Meet Bambi, a 1 year 2 month old Shih Tzu from Simi Valley, CA. She has joined us for 2 Week Board & Training Program. Bambi has a habit to run out the front door which causes concern of her running into the street and getting injured. She also has an obsession with biting on furniture. Bambi will jump onto furniture to get a hold of anything and everything to steal, chew up and eat. She is a very sweet and loving girl who needs to learn basic manners and obedience. Stay tuned for her 14 day transformation!
Pupdate 6/26/2022
Bambi is settling well into her temporary home. She lets out small whines in her crate at first but stops after a few minutes of being undisturbed. She loved to just explore and sniff out her new surroundings. We will jump into training tomorrow and see how she does! We will feed her the recommended amount given on the back of the bag. Bambi should be getting about 1 1/2cups per day.
Pupdate 6/27/2022
After practicing come to sit for a few minutes Bambi became a little stubborn. She would paw at the leash and nibble the leash to try and not follow through. When she would get near me, she would jump on me as well. It’s important to not give into these habits as we want Bambi to learn and follow through with her tasks at hand. Having a solid recall (come to sit) is important in keeping her safe.
Pupdate 6/28/2022
Please watch the video above for information about the Place command. Bambi did fairly well in her work today! Because she’s used to free feeding, she isn’t always eating when food when it is provided. It is a change she’s having to go through because we don’t leave the food down indefinitely. We provide a 30-minute window for the opportunity to eat. This in vertical alignment with the rest of the training program.
Pupdate 6/29/2022
Today we introduced Bambi how to properly “heel” on a leash. She often veers off or zig zags back and forth. When she does this, we remind her to “heel”, proving her with directional leash pressure paired with a low-level stimulation. During “heel” Bambi is to stay on the left-hand side throughout the duration of the walk/heel command. We would like her to be next to our left leg, not ahead, not behind, or too far away from our leg. Every time we stop walking, we want Bambi to stop as well and sit next to us.
We are trying to keep her well-groomed, but it has been proven difficult given the amount of activity she receives. She always has leaves and matting in her hair.
Pupdate 6/30/2022
In today’s small video clip, you can see Bambi practice the commands she’s learned thus far inside with the leash dragging. We did leave her dinner from Yesterday available to her overnight, but she still chose not to eat. It wasn’t until the late morning when she decided to eat some “breakfast”. I also have attached a photo of Bambi’s hair after brushing. She spent some time in the grass and her hair picked up an endless amount of ‘stickers’.
Pupdate 7/1/2022
Bambi learned the “down” command today. It took her a bit to understand what we were asking her to do. She initially was confused and stood up every time I asked her to down with some directional leash pressure. After a few repetitions she started to understand what was being asked. She does still require a bit of directional leash pressure and cannot hold the command very long, but it slowly getting better! Bambi's food will be available to her overnight tonight.
Pupdate 7/2/2022
Bambi has become great pals with her board and train buddy Windy. During todays adventure I noticed Bambi does not like anything on wheels coming around her or loud noises. She gets startled very easily and becomes a little nervous when this happens. When Bambi is in a calmer state of mind she heels very well and will sit on command. But, she still struggles to hold it very long when I create some distance between her and I. Whenever we start working on down she would require some leash tension in the beginning. After that she was able to complete it without any leash assistance! She nibbled at her food. Bambi's food will be available to her overnight tonight.
Pupdate 7/3/2022
Today Bambi took a trip to Lowes and Home Depot with another trainer to work on her commands with some distractions. She worked on Sit, Extended Sit, Down and Extended Down. You can see she still struggles to hold her commands when distance is created. She loves to be by our side, but we want to create some individuality and confidence in Bambi! She did better in a lower distracting environment even with carts being pushed near her. Leash pressure wasn't need most of the time. Except for when she would get out of a command, and we had her reset. Although she sometimes like to investigate others passing by. It’s all about repetition and consistency!
Pupdate 7/4/2022
Happy 4th of July! Bambi took a trip back to Home Depot to work in distractions again. She still displays being a bit nervous in some public areas as she is concerned what people are going to do around her. After some time, she does settle down a bit. It is more of a mental tiredness as her little brain is constantly working when out and about. During these times we still ask Bambi of something (a command) to help keep her focus on us.
Pupdate 7/5/2022
Bambi loves to have some playtime with her buddy Windy! I have noticed whenever Bambi is hanging out with me around the house, she likes to always be around my general area. This goes back to creating some more sense of individuality in Bambi to be comfortable on her own. While it is cute to have a little shadow, she can benefit from a little confidence boost without humans.
Pupdate 7/6/2022
In todays video you can see Bambi and her pal Windy going out for walks around the neighborhood. Both videos are taken from a different point of view, one from up top and one from in front. Bambi does well in her Heel for both walks and wasn’t bothered by the couple of gardeners or the camera being in front of her. Every time we stop walking, we want Bambi to stop as well and sit. She does great with this! Bambi has also learned to sit and wait before going through any doorway. This is great as she is learned that just because the door opens, it doesn’t mean she gets to bolt through.
Pupdate 7/7/2022
Today Bambi went to a local park to work on her commands with the leash dragging. In the video you can see Bambi overall does well with minor mistakes here and there. When that happens, we want to reinforce with Bambi what was asked and provide her with a little assistance only if needed. If Bambi gets up from a sit/down because we are walking away, we want to walk Bambi back to that same spot and follow through with the ask. As I’ve said before consistency is going to be key with all her newfound skills from training. If you give them an inch, they will take a mile!
Bambi and her friend Windy will play and play and play all by themselves. They are quite fond of each other and when left alone they will drag out the bones from their crates and simply have a chase each other around for one specific bone.
Pupdate 7/8/2022
Today Bambi took a trip to Huntington Beach to work off leash. It didn’t go as well as I hoped as there were a lot of distractions and events going on. During a Heel she does well with constant reminders since everything else around piques her curiosity. When she has her stubborn moments, she won’t perform Place and lays down as often as she can.
Pupdate 7/9/2022
Today Bambi went and got groomed this morning so she is fresh and clean to go home! She also took a little trip to Brea Downtown for her last little outing.
