Meet Padme! She's a seven month old Goldendoodle from Los Angeles, California here for our Two-Week Board and Train Program. Padme is a super sweet pup who is just starting her training journey! She can be nervous around new people and in new environments, but once she gets to know you, she loves to cuddle! However, she can sometimes go a little too far and jump all over people. She pulls heavily on her leash and sometimes barks at dogs while out on walks. She also needs some potty training! Over the next fourteen days, we will work on Padme's confidence, teach her some basic obedience skills, help with her potty training, work on her manners in and out of the house, and show her how to be the best pup she can possibly be! Stay tuned for Padme's two week transformation!
Pupdate: 7/20/2024
After picking up Padme, we hung out at the park for a bit to get to know each other. She was a bit nervous to leave her dad and her sister, but she's a very sweet girl! She needs a lot of work on her basic obedience skills, as well as her confidence.
When we arrived home, I let her sniff around my house to start getting comfortable. She's starting to like me but still isn't fully settled in. On our first walk around my neighborhood, she did a much better job with her pulling compared to the park. She's checking in with me fairly frequently which I like. I'm hoping we can build her confidence quite a lot!
In addition to beginning her training journey, we introduced her to her E collar! I am adding a video and picture of her E collar. The video is a tutorial that will make her transition home much easier.
Pupdate: 7/21/2024
Padme and I went to Almansor Park today for her first full day of training! She is heavily distracted by people and other dogs. It was a busy day there for her first day, with several sporting leagues having games. She seemed a little nervous at first, but even when she calmed down she would often turn all the way around to look at people passing us while walking. The first command I'm introducing her to is Heel. For Heel, I want Padme to walk politely at my left side with her ears next to my leg. While in the quieter sections of the parks, she started doing quite well walking next to me on a loose leash. This is a great starting point, however I will soon expect her to walk similarly even around large numbers of distractions. We also worked on her basic Sit command, since she was having some trouble with it yesterday. She's already responding much better to Sit. She will only hold it for a few seconds at a time, which is another aspect of her obedience we will be working on.
I'm having trouble getting Padme to eat her kibble. She has eaten a few bites, but not quite enough. Having trouble eating the first couple meals in a new environment is normal, but if her appetite doesn't increase by tomorrow morning, I'm going to start adding some water to her kibble to make it a little more appetizing.
Overall, Padme had a pretty strong first day!
Pupdate: 7/22/2024
Padme and I went to Whittier Narrows Park today for training! We saw Padme's sister, Daisy, and they were pretty excited about it. Padme did a great job of heeling politely with me, but still found it difficult when around Daisy and the other dogs. In the above video, you can see her performing a fair quality heel, but sometimes she turns to try to look at or move toward Daisy. After several minutes of having them walking near each other, they started to calm down and relax. At one point, Daisy and her trainer, Megan, started walking to a different section of the park, and Padme barked a couple times to try to get them to come back. When she presents us with these kinds of unwanted behaviors, we can use the Off command. Off is our basic, "Do not do" command, and will be used very generally for any barking, jumping, or distracted focus.
We also started working on the Come To Sit command! For this command, I want Padme to come to my right side, walk around my legs and sit at my left side with her ears at my knee. You can see us try this a few times in the above video. Padme is learning the motion, but still needs a little bit of pressure on the leash to follow through. Great job though!
I added a bit of water to her meals today, and she ate much easier.
Pupdate: 7/23/2024
Padme and I went to Whittier Narrows Park this morning, and stayed cool inside for the hot afternoon. For her commands, we continued working on her Heel and Come To Sit, as well as her Place command. Place is a great confidence building command, which will be excellent for Padme. It also is one of the most useful commands we can learn for everyday situations inside the home. Whether I'm cooking dinner, doing some cleaning, or having guests over, Place will always come in handy. Giving Padme a spot where I know she'll be comfortable and happy can make everyday life a little less hectic. While we're out in public, I want Padme to be able to hold a position on a place object, such as a bench, around distractions for about two minutes. At home, I'd like that number to be a lot higher, borderline indefinite. At the park, Padme still had trouble holding the positions for more than thirty seconds or so, but at home she was able to stay on the more comfortable cot for several minutes at a time. Great job!
Padme's potty training is going well so far! She hasn't had any potty accidents inside. Ideally, I want her to go potty on command, which we're working on. Today, she went potty as soon as we went outside at around 7:30am, then peed again at the park shortly before we left around noon, and peed and pooped at about 5:15pm. She will likely pee again around 8 or 9pm before we go to bed. Having a solid schedule for her potty habits allows us to eliminate accidents in the home, which lets us celebrate her success with her and makes assigning a verbal, "go potty" command much more smooth.
Pupdate: 7/24/2024
Padme and I went to Almansor Park today for training! It wasn't super busy, which is a shame since the distractions are something she really needs work with. The good part is the lower distractions allowed me to test Padme a little bit more by dropping the leash during some of our training workouts. 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 a fantastic job while we were working on our commands, as you can see in the above video. She still needed some help with the leash when she wasn't one hundred percent confident what I was asking of her, but still very good. When we weren't fully engaged in a workout, but just walking around, she was much more likely to veer off to try to sniff something. Ideally, we will build her engagement to the point where she focuses a little bit even if we are just on a "boring" walk.
Padme pottied outside at about 7:30am, 12:30pm and 5:30pm. Last night she pottied again at around 9:30pm and I expect she will do the same tonight. Still no potty accidents inside. When I asked her to, "go potty" this afternoon, instead of just staring blankly at me like she had been, she started sniffing around a little more vigorously and found a spot to potty a little faster. This is a good sign and I believe she is heading in the right direction with her active potty training command. Great job!
On another note, she didn't seem as excited about her food as she has been, even with the water. She's still eating enough, but I'm going to try hand feeding her some dry kibble at the beginning of each meal then adding water after to see if this gets her more excited for food. If this doesn't work, I will try adding small amounts of pumpkin to her food. Pumpkin can be a good additive because it's great for dogs' stomachs and some dogs love it.
Pupdate: 7/25/2024
Padme and I went to Santa Monica Pier today for training! We got to work with Padme's sister, Daisy for much of the day. She was very nervous and excited when we first arrived, visibly shaking and pacing around. After walking around for a while she started to heel more reliably and seemed more relaxed, but never completely comfortable. She performed each of her commands well, although she had more trouble holding her positions around distractions. She also sometimes tried to slowly move closer to her sister as we worked. Other than those few things, she actually did a really good job for her first time on the pier!
We started trying to double heel with Padme and Daisy, and they both did fairly well. They were happy to be next to each other, but this led to them losing focus from time to time. Again, very good for their first time, but not quite ready for me to drop the leash around these heavy distractions.
Pupdate: 7/26/2024
Padme and I went to Santa Monica again today to continue to expose her to the outside world and high level distractions. She was still nervous for most of our time, but less than yesterday. Today, she wasn't as worried about getting next to her sister, and our heeling was a little more smooth. She was able to hold her positions for slightly longer, but still got a tiny bit startled if anyone came up from behind or made a loud noise.
After a nap at home, we went to the park where she had much more success with her commands. She's not quite ready for me to take the leash off, but she is getting good at performing her commands with her leash dragging, so I remain optimistic!
Adding a bit of pumpkin to her kibble seemed to work very well to get Padme to eat, and worked again today. I'm hoping she will continue to eat well with it.
Pupdate: 7/27/2024
Padme and I went to the park today for training! We continued working with her leash dragging, and switched to a much smaller and lighter leash to further replicate the sensation of being off leash. Around distractions, there were a few times I felt the need to step on her leash, when she veered a little bit to try to avoid the path of oncoming strangers around the park. Other than this slightly nervous response, she did very well. We're spending a lot of our time placing on various objects near people to try to boost Padme's confidence.
She does the best when the workout session is fun and upbeat. While working on her Heel, I'm adding lots of turns and making practice into a game where she tries to keep up with me no matter which way I turn. Building this engagement could be the key to her overcoming her nerves in more distracting environments.
Her potty training is still going well. She has yet to have an accident inside, and sticking to her 7:30, 12:30, 5:30, 9:30 plan seems to be working.
The pumpkin addition to her food is still working for her, so I will continue with it to see if she will like it long term, or if she simply likes it because it's different.
Pupdate: 7/28/2024
Padme and I went to Alhambra City Park today for training! There were tons of people and other dogs there today for what looked like a bunch of birthday parties. After warming up for a while we started getting closer to some of the people. She could be very attentive, even around those distractions, but she needed constant engagement and praise. For example, if we walked through a crowd nonchalantly, she would start getting overwhelmed, start panting, and scanning the environment. If we walked through that same crowd with me hunched over next to her, patting my leg, encouraging her verbally, and stopping to pet her every so often, she could overcome her nerves and stay with me with the distractions present. She's getting good at her commands, but she still just needs a ton of confidence building, which is our main goal at this point.
Pupdate: 7/29/2024
Padme and I went to the park today for her training! We started off using a tiny cat leash, which is extremely light and barely noticeable while the leash is dragging. After some warm up time with this method, I took off her leash and we practiced her off leash commands for the first time. Her performance and behavior was great, although the distractions at the park were several dozen yards away while her leash was off. I put her leash back on when we got closer to people, and had to pick up the leash a few times as we walked by. She still did well, but tried to back off a little bit when we got to close to anybody, especially if they were loud or running around. After the park, she took a nap on the place cot at home and we will likely go out to the park again once it cools down a bit!
Pupdate: 7/30/2024
Padme and I went to Garfield Park today for training! Luckily, there was a large brunch of some sort taking place at the park, which gave us a perfect opportunity to get Padme around a nice crowd. She was off leash for several minutes at a time and we took it slow, practicing each command at a distance, then making our way closer every so often. She did really well most of the time, except for a couple things that caught her off guard.
Once, someone whistled at her which caused her to break the sit she was holding. She actually went toward the people rather than away, and I'm glad she wasn't nervous about the new people, but it does indicate that her impulse control still needs work.
In another instance, there was a little remote control car driving around, which didn't seem to bother her until it got close to us which caused her to break her command and try hide between my feet. I'm glad she likes me enough to see me as a safe spot, but it definitely means she still needs a little more confidence. Other than those couple moments, she actually did very well throughout the day!
Padme has continued her hot streak of no potty accidents. She's really starting to respond to the words, "go potty." She also gets really happy after she potties, because she knows I celebrate and praise her each time she goes in an appropriate spot, especially when I ask her to.
Pupdate: 7/31/2024
Padme and I went to Home Depot today for training! We started out a bit rough with the distractions, but she ended up doing great work! The carts and forklift noises surprised her and she had a tough time adjusting to the new sounds. We relaxed in the store for a while so she could adjust, then did some warm up work on leash. In the above video, we started with some leash dragging and she was doing well. Before the forklift started moving, I picked up the leash to be safe, then we took her off leash for a minute when the forklift was gone. We repeated this cycle every few minutes, so she got a solid amount of time off leash. I put her leash on whenever we started hearing super loud noises, such as a forklift moving or a particularly squeaky cart. She did a much better job with the people around the store today. For example, about a minute into the video, she starts to get up from her Down when an employee passes, but immediately lays back down when asked. This isn't perfect, but it is much better than before!
Also, when we first arrived at the store she pottied in the grass immediately when asked. This is why working on a potty command is great! It wasn't time for her normal potty, but I asked her to go before we went inside and she did! Great job!
Pupdate: 8/1/2024
Padme went to Santa Monica Promenade today with her sister, Daisy! She started out nervous, but she was also extremely happy to see Daisy. After quite a bit of warm up time, they were able to walk politely with us, and even lay next to each other without breaking their positions. At first, Padme wanted to stand up from her Down position whenever Daisy was close. We've worked on her Down command around strangers, and she's improved a ton, but remaining calm with her sister next to her added an extra challenge. She got through that tough distraction, however, and ended up doing a great job!
Pupdate: 8/2/2024
Padme and I went to Santa Monica again today to continue exposing her to the world! She did even better today, although her sister wasn't there to serve as a distraction. Today, she was completely focused on me and she performed each command wonderfully. Even though certain parts of the Promenade were crowded, her work around the scary forklifts before and several times around her loving sister seems to have paid off, as she very rarely paid attention to anyone but me today!
On our evening walk, we passed someone with a dog named Anakin! Padme and Anakin are both characters from the Star Wars films. They have met before on our walks, but I thought it would be fun to get a picture of them together.
Padme will be going home tomorrow, and I couldn't be happier with her progress! She has gained so much confidence, and is much more engaged with her commands. I will miss her greatly when she goes home.
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