Kaia, a English Labrador Retriever from Santa Monica, CA went through the Balanced Canine Training SoCal Board and Train dog training program. Kaia was Cristian Loza in Fullerton, CA.
Kaia came to Balanced Canine Training SoCal with varying behavioral issues, including pulling on the leash, squirrel chasing, jumping up when greeting, counter surfing, generally not listening to commands, and barking at strangers. Balanced Canine Training SoCal was successful in transforming Kaia into a well-managed pup.
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Meet Kaia! Kaia is a 10 month old Labrador Retriever from Santa Monica, CA who has joined us for our 2 Week Board & Train Program! Kaia is easily distracted by other people and dogs and won't given attention back in these moments. Kaia also has issues jumping on people. biting everything she see's on the ground, and leash pulling. Kaia is your typical loving Labrador but now she needs understand rules, boundaries, and how to have self control when socializing. Over the next two week check out her daily progress with me as her personal dog trainer!
Pupdate 10/6/2024
Today was the first day I got to meet Kaia and she was super energetic and playful upon meeting her. As I spent some time with her as her Owner left, she seemed to be aware of hearing me but wanted to be distracted by her surroundings. Once we headed back home we put our belongings away before heading to a park to do some obedience work and focus on our relationship getting to know each other. I switched out her gentle leader and applied a prong collar just for today to touch up on her obedience which went well.
Once we arrived at the park Kaia seemed to pick up on the light pressure I would apply to the collar and we started focusing on our heel and sit obedience commands. Kaia surprised me and was performing fairly well, even holding her sit obedience command without breaking her position. We walked towards the outside of the dog park to see if we would get any reactions from Kaia which we did. Kaia barked towards the dogs inside the dog park and redirecting her once with the prong adjusted her to the environment very quickly and made training easy while the dogs were roaming inside the dog park.
Once we headed back home, Kaia adjusted quickly to my home, greeting my personal dog through his crate which went well with no reactivity from either dog. They won't play today but as the days go on as they are exposed to each other I will give them the opportunity to greet and socialize when the time is right. We spent some time walking around the house giving Kaia the opportunity to take everything in and adjust. Working with her crate training went well with Kaia going inside her crate without complaining or vocalizing. Once we woke up we started our e-collar conditioning having her get used to the stimulations which she showed no issues with at low level settings. Once Kaia seemed tired she fell asleep in her crate for a few hours before enjoying the rest of the day with me working one on one with obedience. Her first day is going really well and she's showing me good engagement when training so as the days go on continue to follow up on Kaia's progress and see her develop into a new well mannered puppy!
Pupdate 10/7/2024
Today we headed over to Whittier Narrows Park in El Monte, CA to work on our obedience training around other trainers from Offleash. When we first arrived we waited a few minutes before everyone else arrived and Kaia was able to control her temperament as they arrived. She did seem curious to say hi but I would ask for her off obedience command, also known as leave it. This was very clear for her and we started some training before recording our training session.
In the video above I have a microphone explaining the simple way when talking to our dogs. Some people will speak too much or too fast making it stressful for the dog to pick up on what we are asking. Kaia and I have been training since yesterday so her ability to do this obedience command is easy today. In the video I showcase the few words I say to her that keeps her engaged with me.
After the video ended our friend Amanda worked with Kaia and commented she's a good listener already. Any time I would come near Kaia it was obvious she would get excited having me near her but in these moments she needs to be directed with obedience so she isn't overly excited from just seeing me. The few commands she knows already have been touched up such as heel, sit, down with duration with improvements in just two days. We will continue to perform new tasks and objectives to challenge Kaia in improving her obedience.
Pupdate 10/8/2024
This morning we woke up early around 6:00 AM to go for a walk with Hunter around the neighborhood. Kaia at first seemed excited being around Hunter trying to kiss his face and always smelling him when we first took our steps out of the house. I would redirect Kaia for these things, even though it's cute and seems affectionate but it can also be somewhat of an annoyance for the other dog if they don't want to tolerate this behavior. Hunter is very aware of rules and respecting other dogs so he ignored her so I could redirect her which only took the first time to do so. The rest of our walk they remained in a heel walking side by side.
Once we returned home we went to the backyard and I introduced the dogs to each other letting them have the freedom to express their behaviors towards each other and immediately started to play and show signs of submissiveness. They played for about fifteen minutes before heading inside to have some breakfast.
In the video above is our training session after Kaia wakes up from her nap. We started off practicing our place obedience command and slowly opened the door to keep her situated but also figuring out what was going on to slowly mark her behavior when listening. After a few tries of opening the door and a few redirections Kaia was able to let me venture out to the front without much hesitation to follow me. Each time I was able to come into the backyard without her getting up, I could follow up with her release word "break" and continue to praise her making this moment positive.
Later on we followed up with playtime with Hunter and teaching Kaia the fundamentals of recall. We will continue to focus on improving this new obedience command as the days go on!
Pupdate 10/9/2024
This morning we had our walk early in the morning which was followed up with playtime in the backyard for some time before having breakfast and taking a quick nap to rest after eating.
After some time passed we practiced more obedience training with my younger brother Nick. Nick is only 13 years old but well educated on training dogs and helping with obedience training. I had Nick just walk Kaia around while I would call to her to see how her engagement would be. In the beginning when passing by me Kaia clearly is looking at me for attention but Nick redirects her by saying "off" and she relocates her attention back to Nick. After a few more laps walking near me she gives Nick her attention without trying to look at me. His last objective with Kaia was recall which she seemed confused to do with him but after instructing Nick to simply lure her around her with her leash, she was able to perform her recall fairly with him.
After I practiced with Kaia by myself to focus on improving the command. What I do for leverage when practicing is taking away space when performing this command. I place a chair on the left hand side of me to prevent Kaia from overextending her positioning when coming around me. I practice this as many times as possible with Kaia being silly breaking positions at times. There is one point in the video where Kaia seems to get confused and go on my left hand side but even though this moment would be considered failure, restarting the practice is the best way to continue. After she continues to perform the obedience command, we eventually end our practice with her release command "break."
We followed up with the rest of the day with consistent play with Hunter, training and resting throughout the day. Kaia has bonded with Hunter very well and can manage herself inside the house roaming around without causing any havoc.
Pupdate 10/10/2024
Today we had our usual routine of an early walk with Hunter which was followed up with playtime and some minor training in the front of the house before the dogs had breakfast. After a few hours once I got some errands done I brought Kaia out to Home Depot in Anaheim, CA. When we first arrived we were stopped short before entering with two elderly who were excited to see Kaia from afar. They asked to say hi and even though we haven't had much practice for greeting manners Kaia did well rubbing her body against them without jumping on these two individuals.
Once we headed inside I focused on keeping Kaia as close to me as possible when passing by people and walking through thin aisles. The longer we walked she seemed to understand the objective so I dropped the leash and continued to walk throughout the store prepping her for offleash obedience. She showed no ambition to run away but seemed more concentrated on me giving me her eyes for affirmation. Each moment she continued to look at me with her leash dragging I would always praise her saying good girl. We followed up with practicing our extended sit and down practices which went well but with the pavement of the store being slippery, Kaia would slip into her down at times. I would walk back to the garden area to practice her sit where the ground is more stable for her with Kaia being able to focus on her extended sit without slipping into it.
We spent the rest of the day focusing offleash obedience inside and in the backyard for proper conditioning without the leash dragging around her feet.
Pupdate 10/11/2024
Today we headed over to Huntington Beach, CA to work on our obedience commands with being in an environment such as the beach. To my surprise Kaia seemed to look at everything with confidence, even with traffic when walking on the main street to head to the pier. We met up with our friend JV to train our dogs around each other and Kaia didn't react at all seeing his dog at first instance. We walked down the walkway of the beach passing by many people walking with their dogs, on bikes, or in groups when walking. She did really well with this but started to seem as if she was getting excited in general from being outside so anytime she would get excited she would start to lead in front of me so for these moments as well I would use her e-collar to keep her in obedience.
After some cardio, we headed back to the front of the Pier to practice a few more objectives before heading home. In the video above I asked Kaia to perform her down obedience command in the middle of all the traffic of people heading in and out of the pier. Kaia did very well except for minorly breaking obedience but was quickly redirected without the use of her e-collar. She held her down for about 3 minutes before being given her break to be praised. After the video ends we stayed for an extra twenty minutes letting our dogs rest and desensitize themselves to the environment before heading home.
We followed up with leash dragging inside and outside the house to prepare Kaia for offleash obedience since she has been doing very well with her training showing progress each day that has gone by.
Pupdate 10/12/2024
This morning I took Kaia for a walk by herself after the other dogs got to go potty to focus on her loose leash walking in the neighborhood. Kaia did really well except for when going to potty on grass she immediately ran instead of having a slow pace. I would restart our walk going back onto the pavement and asking for Kaia to go potty at a calmer pace. She did and we were able to enjoy our thirty minute walk before heading home.
In the video above, the dogs are playing in the backyard showing their behavior towards each other and how they play. The small English pit mix is Ivy who spends most of her time with Kaia playing inside or out in the backyard. Sometimes when all the dogs are out Hunter will stand aside by me letting Ivy and Kaia have their time together. When Ivy is asleep or has to rest, Kaia and Hunter typically play just as often. After the dogs rested and collected themselves I spent one on one time with them doing training in the front. With the pictures above, Kaia was practicing her obedience commands but offleash in front of my house. She did really well without showing any signs to run away or take misguidance by having her leash off. I focused on extended sit, down, and place at first. After we focused on our recall which needed some guidance so we used treats and easily made her recall possible with each asking being once and Kaia performing with no issue.
Shortly after I was cleaning my car from the inside and had Kaia placed on an elevated platform and she remained there fairly well but only got up a few times when not seeing me from the other side of the car. After being redirected she remained on the platform entirely before heading back inside.
We focused on our offleash obedience inside and outside the house again with a lot of playtime for the dogs since it's Ivy's last day with us!
Pupdate 10/13/2024
This morning consisted of our usual morning walk with Hunter, playtime, and breakfast. Kaia has seemed to eat inconsistently for some odd reason where she eats most of her meals the first few days in the beginning of her board and train. Now she seems to only want half or most of the meal leaving food left over. I'm going to provide dog food seasoning only and some canned pumpkin to see if this motivates her to eat all of her meal rather than leaving some kibble left over. Overall her temperament is always positive with being playful and energetic each time she's out and about.
Around 12:00 PM I brought Kaia out to Downtown Fullerton for a short walk towards Hillcrest Park. Once we made it to the park we walked around my route that I take Hunter when we come. Kaia seemed to have a genuine attitude about being here without being overly excited as other times. We walked around passing by people and this is where sometimes she takes interest just because she wants to say hi in general. I use the remote to redirect her attention if she was to be distracted from looking at someone if they looked back at her. Within the first ten minutes she had a better pace and kept closer to me.
We made our way to the baseball field side of the park where a game was going on so I kept Kaia here for some time to practice obedience. We focused on our place command letting people pass by her while she held her position. We had one guest be amazed at how she was behaving commenting on how good she is practicing her training. We made our way to the fountain which is seen in the third photo above and asked Kaia to place on the platform side with ease but I held onto her leash to prevent her from jumping in for safety measures. We took our time here conditioning the way she goes up, that way she is familiar with the platform side without wanting to overshoot herself.
We focused the rest of the day on offleash obedience at home working inside and outside the house. Our practices were door manners, food manners, and car load up.
Pupdate 10/14/2024
The video above showcases our morning after we just finished our walk around the neighborhood. With Ivy being gone it's just Hunter and Kaia and this is the behavior between the two of them. Kaia tends to be more playful in initiating play and when having a ball out, they don't fight over it.
Later on throughout the day we focused on our door manners with the side gate and front door of the side. When starting on the side gate I opened the door first to see if this would do anything to make Kaia react but she remains confident and attentive to my commands as we practice this daily. I'm able to practice our door manners offleash now with Kaia needing no assistance from her leash. I walk to the front yard leaving Kaia's eyesight testing her patience but she remains in the backyard until I ask for her heel command to walk through. When practicing with the front door Kaia does the same, holding her obedience until she's asked for her next obedience command to walk out to the front.
Later on we had an associate of ours come over to practice training. Me and Kaia spent time with our friend JV going over obedience with Kaia behaving well without being overly excited while training. She did find moments to get up from her down but working around JV and his dog, Kaia did very well keeping distance and making training easier for JV and his pup.
Pupdate 10/15/2024
Today we headed back to Whittier Narrows Park in El Monte, CA to work with the Offleash team again. When we arrived we headed towards the park but with Kaia being offleash. She did very well walking with me without being overly excited to go towards the grass or anything in particular. We focused on our down and sit command but with longer duration passing our two minute mark and holding her obedience position for about five minutes. We had a new trainer take some time working with Kaia which went well since she was able to perform all her commands with a new person.
We took time walking around the walkway of the park offleash making a full lap around the grass field before heading back to our table with friends. We took some time walking around with our friend Oso the Chocolate Lab making sure Kaia has the capability to go on walks with other dogs without playing during the walk. I asked for Oso and Kaia to sit while taking a picture seen in the second photo above. They did well together holding the position until being given their break. We finished with one of our last practices having Kaia place while everyone worked around her and she did well with this only getting up a few times out of boredom, even though she got up she eventually made it possible to stay on her placemat for as long as ten to fifteen minutes without moving.
We had the rest of the day to focus on conditioning our offleash obedience at home which seems to become natural for Kaia, and the night spent with Hunter in my house roaming around, playing, and laying next to me while I'm in my seat working on the computer or doing other tasks.
Pupdate 10/16/2024
Today we headed over to Cerritos Mall to work on more obedience in public and to see Kaia's reaction to being in a mall. Kaia showed much confidence today being able to heel without being overly excited nor from seeing people. We did have moments where people called to Kaia giving her baby noises but she easily avoided all the noise and was able to keep her attention on me.
In the video above I practiced our extended down within an area where people would pass by us. Kaia remained in her down for about two minutes without hesitating or thinking about getting up and completed our practice with her recall. We stayed in this area with our friends for some time having Kaia and the other dogs lay down to desensitize themselves to this environment for a better confidence build. During this moment as everyone passed by we had more people making noises towards the dogs but we were able to work through this with ease. We continued the rest of our visit with a few laps around the mall, practicing obedience along the way until we had to leave. Kaia did really well on the few things I wanted to focus on today while in public.
We spent the remainder of our day focusing on place, door manners, and Kaia's ability to control her temperament if I react in a childish way. This way she can be desensitized to anyone who gives her this treatment so she doesn't become an overly excited dog still.
Pupdate 10/17/2024
Today we headed over to Santa Monica, CA to work on obedience training with our Offleash team and for Kaia to have some experience working with someone else to see her ability to do training. In the video above our friend Rob who helped walk Kaia down the pier today went fairly well with Kaia being a little excited trying to create space at time with Rob but he redirects her when needed. Kaia was on low level numbers with her remote and responding well to her e-collar when she became distracted at seeing stuff or smelling something from the ground. Kaia has a small potty break before being asked to do her extended down momentarily before being asked to break.
After I worked with Kaia in the middle of the Pier on her extended down making sure she has the ability to stay focused when people pass by her. She did really well but one practice that I've done at home is walking over her and she usually keeps position when practicing with Hunter. At the Pier when I was doing it once she got up which was my fault, so I went back into focusing her down obedience command and created distance with her. She remains in her down and I ask for her recall which she does with ease.
After the video ended we focused on our place command on a bench for people to sit on by the arcade and Kaia was doing well but the material of the platform would cause her to slide down from her sit at times. When asking her to down while placing she did well keeping her position during this practice. We had one guest come say hi to Kaia and she didn't jump when given the opportunity to greet this woman. When we finished our visit walking back to our vehicle went with ease with Kaia keeping a pace and avoiding anyone who didn't give her attention with baby noises.
Pupdate 10/18/2024
This morning we had our usual routine of playtime and some training that we did before having breakfast. With our morning practice in front of the house we focused on recall and having Kaia hold her extended duration for sit and down.
In the video above we showcase our food manners which Kaia has done well with since the beginning of her training. I walk around the house with ease with Kaia waiting for her food, leaving her sight multiple times until she's given her break. We followed up with car manners loading Kaia into the car offleash. She jumps in with ease and lets me take off her collar before closing the door on her. The last video clip I showcase Kaia's obedience, going over the simple way of talking to our animals once without being repetitive. A common mistake is that people will obsessively ask their dog for one command too many times.
We spent the remainder of our day going over each obedience command with the help of my brother after he returned from school. With my supervision in the backyard I had my brother offleash walk Kaia in the backyard and go inside the house for conditioning.
Pupdate 10/19/2024
This morning we woke up early to start Kaia's day since it's her last day in her program. We had our usual routine of a morning walk and playtime before having breakfast.
Later on we headed over to Huntington Beach to do some offleash obedience again. When we first arrived walking to the Pier went well but there were presidential Voters with signs shouting, having cars honk and just being loud in general. This was the first time seeing all this yelling and random noises made Kaia feel uneasy before crossing the street. Once the noise settled down she was able to situate herself acting as if nothing happened. Once we made our way across the street I detached her leash and practiced my offleash obedience with her before one of our friends from offleash arrived.
Once our friend JV arrived we walked around momentarily before recording some of our obedience at the beach. In the video above Kaia is performing her obedience with ease showcasing her heel, place, recall, and extended down. After she performs her obedience I end her training by saying break to have her reminded to come to me directly for praise. I walked back to the area with all the people chanting to desensitize her to the loud noises when they would try to get cars to honk. When this happened again she seemed to be ok with it at a distance but we did try to ease our way closer at times when people would chant. She eventually seemed ok by the noise coming from people but from the cars passing by on the street would make her seem alarmed or spooked.
Once we were back home she remained out with Hunter playing or lounging in my room under my seat while on the computer. I took time to train them both offleash together with my brother focusing on most of the obedience commands. I had my brother work with Kaia first to see how her obedience is with another person and she did well as always. Kaia hesitates at times walking slower with Nick but he talks to her with joy and it motivates her to stay consistent. She ends her practice with him doing her recall with ease. After I walk the dogs together to showcase Kaia's ability to walk with another dog offleash. When walking together Kaia is usually between Hunter and me so in the video you see how the fix their own positioning, even for the recall.
Kaia's Board and Train has come to an end and it has been a fun journey helping her understand her obedience to develop and become more well mannered. Kaia has never shown any aggression but just joy and a fun personality everyday that we've spent together. She will be missed in this home being around my family and brother who enjoyed spending time with her but she is ready to return to her family and show off her new skills!
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