Appa | German Shepherd | Lake Forest, CA | In-Training
- Reine Melnick
- Nov 14, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 27, 2021
Meet Appa, a goofy, playful and loving 20 month old German Shepherd from Lake Forest, CA! He will be joining us for our Two Week Board and Train Program! Appa does have some minor reactivity towards other dogs, which makes it hard for him to focus on his commands and staying calm while out on walks. While Appa is with us, he will be working on a lot of distractions, exposure to other dogs, duration work, and sharpening his basic obedience! Stay tuned for Appa’s Two Week Transformation!!!!
Pupdate 11/14/21
Today Appa and I spent most of the day exploring the neighborhood because I wanted him to feel as comfortable as possible! He is such a gentle, goofy, and playful pup! During our walk we did very quick introduction to the ecollar which he responded very well to! When we got home from our walk, I had him hang out on a place cot and rest for a few hours. So far Appa has done really well adjusting and has eaten all his dinner! Can’t wait to see the his progress this week!
Pupdate 11/15/21
Today Appa and I started the morning with a 30 minute walk and worked on sharpening his Heel, Down, Come and Sit. Since he is already responsive to all his commands, we mainly worked on duration! Later we met up with another trainer to work on Appa’s reactivity towards dogs while on leash. Appa stayed calm while approaching the other trainers dog! Since he stayed calm during the first interaction, I wanted to figure out what causes Appa’s reactiveness so I had the other trainer get her other dog who was a bit more curious. Appa did really good until the other dog approaches him from the front for a smell. This just tells me that Appa isn’t a fan of frontal greeting or dogs that approach him first. So with this knowledge, my main focus along with obedience will be to work Appa in high dog distracting locations to help him get less upset around other dogs! Other than that Appa has been such a good boy and he is super awesome with his commands!
Pupdate 11/16/21
Today Appa and I started the morning with a 30 minute walk! He is doing awesome with his commands and is being such a great pup! Later in the afternoon, we went to a mall and working on mostly duration with his down, place and sit! He did pass a few dogs and told him “off” and he ignored them! Good job today Appa!
11/17/21
Today Appa and I started our morning with an early 45 minute walk to the coffee shop and worked on sharpening his Heel command and duration Down. He is very responsive to most of his commands so far! Later on in the day, we went to an outdoor mall and mainly focused on his duration commands! While we were there we passed a few small dogs which he was aware of but didn’t react! When we got home, we relaxed while watching a movie. Good work today Appa
Pupdate 11/18/21
Today Appa and I did our morning walk where we worked on sharpening all of the commands. He did really good and was very calm! Later on we went to Jann’s Marketplace and primarily worked on Appa’s duration commands while people walked by. While we were there, I decided to take him inside of Petco to work on some of his dog reactivity and get him more comfortable. He stayed calm while inside the store and behaved himself! Once we got home, I had him relax on a place cot while we watched a movie. Good Job Appa!
Pupdate 11/19/21
Today Appa and I started our morning with a 45 minute walk where we worked on all of the commands. During our walk he passed a few dogs and stayed calm while passing them. Later on we went back to Jann’s Marketplace to get more exposure to dogs walking around. Again he did pretty good! He was a bit focused but didn’t react. Once we got home, we relaxed while finishing a movie! Appa has been such a good boy and very well behaved!
Pupdate 11/20/21
Today Appa and I started with our usual 45 minute walk and mainly worked on his duration commands. There were a few dogs out this morning during our walk and he only reacted to one of them. I noticed that Appa mostly reacts if the other dog is lunging and barking at him. This causes him to become amped up and reactive. Even though he reacted, when I asked him to stop he immediately stopped and focused back on me. Once we finished our walk this morning, we took an hour break and did some Place work while I did some house cleaning. Later in the afternoon, we went to Northridge Mall and worked on more duration. He was such a good boy and stayed in his commands the whole time! Good work today Appa!
Pupdate 11/21/21
Today we started our morning with a 45 minute walk where we mostly practiced offleash reliability. He does amazing offleash when there are no dogs around, but as soon as he sees a dog while offleash he still gets extremely focused. Later on during the day we went to Century City Mall and worked primarily on desensitizing Appa to other dogs walking by. Due to him being still unpredictable with his reactivity, I decided not to let him offleash during our work session because I want to make sure Appa is safe. During our work session he only reacted one time due to another dog getting too close. Other than that one moment, he was fantastic with all of his commands! Good boy Appa!
Pupdate 11/22/21
Today Appa and I went on our morning walk to work on Offleash Heel, Down, Come. He did really good. We did run into one dog while our this morning, but I had Appa on a leash and he did fine passing the other dog. Later on in the day we went to Home Depot to continue working on all of Appa’s commands. He was such a good boy and very well behaved! After our trip we relaxed on place for a few hours while I tended to my personal dogs! Good job Appa!
Pupdate 11/23/21
Today Appa and I started out daily morning walk and worked on offleash Heel, Down, Come and Place. Since there were no dogs around early in the morning Appa did really good and was super focused! Afterwards we took an hour break and worked on place while I took care of my personal dogs. Later in the day we went to Hollywood Blvd and worked on Offleash Heel, Down, Sit, Come and Place. He has been such a great pup and a blast to work with! Good boy Appa!
Pupdate 11/24/21
Today we started out with a 45 minute walk where we worked on Offleash Heel, Down, Come, and Place. He was super well behaved and calm during our morning session. Mid afternoon we stopped at Petco to work on Appa’s reactivity while dogs were around. He was pretty well behaved until a smaller pup decided to bark at him. He only reacted for a split second but as soon as I said “off” he calmed right back down and we continued working. Later in the afternoon we went to a small dog park and worked on exposing him to dogs playing at a distance. He was pretty well behaved and focused on his commands! Good progress today!
Pupdate 11/25/21
Today we started the morning with a 45 minute walk and worked on continuing Appa’s offleash reliability! He did fantastic and was super focused! Later in the day we worked on door manners and went to a dog park with only a few dogs playing inside. While we were there, we practiced a lot of duration down and his “off” command. He was pretty good and didn’t react to the dogs that were running in the park! Good boy Appa!
Pupdate 10/26/21
Today we started the morning with a routine 45 minute walk. We continued working in Appa’s Offleash reliability with all of his commands! He was very well behaved and performed great! Later we went to Santa Monica Pier and worked with Appa’s dog reactivity. Due to the pier being extremely packed with people and quite a lot of dogs, I decided to keep him on leash. He was pretty good during our time there but definitely very focused on the other dogs that were around. Good boy Appa!
Pupdate 11/27/21
Today we had our 45 minute walk where we finalized all of Appa’s commands! He was such a good boy during our walk and even passed a few dogs on our walk! Later we went to The Grove and again worked on Offleash Heel, Down, Come, and Place! He even stayed in a down while a small dog walked by! I’m super proud of how he has developed during his stay! He can’t wait to show his manners and commands tomorrow! Good Boy Appa!
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