Meet mister Bodhi! He is a 2 year old Pit Bull Mix from Rolling Hills Estates, CA. He is one sweet and spunky boy! He is here for our Two Week Board and Train Program because he is a major puller, doesn't know how to approach other pups, and can be near impossible to handle in public if there are any other animals. Stay tuned for his 14 day transformation!
Pupdate 11/22/2020
This guy is so much fun to take photos of, he has so much personality! He is all settled into his temporary new digs. He makes some pretty hilarious noises to try to get my attention from the kennel here and there, but he is adjusting to it amazingly so far. He had a blast inspecting all of the new toys in the backyard and even played a little fetch with me!
Mr. Bodhi scarfed up his dinner so fast he got some on his forehead! Which is a really awesome sign. Most pups are typically a bit nervous and don't want to eat their first couple meals, so the fact that he ate it all is awesome! He is doing really well with the kennel. The last time going in before bed he had a little hesitation but was a happy camper once he was in there!
Pupdate 11/23/2020
Bodhi had a long first day! He did a lesson at the park and a lesson in the backyard and ended up so tired he went into the kennel with out any coaxing. He did really well at the park for the first half but eventually ended up overwhelmed by all the dogs and kids running around but was still learning his commands even fully triggered! We worked in the backyard too and he ended up pretty riled up by all the neighbor dogs. But given all the anxiety and distractions I am so proud of everything he learned and worked through today!
Pupdate 11/24/2020
I know this video may not seem like a whole lot, but it is a huge win for mister Bodhi. This is him at a park with all kinds of pups, people, kids, and small critters calm and starting to focus all without his anxiety meds! He still needs short exposures to get some wins and be a bit more comfortable out and about, but I couldn't be more excited to see how far this guy is going to get in the next week and a half!
Pupdate 11/25/2020
I had another trainer work with Mr. Bodhi during one of his lessons for a little bit today and and he made some really great progress! He is still reacting quite a bit and still has a ways to go, but I was so proud of how hard he worked today I just had to do another video!
Pupdate 11/26/2020
Happy thanksgiving from mister Bodhi! He did a long lesson at the shopping center practicing a little bit of everything today! He is coming along! He was a bit overwhelmed with the wind/new smells at first and spent the first couple minutes being pretty squirrely but got dialed in and was doing all the commands!
Pupdate 11/27/2020
Bodhi was working hard today! We did two lessons in the backyard utilizing his toy in some attention building games and practicing all of his stationary commands (Sit, Down, Place). Then we did two sessions at the park in front of the library where there were a bunch of kids playing football. He was pretty triggered/interested in them so it was an awesome exercise in attention. The primary goal of the lesson was just to get Mr. Bodhi ignoring the kids and following/making eye contact with me. I utilized the collar and his "Off" command and than kept us moving, rewarding him heavily anytime he pivoted with me naturally or disengaged from the kids. This is so that he starts to build some trust with me and get a bunch of positive reinforcement for engaging with me over his impulses.
Pupdate 11/28/2020
Bodhi made some really awesome progress today! I was so proud of him! We worked at the highschool by my house and he was relaxed enough to practice all of his commands. There were 6 separate instances of pups going by us (about 25 or so feet of distance) and he only fully reacted one time! He was glancing at them and then responding to me fantastically. I was so ecstatic with him, his tail was going a mile a minute. We have been working a bit too much apparently, his neck did get a bit red after our session today. I have been doing my best to preserve his skin since you all mentioned it at drop off (he is a totally naked pup unless we are working) but having the flat collar and E-Collar on for all of our lessons is still causing some irritation. He is one sensitive pup, I think he also has fairly thin skin as well which contributes a lot to that sensitivity. It doesn't seem to be bothering him one bit though! I will be keeping an eye on it, the last thing I want is for his training to be painful.
Pupdate 11/29/2020
Bodhi looking the best he has yet! We were at the skatepark which is right across from the dog park today. He still had a moment or two of reactivity but overall he was doing a great job focusing more on me and doing commands! He could hear all the pups from the dog park barking and several walked by and around. His duration for staying calm in public is getting longer and longer. I am so proud!
Pupdate 11/30/2020
Mr Bodhi practiced at the shopping center today! He did absolutely fantastic for the first 15 or so minutes and then all of a sudden was a bit all over the place! Turns out he just needed to go potty! Once his business was all taken care of he was right back to business and was doing awesome! He practiced a bit of everything and we did a bunch of eye contact work to get him positively associated with paying attention to me over everything else in public.
Pupdate 12/01/2020
Mister Bodhi was having quite a bit of anxiety being out in public at night this evening so we worked fast to keep him focused! They two biggest keys with him are keeping him from fixating for too long and he needs a ton of encouragement when he does stuff well. The name of the game is keeping him under threshold, when he is left to watch and get anxiety about a trigger he gets frustrated and amped up and if he doesn't get enough love when he is calm and doing things right he starts to shut down and not be his happy wiggly self!
Pupdate 12/02/2020
Mr. Bodhi did some work around the neighborhood today. He was having a bit of a rough one with neighborhood dogs on all sides and had a few moments he ended up at his full threshold. But everyone has bad days! We kept working, kept moving, and eventually he was back to being a sharp happy pup!
12/03/2020
Bodhi had a rough morning working with the other pups at the park, but we went to an outdoor mall later in the day and got in some good practice.
Pupdate 12/04/2020
Bodhi took it easy today. I didn't want to exacerbate his dewclaw injury. He isn't limping or showing any signs of discomfort during his brief periods in the backyard.
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