Meet Journey! She's a five year old Pitbull Mix from Crowley Lake, California here for our Two-Week Board and Train Program! She's a sweet girl, but she can sometimes be reactive to other dogs, and she loves to chase critters! She has very little impulse control, but she knows some commands! She sometimes decides whether or not to listen, though! Over the next fourteen days, we will work on Journey's obedience skills, help her with her impulse control, teach her manners in and out of the house, and show her how to be the best pup she can possibly be! Stay tuned for Journey's two week transformation!
Pupdate: 9/9/2024
After picking up Journey, we stayed at the park for a few minutes to get to know each other. She's very friendly and sniffed me immediately. While at the park, I asked Journey for several different basic commands. She did a good job coming to me when asked, and she sat most of the time when I asked, although she was only able to hold her sit position for a few seconds at a time. She also did a good job following me around as we walked. There were several times when she saw a bug or a squirrel where she would bolt to the end of the leash and try to pull me. Working on her impulse control will be one of the most important aspects of Journey's training!
When we got home, I let Journey sniff around my house, and we started getting settled in. She is starting to get comfortable, and I believe she will do very well!
In addition to her video today, I'm adding a tutorial and picture of the E-collar we will be using during Journey's Training.
Pupdate: 9/10/2024
For Journey's Training today, we worked on her Heel and her Come To Sit commands. Come To Sit is our recall command, used any time we want Journey to return to us. She's been willing to come to me most of the time when asked, so our goal for today was to show her that I want her to walk around my legs and then sit at my left side all with one verbal command! She's starting to get the motions pretty quickly! Her biggest struggle so far is holding the Sit position. She likes to get up almost immediately after she sits, so we'll be putting in a lot of work on that. For her Heel, I'd like her to walk politely at my left side with her ears in line with my legs. Journey seems to like me pretty well, and is mostly willing to walk with me on a loose leash, so practicing this command involves fine tuning her Heel position. She's also starting to pick up on this, as long as she doesn't get distracted. She is still extremely quick to notice distractions and break her position at my side.
Pupdate: 9/11/2024
Journey and I went to Almansor Park today for training! Her Heel and Come To Sit commands are getting much better, and she's beginning to complete her Come To Sit much more smoothly. We spent most of our time around the pond, using the geese and ducks as distractions. When Journey gets distracted, we will be using our Off command. Off is our general "do not do" command, and can be used for any unwanted behavior. When she fixates on an animal, such as the geese, I want to use Off to bring her attention back to me. The geese definitely distracted her quite a bit, but she did a great job shifting her focus to me when asked.
I saw Journey shake one of her hind paws this morning, so I took a look expecting to see a thorn or splinter. It looks like her paw pad is just getting worn, so we stayed on soft grass, and I put some Neosporin on it just in case to try to soothe it. It hasn't seemed to bother her other than when she shook it a couple times, but I'll be keeping an eye on it.
Pupdate: 9/12/2024
Journey and I went to Santa Monica Promenade today! She was very much out of her element here, but she put forth her best effort! There were several things that Journey didn't like, as well as being nervous in general. The passageway that we had to walk through to get to the Promenade was the first thing she didn't like. She first tried to stop at the entrance, then clung to me all the way through the hall, uncertain of where it would lead. Then, there were several different grates she was frightened of. We managed to catch the first one on camera, in the above video. You can see her hit the brakes as we get close to it. So we took a minute to walk around it and sit next to it before moving forward. Notice how she looks at the next grate we walk over, but her reaction to it is much less severe. This is progress. After this, however, there were other, larger grates where we needed to repeat this process. The idea here is simply showing Journey that this scary object isn't actually anything to worry about! It seems in places like this, Journey will need a lot of confidence building. As opposed to at parks and other outdoor areas, where the distractions are her main obstacle.
Pupdate: 9/13/2024
Journey and I went back to Santa Monica this morning to continue working in this strange new environment. She was still visibly nervous here, but less than yesterday. We took more time to practice around those grates and hallways she doesn't like, and walking around them without stopping is getting slightly easier. A lot of our time today was spent working on her Down command. This is a tough one, especially since she isn't completely comfortable in the environment, but sitting and taking some time to practice it was very much worth it, as she ended up doing pretty well! She was, however, very relieved when we got home. She's getting very comfortable here, and she was able to fully relax and take a well earned nap!
Her paw pad is still getting worn, and I'm still applying Neosporin. I think we will take it easy tomorrow for it to feel better.
Pupdate: 9/14/2024
Journey and I took it a little easier today, and went back to the park. All of her commands are going pretty well. Even with a few dogs passing us, she did a good job staying focused on me. We didn't, however, see any squirrels or other critters to really test her. After some time there, I tried dropping her leash while working on her commands. Allowing the leash to drag gives me some idea of how she might perform off leash while still having access to the leash should I need it. She did pretty well Heeling while doing this, as well as her Place and Down commands. The tough one was her Come To Sit, as it requires slightly more precise movements, and she reverted to coming and sitting directly in front of me when the leash was not in my hand. This was still a great exercise to see how she's doing!
Pupdate: 9/15/2024
Journey and I went to Hacienda Park today! We continued working on her commands with the leash dragging. There were a few small birds around to serve as distractions, but she didn't seem interested in them. With her commands, her Heel was great today. She stuck to my side very well, only getting distracted enough to sniff the grass a few times. Her toughest command to perform without the leash in my hand yesterday was her Come To Sit. That was still the case today, but she did far better. I still need to help her into the perfect position using hand gestures and body movements, but she was getting very close without me needing to pick up her leash! Her Place and Down commands are still going strong. She got up from her Place and Down commands a few times, but fixed her mistake fairly quickly when reminded.
Pupdate: 9/16/2024
Journey and I went to Whittier Narrows Park today for training! We got the opportunity to work around plenty of other trainers and their dogs. Journey did well with her commands, although she was a tad bit distracted a few times from all the other canines. At certain points, we went walking through the rest of the park, where there are plenty of squirrels. The squirrels were Journey's real test today. She did not break her commands, but she fixated on each squirrel we saw. She was practically vibrating with excitement at the concept of a squirrel. She showed some pretty good impulse control, deciding to stay with me rather than try to chase the critters, but I could tell it was extremely hard for her. We will definitely be coming back here to try to practice around more squirrels!
Pupdate: 9/17/2024
Journey and I went to Santa Anita Mall today! She was once again in an area unfamiliar to her and not super comfortable with it. She calmed down a lot faster than at Santa Monica, but there were still several things she didn't like. We had to ride the elevator to get to the mall, and her first ride was hard for her, but she got used to it after a few rides. She also really tried to avoid the small grates along the ground, so we spent more time walking around them slowly, until she started walking by them with no issue. She did not have any issue with her commands, except for Heel when we first walked by something she didn't like. After the mall, we went to the park, where we could practice more comfortably, which she liked. We weren't able to find any squirrels today, but there were plenty of ducks, and she did well around them. I think she likes squirrels more, so we will continue to keep an eye out for them!
Comments