Maisy Moose | Labrador Retriever | Montebello, CA | In-Training
- graceatoffleashk9
- Nov 6, 2022
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 7, 2024
Meet Maisy Moose, the 7 month old Chocolate Labrador Retriever from Montebello, CA who is here for a Two-Week Board and Train Program. Maisy Moose is here because she has crazy hops and will kiss you on your face while jumping on you, pulls on her leash, resource guards her food, lacks doorway and crate manners, loves to try to eat anything she can find (including cat food), chases the cats in the house and lacks general obedience training. During her two week stay with us, we will be working on house manners, doorway manners, greeting manners and general obedience. Stay tuned for our progress!
Pupate 11/6/2022
Moose and I took time to get to know each other today and her mom was not wrong! She has crazy hops! Moose is an absolute sweetheart and she is adjusting to her new temporary home. She has yet to go potty and like Pierre, her brother who stayed with us previously, she only likes to go potty in her backyard at home. She was also a bit hesitant to go into the elevator at my place but with encouragement and treats, I was able to get her in and out of the elevator.
Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/7/2022
Today Moose and I went to Home Depot to meet with other Offleash SoCal trainers and their pups! Moose was very nervous about entering into the store but once we got her inside, she seemed to adapt and relax. Moose needs a little bit of confidence building so we began our session by encouraging her to climb up onto the flat carts. Once she knew she could do it, she was climbing on the cart like it was nothing! Despite having a 4-5 foot vertical jump, little Moose was hesitant to climb up onto other elevated objects at Home Depot. The reason why we focused on having Moose climb up onto things today is because it challenged her to do something she wasn’t used to doing and made her feel like she overcame something that initially seemed scary. She also did quite well around all the other dogs around her and by the time we left Home Depot, she was walking around her head up higher and tail wagging! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/8/2022
Today Moose and I had our training sessions indoors because of the rain but we certainly made the most of our time together. Our morning began with lots of cleaning because Moose had finally pottied….inside her crate. Moose was certainly not a huge fan of her bath, but she had managed to roll around in the mess and desperately needed it. After her bath and blow dry, we practiced our doorway manners, sit and heel. I can tell that Moose has potential for tracking work as she walks with her nose glued to the ground. I will begin introducing some fun tracking exercises for Moose to fulfill her olfactory needs so that when we exercise “heel”, she won’t feel the need to focus on the smells on the ground. In providing a different tracking exercise all together, it will teach Moose to differentiate when it is okay or not okay to scent. Moose and I also practiced “place” on an elevated bed today and she must have smelt her brother Pierre because she laid right down on the cot and seemed to be at ease on the new surface. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/9/2022
Today Moose and I went back to Home Depot for another morning session! Little Moose is certainly more submissive in her behaviors so I wanted to take her to a place where we could do some confidence building! For this trip, I used food as a lure because I wanted to encourage her in a positive way, challenge her to do more than what she thought she was capable of, to learn to interact with me and trust me to keep her safe. She did so well and tackled on more challenges this trip than she did her first time at Home Depot and was more willing to move around for me. Although she is a little on the submissive side, she is very stubborn and will often get “stuck” in one position. At least during the beginning stages of her learning, I feel that it is important to show Moose that learning is fun and to keep my own body moving to prevent her from getting “stuck”. She also pottied inside the Home Depot despite being given a potty break on a grassy field prior to going into the store so we will certainly have to continue working on that. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/10/2022
Today Moose and I went to a beautiful and scenic park to practice our “heel, sit, down, place and come to sit” and introduce the e-collar on low stim. Moose was certainly a little thrown off by the use of the e-collar but it’s understandable because it is a feeling that she isn’t used to. However, by the end of our training session, she was beginning to understand the connection between the e-collar and the exercises. As you can see in the video, Moose still gets “stuck” from time to time and her stubborn personality certainly shines through in these moments. Because she is still a puppy and quite handler sensitive, I have to make sure to introduce and practice softer handling methods to encourage the behaviors for our exercises. She is much more willing to hop up onto park benches and tables for place and her duration for sit or down is improving day by day. Her “come to sit” is still coming together as she does tend to forget to enter into the exercise from the right side and end at the left. She also tends to get stuck directly behind me but I have no doubt in my mind that with more practice, she will grasp the concept better. She has yet to potty outside and had another accident inside the living room but that doesn’t stop us from giving her as many potty breaks as possible in hopes that she begins pottying outdoors. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/11/2022
Today Moose and I practiced “heel, sit, down and come to sit” with the leash and e-collar. Moose still takes some time to warm up to “down” but by the end of each session, she becomes more and more willing to “down” for our exercise. She is responding much better to the e-collar today and even walked at a nice heel with the leash dragging. We will continue to work on her “down” and “come to sit” because little Moose likes to come in directly in the middle of legs instead of going around from my right side to the left. Pierre, her brother, also did the same thing so we will practice this quite a bit. On a brighter note, Moose pottied outside for the first time today!!!!! This is a huge win for us because this means no more carpet accidents and she’ll finally be able to potty on her walks! I am so proud of Moose for learning to potty outside within the first week! Stay tuned for more.
Pupdate 11/12/2022
Today Maisy Moose and I worked on our doorway manners after a nice 2 mile walk in the morning with her roommate, Harlee the bull terrier! Maisy Moose has been doing so well on our walks lately and I have been challenging her to practice “place” at a few feet away from me in public as we need to continue working on duration. She’s an adorable Velcro puppy who struggles with distance so it is crucial to challenge her in different environments. After our walk, we practiced doorway manners and she did so well! She still struggles with her “downs” but once she does, she is better about not getting back up as I walk away. She will be working on a 15 foot leash from now on so that we can work up to her being off-leash! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/13/2022
Today Maisy Moose and I worked on car load up manners! I tried to make this exercise fun and positive for Maisy Moose. Like her brother Pierre, she does not like jumping up into the car or jumping down from it. So I broke down this exercise by bringing out the crate and using an elevated bed. I had her practice going from place to inside the crate and into the cargo area of the car. She did so well with the exercise when it was broken down so I put it all together! As you can see in the video, she did well a couple of times but when she didn’t get in all-in-one go, she started to doubt herself. I used the elevated bed as a landing point so that she wouldn’t be so scared about coming out of her crate and it seemed to help her immensely. We will continue to work on this so that she will gain more confidence in herself. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/14/2022
Today Maisy Moose and I went to Home Depot to work on "heel, extended sit, extended down and come to sit". I will be slowly introducing off-leash work so we are slowly weaning off of using leash guidance and relying slowly on her understanding of the exercises and the e-collar. I let her drag the leash behind her through some of the aisles and she did well. The only thing I would like to try to improve with her "heel" for now is having her walk just a couple inches away from me. She likes to walk with her body in full contact with my left leg and although that is exactly what I like to see in sport dogs, I don't find it to be very practical as it's quite easy to trip over her. I am excited to see how she does tomorrow at an outdoor mall! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/15/2022
Today Moose and I went to the park to practice our “downs” and “place” on different elevated objects. Being that Moose tends to shy away from jumping onto objects, I thought the playground would make for a fun little obstacle course for her. She did well to climb up on the different jungle gyms and hold her sits and downs despite other kids being around her. She still tends to be a little stubborn with the “downs” so we will be working on that more intensely from now on. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/16/2022
Today Maisy Moose and I met with other Offleash SoCal trainers and their pups at the park! Moose did a phenomenal job at walking at heel with the leash dragging behind her. I did not feel comfortable about letting her be fully off-leash today because there were a lot of offleash dogs at the park and she seemed a little overwhelmed by the environment. We certainly are still struggling a bit with our "downs" and durations for her exercises but we will continue working on that. She still did very well despite the chaotic environment and I am very proud of her. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/17/2022
Today Moose and I went to Home Depot today to work on our exercises fully off-leash! She did really well with her exercises despite being a bit nervous about all the noise within the store. We will be making a trip out to Citadel Outlets to work on her exercises off-leash in a more chaotic environment and then help her build more confidence in herself! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 11/18/2022
Today Maisy Moose and I went to Citadel Outlets to work on all of our exercises off-leash. Moose had a difficult time adjusting to the crowds and we had to go through our exercises a couple of times to give her enough time to settle into her new environment. Moose also had a chance to practice greeting manners with all the people and kids who wanted to pet her. She did quite well but would certainly benefit from being out and about more throughout the rest of her puppyhood! Stay tuned for more!
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