Bear | German Shepherd | San Diego, CA | In-Training
- Sep 14, 2021
- 11 min read
Updated: Sep 25, 2021
Meet Bear, a 1 year old German Shepherd from San Diego, CA. Bear is here for our Two Week Board and Train Program because he pulls on leash, barks and lunges at people and dogs, is mouthy, jumps on people, and doesn’t know his basic commands. He’s a very intelligent, playful, and affectionate pup! Stay tuned for his fourteen day transformation!
Pupdate 9/12/2021
Today we worked at the park where Bear was dropped off. There were soccer games being played and we did long-line pressure and release work from the sidelines. Bear was over aroused by the people walking around and barked at several of them, but was told no and given a small leash pop and the barking ceased. He did pee in the crate (a lot) after he was dropped off, and seemed sorry (ears pinned back) that he had done it. Before leashing him, I reassured him that everything was fine, led him out of the crate, and cleaned up the mess. In the afternoon we went to another park in Temecula and did more leash work. This time we focused on come to sit. Bear was on a long-line. I would call him to me, gesturing with my hand for him to come forward, and then use the leash to guide him to my left side doing a u-turn to have him sit at my heel. Upward leash pressure was used to help him into a sit, but that made him take two steps backwards putting him far behind where I wanted him to be. I had to change my technique to upward leash pressure as I used my palm to gently guide his rear end to the ground. This helped him sit closer and straighter, rather than behind or facing me from the side. When we arrived at the house I let him potty and sniff around the dog run before putting him in his crate. My Belgian Malinois female invited him to play with a bow, but he growled and bared his teeth at her. I'll give him time to settle in and decompress while he smells the other dogs from his crate. While in the dog run I introduced him to the place board and rewarded him with beef liver treats for sitting and staying in place. He seemed to enjoy them!
Pupdate 9/13/2021
This morning I worked on Bear's e-collar conditioning. We start at the lowest level where he feels and responds to the stimulation, and teach him how to turn it off. I have him on a long-line on my property and let him go up ahead. When he isn't looking in my direction I hold down the button (indicated by raising my hand) and say, "Bear, come!" When he turns and orients in my direction, I release the button, which turns off the stim. I encourage him to keep coming in my direction by marking with the word "yes" and praise and then lure into a sit in front of me, rewarding with a treat. The only thing I'm looking for at this point is Bear orienting in my direction. At one point my Belgian Malinois comes over to see what we're doing. After three repetitions Bear tries to go after her. I say "no" as I stop him from going forward on the long-line. You can tell by his body language once he's back by my side that he understood he shouldn't have done that. I pickup my sunglasses and we go right back into working recalls. His body language relaxes, you can see a happy neutral tail wag, and now that he's paying closer attention and is starting to understand the stim, I start using the stim without calling his name, marking the moment he turns, and rewarding when he goes into a sit in front of me. From here we go into off-leash heeling, where I hold the button as I turn and release when he orients in my direction. His sits are closer to me and straighter. I noticed the mouthiness happens when he's gets over aroused if praise isn't completely neutral and the peeing in the crate happens if I reach for the door before he's completely calm. We'll continue to work on asking for calm before being allowed to exit a threshold and keeping feedback more neutral.
In the afternoon we went to an outdoor shopping mall to try and work around distractions, but it was clear Bear was overwhelmed at the sight of people. As we walked around the corner to enter the mall, Bear barked at the people who appeared before us, then at people as they exited stores, and at a woman who stared at him too long. I tried taking him to an area that was more open so he could observe his surroundings. He was able to hold a short down after popping back up several times, and did a down on the ledge of a fountain until something startled him and he started barking at something in the distance. We continued walking but he was panting pretty hard, and took the beef liver treat and then spit it out (an indication of him being past his threshold). When we got back to the property he was able to accept treats again.
Pupdate 9/14/2021
Bear and I walked around a park in Irvine today. We worked on loose leash walking, sits, and heeling. I kept the leash behind my legs so that if I felt him veering off to the left or staring too hard at something, I could help with a small directional leash pop to bring his focus or positioning back to heel. I'm using the verbal cue "sit" and upward leash pressure as I apply pressure with my hand to guide his rear to the ground. There was less barking at people today, but he was still very alert, so I made sure to give him time to take in the things he was unsure about. He was able to look at a few dogs from a distance without barking or lunging but he did bark at the ones that were too close. Still having issues peeing when he comes out of the crate. When I took him out this morning he peed on my shoes and pants, and when I took him out of the crate in the van there was no pee, but when I put him in a sit he started peeing while sitting. It's less out of excitement and more out of nervousness/submissiveness.
The muzzle allowed me to safely introduce him to the dogs. He did try going after my female Belgian Malinois one more time but I put myself between him and her and he seemed to understand that wasn't a behavior he should do. I then brought the other dogs in the run, and he allowed them to sniff him and vice versa without incident. We did some more e-collar recalls in the afternoon, and now he's resting quietly in the crate. After dinner I was able to get him out of the crate without a pee incident by feeding several pieces of beef liver treats.
Pupdate 9/15/2021
In the morning we did place work outside my residence with the other dogs loose as distractions. Bear did really well! He didn't eat much of his food this morning, but seems to like the Orijen Red Meat kibble that I use to reinforce new behaviors. He quickly caught on to the word "place" and that it pays to stay there. Once he understood the concept, I reinforced staying on the cot by pressing the button at his baseline level, cuing him to go to place, and releasing the button once Bear committed to going towards the place board. If he tried to leave the place board before I released him with the word "break," say "No, place" and hold down the button until he returns to the place board. If he seems confused I will help with the leash to guide him back to the place board. The gardeners and other workers were moving around the property while we trained, and Bear was able to focus fairly well on what we were doing. After a while I started asking Bear to "down" on place. I layer the e-collar over this by holding down the button, asking him to go to place, mark with "good" when all four feet are on the board, and then ask for a "down" while pointing to the ground. I release the button once his elbows are touching the cot.
In the afternoon we did more socialization, and Bear realized he likes my Belgian Malinois female who he went after the previous two days. Giving a couple pieces of kibble to get him to focus as I open the crate, then again when I reach for his collar to leash him has helped with the peeing.
Pupdate 9/16/2021
We stayed on my property in the morning and continued to work on impulse control. Bear is starting to understand place and that I want him to lay down on the cot. We moved further down the driveway to change the picture for him, and worked while the dogs were playing in the run above him. He did well focusing on the task at hand. Still peeing when he’s nervous but showing a little more control today. The commands we worked on were come to sit, heel, place, sit, down, and break.
Pupdate 9/17/2021
Today we went to an outdoor mall and worked on loose leash walking, come to sit, heel, duration downs, and break. Bear is no longer barking at people or dogs and appears calmer and is staring a little less hard at people walking past him. He was able to walk past one dog without having a reaction on leash, and he remained in a down stay while a small white dog barked and lunged towards him
while we were near the fountain (it’s in the attached video). His hackles did go up and his tail became a bit more animated, but he remained in better control. Tapping him with the e-collar when he stares too hard brings his focus back to his handler. In the afternoon he was able to socialize with the dogs, but he wants to challenge the males and mount the females so the other dogs don't really want to interact with him. He wants to interact with my female Belgian Malinois, but it seems more hormonal since she's intact as well. She does not want him near her and yells at him when he tries to advance. He takes the verbal correction but continues to try, which is when I ask him to do something else.
Pupdate 9/18/2021
This morning we went back to the park where Bear was dropped off. Tons of activity going on since it was early in the morning and soccer games were being played. I had Bear out without the muzzle walking down the trail, through the parking lot, and asking him to place on top of a ledge next to the field. He held his down pretty well only breaking it once. We saw one dog while walking to the field, but I caught it ahead of time and created space before asking Bear to sit. He complied and only let out a muffled bark at the dog. I then said no and tapped him once with the e-collar. From there we went back into a heel and continued towards the field. Bear is a very intelligent dog and is able to respond to the e-collar at a very low level. He's actually very sensitive unless he's in drive, which I don't let him escalate into. We practiced come to sit, duration downs, sit, heeling, loose leash walking, and break. Bear did very well! This is the second day we haven't had any peeing accidents coming out of the crate. He's also learned to pee outside on walks.
Pupdate 9/19/2021
Today we went to a park in Irvine and did loose leash walking, place work, come to sit, down, and break. We did a three mile walk around the park practicing our commands. Bear did well seeing people and dogs from a distance. He was able to place on a bench and wasn't bothered by the birds or children playing nearby. In the afternoon he socialized with the dogs, but didn't do well with the other males. He seems to want to challenge and control them more than play and be friends.
Pupdate 9/20/2021
Bear and I went to an outdoor shopping area with several restaurants and worked on loose leash walking around distractions. He did try to go up to random people and sniff them while we walked, which isn't desirable, but on the bright side, he was able to hold a duration sit and duration down with quite a bit of activity going on. In the afternoon we went to a park in Irvine and did some recall. He did very well! Rewarding with praise that is neutral in tone was key in keeping him calm. Otherwise I noticed he got mouthy. No more peeing in the crate or during training so that’s wonderful progress! He was also able to look at two dogs without having a negative reaction!
Pupdate 9/21/2021
Bear and I went to Lowe's and worked on his duration sits and downs, as well as his come to sit and break. He did fairly well around distractions and held all of his downs. In the afternoon we worked on recall on my property and he was only on the e-collar and a long-line. He doesn't seem to like all the wet food, so this evening I tried giving him just kibble and he ate it all.
Pupdate 9/22/2021
Bear and I worked on polishing up his heel and come to sit in an outdoor shopping area. He was able to hold a duration sit in a public area, and does place on various objects very well. He still hard stares at people at times, mostly men, but I’ve been using the off command and tapping the button to divert his gaze.
Pupdate 9/23/2021
Bear and I worked on polishing up his come to sit using a toy reward. I had him off-leash in the dog run, and after positioning the ball on a rope just above my shoulder, I would say, “Bear, come,” and mark when he was in position. Then I would say “break” and toss the ball. He would eagerly chase after the ball but did not always bring it back. When he did move in my direction, I would praise big time! Then I would send him to the place board without taking away the toy. He would drop it when he laid down on place, and then I would take it from him and repeat the process. In the afternoon we did more come to sit, place work, recall, and break. This time I used treats to lure him into position, and found that he does better with a hand signal telling him to come, followed by the lure on the left side instead of going around the back. His come to sit is now straight and he looks up with attentive eyes. In the evening we went to an outdoor mall to continue proofing his obedience around distractions. He did very well, and is doing better passing dogs as well!
Pupdate 9/24/2021
Bear and I did a dry run for his final video. He performed all of his commands, did not bark at people or react negatively to dogs we saw from a distance, but still looks at people suspiciously. He can now hold a sit and a down for two minutes, walk off-leash in the heel position, and can look at more dogs without barking at them. He does still bark and raise his hackles at the sight of some dogs, but that could improve with continued socialization and exposure. He isn’t always comfortable around crowds of people and stares a bit hard at small children running, but overall I’ve seen a huge improvement in his demeanor and ability to handle stressors. He’s also stopped Prue random peeing, but I also make sure not to get him overly excited.
Pupdate 9/25/2021
Bear and I went to an outdoor mall in Orange County to expose him to a different environment with more people and dogs. He can perform all of him commands on cue, but pants harder and is more vigilant in crowded areas. His transformation from a reactive dog who couldn't settle to one that has more impulse control, can hold a down on command, and isn't barking at anything and everything has been rewarding to watch unfold. Very happy for this young pup and his future!
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