Alba, a German Shepherd Mix from Venice Beach, CA went through the Balanced Canine Training SoCal 2 Week Board & Train dog training program. Alba was trained by dog trainer Wyatt Harris in Ontario, CA.
Welcoming back our girl Alba for a two week board and train! She graduated our puppy class and is now back for some more advanced training. We are so excited to get back to work together! Alba is more than eager to begin her training. Looking forward to watching her progress.
Pupdate 11/23/2020
Alba out walking around a local school campus. Refreshing her on all of her commands but with using the E-Collar now. She responded very well to it! Putting lots of work into the heel command today.
Pupdate 11/24/2020
Right back to our training where we left off! Alba is showing that she remembers some of the drills we would practice during her puppy program which is serving as a great foundation! She is quickly learning how the E-Collar works and how to turn it off. For the heel command, we practice staying in the "green zone". This zone is the imaginary spot where we want Alba remembering to stay while performing the heel command. When she steps out of this zone, we use the E-Collar at a low level stimulation to show her back to her position, eliminating the leash pulling and eventually using it to transition her off leash.
Pupdate 11/25/2020
Alba out at a new park today filled with ducks and birds! We practiced holding her commands around these bird distractions. She was more than interested with the ducks at first but quickly refocused on her commands with the help of the E-Collar. Made good progress on ignoring birds!
Pupdate 11/26/2020
Alba and Kylo spending Thanksgiving together! These two played together most of the day while we celebrated the holiday together. Both pups received some turkey treats and loved them!. We went to the park together to practice some commands. Alba is improving on separating play from work time. She can hold her commands around Kylo tempting her to chase even ! Big improvements. Happy Thanksgiving!
Pupdate 11/27/2020
Alba working through the weave poles for the first time! She is hesitant at first but quickly catches on. After that we go to some place practice followed by holding the down command while Trainer Mike attempts to distract her and coax her out of the command. She holds strong and stays on place even through his attempts! Very impressive. Although she had to be told to lay down once she still was fantastic for most of the day! We are working on down from a distance already which is considered an advanced command.
Pupdate 11/28/2020
Alba and Kylo out walking! Alba's heel has greatly improved and with the assistance of the E-Collar occasionally to keep her on track she will stick by your side without pulling.
Pupdate 11/29/2020
One week into training Alba has gained about a pound actually! She is doing fantastic with her commands and is mostly ironing out her problems with the Heel command at this point. She will snap into command most of the time but some days she's in such a playful puppy mood it takes a bit of effort first to get her in the zone before dropping that leash.
Pupdate 11/30/2020
Alba off leash today at the park and she did great!! We worked on all of her off leash commands but focused on Heel. After a hard training sessions Alba got rewarded with some free time to roam and sniff around followed by play time with Kylo. They chased each other around and jumped all over the place for about 30 minutes. Alba was so tired after she went straight to nap time.
Pupdate 12/01/2020
Alba getting festive for this photo. We practiced lots of in house manners today. She ate dinner next to Kylo and get a little defensive about her food which required some corrections but everything was fine after and they continued to eat side by side.
Pupdate 12/02/2020
Alba doing the place command out on our night walk this evening. She is performing the command on a thin raised bench that she wouldn't jump up without help before but will now. You can't tell from this photo because of the way her neck is turned but she is rocking her E-Collars light mode right now. The front of the collar will shine with a light with two different modes, one is a flashing strobe light, the second is a solid flashlight. Great for night walks to let her guide the way along with being great safety feature.
Pupdate 12/03/2020
Alba learning the command "Load". At first she will run at the car and paw at the trunk but with some practice she is waiting patiently in the sit position until being told to "Load". This command is great for car rides and saving your paint from being scratched by her claws while allowing you to set up the car for her before she jumps in!
Pupdate 12/04/2020
Alba out heeling with me today off leash. She did great! We walked by a house where a dog comes out to the fence and barks quite a bit as we pass and she did absolutely amazing at totally ignoring him and walking on by! I like to make her hold a heel for some time and then give he a break to stop and do some smelling around or exploring in safe areas then we get back to it and keep on heeling and trying to keep our distance tight.
Pupdate 12/05/2020
Alba out filming her final video with me today. Alba did very good for the most part but I cut an outtake to show a reaction of hers to passing by a group of birds. Although her instinct to go chase them was still there, the E-Collar was able to quickly and effectively stop her and regain her focus back to her commands without her running off after the birds. We also worked on building distance when giving the down command and Alba is absolutely killing it! She is excited to show off.