Meet Beans! He's a one year old Boston Terrier from Venice, California here for our Three-Week Board and Train program. Beans has some issues pulling on the leash, biting, jumping, and following basic commands. Stay tuned for his twenty one day transformation!
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Pupdate: Saturday, April 16th 2022
We went to Venice Beach today to start training! Beans was not a fan of having new collars put on, and tried to scratch and bite my hands. Once we got going, though, he did a lot better! Today we worked on his Heel. For Heel, I want Beans to walk nicely at my left side with his ears in line with my knee.
After the beach, Beans and I went home, where I showed him around my residence and spent some time bonding with him. I think he likes me a bit more now that we've spent some time relaxing together.
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Pupdate: Sunday, April 17th 2022
For today's training, Beans and I went to Almansor Park! His Heel and his Sit seem to be coming along well, so today I introduced him to a new command: Come To Sit! For this command, I ask Beans to come to my right side, walk around the back of my legs, and sit at my left side with his ears in line with my knee.
In the above video, you'll see Beans performing his Heel, Sit and Come To Sit! He slips up a few times, but he's getting pretty good with all of these! One note I have is sometimes Beans tries to lay down when I ask him to sit. When this happens, I create a bit of leash tension upward, reiterate the command and apply a small muscle stimulation with his E collar to get him back in the correct position! At the end of this video, you'll notice I squat down and open my arms. This is the Break command. I use this as a reward after Beans does a good job working! In this video, when I release Beans, he tries to jump up and lick my face. When he does this, I stop petting him, tell him "Off" and apply a small stimulation. Once all four of his paws are back on the ground, I resume scratching him! Good boy, Beans!
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Pupdate: Monday, April 18th 2022
Beans and I went to Wilderness Park today! He's doing well with the commands he's learned so far, and today I introduced a new one: Place. For this command, I want Beans to hop up onto a raised object such as a bench. Beans was a little hesitant to get up on the higher objects like the picnic table, but he hopped right up onto the lower benches!
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Pupdate: Tuesday, April 19th 2022
Beans and I went to Citadel Outlets today for training! He's becoming very responsive to everything I'm asking of him and I'm very proud of his progress these first few days! Today I introduced the Down command. This command is pretty straightforward; I simply want Beans to lay down when asked and hold it until I either release him, or ask him to do something else! So far, Beans seems pretty happy with this! I think he likes getting the opportunity to relax a bit during training!
In the above video, Beans goes through all the commands he's learned so far, including Down! He does very well! His only mistake happens when he starts to sit behind me when I ask him to Come To Sit. When this happens, I reiterate the command and give a light stimulation with his E collar, at which point he realizes his mistake and gets himself to the right position!
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Pupdate: Wednesday, April 20th 2022
We went to Pan Pacific Park today! Beans started out a little stubborn this morning, but we worked through it! By the end of the day he was performing quite well! He seems to be warming up to me, however, he gets very distracted while working around other people and dogs. To help with this, I'm going to try to train him around as many dogs and people as possible!
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Pupdate: Thursday, April 21st 2022
Beans and I went to Citadel Outlets today for training! Beans did very well, even working around other dogs and trainers. He learned the Under command today. For this new command, I want Beans to walk underneath an object, like a bench, and hold a Down! You can see Beans performing this command a few times in the above video. He understood what I wanted fairly quickly while I was introducing Under, and did a great job holding his position as well!
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Pupdate: Friday, April 22nd 2022
Beans went to the Santa Monica Promenade today! He did a good job with all of the commands he's learned. I am trying to create distance while performing the Place command, to start Beans on Send Away To Place! This is the same as Place, except I want to be able to ask Beans to get onto an object without being right next to it! He's doing a good job with this so far.
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Pupdate: Saturday, April 23rd 2022
Beans went to Almansor Park today for training! He did well overall, although I'm still having a bit of trouble creating distance with his Send Away To Place command. To demonstrate, one of the above videos shows Beans performing the Place command with about five feet in between me and the bench. Ideally, I'd like to send him to the bench from at least ten or fifteen feet away, but I haven't been able to reliably create that kind of distance. Since Beans has been doing so well this week, and still has two weeks to go, I'm not too worried, but it's definitely something we'll be working hard on.
In the other video above, Beans Heels with me between two basketball games. All the bouncing balls and screaming players had Beans a bit on edge at first. It's a bit hard to see in the video, as my camera was too far away, but he got to the point where he easily performed the Down command and held it while I walked away! I apologize for the distant video, but I was too impressed with Beans's performance there to not include it today!
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Pupdate: Sunday, April 24th 2022
Beans and I went to Vicent Lugo Park today for training! There was a big birthday party going on, so there were plenty of people and other dogs to use as distractions for Beans! He did very well. His Send Away To Place command is starting to improve as well!
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Pupdate: Monday, April 25th 2022
We went to Almansor Park to train today! While I don't think Beans is quite ready to be fully off leash, I allowed him to start proving himself today by having him perform all of his commands with the leash dragging on the ground! He's doing well with this so far, although the park today wasn't very busy so I'd like to see how he does at a more populated time!
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Pupdate: Tuesday, April 26th 2022
Beans and I went to El Dorado Park today! He's been doing very well with everything he's learned, and today I continued to work with him while his leash dragged on the ground. One additional command he's been working on is the Come To Heel command. This is similar to Come To Sit, except instead of having Beans stop and sit, we move right into a Heel.
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Pupdate: Wednesday, April 27th 2022
Beans went to Home Depot today! This store allows dogs, and there are tons of different noises to use as distractions for Beans. There was one forklift that seemed to frighten Beans, but other than that, he performed very well today!
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Pupdate: Thursday, April 28th 2022
Beans was off leash at Citadel Outlets today! He tried to walk away from me once but other than that he did a great job with all of his commands! He was working around plenty of other dogs, and wasn't bothered at all by them! I'm excited to see how Beans does off leash for the rest of his training!
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Pupdate: Friday, April 29th 2022
We went back to Citadel Outlets today for more off leash training! In the above video, you'll see Beans Heel with me alongside another trainer and his dog. Beans performs the Heel well, and then goes under the bench when I ask him to. Then, the other trainer releases his dog from command, but Beans holds his position!
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Pupdate: Saturday, April 30th 2022
Beans was off leash at Almansor Park today! The park was fairly crowded, but Beans still behaved himself very well! He spent a lot of the day working and playing with my other dog, Stella, and they've become great friends!
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Pupdate: Sunday, May 1st 2022
Beans went to Home Depot for some off leash training today! Last time we went, there was a cart that scared him a bit, but this time I could tell he was much more confident even when faced with the loud, rolling wheels!
The video for my Pupdate today, however, is from yesterday. I had another dog Heel on leash, and asked Beans to Heel on the opposite side of that dog. I honestly wasn't expecting him to do this very well, but he surpassed my expectations and stayed Heeling with us! I must say, I was very impressed with this. As you can see in the video, he veers off a couple times, but for the difficulty level of this activity, I can't be upset with him! Great job, Beans!
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Pupdate: Monday, May 2nd 2022
Beans and I went to Legg Lake today for training! He was off leash again, and he did a great job with all of his commands. There was a little bit of construction going on near the edge of the park, but that didn't seem to bother Beans at all.
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Pupdate: Tuesday, May 3rd 2022
Beans had a stay at home day today! We worked on his household manners. In the above video, you'll see Beans's door manners! I want Beans to be able to sit nicely at the door when I open it, without rushing through before me. He is doing a great job with this one!
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Pupdate: Wednesday, May 4th 2022
Beans went to Home Depot today! He did his commands off leash and performed very well. He didn't seem scared of any of the people or carts at all!
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Pupdate: Thursday, May 5th 2022
Beans went to the Block of Orange today for training! He was off leash all day and didn't have any trouble with his commands. The above video is a run through of each of the commands he's learned with me!
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Pupdate: Friday, May 6th 2022
Beans went to Citadel Outlets today for his last full day of training! He did a great job with me, and at this point I expect nothing less than the best from the Beans man. With that being said, I had to try to push Beans a little more for his last day. I had one of my male coworkers go through some of his commands. Beans has been known to like guys a little less than he likes gals, so having another man handle him really proves to me that Beans has completed his off leash transformation! I must say, Beans is one of the best dogs I've had the pleasure of working with, and I expect great things from him in the future!
