Meet Iggy, she's a two-year-old Sheepadoodle from Studio City, California! This sweet and intelligent pup is back with us for a One Week Board and Train Program. She had joined us for three weeks of boarding and training in the recent past, and now she has returned to continue her training journey here at OffLeash SoCal. Our goals for this week will be to refresh and improve her manners and obedience, as well as elevate her skills by teaching her some brand-new commands! Stay tuned for her seven-day transformation!
Pupdate 1/12/2025
Today Iggy and I spent some time getting reacquainted after her pickup. We visited a park, and tested out all of her basic and advanced commands to see where her starting point will be for this week's board and train. She was definitely still very excited to see me so her energy levels were elevated which made it difficult for her to focus at times, though overall she did a good job and it was so great getting to spend some time with her again!
She was able to Heel decently well, though she sometimes got a bit of "zoomies" and wanted to run around instead of staying beside me. She was able to Come to Heel pretty well, though she sometimes would end up out of position and needed some assistance to find the correct positioning. She was able to Sit, Down, Under, Place, and Send Away to Place very well and had no issues with these commands. One command she seemed to struggle with was Come to Sit. She was overall good about coming to me when called, though she tended to be a bit off about her position and instead of Sitting beside me on the left side, she would tend to either Sit out of position or roll around in the grass next to me instead of positioning herself for a Sit.
The new commands Iggy will be learning during this program include Touch, Center, and Watch. We tested out her knowledge of these commands, though since she has yet to be properly introduced to any of them she understandably didn't follow through with them and was confused on what was being asked of her. We will spend the next couple of days introducing her to these commands, as well as cleaning up her already existing commands!
Pupdate 1/13/2025
Today Iggy and I visited a shopping strip, where we practiced her commands around various distractions, including people, other dogs, and noises from the busy nearby street. We focused on practicing the three new commands that she will be learning during this program, Touch, Watch, and Center. We had begun practicing these commands at home in a quieter environment, and once she had begun to show progress we took our training outside to begin proofing them around distractions. The goal for the Touch command in this scenario is for Iggy to touch her nose to her handler's palm. This is a versatile command, and is great way to encourage engagement with her handler and create physical contact. It's a good skill for her to have, as it can help aid in teaching her other types of commands as well as cleaning up her positioning for already known commands, such as Heel or Come to Sit! We first introduced this command today by using some of her breakfast, and encouraging her to Touch my hand to get the food. Once she touched it, she got the food! We then moved the food to the other hand, and continued the training without the lure. She quickly got the hang of this, so we were able to transition to practicing Touch without any food motivators, and Iggy continued to do great!
The goal for Watch is for Iggy to create direct eye contact with her handler. This is another useful command, as it establishes a cue that can be used to have Iggy provide her handler full attention when asked. We introduced this by using her food as an initial motivator by placing a handful of it near my face to encourage her to look at it and me while the Watch cue was given. She quickly picked up on the idea that she needed to look at it to get the food, so the next step was moving the food away from my face, and waiting for her to provide eye contact with me instead, at which point she would get the food. She understood this quickly as well, and we were able to take food out of the equation while still getting pretty reliable results! We kept the duration for this command pretty short today, though we will be working to add duration to it so she can hold her Watch for longer periods.
The goal for the Center command is for Iggy to recall to her handler and position herself between their parted legs. This command is similar to Come to Sit, so to create a distinction between the two commands, handler body language is important! When asking her for a Come to Sit, her handler should have their legs together so it is clear what is being asked of her, and when asking for Center, legs should be separated to create a gap large enough for her to position herself between. To further avoid confusion, we also focused on using only the cue "Center" rather than asking for "Come" beforehand. Once she understands this command, "Come" can be used when she is at a distance, and then when she is near the Center command can be given to specify the desired position for her to complete the maneuver at, though we wanted to keep things simple for today's introduction. Iggy seemed quick to pick up on this command, though sometimes she was a bit silly with it and would end up rolling around on the ground instead of sitting or laying down nicely, so we'll definitely need to spend some more time working on this one!
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