Girly, a Miniature Australian Shepherd from Los Angeles, CA went through the Balanced Canine Training SoCal Board and Train Program. Girly was trained by Tanner Strong in Alhambra CA.
Pupdates:
Meet Girly! She's a five month old Miniature Australian Shepherd, here for our Two-Week Board and Train Program! She's extraordinarily smart and is already working on her basic obedience commands, but she can get nervous in new environments and around new people! She'll often bark at people when they first enter her home, and it takes a while for her to get comfortable around strangers. Once she gets to know you, however, she is the sweetest little girl imaginable! Over the next fourteen days, we're going to work on building Girly's confidence, help her with her greeting manners, tighten up her obedience skills, and show her how to become the best pup she can possibly be! Stay tuned for Girly's two week transformation!
Pupdate: 3/10/2024
After picking up Girly, we spent some time around the park! She seems to know some basic commands, but was definitely missing her dad as soon as he left. Right after he left, she started circling me and looking all over for him, which you can see in the above video.
After several minutes, she started getting used to me and we walked all over the park! She barked a few times, but generally seemed to be comfortable at the park once she realized she was safe.
After the park, we went home where I let Girly sniff around my home to start getting her settled in. This didn't take long, and she seems to be happy here so far!
Pupdate:3/11/2024
Girly and I spent the day at Almansor Park for her first full day of training!
We started by working on her Come To Sit command. For this command, I want Girly to come to my right side, walk around my legs and sit at my left side with her ears at my knee. It took a few tries for her to get the motion down, but she's progressing well. We also worked more on her Heel command, where I want her walking politely with me with her head in that same position.
In addition to starting on her commands, we also introduced her to her E collar! I'm adding a video tutorial for her E collar that will come in handy!
Pupdate: 3/12/2024
Girly and I went to the park to work on her commands today! She did fairly well all day, although, it seems Girly doesn't like people approaching, or walking by. Any time we were walking and passing people, Girly didn't even seem to notice most of them unless they made a loud noise. When we were standing still, however, people walking near us on the track seemed to distract Girly quite a bit.
With her commands, Girly is doing great! Her biggest weakness so far, other than the distractions, is her ability to hold her positions. She can still only hold her sit for a few seconds before she wants to move around again. We'll be sure to work on this as much as we can, as impulse control is a very important part of her training!
Pupdate: 3/13/2024
Girly and I went to Garfield Park today for training! We went here to perfect her commands at a more quiet park, however, there ended up being many more people and dogs than I anticipated. Nonetheless, Girly ended up doing a good job all around.
We worked on each command, specifically her Place command. She's been able to perform Place with ease inside my home, but out in public she seemed to hesitate to hop onto any place object. For Place, I am asking Girly to get onto a raised object, such as a bench, or the place cot used in today's video. Place has many advantages, but our main goal with this command is to increase Girly's confidence in public. When first asked to Place in public, she was too worried about everything going on around her and didn't want to make the leap.
Today, I opted to take a step back and utilize Girly's kibble while training. Typically, I don't want to use treats or food while training at this stage, as I don't want Girly to thing she's going to get food every time she performs a command correctly. In this case, my reasoning is twofold. As previously mentioned, she was too worried about everything else to hop on a place object, and using the kibble as a motivator worked wonders.
Secondly, I'm using the kibble as a tool to have Girly pay attention/trust me, even in these distracting environments. She loves me while we're home, but sometimes while out and about, she wants to pay more attention to distractions than she does me, which hinders her ability to perform commands accurately. We have formed quite a bond so far, but not quite enough for her to only want to come to me. This will be especially important when we evaluate whether it will be safe for Girly to move to fully off leash training. To this end, I've also opted to mostly hand feed Girly her kibble in order to solidify that bond.
As you can see in the above video, this has been working extremely well. Towards the second half of today's video, you can see me simply gesture towards the place object, and say, "Place." Girly moves to the object with zero tension without me even having to walk her directly up to the cot.
Moving on to utilizing only the E collar and leash seemed to be a bit too much to ask of Girly, and sometimes it is important to know when to take a step back when your pup isn't learning enough from certain stimuli!
Pupdate: 3/14/2024
Girly and I went to Santa Monica Pier today for training!
She did much better than I expected. She took several minutes to get used to the new environment, but once she did, she started performing her commands fairly well. She still wanted to look at people as they passed, but much less than usual!
Girly got the opportunity to be worked and held by another OffLeash trainer, and she did pretty well adjusting to her! She didn't show any signs of stranger danger, and seemed to accept the new hands without issue. Her only struggle was to perform her Down command around people, which she seems to dislike in general.
Girly did have some loose stool this morning, so I'll add a spoonful of pumpkin to her kibble for dinner as that usually helps.
Pupdate: 3/15/2024
Girly and I went to Almansor Park today for training! We tried to have more fun today, after a more difficult day yesterday. She behaved well at the park, and is continuing to progress with her demeanor and commands.
For today's video, I'm showing a clip from yesterday at the pier! You can see how much her commands around other people have improved, as well as her ability to hold her positions!
Pupdate 3/16/2024
Girly and I went to Wilderness Park today for training! She ended up doing quite well, but it took several minutes of warming up before she started performing her commands with accuracy. Particularly her Down command was rough, but even with that, she started performing well after a lot of coaxing and relaxation time.
Pupdate 3/17/2024
Girly and I went to the park today! We started working on her commands with the leash dragging. 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's doing fairly well so far, although we're still not quite ready to take the leash all the way off!
Pupdate: 3/18/2024
Girly and I went to Wilderness Park today for training! We continued working on her commands with the leash dragging, so that we can come ever closer to her off leash goals! Her Heel command is going very well, and her recall is getting stronger and stronger each day. She is still sometimes struggling with her Down command, so we are putting a lot of emphasis on that!
Girly's loose stool came back this morning, so I'll be continuing to add a small amount of pumpkin to her kibble, and I'm also making some rice for her dinner, which hopefully will soothe her tummy.
Pupdate: 3/19/2024
Girly and I went to Almansor Park today for training! We spent most of the time walking and working with another dog who is a little larger than Girly. Girly, at first, had trouble sharing the space right next to me and took several minutes to learn that she could heel beside me without worrying about the other dog. Once she got used to this new formation, however, she did an absolutely wonderful job heeling and performing her other commands alongside the other pup! Her confidence even seemed to help the other girl, who is a bit nervous. Girly's ability to run through her commands with vigor had her much larger counterpart following her lead and ended up with an amazing day with both girls having a wonderful time!
Pupdate: 3/20/2024
Girly and I went to the park today for training! She did a great job with the leash dragging, as usual, however she wanted to walk away from me any time I tried to take her leash all the way off. We will still work on this and hopefully get her working towards her off leash manners, but for now, she wasn't able to go off leash safely.
For her video today, I wanted to show one of the household manners we've been working on! For her Door manners, I'd like Girly to respect the boundaries of certain thresholds, such as doors, fences, gates and other openings. She's been doing quite well with this so far as she'll wait if I'm standing near her, but she still needs work on respecting those boundaries if I step away. Ideally, I'd like the thresholds to be a complete non-issue for Girly, so that we don't need to worry about her wanting to pass that boundary without consent!
Pupdate: 3/21/2024
Girly and I went to Santa Monica Pier today for training!
After a great amount of warmup time, I was able to take her leash off, but only with constant reassurance. She ended up doing very well after she got some energy out, and didn't seem to mind all the people at Santa Monica.
Pupdate: 3/22/2024
Girly and I spent the day at Almansor Park for training!
What seems to be occurring with Girly, is that she feels less of a need to behave when at a park than at other places such as malls or Santa Monica Pier for example. Today, she needed much more warm up time before she was allowed to be fully off leash than she did at the pier yesterday, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. We need to be cognizant of how Girly might perform in any area we take her, and adjust our plan from there. I believe, for Girly, she simply wants to play and open up a lot more when out at the fields and playgrounds around the parks, whereas at the mall or pier, she is much more inclined to stay right next to me, which leads to me being more comfortable allowing her off leash.
That being said, she ended up doing just as well today as yesterday! For today's video, I wanted to show a clip we took at the pier yesterday showcasing Girly's off leash abilities around all the various distractions! You can tell in the video how far Girly has come, especially since I wasn't entirely sure if she would be allowed off leash even just a few days ago. Now she's performing her commands off leash in one of the highest level areas we have access to!
Pupdate: 3/23/2024
Girly and I went to Santa Anita Mall today for training! She was allowed off leash for about half the time, and did a good job throughout the day.
For her video today, I wanted to show another of her in home manners. For food manners, I want Girly to resist the urge to eat something immediately when I put it in front of her. This can make meal times a bit easier, but it also serves as a great exercise for her impulse control in general. Practicing this can be an additional safety measure to prevent her from eating something she shouldn't, whether it is accidentally dropped in the kitchen, or something gross off the ground while we're out and about!
Girly will be going home tomorrow, and I couldn't be more proud of how far she's come! She has mastered several commands and skills, but more importantly has proven to me that she can behave off leash in a wide variety of environments, which, as you have seen, I was unsure of. She is an incredibly sweet pup who just still has some of her puppy behaviors, but she's made great progress these past weeks! I love having her around and I will miss her once she goes home!
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