This is Artemis, a 5 month old German Shepherd/Husky Mix from Signal Hill, CA. She is here for our three week Puppy Board and Train program. Artemis is a sweet and playful pup who loves going on great nose-safaris! She gets distracted easily, pulls on the leash, and does not know many commands. She also enjoys the taste of furniture and bites it! In the next three weeks, Artemis will learn basic and fundamental commands to be the best pup she can be so keep checking her PAWsome transformation!
PUPDATE 5/8/2022
I spent most of the day with Artemis having her get used to everything new. She was great in the car ride back to my house and she is not crying at all in the crate inside my house. She did have some hesitation going in the crate though. I took her on a small walk around the neighborhood to check out everything and she had a good time. I let her sniff for a while until she laid down in the grass. It took me about 5 minutes to get her to sit for a picture because she was so excited and interested in everything. She did not poop but she peed. She ate all her food which is a great sign she is getting more comfortable here. Overall, great first day and I can't wait to start training tomorrow!
PUPDATE 5/9/2022
I worked on Come to Sit today at a local park with Artemis. I think she understands the general concept of the command! The one thing I really wanted to note on her Pupdate today is her dog reactivity I saw today. I had another trainer’s pup out to meet each other and say hi and she was reactive toward him. She lunged and barked. My trainer who is more experienced with dog reactivity explained that Artemis is unsure about what to do with new dogs and she gets frustrated and reacts. This is something you will have to work on after her puppy board and train with me. We will continue to work on it throughout her training but I wanted you to know what I saw today. Overall, she is adapting well here and eating all her food.
PUPDATE 5/10/2022
She loves to have her tummy rubbed!
I worked Artemis at the local park focusing on Come to Sit and the Place command. I briefly worked on the Down command today. There are some moments where Artemis comes when called but there are other times where she is stubborn and does not listen. After a couple reps, her Sit command became easier for her and I praised her a lot when she did it. I noticed that when I said "Break" in a very excited tone, she would try to jump on me so I started saying "Break" in a calmer tone so she does not think that behavior is acceptable. She did bite me in frustration a couple times today and I think it is because she is not used to having someone tell her what to do. She struggled with the Place command today so we will work on building her confidence as we train. She did not eat her breakfast but ate all her dinner so I am not concerned. She is pooping and peeing well.
PUPDATE 5/11/2022
Today I mostly worked on Come to Sit, Place, and more of her dog aggression. Her Come to Sit really improved and goes into a Sit command quicker. Like I mention in the video, I am starting Artemis on shorter Place objects and increasing the height as she gets more comfortable. She was getting the hang of staying on the place cot so I increased the distraction work by moving around and throwing sticks. You can see it does not take her long to understand what she is being asked to do. I worked with her on her dog reactivity today and I noticed it is not all dogs she has issues with. She gets bothered when the dog is very excited and comes up right in her face. If the dog does not pay attention to Artemis, Artemis is curious with the other pup and wants to check things out.
PUPDATE 5/12/2022
I went to a local park with Artemis to work on her distraction training and more place objects. She did a lot better with going on different place objects like the benches but she is still getting used to her body so she slips off the objects sometimes. She did get very distracted when the kids were playing on the playground. To help her focus, I kept the leash short so walks forward. She was stubborn with going into a Down command but she stayed in the command so that was great to see. She did not eat too much for dinner but I always leave the food for her to snack on.
PUPDATE 5/13/2022
Artemis had a good day today working a lot on her Heel command. She sometimes gets to a point where she does not want to continue walking so it is important to help motivate her and keep heeling. She has improved on her listening and not being as stubborn so I wanted to film the progress on her other commands as well. I was very happy with her improvement on her Down command since that is what she has been struggling with. Overall, she is doing really well and on track!
PUPDATE 5/14/2022
I started the day with Artemis going on a walk in the morning before it was too hot. Overall, she did okay but she still tends to get very distracted when anything comes close to us and she gets really excited. Then, she had some socialization time with other pups. At first I had her on leash in case she tried to be defensive and I made sure the other dogs were giving her the necessary space she needed. When I felt comfortable, I let her off leash and I had no problems with her being reactive! Amazing progress! I know you mentioned her playing too rough with other dogs. There are two pups that do the same thing so they were learning from each other today. Since she had some reactivity going into training, today's socialization was very important for her.
PUPDATE 5/15/2022
It was a big day for Artemis as we went to her first outdoor mall! Overall, she did very well with all the new distractions around. It was a busy Sunday afternoon so there were a lot of people out. I had to remind her to focus from time to time but she did well for the first time. She sometimes has difficulties getting onto new place objects but after a couple reps she goes on them fine. She did not eat much tonight for dinner but I always leave some food out for her in case she wants any. She is still getting along with everyone and is doing well!
PUPDATE 5/16/2022
I mostly worked on Artemis's Down command at the park to show you how I started working on the command. Without any distractions, she did really well and stayed in the command longer than she had previously. I slowly introduced distractions like sticks and leaves and she did okay. Praising her as I did in the video helps her stay in command. As you noticed in the video, when a person walked by, she was very distracted and got out of the command quickly. Since she had a hard time staying in command with a person walking by, that is what will be focusing on now that she knows all the basic commands. She did eat the majority of her food this morning considering I gave her 2 cups and she is still working on her evening feeding.
PUPDATE 5/17/2022
I took Artemis to the Simi Valley mall to work in a different environment for distraction training. She had some great moments where she would listen well. She was heeling with me well throughout our training session there. I practiced her duration commands as that is difficult for her. I placed her in front of a Red Robin restaurant as people walked by and she stayed in a down command for two minutes straight. She only got up once when someone was talking to her in a baby voice. Then, I practiced greeting manners with her when someone wanted to pet her. In order to have a successful greeting manners, Artemis needs to stay in a sit command while someone pets her. She did sit nicely while they pet her so that was good to see and I gave her a lot of praise. The command that was challenging for her today was Come to Sit as she would sit behind me and not come forward.
PUPDATE 5/18/2022
Artemis worked on her duration commands today at the local hardware store. She did great with her duration place command and she did not get out of command. Great work! Her duration down command was very difficult for her there. She did not like the cart going by in the beginning of training and it took several attempts for her to stay in command. She would get up when people would walk about 5 feet away from her. I think she thinks everyone wants to say hi to her! She did not mind the sliding door so that is a good sign.
PUPDATE 5/19/2022
I worked on all of Artemis’s commands at a local shopping center. Overall, she did okay. There were a couple difficult moments for her like her Come to Sit. Since she’s been having difficulty with that lately we were practicing that most. When she would do it well, we would have a nice break and play in the grass. After a couple reps, she was doing better with it. She still got excited when someone walked by so we will continue to work on that. She was doing great on all the Place objects except the rock but after helping her overcome her fear, she went on the rock easier.
PUPDATE 5/20/2022
It was a very exciting day for Artemis as we went to Ventura Harbor for more distraction work. Overall, she did well. As you see in the video, she still gets distracted with things. I noticed she does much better with distractions when she is on a place object than staying in command on the ground. We are going to continue working on increasing the distraction levels so that the small distractions at a park or another low distraction environment seems small. She is eating/drinking/peeing/pooping normally.
PUPDATE 5/21/2022
I took Artemis to an outdoor mall when there were a lot of people. Since it was a weekend during the day, it was a great time to practice increasing her distraction training. She did much better than yesterday with distractions. Artemis still tries to get out of the down command when she is on the ground. She did not get as excited when people walked by her today so that was a good sign. I heard so many people talk about how cute she was! We worked on all her commands and she practiced her duration commands in front of crowds. She got out of command a couple times but overall she accomplished a lot.
PUPDATE 5/22/2022
Artemis had a good day today at the Northridge mall. There were some moments that her puppyhood came out like when she wanted to sniff people walking by because she is curious. But I am very proud of her when carts or strollers went by and she stayed focused. In the video, I placed her in a down command. I have been working on her duration commands and I think she has been improving though she still gets up sometimes. She does not get out of the command as often anymore so that is great progress.
PUPDATE 5/23/2022
I trained Artemis in a local garden center to work on all her commands. Overall, she did very well. The only thing she was not too sure about was the water fountains. She was hesitant so the first time I helped her up. Then, we tried it again and this time she went on by herself! It is important for her training to work through her fears so that she can be a confident pup! We also worked on her duration commands and she did much better with that today and held the commands for about two minutes each.
PUPDATE 5/24/2022
I worked on all of the commands with Artemis and overall she did well. She still gets distracted sometimes but she stays in a heel command when I praise her often. I am very happy she held her duration commands for two whole minutes! Very impressed! Sometimes she does not come all the way around for Come to Sit. I also worked on greeting manners with some people that wanted to pet her and she actually did well with that too.
PUPDATE 5/25/2022
Artemis had a good day at Petco. We worked on all her commands while going through the aisles. She did well when people walked by although she would get up sometimes if someone went in the aisle. She was good at staying in a Down command while the automatic doors would open and close which was great to see. I found a dog bed to place her on and at first she was unsure about it. It did not take her long to get comfy and want to stay there longer! She is still having some difficulty coming around to my left side when we work on Come to Sit. She still gets excited when the other training dog or my dog are near her but she sits before I open my front door and does not pull me inside or outside anymore.
PUPDATE 5/26/2022
I worked on home manners with Artemis today and overall she did well. Her door manners were great and she understood what I was asking her to do. At first, Artemis was not interested in her food for food manners but I sprinkled some cheese on it to be more enticing and she liked it. She loved going on my dog bed and ruffling it up! Her crate manners were great as well she likes going in her crate. She is eating/drinking/peeing/pooping normally.
PUPDATE 5/27/2022
Since it was Artemis's last day and she has been doing so well with training, I wanted her to have a good break from working. First, we took a walk around my neighborhood and overall she did well. There were some times where she would get distracted but she knows the OFF command well and understands it. Later, I took her and the other training pup to the park to play because she loves playing with that pup. It was great to have another dog that plays just as rough as she does! Can't wait to show you tomorrow everything she has learned in the past couple of weeks!
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