Beary | Alaskan Klee Kai | Los Angeles, CA | In Training
- Alex Kruse
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 12 hours ago
Meet Beary! He's a 2-year-old Klee Kai from Los Angeles, California, and he's here for our Three Week Reactive Board and Train Program. Beary tends to be clingy with people, which means he has pretty bad separation anxiety, and while he likes it when guests come over, he will sometimes get reactive to them at a distance while on leash or from his yard. He will also bark at other dogs while on leash, and tends to want to be the dominant one in his own pack at home to the point of getting in fights. Over the next three weeks we'll help him with his anxiety issues, teach him to behave while on leash, and also teach him all his basic commands. Stay tuned for Beary's three-week transformation!
4/24/26
We spent a little time at the park bonding and seeing what commands Beary knew. I can tell he does know how to Sit, but he wouldn't give it to me without a little hands-on assistance. It only required a light touch, though, so I'm sure he'll fall inline on that one easily. Everything else? He's got plenty of time to learn! And he seems pretty eager to be around and to please people, so I think he'll pick up the commands quickly. He did show a little bit of reactivity to a family that walked by with several young children. He didn't make any noise or lunge, but he did stiffen up and move closer, and was watching with a very intense stare. The car ride home actually wasn't too bad. He cried for a little bit then settled down. Inside the house was fine pretty much right away. He sniffed around a lot, found the door to go outside where he could potty, and was happy to lay down wherever I was. Leaving him alone in any room, of course, caused instant whining, which I was prepared for and we'll work on it, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. And he did fantastic when I introduced him to my dogs. He went into play mode right away and had a good time! He did try to bury his food instead of eating it, but at least he got in a nibble or two before thinking he could push the rug overtop it. Overall, it was a really smooth first day intro into his new environment!
4/25/26
For our first day of work I took Beary to a little park nearby that tends to have not too many distractions. There were more kids on the playground than I typically see there, but he wasn't bothered by them at all. He's definitely highly mood motivated, which makes it pretty easy to get him focused up and wanting to learn. I started him on his Sit, getting him to move into position cleanly and then making him hold it. Then we worked on Down, which he picked up on fairly quickly with the treat lure, and we were already moving into extending the position within a few tries. He'll Come decently well when called, but he's a little confused when it comes to that ending Sit by my side. He tends to stop a little too far back or too far to the side, so we'll keep refining that one as we go along. And then of course the Heel work! As mentioned when I picked him up, he's a puller, so for today I relied on those treat lures to keep him in the proper position. This is teaching him that all good things happen as long as he stays in his spot; and coupled with the e-collar on corrections, he's learning that it's far better to hang out by me and get the good stuff instead of trying to step away and receive a correction. For his first day of learning most of these commands, he did really well! He got comfortable pretty fast at home. He slept through the night just fine and enjoys being out in the yard with the dogs. When it comes to his separation anxiety, he's a bit unusual with it lol. He makes a lot of noise when I approach after he hasn't seen me for a bit, and he makes noise when he even thinks I might be leaving, like when I was slipping on my shoes this morning. But once I'm out of sight, he quiets right down. So it's not so much the being by himself that bothers him, but the anticipation of it, and the excitement of when a person returns. This may very well be a learned behavior, where he's been accidentally taught that if he makes enough noise when he's being left alone, that his person won't leave him. And then on the other end, he'll get instant attention if he makes noise upon a person's return. When there isn't anyone there to cater to him, there's no sense in making all the fuss, so he doesn't. On one end, it's great because it means he doesn't actually have anxiety as badly as he pretends he does, but on the other end, it's still really loud on both sides of the coming and going, so I'll work on correcting that behavior while he's here. It'll mostly be a matter of showing him he doesn't get what he wants by throwing his tantrums, but if he shows me proper behaviors then he'll get that attention he's looking for. We'll get there!
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