought home lost puppies. “My parents would scold me and take them back,” he recalls. The habit never stopped. When he was in Class 8, his father gave him a book on dog training. Jijesh trained a small puppy using what he learned from it. People noticed. Requests followed. Training gradually became his profession.

Eighteen years later, he describes dog training as a form of art. “Anyone can learn techniques,” he says. “But it needs commitment and love.”