Meet Apollo a 6 month old Belgian Malinois from Northridge, CA! Apollo will be joining us for our Two Week Board and Train Program to learn a few things! Apollo has a tendency to pull on the leash while on walks and makes walking him unpleasant. When Apollo gets excited he loves to use his teeth to play with his owners! While he is with us, Apollo will be learning Leash Manners, Basic Obedience, and how to be more gentle! Stay tuned for his updates!
Pupdate 6/12/22
Due to the intense heat wave, Apollo and I spent most of the afternoon taking short 10 minute walks around the neighborhood to let him adjust to his new environment and smell everything he could! He wasn’t the most thrilled having me take him out of the crate after our drive home, which is totally understandable because he only just met me today! After about 5-10 minutes of talking to him and letting him smell my hand, he was comfortable letting me clip a leash on his collar and he happily jumped out of his crate! Once we got home I decided to take him to a near by park to let him stretch his legs and explore the new location! He was a lot more comfortable with me at the park but definitely pulled a lot on the leash. Apollo is a very sweet boy and gave me a few licks while relaxing on the grass!
Pupdate 6/13/22
Today Apollo and I started the morning with an early walk around the neighborhood and focused on introducing Heel, and Sit! Apollo was super excited this morning and was very focused on learning new commands! Later in the day, Apollo and I stayed home and started introducing Place and Come! Apollo picked up both commands very quickly with minimal issues! Sometimes when Apollo gets tired, he becomes more rebellious and will argue but those moments don’t last long before he changes his mind and starts goofing off while working! So far, Apollo is doing awesome with his training and is a very playful, goody, and energetic pup!
Pupdate 6/14/22
Today Apollo and I started the morning with an early structured walk around the neighborhood and focused on Heel, Sit, and Come! He was very energetic and playful during our training session. His come has already gotten super sharp and he gets very animated when he does the command. Sometime though, he gets too excited and will try and jump on you when he performs the command. When this happens, I will try to say the command in a less exciting voice to try and combat his exuberant energy. Later we went to a park and worked on Place, Come, Down, and Heel! He was so well behaved during our session and tried his hardest!
Pupdate 6/15/22
Today Apollo and I started the morning with an early structured walk around the neighborhood and focused on Heel, Sit, Come, and Place! He was very energetic during our walk and would sometimes try and walk ahead of me but would self correct and get back into position! He was very eager to work and very focused on our walk and wanted to do everything correctly. Due to the heat, Apollo and I decided to work on his door manners because he gets very impatient when he knows we are about to go outside. He did very well and was super respectful during that session! Later after the heat went down, we went to a park nearby and worked on Place, Come, and Heel! He is a very smart boy and did very well!
Pupdate 6/16/22
Today Apollo and I started our morning with a routine 30 min structured walk and focused on Heel, Sit, Come, and Down. He did fairly well with his commands but struggled with his Down. He tends to try and get really close to you and lay down on his back. To correct this issue I tried the “back tie” method. I would have him leashed to a pole or tree and step away from him and have him down on his own. This removes his need to be touching me in order to perform the command. It seemed to help a little bit and I will keep working on it this weekend! Throughout the day, I have been taking Apollo outside to go to the bathroom but he seems to not want to go. I use the words “Go Potty” and he wont go until he gets back in his crate. Is there a word you guys use for that? Later in the day we went to Lowes and continued working on all of his commands. He did pretty good with his commands and was pretty focused!
Pupdate 6/17/22
Today Apollo and I started the morning with a training session around the neighborhood and focused on Heel, Sit, Come, and Place! He was very well behaved but had a lot of energy. He performed his commands very well and was pretty focused! Later we went to Janns Marketplace and focused on all of his commands! He did very well with all of his commands but struggled a bit with his Duration Down. When he breaks the command he wants to argue with you and start becoming very mouthy! We will be working on that this weekend and try to nip that right away! Other than that minor problem, Apollo did very well today!
Pupdate 6/18/22
Today Apollo and I started with our routine structured training session around the neighborhood to focus on Heel, Sit, Come, Place! He was very energetic but focused while out training! Later we stopped at a Mall and focused on his duration Sit and Down. His sit was very good and he didn’t break his command! However his Down sometimes is a challenge due to him becoming argumentative when he broke it. Due to his tantrums, I decided to finish early and head to a quiet park to work on it! We spent about 20-30 minutes just focusing on his Down. He had a couple tantrums where he would get really mouthy if he was corrected for breaking the command. So after about 20 minutes, he settled down and stayed in the command for about 5-10 minutes. After he did the command correctly, I quickly released him and gave him lots of praise!
Pupdate 6/19/22
Today Apollo and I started the day with a structured walk around the neighborhood and focused on Heel, Sit, Come, and Place! He was very energetic and willing to work but a bit needy. Later we stopped at a tennis court and practiced some of his commands offleash and did pretty well but wanted to be constantly right on my leg. Due to this issue, I decided to practice his commands such as Down and Sit at home where I could attach him to a pole and work his commands at a distance. He responded very well to that method.
Pupdate 6/20/22
Today Apollo and I started the day with our routine structured walk around the neighborhood and worked on Heel, Sit, Come, and Down. He did very well with most of his commands however still struggled with his Down command due to wanting to lay on his back for belly rubs every time I ask him to Down. We will continue to work on this through the rest of the week! Later we went to a Park and focused on all of his commands! He did very well with all commands but again got very argumentative when asked to Down.
Pupdate 6/21/22
Today we started the morning with a structured walk around the neighborhood and focused on Heel, Sit, Come, Place, and Down. He was very energetic and very focused on each command! Most of his commands were done correctly but still struggled with doing Down independently. Since he was struggling a little bit, we practiced more Down at home to help him quickly figure out the command correctly! After about 30 minutes, he was able to perform Down without needing to be right next to me! Later we stopped at the outdoor mall and worked on Place, Come, Heel, and Sit! He was very well behaved and super focused!
Pupdate 6/22/22
Today Apollo and I started the morning with a training session around the neighborhood. During our session I wanted to practice with some offleash work with his Heel, Down, Come, Sit, and Place. He did try and trot away from me when practicing some of his commands because he didn’t want to comply. Due to this happening several times, I will keep Apollo on leash the rest of his time to make sure he stays safe and doesn’t get himself into trouble. Later we met up with some other trainers at a park to continue working on his commands! He did fairly well and was trying his best to do the right commands!
Pupdate 6/23/22
Today was a more relaxed day due to the 90 degree weather most of the day. I did notice Apollo had a bit if a runny stool this morning so I gave him chicken and rice to try and help get his stool back to normal! We started our structured walk around the neighborhood around 6am to avoid the hot temperatures that hit around 8am. We worked on all of his commands and he was very well behaved. He was very energetic and playful this morning during our training session. Since it started getting extremely hot around 9am, I decided to work on some of his House Manners. We worked on finalizing his Door and Food Manners. He was a lot more relaxed when doing his Door Manners and didn’t try and bolt out before I gave him permission! With his Food Manners, Apollo was very patient at waiting for his food but wasn't too eager to eat. Overall Apollo was very good today and enjoyed spending time indoors to avoid the heat!
Pupdate 6/24/22
This morning Apollo still had a runny stool so I will continue to give him plain chicken and rice but add some pumpkin to help with his stool. Today Apollo and I started our training session early due to the hot temperatures. We went on our routine walk around the neighborhood at around 6am and focused on Offleash Heel, Down, Come, and Sit! He was very energetic and eager to work. He did his commands very well and quickly with little to no reminders! Later we met with another trainer at a mall and focused on finalizing all of the commands. He was very sharp with his Heel and was very eager to get on Place! I am very happy with his progress and he can’t wait to show them off on Sunday!
Pupdate 6/25/22
Today Apollo and I started the morning with a structured walk around the neighborhood and focused on finalizing all of his commands! He was very playful and full of energy while we trained! We stopped at the park during our session to let him relax and smell the grass and the area! Afterwards we stopped off at a small little area near my house that had some benches and practiced Place! He was very eager to jump on and remain in a sit for 15-20 minutes! When we got home, we played fetch for a bit to relax and let Apollo decompress from working hard! I am very proud of how far he has come in the short amount of time!
