This is Biscuit, a one year old Mini Goldendoodle from Northridge, CA here for our two week Board and Train! Biscuit is a sweet and smart pup who loves to play with his older brother. Biscuit is very timid when new people are around and he barks at them. He also is stubborn and likes to eat plants in the backyard. Over the next two weeks, Biscuit will be learning basic and fundamental commands to be the best Biscuit he can be! So stay tuned for his PAWSOME transformation!
PUPDATE 2/13/2022
Biscuit waiting for some belly rubs!
Biscuit was great in the car ride back to my house and he was happy to meet my Golden Retriever, Mira. I think it is because she looks like Finn! When I took him on a walk around the area to get familiar, he was very timid and he was spooked when some dogs were barking at him. Having me build a strong relationship with Biscuit will be very important in his training. I am confident we will get there! He had some water, peed and pooped on our walk, and had all his dinner.
PUPDATE 2/14/2022
Happy Valentine's Day! Biscuit spent the day learning our first lesson of Come to Sit. Overall, he did great today! He does come to me most of the time but he needs to work on coming around me. I noticed he is excellent at staying in command. He sat until I told him to come, which was great! I also worked on heel, down, and place to see what he already knew. After a couple minutes, he started to do really well at heel. It was very important for him that I gave him a lot of praise because of his lack of confidence. His down command needs a little work as he resists a little bit and when he does go into a down command, he tries to roll over. He was not so sure about going onto my place object.
PUPDATE 2/15/2022
Biscuit learned a lot today at the local mall. He is slowly getting the hang of things which is great to see! Today he was still hesitant about place so I kept encouraging him to go on as many place objects as possible. He had some great moments doing heel but I had to give a couple reminders to him to be on my right side as we walk. Although he does great at duration commands, if I said his name or bend down, he got out of the command so we will be practicing that. He met another trainer today and he was shy for just a few moments and then he liked her.
PUPDATE 2/16/2022
Biscuit mostly worked on getting used to going on the left side instead of the right side. I wanted to film that progress as well as the introduction to the place command. I think it is easier for Biscuit to make a U-Turn during come to sit than going behind me but I will keep you updated. Place seemed to be better each time Biscuit goes on an object. He always starts out very unsure with it and after two times, he hops on it with ease. I worked on the down command today to see if it was getting easier for him. It was definitely better so that is a great thing to see! He really likes being around Mira so they were taking a break in the sun together!
PUPDATE 2/17/2022
I took Biscuit to The Collection in Oxnard to expose him to new environments and distractions. Overall, he did quite well. He is getting the hang of doing things on the left side now. I noticed he is on high alert when people walk by him so we will be working on that this week. He is doing much better with Place. Using praise really encourages him and motivates him to continue training. He had no issues going into a Down command now so that is great to see.
PUPDATE 2/18/2022
Biscuit was a rockstar at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica! He needs a couple reminders going into a down command but overall he did great today. Biscuit was still unsure about the people walking by but it was getting better throughout the day and is making progress. He does great with duration sit on place. The loud music did not seem to bother him as he was in the duration down seen in the video. I am very happy with his progress so far!
PUPDATE 2/19/2022
I took Biscuit to a new park to work on different place objects to increase his confidence. He was getting better at going on them but he was still hesitant at first. He is not pulling on the leash when he knows we are in training mode. When I walk from the car to my house, he pulls a little. He was much better at the down command today so that is great to see.
PUPDATE 2/20/2022
Today was the first day Biscuit tried training off leash and he did great! As I mentioned in the video we need to work on Come to Sit. He did so much better with the down command today! I kept heel very upbeat and excited for him so he would be more inclined to follow me. I am happy with his progress so far! Great work Biscuit!!
PUPDATE 2/21/2022
Biscuit put his paws up like that!
I took Biscuit to a park to meet other OffLeash SoCal trainers and he did great. He LOVES new friends so it was nice to see him be excited. I practiced all his commands off leash and he was doing well. There were some moments when he would walk on the right side of me instead of the left but when I told him "Come", he would go to the correct side. Later, I took him to Hollywood Blvd to expose him to a more distracting environment. Overall, he did well! He was a little unsure but he held all his commands even when people were walking by. He was not heeling as well as I know he can so we will be practicing that!
PUPDATE 2/22/2022
I took Biscuit to Santa Barbara to work more on off leash commands. He was heeling well with me and was happy to be going on another adventure. Biscuit did get out of the down command a couple of times when I turned my back from him. He was better at going on place objects but sometimes he needed a little help! I think him being able to be off leash gives him a boost of confidence he really needs. He was still inconsistent with the Come to Sit command.
PUPDATE 2/23/2022
I took Biscuit to the Northridge Mall to work on his commands off leash and he did well. There were a couple moments that he was walking behind me but the e collar helped him to walk closer to me. The one thing I have continually noticed is that since he is a very submissive pup, I have to make sure he is still in the command given before he starts to roll over on his back. Keeping up with this will help eliminate this behavior in the future. It was a little difficult for him to go on many place objects today so I helped him up a few times. I am not sure if he cannot go on the place objects presented because of his body proportion or because he knows I am going to help him up on most of them. Since he likes new friends, I met up with another OffLeash SoCal trainer with her training pup to help with socialization. It gave him a mental break from training and he seemed to enjoy it.
PUPDATE 2/24/2022
Biscuit went to Hollywood Blvd again. Overall, he had some good moments and some not so good moments. Sometimes he would leave my left side while heeling. He did great with come to sit! There were a couple time he got out of his down command. He stayed on place well! He was still timid when people came up to greet him.
PUPDATE 2/25/2022
I worked on home manners with Biscuit today. He did well staying in command while I went in and out of my house for door manners. There was only one time he got out of command when I was out of sight. The biggest difficulty Biscuit had is rolling over into a submissive pose. This behavior will decrease over time with more training. To help keep him in command and not roll over, I had him sit as I walked to him. Later, I took him on a walk and he then played with another OffLeash dog that he loves. He is eating, drinking, peeing, pooping normally.
PUPDATE 2/26/2022
He found my dog's teddy bear and he LOVED it! It was so cute!
I took Biscuit to the Santa Monica Pier finish his final video. I was so proud of how well he did! He was heeling so well all through the crowds and the loud noises. There was a guy that wanted to pet him but Biscuit was shy. He stayed in his duration commands the whole time we were on the pier! Awesome work Biscuit! I can’t wait to show you everything he has learned!