Mylo | Alaskan Klee Klai | Los Angeles, CA

Meet Mylo! Mylo is a four-year-old Alaskan Klee Klai from Los Angeles, CA here for our Three-Week Board and Train Program! Mylo can be skeptical of meeting new people. Mylo displays separation anxiety and skepticism by being vocal. Mylo loves to pull on the leash. He loves to mark anything and everything, even furniture! Mylo can perform a command or two, however, he lacks structure and will perform the tasks inconsistently. Over the next twenty-one days, Mylo is going to learn to be a confident, obedient pup through consistent, clear communication, and balanced training in areas such as at home, in the car, and in discovering new people and places. Mylo is going to learn how to perform all these things off leash through a positive and balanced training environment. Through structure and consistency, Mylo will demonstrate how great a pup he can be! Stay tuned for Mylo’s three-week transformation!

Pupdate 1/26/25

Today Mr. Mylo came to join my pack for his three-week stay. He was quite vocal on the way home but there were times when he was calm and quiet. On our way home, we stopped at a park to see what Mr. Mylo could do. He did perform the occasional "sit" but other than that we are starting with a blank slate. He was checking out some other pups that were strolling through but wasn't vocal with them. He didn't want to let me pick him up again to put him back in the crate but we figured it out.

When we got home, I let him meet everyone in the house. He was on edge and wasn't very receptive to being petted by everyone. We were having a small gathering so there was a little bit more noise and people than we normally have and more than what he's used to. I let him meet Ms. Toji right as the rain started. They were fine together.

Next, we went on a walk around the neighborhood. As I mentioned when I picked up Mr. Mylo, today is his one free day. He loves to smell every tree ensuring that he let everyone know that he was there. He ran out of fuel after the third tree or so but that didn't stop him from trying. He was running around and getting to the end of the leash but he was still walking with me. It did start to rain even more on our walk but it was important to get the walk in so that he could take in the sights, sounds, and scents of my neighborhood. It was a little more quiet than usual due to the rain but there was plenty for him to sniff.

Attached above is his e-collar video. I will introduce the e-collar to him tomorrow. He doesn't like it when I grab or hold his collar around his neck. We are going to work on this so that he understands that he's not in charge. He is showing me that he is not a big fan of structure and he can lash out or attempt to nip at me when I hold it to guide him into his crate. This will be something that I will be working with Mr. Mylo on understanding. We will shape better behavior using a fair and balanced approach.

Pupdate 1/27/25

Today was the first step into Mr. Mylo's new adventure and journey toward being a well-behaved pup who understands structure. Mr. Mylo is not a fan of structure. He does not like being told what to do. I think it was a good idea to sign him up for the three-week board and train because I have to gain Mr. Mylo's trust and I have to teach him quite a few things in this time. Twenty-one days may seem like a long time but to accomplish everything I need to and for him to be able to perform several of the tasks that you would like to see him better at, is going to take some time. If we only had two weeks, we may not make it due to his independent nature. I don't want to take his puppy spirit away but rather channel his intelligence and energy into being a more structured pup.

We started off by trying to get the e-collar on Mr. Mylo. If you noticed, he still has the big collar on because he is not a big fan of me holding or manipulating the smaller collar. I will move the tracker to a different small collar, place the new one with the tracker on him, and then remove the collar without the tracker. The e-collar receiver needs to fit snugly for it to complete the circuit and to keep the numbers low on the remote.

I finally was able to place it on him at first while he was sitting in front of me. I tried to put the collar on him as snugly as possible. I then started at 0 and worked up 5 at a time until I saw a physical flinch, ear movement, or any sign that the e-collar receiver stimulated him. He didn't show any signs of it being effective until about 30. I stayed in the 25-30 range for the training for today. I introduced the "sit", "down", "place", "come-to-sit" and "heel". As you can see from the video, he isn't a big fan of staying in the "down" and could only stay in the "sit" for about 30 seconds. The goal is for Mr. Mylo to perform both of these commands for at least two minutes. We will have to work on shaping these behaviors. Mr. Mylo exhibits a lot of stress, fear anxious vocalization, and attempted biting. I have to earn his trust to minimize this behavior. Sometimes it's going to take burning off some energy before we do too much obedience. The problem with this strategy is that if I burn off too much energy then he will be tired and unable to focus properly. I prefer a well-rested, well-hydrated, full, and alert pup to train with than one who is tired because that creates more conflict. Although the goal is for the pup to obey anywhere and everywhere that will come with more time.

After the video ended, I was able to reposition behind Mr. Mylo and adjust the e-collar receiver. I was able to get it to fit a little more snugly. This time I was able to get the numbers down to 7-10 which are much better numbers.

Before we finished we worked on his door manners where he had to sit and wait until I allowed him into the house. Overall, he did ok with this since he understood the obedience better at that point.

Also attached is a picture of Mr. Mylo's e-collar and hypo-allergenic titanium 5/8" contact points installed. I'll be using this for Mr. Mylo's training over the next three weeks.

Pupdate 1/28/25

Today I took my time with Mr. Mylo. The first struggle is going to be to put his e-collar on. He did get a little nip on me today when trying to put it on. He doesn't like the snug-fitting items on his neck. I got the e-collar as tight as I could but it wasn't snug enough and I had to go up to level 40 frequently. This is because he kept moving it and sliding it on his neck. If there isn't adequate skin contact then it doesn't do anything. This is a sign that the equipment is not working properly. We have to be on the lookout for the numbers above 50. As stated yesterday, once I did get the collar on more snugly, we were working around 10. This is the difference in the receiver being on loosely or snugly.

We focused on the basic "sit" and "extended sit" today. His "heel" is ok but I think we will start on walking around the block to work on his "heel" as much as possible. I tried standing close to him when he performed a "sit" so he could be more comfortable being next to me. Then I was able to get him to stay in the extended "sit" for two minutes! What a great start! He was doing well with the "sit" and "heel" so then I added in the automatic "sit" when I stopped walking. He was doing ok with this; however, the e-collar was not in the proper location and was not working properly. If you can tell, every time I tried to move it back to its proper location, Mr. Mylo was not happy about that. I was happy with the progress of the training so I switched over to trying the "place". Mr. Mylo jumped right up on the cot. I decided to push my luck and see if I could get him to "down". Once again, the collar was in the correct location and once I put it in a better position and used an adequate level, Mr. Mylo gave me a nice, firm "down". I was happy with this and wanted to see how long he could hold it for. Once again we made it to two minutes! Then we brought in the "break!" command where Mr. Mylo can be free and do whatever he wants. I run around and entice him to do the same and give him lots of treats! The "Break!" command should be a happy-go-lucky time but Mr. Mylo doesn't fully trust me so he doesn't run up to me for reassurance like other pups. That's ok! I just want him to understand that he can stop doing whatever he's being asked to do and be himself. Good work today Mr. Mylo!

Pupdate 1/29/25

Last night Mr. Mylo and I headed over to Mayfair Park in Lakewood, CA to catch some little kids basketball practice. My little one had practice and Mr. Mylo and I watched him practice. Mr. Mylo did great with his "place", "sit" and even doing a nice comfortable "down" on the grass. He was extremely vocal as I adjusted his e-collar when we got there but having it in the proper location made our trip a lot better. He was willing to perform those commands with little issue. We worked on his "heel" but I think this is going to come with more time and practice. When I put him in the "sit" I move as close to him as possible so that he gets more comfortable with me. If he moves, we reset and I take what I can get which is about 6-8" away. I worked on his "come-to-sit" which is going to be a work in progress for the first week or so. It is made more challenging by his distrust of me still but as we continue to spend more time together we will get this command more locked in.

As far as putting the e-collar on for the next few days, I will simply be wearing gloves. He thinks that if he keeps trying to nip at me I'll back off and leave him alone. Unfortunately for Mr. Mylo, we are here to work on these kinds of behaviors and we have to tackle them head-on. If I keep letting him win those or let him keep nipping me, he's going to continue to think that this behavior is ok. There is nothing wrong if a pup defends itself or lets you know that it is not comfortable with something however, I am not causing him any harm, he is not causing himself any harm and there is no reason for him to be acting like this in this circumstance other than he wants to show that he is the boss. I think once we get him over this hill, we will be a lot better off in our training going forward. As a four-year-old pup who is proud, has traveled a lot ,and experienced the world, he is not a fan of the structure. Think of Mr. Mylo as a five-year-old toddler who has spent the first four years of their life being at home playing and having fun and doing all the cool stuff kids get to do and then we tell that child to sit in a class for hours to learn and study. A lot of kids are not exactly thrilled about it but any great teacher will win them over and show them how fun it is to learn. That is my job for Mr. Mylo. He has never had to perform these things and he's not thrilled about it but I will make it as fun as possible for him and do my best to win him over.

Pupdate 1/30/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I headed over to Rynerson Park in Lakewood, CA. We focused on his extended "sit", extended "place", extended "down", "heel" and "come-to-sit". I recorded me putting on his e-collar with gloves so you can see the process. He did let me get it on a little snug but not snug enough to get the levels down to the 10ish range. I think if we operate at the snug fit that we got today, we will be working in the 20-30 range. I will try a few more times as he gets more comfortable to make it more snug. The problem with this is that you can see him trying to shake it and move it. This will cause skin irritations and we dont want that. Also, once it does make contact or he can feel it, then it is a more powerful level. This is supposed to be a communication device to the pup. If you observed, after I took my gloves off to test the fit of the collar, he tried to nip at me. With the fit I did get, it stayed in place for the training but he was trying to move it. At the end, I did get Mr. Mylo to "load up" which is his command to get into the car. This park allows my trunk to be close to the ground and he made the jump and went right into the crate. Let's go!

We'll keep working and going on walks to reinforce his "heel" and "come-to-sit" or recall. I let him get ahead of me when he's not paying attention then guide him back to the proper "heel" position. Eventually, they stop getting in front of me because performing the "come" command too many times is too much work and pups want to do the task with as little effort as possible while getting what they want which in this case will be a long walk around the neighborhood with the occasional potty break on trees.

Pupdate 1/31/25

Today we headed over to Stearns Park in Long Beach, CA. For today's video, I wanted to show you how Mr. Mylo is still allowed to be himself with the e-collar on. In the first few minutes, I let him roam around and check the area out. I let him take his potty break. I didn't expect him to go poop so I had to grab a bag and clean up before the next video picks up. I show you how reactive he's been with me putting the e-collar on. I had my gloves on and it was a good thing too. I did get it on pretty snug today so we were working around 15-25. We practiced his "sit" and "heel". I also introduced the "under" command. After the video was over, we went and walked around for a little bit more with the e-collar on letting him be himself. Then I put the gloves back on and decided to try to work on taking the collar on and off. Mr. Mylo was not a big fan of this. With my gloves on, he definitely nipped me and bit my hands a few times. I let him do it to see that he's not going to hurt me and that its not going to prevent me from putting the collar on. I took it on and off about 4 or 5 times. I started giving him treats throughout the process too so when he didn't nip at me, I would reward him for that. By the last one, he didn't snap at me or anything and I gave him treats. I let him walk around and be free again. I don't want the experience of putting on the collar of being a negative one. He understands that when the collar is on he has to perform the obedience tasks and its not Mr. Mylo's world.

We will keep at it and keep shaping Mr. Mylo's behavior.

Pupdate 2/1/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I continued to build our relationship. I think we are starting to get a little better each day. He is starting to trust me more and more. It may only be a few small things each day but they keep showing me that he is a little more comfortable. For instance, I've had to chase him down in my dog run to get him to come back inside or get on the leash. Today, he did take a few steps away but then sat down and waited for him to put his leash on versus running to the end and as far away as possible. Another great achievement today was that Mr. Mylo didn't snap at me while putting on his e-collar. Once again, I put my gloves on, and sat in a chair nice and comfortably. I had Mr. Mylo sit in front of me. For every good step of the way, I gave him a treat. For sitting, for letting me put the collar on him, then letting me fit it properly, all without nipping at me, he received a treat for each step of the way. Eventually, we would like to fade the treats away and the newly shaped behavior will remain. This will only come with multiple practice sessions and plenty of treats.

We went on our daily walk around the block before our training today. Although I did introduce the "under" yesterday, that's not the way I like to do it so we focused on that during today's training session. The good part about practicing the command was being able to work on the "break!" command. This helps him understand he can stop doing what we are asking of him and he can do whatever he wants. I'd love it if he came up to me and let me pet him and give him attention but he is quite independent and hasn't become that close to me yet.

The only command left to introduce is the send away to "place"; however, we have to ensure that the "place" and "down" are locked in before we chain these commands together. Just like the "under", Mr. Mylo needed to show me that he knows how to perform the "down" before I could introduce the "under" so too does Mr. Mylo need to show proficiency in the "place" and understand the expectations of all commands before we push further.

Pupdate 2/2/25

Today was a really good day for me and Mr. Mylo. During our walk around the neighborhood, I decided to see how he would do with the leash dragging. He did amazing! This will be the new standard on our walks for the next few days (weather permitting). To start off with, I was able to put the collar on again without much fuss from Mr. Mylo. I did put it on a little too tight at first and when I adjusted it, he wasn't too happy about that but that's on me not on him. With it on properly, we worked most of today on levels 6-10. It makes it so much better and smoother for him and me when a nice low-level stimulation gets his attention and we can make better progress. Also, during the walk I introduced the "come-to-heel" which is when I am walking away from him, he has to come to my side and start walking in the "hee" position. This is fantastic. It shows me that he understands the "heel" and can perform this task without distraction. If you remember, on my first day I let him sniff and smell every tree, plant, wall, and fire hydrant and he was at the end of his leash checking everything out but now he only leaves the sidewalk when I give him the "break" command. Also, I wasn't even holding the leash while he did all this. The other thing I have been slowly doing which he may not realize is getting closer and closer to him. He tends to stay a little bit away probably to avoid being stepped on and so that he can have his personal space. I don't mind this as long as he isn't going anywhere. He does move over about a foot to the "sit" when we stop walking which is weird.

When we got home from our walk, we worked on his door manners. There are two types of door manners. The first is where he has to sit there and wait for us to allow him to proceed through the door. We can have Mr. Mylo "heel" or we can say "ok" and he can come out and be free for a second while we lock the door. The second method is to place Mr. Mylo on a cot, bed, or even the floor and have him wait while we walk outside and check things out. We had to reset him a few times so that he could understand what I was asking of him. I left him on the cot for a few minutes to reinforce the extended "place" and extended "down". I would say that for his first trial of these exercises, he did mightily well. I gave him the "Break!" after we were done and he took off to the kitchen to lay down. You may not be able to see or notice but his tongue is out and there is some panting while we are performing these tasks. The mental part of these exercises is the toughest and most strenuous for them. Mr. Mylo is in perfect health but now we are teaching his mind to understand and this mental stimulation can be exhausting depending on the pup. This is why I like a pup who is hydrated, well-fed, well-rested, mentally and physically ready when performing training. Just like us humans, the more tired you are, the harder things are.

Lastly, even when I went to get Mr. Mylo for today's training session, he actually came up to me while I was petting Ms. Toji and I didn't have to chase him. These are all really good signs of us working better together. I would like to see some of his tasks be a little cleaner so I might introduce the pinch collar this week for a few days but I also don't want it to affect his trust and the work we've put in because if I'm too tight even on the flat collar he is reactive and backs up and I want him to be closer to me. He's smart enough that if I give him a treat, he gets it and then backs up again. We'll give him a few more days of trying to get it cleaner. By "cleaner", I mean having him sit by my side, when he does his "come-to-sit" he sits a little behind me, and when I manipulate him into place too much he doesn't like it and it creates conflict and confusion. We don't want that. So, I'll let him decide if we will need it or not. I'll keep trying to shape it little by little; however, we don't have unlimited time to get to where our goals are for Mr. Mylo.

Pupdate 2/3/25

Today, Mr. Mylo and I headed over to Liberty Park in Cerritos, CA. There were people playing pickleball, running laps, kids playing on the playground, other pups being walked, and even some construction going on. Mr. Mylo paid no mind to any of it. It appears that Mr. Mylo's favorite things are to get as far away from me as possible and smell everything he can in the new environments. Overall, today was ok. We started well with him letting me put the e-collar on without much complaining. I continue to don the gloves and provide a multitude of treats. The problem with this method is that I put the collar on too loosely, which means my levels had to go a little higher. I always start at level five and work my way up until I see his reaction. Levels 5-7 are a perfect number when it's nice and snug.

We practiced almost everything with the leash dragging. We started with the "heel" and then the extended "sit." Once we moved on from those, we practiced the "place," "down," and "under" commands. After the video was over, we practiced his come-to-sit a bit more, as you can see, it was not very good at all today. I also used a ledge as a barrier when practicing the "heel" and having him stop and "sit." The ledge forced him to be closer to me as there was nowhere else to go. When he sat, he tried to move forward or backward, but I did not let him "sit" unless he was next to me. This park is great as it has all the obstacles and distractions needed to shape Mr. Mylo's behavior. We will definitely be going back there when we can.

Once this incoming rain passes, I'd like to practice and introduce his tasks off-leash this week. We will do this in my backyard with little to no distractions and in a controlled environment. Today he showed me that he understands every command. I want to take advantage of his progress and transition into the off-leash phase soon so that we have almost a week of practicing off-leash activities.

Pupdate 2/4/25

Today I took advantage of the rain not coming in and introduced Mr. Mylo to working off-leash. Let's just say that it is a work in progress. Mr. Mylo wanted to do what Mr. Mylo wanted to do. This is what almost all the pups do. They run off to my dog run side. I just keep moving the number up and up and saying "come". Eventually he came back. Then I give him something I know he can do. It took a few trials to get him to "sit" for two minutes because he had no leash on him and he needed to choose to follow or break. He kept choosing to do his own thing so we kept resetting. I tried to get him to do his send away to "place" but he didn't want to do that either. Once again, we wait and keep going up until he recalls and does it. We have to be persistent and consistent. If we ask Mr. Mylo to perform a task then we have to follow through with him to ensure he performs the task. If we don't, then he will learn that he can do whatever he wants and it will invalidate the training I've been working on with him. I'd say we're in a good place overall with him.

I was able to take his e-collar off without using my gloves and without him nipping at me. We are making progress!

Pupdate 2/5/25

Can I talk to you about a bathroom model?

Today Mr. Mylo waited out the rain and then headed over to Home Depot in Lakewood, CA. I transferred him over to my smallest and lightest leash. This is the closest leash I have to simulate being off-leash. Mr. Mylo practiced almost all his commands while we were there. I focused on his come-to-sit. Mr. Mylo is not a fan of being close to me but is willing to perform all the commands. I have been trying to use the treats and body positioning to shape his behavior but I am probably going to give the pinch collar a try in the next few days. Mr. Mylo clearly doesn't like the pressure and is smart enough to figure out how to avoid it. I think that if I use it to shape him closer to me he will pick up on it quickly without much conflict between us. Mr. Mylo performed his "under", "down", and "sit" and even performed a "place" on the fake bathroom display.

Last note, I was able to put his collar on today without using my gloves and him snapping me at all! Great job, Mr. Mylo!

Pupdate 2/6/25

Today, I planned to conduct another off-leash session in the backyard and work on better consistency with Mr. Mylo; however, the gentle rain did not relent enough for me to conduct this training. Instead, I decided to load up and introduce Mr. Mylo to his commands at the Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA. Mr. Mylo did well with his "heel". I did let the leash drag a little to see how he would do, and he does ok. Once again, he drifts about a foot away, but he is watching me because when I slow down, he slows down. We worked on his extended "sit" around all the people. I was happy with how well he did! He even performs the recall to "heel" without any issues. Next we worked on his "under" and "down". He nailed the command on the first try but as soon as I took two or three steps backward, he broke the command. We had to reset several times before he understood to just stay there. I was patient and gave him a few chances to understand and then he got it. Nex,t we reviewed his "place" and extended "down" again. Once again, if I drifted too far from him, Mr. Mylo wanted to break his commands. A few resets and we got him to understand to stay there. His come-to-sit is still not the best as he comes to me and then sometimes drifts behind me or doesn't come into a closer "heel" position. Hopefully, the rain has passed as I'd like to focus on a few more things in the backyard to clarify for Mr. Mylo and then we will only be performing leash dragging or off-leash work this next week.

Pupdate 2/7/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I headed over to Liberty Park in Cerritos, CA. Today we take our stand with Mr. Mylo. I have given him every chance to perform the commands on the flat collar and rewarded his "close enough" behavior with treats. However, we only have one week left, and Mr. Mylo is not performing where I'd like him to be. Therefore, I introduced him to the pinch collar. This is a good path forward for the next few days. I like that it sits highest on his neck and the e-collar receiver is a little further down. This means that the e-collar isn't as uncomfortable for him, and he's not trying to shake it off as much. We can also operate around the 20 level without him vocalizing. As anticipated, he performed smoothly, and I got him to walk closer to me. This is what I have been looking for from him without having to use this tool. The treats are still coming and the positive reinforcement is still there when he does things correctly. We can't add a new tool such as the prong collar without giving lots of positive reinforcement.

Next note, he has been anticipating a lot and doing what we call cueing off of me and my body position. This is perfectly normal as the dogs are learning tasks they are pairing everything in their mind. My job as a trainer is to proof or counter-condition those cues out of his system so that he performs one command at a time regardless of where we are with our body position. As you can see, I used the long lead again and tried to shape the behavior more consistently. When Mr. Mylo breaks one of his commands, he isn't running off to go do his own thing, he is simply anticipating the next one, showing me that he's over it and not exercising impulse control or he's trying to avoid the stimulation or the pressure of the prong collar by doing what he thinks I am going to ask him to perform next. I don't want all that extra thinking. I just want him to sit there and be handsome and well-behaved.

Lastly, as we were leaving, we got to practice his greeting manners as two people were giving him googly eyes and wanted to say hi. He sat there calmly and let them say hi. I gave him a nice 10-minute break to run around the park and grass and do whatever he wanted while still wearing the e-collar receiver and the prong collar. He was his usual self by tasting all the grass, rubbing and running into the taller bushes and grass, marking trees, etc.

Pupdate 2/8/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I headed back to Liberty Park in Cerritos, CA. Today was much busier and had a lot more going on than yesterday. We went back to the prong collar as we are no longer giving Mr. Mylo any more chances to do what he wants to do. It is working really well. As stated before, he doesn't like being uncomfortable, and we are capitalizing on that by just making him slightly uncomfortable and we are getting much cleaner behavior out of him. Once again, I do like the e-collar a little lower on him, about midway between his ears and shoulder. He keeps trying to anticipate as you see him get up from the "down" several times. I am incorporating hand signs to help him understand better. The other thing is that I didn't bring any treats today. His reward is going to be the lack of pressure into positions. The absence of pressure is considered a reward in the operant conditioning of a pup. I used every opportunity to reinforce the "down" and have him practice. As you can see in the first part of this video, I had him in the "down" while I pushed my mini-trainer on the swing for about 10-15 minutes. He would get up every once in a while but then I would reset him. I've been a lot more strict with him getting up and breaking his commands. As soon as he does it, it's an immediate reset with pressure. Then I leave him alone. I can see he is looking at me at all times trying to anticipate what I am going to ask him to do. He's very clever and is picking up on all my body cues and using them to avoid the pressure. We don't want that though. We want him to perform the command and relax. We will keep up with the prong collar and holding Mr. Mylo accountable at all times.

Side note: Last night was the first time in two weeks that Mr. Mylo let me walk up to him and pet him without him running away. This made me so happy! Although it has taken a long time, I am happy to see that he is being more receptive towards me. The structure and the boundaries, although strict, are only increasing our relationship as he knows that I am only giving him purpose through clear communication and expectations.

Pupdate 2/9/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I headed to Rynerson Park in Lakewood, CA. I wanted to focus on his "come-to-sit". As you can see we practiced over and over and over again. I started at about 5', then 10' then 12' then at the end of my 15' leash on his recall. Then I tried to drop the leash and give him a chance to perform the command without the pressure. He would wander off. This is when I would use the stimulation on the e-collar to get his attention. If he messed up, I would go back one step to where he did it and then try again. We then went on a long walk around the park. The playground was a lot more crowded than usual with a few birthday parties. We practiced his "place" and extended "down" at the playground around all the kids playing. Tomorrow, I am going to introduce the slip lead and see how he does with the slip lead versus the prong collar. Same concept with the pressure but it will give him a better chance to show what he can do. And then we'll do an off-leash session in the backyard with the e-collar in its new position. I think this is better for getting the wanted behaviors from Mr. Mylo.

Pupdate 2/10/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I had our last backyard session. I used my slip lead which is simply a rope that fits snugly on the neck similar to the pressure of the prong collar. I worked on reinforcing the "place" and "come-to-sit". Mr. Mylo knows the "come-to-heel", the "heel", the "under", and the "sit" pretty solidly. His weakest commands have been the "come-to-sit" and the send away to "place". I have been focusing on these heavily. Today he finally nailed the "come-to-sit" without any treats or without me holding the leash. And when I went to praise him for it, he even gave me licks on the face and didn't immediately run away! What a long way our relationship has come! It's amazing how great we are doing. I even gave him the "break" command at the end and he came to me! He didn't run away or anything! I left that in the video because I was so happy he came to me for the first time in almost three weeks! I used no treats today and simply held him accountable and gave him lots of love and attention for performing his tasks well.

The send-away to place will be our hyper-focus focus the next few days. We don't have a lot of time left and we need to put in a lot of work on this. The biggest issue is that if I press the e-collar remote too soon then he doesn't want to perform the task but if I stop too short of the "place" then he backs off as well. I mentioned before that he picked up and is in tune with where I am and uses that to take the shortcut to perform the least amount of work possible.

Tomorrow we will be around some of our other Off-Leash trainers and pups so that I can demonstrate his obedience and recall around those pups.

Pupdate 2/11/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I headed over to Whittier Narrows in El Monte, CA to meet up with our other Off-Leash trainers and their pups. It was good to get Mr. Mylo around other pups. He was distracted by them at times but with enough stimulation, I was able to get his attention. Something to remember is to be more distracting and more stimulating than the thing that is distracting him. For the recall, this is important because we have to be more important than what is distracting him. This will be the same when he tries to mark at your friend's house. We want to disrupt and redirect that behavior.

We did come up with a better strategy for working on his send away to place. I think this will be more productive going forward and will help him better understand what I am asking of him. I'm looking forward to shaping this final behavior before he heads back on Sunday!

Pupdate 2/12/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I took an indoor field trip to the Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA. With the onset of this rain, we will likely be there a few more times this week. Mr. Mylo draws a lot of attention for being a handsome pup and for being well-behaved. He let several strangers say hi to him. For greeting new people, I have Mr. Mylo perform a "sit" then I have them pet him on his back or front chest. The top of the head is sometimes stressful and I am not a fan of the let's put our hands in the face of the dog. It just makes it weird when people do that. He's sitting there nicely waiting for the greeting, just get in there and say hi.

We practiced our extended "down", extended "sit", "place", "come-to-sit", "come-to-heel", "under", "heel", and send away to "place". The latter was our main focus. I think a great strategy for Mr. Mylo is to give him a good potty break in the area to take care of his business, and then perform a five-minute warm-up session. Then he is ready to go. Whenever we jump right into it, like today, he is not fully mentally engaged since we were trying to get out of the rain. After about five minutes he is much more engaged and understanding of the tasks. I would have liked another day or two at a park to practice his send away to "place" but we'll have to practice at the mall as best as we can. Hopefully, the repeat visits and the repetitive commands will result in better generalization from him and he will want to "place" on certain things more quickly.

Pupdate 2/13/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I focused on his door manners. It was simply too rainy to try to go train anywhere. We still found a way to make the training productive. As you are aware, we went back a few steps by using the prong collar, then the slip lead, and then the leash dragging. We are back to giving him opportunities to make off-leash decisions. Today was a good day to let Mr. Mylo make his own choices in the house and see if he would listen. He decided that he did not want to participate at first. This is what I recently discussed about warming him up and making sure he was in the right mental state. You can see in the video that he took off and did whatever he wanted. However, I kept calling him and raising the level of the e-collar until he came back. As he started to come back, I released the pressure and let him come back to see what he was going to do. He would get close to the cot and then stop. I tried to use as much positivity as I could but he was not having it so we had to be firm and hold him accountable. This worked! Mr. Mylo does like to let me know when he doesn't like something by vocalizing his complaints but he does it. Once he gets his complaints out, he is more willing to participate. As you can see once he got all that running and complaining out of his system, and I was able to bring the numbers back down, he settled into his "down". My daughter and I went back and forth across the door for several minutes without him getting up or moving.

Tomorrow's game plan involves a quick backyard session to work on the send-away to "place" again. Then, depending on how wet everything is, we will head to the mall or park. The warm-up session should pay off before going into the public places. We only have a few more days to finalize and wrap everything up here. It is not a matter of whether or not Mr. Mylo knows the commands, it's a matter of winning Mr. Mylo over enough that he will perform them consistently. When he came here, he didn't know any of these commands. Now he does know them but sometimes he can be resistant. I think you'll be pleased with where he is. Remember, you'll have to practice on a leash with him before engaging in off-leash activities. You'll have to practice using the e-collar system. Also, failing to reinforce or practice the commands can result in extinction of the commands which means that he will no longer perform them.

Lastly, this is a friendly reminder to follow all leash laws, ordinances, policies, and regulations. Just because you can do something doesn't always mean you should. Being on a leash is the safest thing for our pups because we can protect them from other pups. Mr. Mylo can and will stick up for himself but it's better if we don't have to put him in that situation.

Pupdate 2/14/25

Today Mr. Mylo and I hit the ground running after the rain. We headed out to Liberty Park in Cerritos, CA to warm up. I have been speaking about this quite a bit. Getting Mr. Mylo more and more conditioned and ready to work is important. I give him five minutes to sniff everything and mark everything so that he is free and clear of his biological needs. We then practiced the send-away to place over and over again since we did not get a lot of practice with the rain the past few days. It was rocky, to say the least, but Mr. Mylo got it down after a few trials. Once I was comfortable with where we were, off to the mall we went!

The mall was nice and crowded today thanks to Valentine's Day. Mr. Mylo does really well on the leash. It's when I take him off the leash that he continues to try to do whatever he wants. Tomorrow, we will do our practice session in the backyard where I will allow him to choose to listen or not obey. I will then use the e-collar to disrupt the unwanted behavior until he gets on board then we will head back to the mall for a final review of all his commands off-leash.

Pupdate 2/15/25

Today was Mr. Mylo's final day with me and of course, he didn't make it easy! Every single day and every single moment with Mr. Mylo has been a balance of being kind and gentle while holding Mr. Mylo accountable. It has been a balance of letting Mr. Mylo be himself while still ensuring that he follows through with what I am asking for. With that being said, today was probably the most intensive day of training thus far. We reviewed everything from beginning to end with him today. We reviewed his car manners by loading up into the car, we reviewed his door manners, we reviewed his food manners, we reviewed his greeting manners, we reviewed his send away to a place, under, heel, come to heel, off, come to sit, extended sit and extended down. As I stated previously, Mr. Mylo knows all the commands, we just have to make sure he performs them.

A great example is today at the park when we stopped to warm up, he was off-leash and wanted to go run and say hi to another pup. That was not what we were doing at that moment. I had to raise the levels of the e-collar remote and prevent him from doing that. I was able to get his attention and recall him. This is still after three weeks that Mr. Mylo is willing to go and try; however, this is exactly what you were looking for which is to recall Mr. Mylo from just running off and doing his own thing. It is imperative that we do not allow this type of behavior or he will go back to the old Mr. Mylo, doing whatever he wants. We went to the mall and practiced everything off-leash with a lot of Valentine's Day shoppers. The mall was almost as busy as it was during Christmas. Mr. Mylo was a little overwhelmed but he was able to focus up and lock in for his final training session. He let strangers pet him and was well-behaved overall. When he's on the leash, he's extra well-behaved.

We did take a few minutes to brush him and clean his coat. This was a pleasant experience, as the sun was out and shining, and we could hang out and enjoy it.

As a reminder, here are the obedience commands that he has learned while with me:

Sit/Extended Sit: Press the black "S" button + say "Sit".
Down/Extended Down: Press the black "S" button + say "Down".
Place/Extended Place: Press the black "S" button + say "Place".
Send away to Place: Cast your hand toward the object and say "Place"
Come-To-Sit: Press the black "S" button + say "Come" + use your hands to guide into place.
Heel: Press the black "S" button + say "Heel".
Come-to-Heel: When the pup is sitting or is away from us, tap our left side, say "heel" + black "S" button and the pup will return to the "heel" position.
Under: Point below a bench or table, press the black "S" button + say "Under" then "Down"
Food Manners/Refusal: The pup must patiently wait in either a "sit" or "down" while you prepare the food and then say "break" allowing the pup to access the food.
Car Manners: Press the black "S" button + say "Load up!"
Greeting Manners: Have pup "sit" then allow for new person to say hi
Door Manners: Place the pup in a "sit" open the door and then allow the pup to go through with you or say "ok" and let the pup inside
"Off" + black button "S" to stop the pup from performing unwanted behavior. Always press the black "S" when using this command.
"Break!" - no stimulation and the pup can freely sniff or go potty.

We will be reviewing how to perform all these tomorrow during the turnover! We can't wait to show you how much he has learned and how great of a pup he will be in the future!

Mylo | Alaskan Klee Klai | Los Angeles, CA | In-Training

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