Abby | Goldendoodle | San Marino, CA | In Training
Updated: Aug 16
Meet Abby! She's a two year old Goldendoodle from San Marino, California, and she's here for our Two Week Urban Board and Train program. Abby is super friendly with people, likes other dogs when she's off leash, and she's very smart, but she doesn't always behave when she's excited or when she's on her leash. She sometimes jumps on people to say hello, and she can get reactive to other dogs during her walks. Her Heel is certainly something that needs to be worked on, and she doesn't always come when she's called. Over the next two weeks we'll make sure she knows to follow through on all her commands, teach her some good manners when it comes to meeting people, and show her that she doesn't need to worry about passing other dogs on leash anymore than she does off leash. Stay tuned for Abby's two week transformation!
8/3/26
After she got dropped off, I took Abby to wander around the park a little bit so we could get to know each other. She's actually not too bad with her pulling until she sees something that interests her, then she'll launch towards it! She did come when I called her, but only once she decided to and she'd zoom away again really fast! If she knows a Down command, she refused to do that one for me, but she's really good with her Sit! That one she did for me almost every time I asked, and fairly quickly. I just have to teach her how to hold it until I release her! She was also fine seeing other dogs as long as they were at a distance. She only reacted to one dog we passed by who lunged at her first, but I kept her moving and she settled down pretty quickly. I'll be sure to get her around more dogs who aren't reactive so she learns not every dog is out to get her! At home, on the other hand, she did fantastic in the play yard with the other dogs. She let everyone sniff without issues, and she had no reactions when some of the other dogs went to bark at the fence at a passing stranger. Basically it confirmed that to her, being stuck on the leash is the problem, so we'll work on that. Inside the house she actually settled right down on a doggie bed, no problem. She barely touched her food, though, which I expected might happen, but the nerves typically only last about a day or two before new dogs are comfortable enough to eat. She is attentive and that solid Sit is already coming in handy, so I anticipate good things from her in the coming weeks!
8/4/26
For Abby's first real day of training I took her over to a small park in the neighborhood that typically is pretty empty. It's nice and shaded and sort of tucked away so it's a great place to get going on the basics. I worked on her Heel first since she's definitely a puller! I'm doing a lot with the marker word, "Yes!" any time she's with me in the proper position, and using corrections any time she starts to tug away. She's smart like I predicted so it didn't take too long for her to start catching onto it. I also worked on extending how long she could stay in her Sit, and practiced making some distance between us. We worked on Down as well, which apparently she does actually know. She just didn't want to do it for me yesterday! So for that one it was mostly making sure she could do it the first time I asked, and just a little bit of work on duration and distance as well. Last, we worked on her Recall. Not only did I prompt her to come the first time she was asked, but we also teach them to come around into a Sit position on our Heel side at the end of it. At home she's doing a lot better. She slept just fine all night long and ate all of her breakfast this morning. She just needed a little time to acclimate and she fit right in! There we're mostly working on her jumping. She tends to get excited when she sees anyone approaching, and while she isn't too aggressive with it, we do expect her to sit politely for attention instead of jumping up. She also needs to sit and wait for her food until she's released, and sit and wait before going through the doors and play yard gates. She's catching on quick to all those things too, so she's setting the bar high for herself!
8/5/26
For today's session I took Abby out to Pamela Park, another nearby hotspot that's quite a bit bigger and busier than yesterday's park. Today wasn't too bad with the distractions as there were only a couple kids on the playground and a few couples sitting about at the picnic tables. That kept Abby from being too unfocused, but for some reason she was a little more uncertain at this park. It took a little more coaxing to get her following in the Heel, but we got there! She's also already doing better with how long she can hold her Sit and Down, and how far I can get away from her. She's coming when I call her, so mostly we're still just refining her ending position at my side. For it only being her second time out, she's actually doing really good! I think the change in routine may be throwing her off her confidence game some, but once she realizes that every time I take her out it's to somewhere new and exciting (and that she gets to go play in and explore between training moments), she'll be thrilled any time I get her in the car. She's also doing great at the house. I had two new dogs come in today for daycare and she got along just fine with them too. She sleeps quietly with no issues at all, and she doesn't try to charge through the door or the gate to the play yard. She's also been eating just fine now. Basically, outside of the jumping that we're continuing to work on, she's been really great to have around!
8/6/26
Today I brought Abby to one of my favorite little parks near Old Town Monrovia. It has lots of shade, playgrounds, and a walking track around the whole park with mileage markers, meaning typically you see people walking the loops with their dogs. But of course when I went there specifically to hunt for dogs I could work Abby around, there weren't any! It was okay, though, there were still plenty of rowdy kids on the playgrounds acting as distractions for us. Despite that, Abby was very good sticking to her Heel position without needing many corrections, and as this was her first photoshoot day, I'm pleased to report she held the positions I put her in as I backed up, squatted down, and took several shots until I got what I wanted. She's a natural model! So she still got plenty of training in while we were there, and tomorrow I'll take her somewhere else in my quest to find more dogs to expose her to!
8/7/26
To continue making things a little more challenging for Abby each day, we went out to Live Oak Park to practice around kids and whatever dogs might be walking there. We only saw a couple dogs, but they were across the field too far away for Abby to care. There were kids running around on the playground, though, and people sitting at the picnic tables that she wanted to go say hi to, but I made sure to correct her focus and keep paying attention to her Heel. She's gotten so much better with that and hardly pulls at all now, and she's starting to move into her Sit a lot faster when we stop walking. She's a little bit slow moving into the Down still, but she's improving every session. With her Recall, she comes readily when I call her so we're mainly still working on refining her positioning at the end. She has a tendency to want to sit facing me instead of being against my leg, so we'll keep working at it! After session, a little girl who'd been watching from the playground came over to ask about a zillion questions about Abby and dog training. She was scared to pet Abby at first, but after realizing how sweet and behaved Abby was, she finally chanced patting her back lightly, then moved up to pet her Abby. Abby stayed calm the whole time and didn't try to jump on the girl at all. She was so gentle and behaved, I was so proud of her! She did great today!
8/8/26
For today's adventure I took Abby out to Royal Oaks Park. It's at the end of a popular trail that typically has other dogs and joggers and bikers, etc. We're still contending with the heat, so there weren't as many dogs out as usual, but we did pass by a couple successfully without her throwing a fit. There were also several kids running around on the playground, but she had no issues ignoring them as we did her photo shoot today. She did surprised when I was trying to maneuver her into one of the spots when she somehow thought I was trying to ask her to jump up I guess? She hopped right over a little play wall, just clean cleared it from a stand still! It made me wonder if she might like agility work, so it's something to possibly look into at some point! She's doing much better at home with the jumping now, too. She'll do a couple little bunny hops when she's out in the play yard and sees me coming, but she stops and sits now when I actually come inside without me having to ask. She's such a quick study! Outside that she's been a perfect house guest - quiet, playful but not overbearing, and settles in to sleep easily when she knows it's time. It's been a joy having her around so far!
8/9/26
Today I took Abby to Home Depot for a little indoor exposure, plus to get a break from the heat. Most dogs are typically pretty nervous the first time they go in there, but she actually did pretty good. One of the big floor cleaners cruised right past her and she hardly blinked at it! She needed to be reminded to stay at her Heel and not try to pull ahead a couple times, but outside of that she was doing all her commands for me without any hesitation and without breaking before I released her. She's the only dog I've done who actually seemed to like being up on the yellow stairs. I released her and coaxed her down, but as I was checking my photos she climbed right on back up there! Maybe she was just happy that we were inside in the AC for once, and I can't blame her! Overall I'm pleased with her progress so far, and we still have a whole week to go to refine everything. With as fast as she's been picking things up I have no doubts she'll be nailing everything by the time she goes home!
8/10/26
I took Abby out to Alice's Dog Park this morning to work her mostly in the field across the parking lot from the play areas to see how she did around more dogs she doesn't know. There weren't nearly as many dogs as I'd hoped, but of the ones we did see, she didn't try to bark or lunge at anyone at all. She did break her Sit to sniff, but otherwise there were no signs of reactivity like I saw that first day when she was dropped off. She did all her commands even while knowing there were other dogs nearby, and her focus on me was really good. We're still just struggling a little with her coming around to sit at the end of her recall, so we practiced that one over and over again until I was feeling more confident about it before we left the park. She comes just fine when I call her, which is the important thing, but I'll keep working on getting that end result that we want with it. Outside of that she's doing really great, and is even much better on the jumping at home. She'll do a little bunny hop here and there, then remember herself and settle down before I even have to correct her. She's really starting to shape up!
8/11/26
For a fun little adventure (and to stay cool!), I took Abby over to PetSmart where we could potentially run into other dogs in closer quarters, plus have the distractions of the dog toys and treats! There was one little puppy waiting by the vet clinic that was very interested in Abby, and while she definitely showed interest back, there was again no sign of reactivity. I cruised her past the pup, keeping her on her Heel, without issues. She also wanted to sneak into the open bins of bones, but she left it alone with a simple Leave It command. Everything else was a breeze! She sat and laid down for me, she got up onto the bench for her Place without hesitation, and she didn't jump on any of the staff members who came by to greet her. She was very excited to get a biscuit at the door, too! She really handled herself well today despite all the temptations!
8/12/26
Abby had a really great day today! I took her into the theater part of the Santa Anita Mall where it tends to be a little less crowded in case the mall made her anxious. With the big ceilings, lots of foot traffic, echoing noises and new smells, sometimes the mall can be overwhelming to dogs, but she did great! The people didn't seem to bother her at all, even when they were running around and being loud, and she was doing so well with her Heel that I was having her do it on just a leash drag by the time we left. That meant most of the leash was just loose and I was only holding onto the very end, which makes sure I'm not using any pressure to help guide her around when doing her commands. It's the first step into moving towards totally off-leash work, and she handled it like a total pro. She stuck to that Heel with very little prompting, and held all her positions without breaking until I released her. I'm also happy to report that she's finally getting the hang of coming around into that Sit position by my side when I call her without me having to guide her with the leash. She gets A+'s all around today!
8/13/26
Today Abby and I took a nice stroll through Old Town Monrovia. It was cooler today so there were quite a few people out enjoying the small shops, but Abby navigated around all of them with no problems. She started off at her Heel without me asking for it and she stuck right to it the whole time we were walking. She knows the whole photoshoot drill by now and already seemed to be anticipating where I'd want her as we neared things and slowed down. We passed a lot of benches, but she hopped right onto the one in her picture for her Place just by reading my body language. I didn't have to say a thing! She's so smart! She held everything without breaking until I released her, and she came right back into her Heel any time I called her. It was nice being able to relax and do a little window shopping knowing she was going to be calm and behaved at my side!
8/14/26
We're getting close to the end of Abby's training, so today I took her back to the mall and brought along a friend to help film. That way I could just walk her through the crowd and run her through all her commands in a more natural way without being stuck going in circles in front of a tripod. Whenever she's in a public indoor space or otherwise in a busy area, she is required to stay at her Heel while walking so she isn't getting in anyone's way or trying to sniff merchandise, and she has to stay in her positions until she is released or called back into the Heel. She's able to do all of that with very little direction from me now, even when passing other dogs. We didn't come across any while filming, but there was a little white dog by the door on the way out of the mall. Abby did start to turn in its direction to say hello, but a quick correction from me had her snapping back to moving on her way without any further attempts to make contact with the other dog. We also worked on her greeting manners with strangers who were willing to stop and pet a sweet dog. She was excited to see everyone, but didn't try to jump on anybody. She's finally realized that jumping gets her nothing, but sitting and waiting for what she wants gets her all the good stuff!
8/15/26
We're almost through! I wanted to show off some of Abby's house manners for today's video, so you're getting an assortment of different things she's learned to do both in and out of the house. I start with car manners. Abby loves our little training outings and she used to try to drag me to the car and leap into it before I even had the crate open! Now she knows to walk calmly to the door, sit, and wait for me to tell her that it's okay to hop on in. This keeps her from tripping people up as they're trying to get in or get her in, and it's helpful if you have things you need to put into the car before you're ready for her. A little patience goes a long way! Which leads into the next two demonstrations where she needs to wait for things inside the house. First, she's not allowed to go through doors until she's released, even if they're wide open. This will keep her from darting out as people are trying to move in and out of the house, plus helps keep her calm (aka not jumping!) when she's excited to greet people. She also needs to wait before going after her food bowl. This not only helps prevent food from spilling everywhere when trying to put the bowl down, but also helps establish a little bit of authority. Whoever controls the food is the one in charge, so it never hurts to use that to help remind her who actually runs the house! Last, I have her out back in the wash behind my neighborhood. This is a great area to practice doing some off-leash things since it's fenced on both sides, and eventually hits dead ends in either direction. I wanted to show off her Recall in particular when she's not on the leash so she isn't strictly relying on that pressure to make her come. She should be ready to roll the first time you ask her to come, leash or no, so it's important to keep practicing this one as much as possible in any scenario. You never know when you need to call her back in an emergency, so we worked hard on this one! She's come a long way with her manners in general over the last two weeks, she's like a whole new dog!
8/16/26
It's our last pupdate in Abby's two week program! I like to have more of a fun day on the last time out, so I took Abby over to the Santa Fe Dam where she could enjoy a nice lake visit. It isn't all just silly play time though! The lake is very busy on weekends with lots of people swimming, throwing parties, renting peddle cars, flying kites - you name it! Abby still needed to behave and have good manners despite all of that happening around her, plus she needed to not react to all the other dogs running around. She aced all of it! On top of that, we happened to run into a friend of mine on the beach. Abby sat for them nicely for the greeting, then decided they made a great chair instead of having to sit on the sand lol. My friend was all about it, though, and welcomed Abby to stay right there while we visited. It was a nice little outing for everyone! Abby's been a great dog all around to have at the house. She has her stubborn moments, but generally she's been well-behaved and very sweet to everyone. She played well with all the other dogs, too, so I think she'd be great if she had a little play group of some sort with regular friends. Overall, she was fun to train, she's super smart, and I know she'll be fine as long as you stay on top of her! Thank you so much for letting me meet her and be part of her learning journey!
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