Meet Daisy! She’s a six-month-old Golden Retriever from Pacific Palisades, CA here for our One-Week Board and Train Program! Daisy is a friendly and playful pup! Daisy likes to jump on people all while ignoring her name. Daisy can perform a command or two, however, it is highly inconsistent. Over the next seven days, Daisy is going to learn to be a confident, brave pup through consistent, clear communication, and balanced training in areas such as at home, in the car, and in discovering new people and places. Daisy is going to learn how to do all these things on leash in a positive and balanced training environment. Through structure and consistency, Daisy will demonstrate how great a pup she can be! Stay tuned for Daisy’s one-week transformation!
Pupdate 1/12/25
Today Ms. Daisy joined me and my family for her one-week board and train. I stopped by the park on the way home to see what Ms. Daisy would be willing to do for me. She did a great job of jumping on me and not listening to anything I asked her to do. When we got home, I let her sniff and check out my house and meet my family. She was happy to meet everyone. She did try to eat some food off the ground. Next, we headed outside so that Ms. Daisy could meet Ms. Toji. They had a blast running around and meeting each other. After a little play session with the pups, I took Ms. Daisy for a walk around the neighborhood. This is so that she can get used to the sights, sounds, and scents of the neighborhood. She can be timid sometimes and then other times she is hyper-focused on birds or other people walking around. We will work on building up her confidence by being a strong leader.
When we returned from our walk, I fed Ms. Daisy her lunch and gave her some water. I let her relax in the crate for a little while to get used to the sights and sounds of her new residence for the week. She ate all her food and relaxed for a little bit. I let her play with Ms. Toji for a little bit after her midday siesta.
Later this afternoon, we will introduce the e-collar and determine what level she will be responsive to. We want the level to be as low as possible but we let her determine what level is the best. Attached is a video tutorial on the e-collar that you can reference as much as you would like to review how to use the e-collar system that will be going home with Ms. Daisy. Also, due to the short timeline, we will introduce all her commands and be off to the races for her one-week transformation!
Pupdate 1/13/25
Today Ms. Daisy and I continued to work on a review of all her commands. Yesterday evening we did work on introducing the e-collar and all of her commands. Initially, the e-collar levels were around 30 or 40 to get her attention. Today, we were around 20 which is good! I brought some of her food with me to help reward her for good behavior. She is a little resistant at times as she is getting used to the structure of being asked what to do.
We have practiced her door manners every time we get to a door. At the door, we ask her to "sit" and then we open the door. If she gets up, I close the door and have her "sit" again. She must sit there until we allow her to go through the door. This is important for her young mind in that she must now understand that she does not dictate the rules.
The above practice of having her "sit" at the door is the same strategy we use for her food manners. She must patiently sit until we allow her to eat her food with the word "break! If she gets up to go after her food, I pick up the food and reset. She must "sit" and wait until we put the food down and allow her to access the food with "break!"
For today's training, I had her work on her extended sit, extended down, and extended place. She is good at the "sit". We are still working on her "down". You can see the work you put in with her recall as she is doing well with going around me to the proper position on the "come-to-sit". We will go on a long walk this evening to reinforce her proper position in the "heel". She was in the incorrect position and tried jumping on me several times at the beginning of the training but I reset her with a command she is comfortable with, the "sit", and we resumed. I contemplated switching over to the prong collar for a few trials but I adjusted my hands and where the pressure on the collar was coming from and I was able to get a better "heel" out of her. If this continues to work, we won't need the prong collar. After today, we just practice practice, and more practice. We will start going to more public places with more distractions and asking more of her each day.
Pupdate 1/14/25
Today Ms. Daisy and I headed over to Rynerson Park in Lakewood, CA to work on her obedience at a more public place with a few more distractors. Overall, Ms. Daisy is doing well with her commands. As you can see in the video, her "heel" is coming along nicely. We perform the "heel" whenever we go somewhere so this is going to be her strongest command. Next, she's doing well with performing a "sit" when we stop. Also, her extended "sit" and staying in place while I move around her for about a minute is looking good! Her "come-to-sit" is a little inconsistent. If I use my body positioning she can perform it well but we want her to go around our legs and "sit" on her own without us having to move. We will keep working on this.
Lastly, we have her "place" and "down". Those two are not her strongest or favorite tasks. We will get there! Last night she performed a beautiful "down" with me simply tapping on the floor when she had no e-collar on. I know she can do it but she is being a little stubborn at the moment. We will continue to practice and practice until she gets it more consistently.
As a reminder, when performing obedience tasks or daily training with your pup, it is important to make sure they are well fed, had a good potty break, and are well rested. I am not sure if you can tell in today's video but Ms. Daisy's tongue comes out and she starts to look tired. Obedience, especially performing so many tasks back-to-back in our training system, is mentally exhausting for the pups. They must be in a good, healthy physical and mental state to get the best performance out of the pup.
If the pup isn't responding well or is not listening to us, it is always a good idea to stop and check our equipment and ensure that we perform a quick mental checklist of our pup's status. First, we ensure that the pup was given water, food, and a good potty break. If those needs were met, we start to check the pup for discomfort or injuries. As long as that looks good, we move on to our equipment. We should inspect our collars and our e-collar system to ensure a proper fit and that the pup isn't being irritated. We must ensure that the e-collar is properly paired and working and that it is making proper contact with the skin so that it is most effective at low levels. If we have to repeat ourselves excessively and our numbers on the e-collar are above 50 out of 100, there is usually something going on. If we are unable to pinpoint the issue, it is best to take a break from the obedience training or task and try again later.
Pupdate 1/15/25
Last night Ms. Daisy and I headed over to Mayfair Park in Lakewood, CA to attend basketball practice. I think Ms. Daisy might be the next Air Bud! Just kidding, we don't want Ms. Daisy jumping on people or things at the moment. When she gets this impulsive jumping and unwanted behavior out of her system with a clear, consistent message, maybe you could teach her to jump on command but for now, we're keeping our paws on the ground unless we ask her to "place" on an elevated platform. We reviewed all her commands while we were out. Specifically, I wanted to work on her "down". Usually, I incorporate the "down" command into the "place" but since Ms. Daisy is a little resistant to those commands, it is better to teach them separately and then combine them later. I was able to get her into the "down" position several times but she was still resistant. Once in the "down", she had no problem staying there and hanging out with all the kids running around and playing on the basketball court.
Today, Ms. Daisy and I headed to Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA, to work around some of our other OffLeash pups and trainers. Ms. Daisy did well in the mall and wasn't overly stimulated by the people and the pups. She was still resistant to the "place" and "down" commands. I even brought her kibbles with me to try to lure her into these commands and positions in the most positive way I could, but she was more focused on being resistant. When I repositioned myself and used a little more momentum, I was able to get her to "place' more consistently. She did well around the other pups and a few well-timed "off" with low-level stimulation was enough to get her on task.
We will continue to practice and practice and practice until you receive her back on Sunday! Great progress so far Ms. Daisy!
Pupdate 1/16/25
Today Ms. Daisy and I focused on her "down" and "place" during her manners around the house. I had to pick up a supply of food for Ms. Toji at Petco so I grabbed some extra treats for Ms. Daisy while I was there. She has been responding well to her kibble but I wanted something a little more valuable to assist me with shaping her obedience tasks. I definitely made the right choice! Ms. Daisy did so well with the treats. The important thing to remember when using treats with your pup is to limit the amount that they get and that they only get the treat when the proper behavior is performed or exhibited. We don't want to give treats for half-sits or half-downs or not going all the way around us during come-to-sit. Also, we only want to give a small piece at a time. They sell training treats small on purpose. You could even cut them in half to make it even more valuable. I split up all the treats and just throw them in my pockets. The treat pouch is a cue to the dog that they can be rewarded for good behavior but what if you don't have your treat pouch with you? We still expect our pup to perform with or without treats available. Ms. Daisy was even picking up on the sound of the plastic bag I had in my pocket when I was digging for more treats so I took the bag out but left the treats in my pocket. Sometimes they are in my left, right, cargo or back pocket. I keep them guessing so they don't anticipate and move out of position like Ms. Daisy does a few times in today's videos.
Next, I displayed for you how to perform two different door manners for Ms. Daisy. One requires her to "place" and "down" on a cot or dog bed near the door and not run out the door or move while we go outside with the door open. The second method is the more frequently used method which is where she has to sit at each door and wait for us to open the door and allow her to proceed through the door. She should not run out the door just because it is open. In this one-week training, it will not be enough for it to be permanent on her but if you continue to be consistent with this behavior she will learn and understand that patiently waiting at the door gets her the opportunity to go outside.
We practiced her food manners as well which is where she patiently sits and waits for her food to be served. She can have her food when we give the magical "break!" command and she can break the sit and go enjoy her meal. Since Ms. Daisy eats three meals a day, that's three times a day to practice this skillset and manage her impulse control. I currently put her water down first and then her food. The food is a high value item to her and her impulse control is a work in progress. By putting the water down, if she goes after it before we can reset her or stop her, she only gets a sip of water. No big deal. If we put the food down and she gets a piece, she has self-rewarded herself, and its game on. She is doing well with understanding this task but just like the door manners, it will take a lot of repetition for her to fully grasp the task.
She will have an understanding of all the basic obedience tasks but it will be up to you to continue building on the foundation and instilling good, consistent, clear obedience for her. Failing to maintain and practice with her, will result in extinction which is the elimination of the wanted behavior. An example is if you let her jump up on you one or two times after I have not let her jump on me at all this week, she will think it is ok now and you'll be back to where we started. We must ensure to let her know that the new structure persists everywhere she goes.
Pupdate 1/17/25
Today Ms. Daisy and I headed over to Liberty Park in Cerritos, CA to review all her commands around medium distractions. At this park, there are people playing pickleball, running around the track, kids playing at the playground and there's even a disc golf course close. Ms. Daisy does great around these distractions. She does like to smell and check out all the new sights and sounds and can pull on the leash to go after them. I usually give her a few moments to get used to the sights and sounds before we go into obedience. She is still a puppy and is exploring the great big world.
As far as our training went, she did amazing! Her "heel" looks and feels good. We reinforced her extended sit which was for more than 90 seconds. She performed her "come-to-sit" very well. Next, she was a little reluctant to perform the "place" but I had treats with me so I was able to get her up there. The same thing with the "down", I had to lure her down a little bit. Once again, she stayed in the down for over 90 seconds! I gave her the "break!" command and she came over to give me plenty of puppy kisses!
After the video, we worked on the "place" and the "down". I did it enough times to get her to do it without giving her a treat. We might have to pull out the treats every once in a while since I only had her for one week but we will review the appropriate timing and situation to give her a treat to reinforce her good behavior.
Pupdate 1/18/25
Today Ms. Daisy and I headed to Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA to review all her commands around medium distractions. Ms. Daisy did amazing today! She was on her A-game today. We reviewed all her commands today. Below is a list of those commands and how to perform them.
As a reminder, here are the obedience commands that she 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 into place.
Heel: Press the black "S" button + say "Heel".
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.
"Off" + black button "S" to stop the pup from performing unwanted behavior.
"Break!" - no stimulation and the pup can be free to sniff or go potty.
We will be reviewing how to perform all these tomorrow during the turnover! We can't wait to show you how much she has learned and how great of a pup she will be in the future!
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