Evie | Border Terrier/Pug | Los Angeles Ca, | In-Training
- wendyoffleashsocal
- Mar 29
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 4
Meet Evie—a sweet and spirited 2-year-old Border Terrier/Pug from Los Angeles, California! She’s officially joined us for our one-week Board and Train Program, where we’ll be focusing on helping her become a more well-mannered and well-rounded pup.
Evie is here to work on improving her leash manners, as she tends to pull during walks and loves to sniff and pick up anything she finds on the ground. Over the next 7 days, we’ll be building structure, obedience, and confidence through consistent training and clear communication.
Throughout her program, Evie will be working on:
• Loose leash walking
• Impulse control (especially around distractions)
• Basic obedience commands
• Improved focus and engagement
• Better manners in new environments
With the right structure and consistency, Evie is going to make amazing progress and show just how great of a companion she can be. We can’t wait to see her transformation!
Stay tuned for Evie’s one-week journey!
Pupdate 3/29/26
Hi and welcome to Evie’s first Pupdate! 🐾💛
For today, we focused on introducing Evie to my home and also to Dottie. But before we even arrived, Evie did amazing during the ride home. She had a small whimper here and there, but I made sure to reassure her, keep her comfortable, and show her that she is safe with me.
Once we arrived at my home, Evie was introduced to Dottie and we went on a short pack walk, which also gave us a great opportunity to start bonding. After our walk, we jumped right into training where Evie showed me a few of the commands she already has knowledge of.
Today I also introduced an important command that I know is a big priority for you—recall. This is the “Come” command. As you will see in the video, I am luring her to my right side, having her go behind me, and then finishing on my left side. I did remember that you prefer her to finish on your right side, so I will make sure to make those corrections moving forward.
Evie is a smart little pup and I can already tell we are going to have a lot of fun during the short time we have together. I’m looking forward to continuing her training and seeing her progress!
Stay tuned for more updates!
Pupdate 3/30/26
For today’s Pupdate we introduced Evie to the E-collar and learned that her working level is between 2-7. We started by introducing her commands at level 2 to ensure the stimulation stayed light and positive. During this process, the command and the black S button were pressed simultaneously to teach Evie that she will feel the stimulation during training and to help her begin understanding the association.
During our session, Evie was also introduced to “Place,” which she grasped very quickly. She is definitely a fast little learner! We repeated the command multiple times, and at times she was beating me to it, so I began varying the commands by mixing in the ones she already knows to keep her engaged and thinking.
To continue speeding up her training, we also reviewed her recall, “come-to-sit,” which we started working on last night. She is already starting to get the hang of it. As I mentioned in the video, for the recall gesture you will use your left hand to call your pup in and guide her around so she ends up sitting on your right side, which is where she will be positioned and ready to transition into the “heel” command.
I have added an E-collar tutorial so you can familiarize yourself with the device Evie will be returning with. We will go over everything once we have our ONE-on-ONE session.
Evie did very well last night for her first night with us and got along great with Dottie. I’m looking forward to our next couple of training days with her—she’s a smart little pup!
Pupdate 3/31/26
For today’s Pupdate we focused on Evie’s heel walk, which she is actually doing really well with. We are currently using a no-pull leash to help teach her not to pull during walks. Over the next day or so, I will begin weaning her off of it, as the E-collar will begin taking over as our main form of communication to reinforce that pulling is not the behavior we want.
As I mentioned, Evie is already pulling much less, so I can see her graduating to a regular leash as soon as tomorrow.
We also reviewed her recall command, and she is grasping it very quickly. Soon we will start putting all of these skills together and really begin putting her to the test.
Overall, Evie is doing very well. She is eating all of her food, sleeping through the night, getting along great with Dottie, and she is absolutely loving my kids!
Pupdate 4/1/26
Today we took a field trip to Home Depot where we exposed Evie to the different smells, sounds, and distractions of a new environment. She was a little scared and timid at first, but I made sure to give her lots of praise and reassurance so she understood that she was safe with me. Once she started settling in, she did much better and gained confidence as we moved through the store.
During our time there, we reviewed all of the commands she has been practicing with me. Evie did a great job staying focused, and she even received a lot of compliments from Home Depot customers on how well behaved she was. She is such a sweet little pup!
On our return home, we practiced our door manners again and continued reviewing all commands. For door manners, we started with a short lead to ensure she felt secure and would not try to run off. I did notice that putting her into a “down” on slippery or rough surfaces is not her favorite, so I added a pad to make her more comfortable—and that did the trick! She was able to hold her down for a much longer period of time.
Since she did so well, I challenged her by switching to the 15’ long line and increasing my distance at the door.
Her previous puppy boot camp did an amazing job because Evie already understands the concept of staying in place and not rushing out the door. Door manners are one of the most important skills you can teach a dog because they build impulse control, safety, and respect for boundaries. A dog with solid door manners learns to wait calmly instead of rushing out, jumping on guests, or trying to bolt into the street. This is extremely important for preventing accidents, escapes, and dangerous situations around traffic. Evie is already showing strong foundational obedience, which is amazing—yay Evie!
We also continued to review heel, place, and come-to-sit. She is learning at the perfect pace and progressing exactly how we need her to. She is doing great!
Pupdate 4/2/26
For today’s Pupdate we focused on Evie’s recalland heel. We took a trip to the park where we practiced walking up and down the path while working through her commands. With all the practice we’ve been doing, Evie is really starting to master her heel!
At one point she even started falling behind, so I picked up my pace and began jogging. Evie matched my speed and stayed right in position while maintaining her heel. Yay Evie! Now we know she can go for a run with you and still stay in a proper heel—WOOHOO Evie!
We also continued reviewing her recall command. She is almost solid with it. Every now and then she still needs a little guidance, but she is very close to having it down consistently.
Bonus Footage: Evie and Friends!
We practiced obedience commands with all the pups today, and I captured the cutest little training moment. Enjoy!
Pupdate 4/3/26
Today we took a field trip with Ms. Evie girl to the park where we tackled a few of her unwanted behaviors, such as picking up items from the ground and leash pulling. Since we have been working so much on the heel command, she is doing much better at not taking off after being released from a sit. She is also walking nicely right beside me with a loose leash.
I did notice a little of what you were describing with her wanting to pick up items off the ground, but I made sure to let her know that behavior was not allowed by using the “off” command. She immediately ignored the item and continued walking while staying focused on my commands.
Her recall is still a work in progress, but she is almost there. We will continue practicing this daily to make it more consistent.
I also want to point out that I switched her E-collar to a Micro Educator, which will give you more flexibility in the future as far as levels go. With the original collar she was using, Evie seemed very sensitive to it, so we decided to move her down to the smaller-dog E-collar. Her working level on this one started at around level 15, but this collar is not as strong as the one she was previously using. Overall, this is the best fit for her since she is smaller and it gives you more room to adjust levels if you ever need to increase stimulation for distractions.
Ms. Evie is doing amazing and is getting along great with Dottie and my other board and train pup, Domino. We also practiced “place” in the house since I’ve been giving her more freedom now that she is comfortable with me and the other pups.
During dinner time she did come up to me and gave me those puppy eyes for food, so we used that moment as a training opportunity by reinforcing place indoors to keep her away while everyone is eating. She held her place for about 5 minutes before breaking it. I reset her back onto place and she remained there again. The key will be designating a comfortable dog mat or cot that she enjoys relaxing on. After resetting, she stayed in place for several more minutes without breaking. Yay Evie!
Overall, for the short amount of time she
has been with me, she is doing great. I’m so proud of her!
Pupdate 4/4/26
For today’s final Pupdate with Ms. Evie, we practiced her food manners and car manners, and also took one last trip to the park where we put her to the test with all of the commands she has been practicing throughout the week with me.
Ms. Evie is such a polite little pup and knows to wait patiently for her food. To challenge her even more, I extended her wait time and walked away from her to see if she would remain in place—and she sure did! Great job Evie!
For car manners, she is also very patient and holds her sit until given the “load up” command. This command is extremely helpful for those moments when your hands are full of bags or when you simply need her to stay in place before entering the car. Evie remained in position beautifully until she was given her release. She is such a smart little pup!
We took our last trip to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather and really put Evie to the test. She passed with flying colors and performed every command that was asked of her. For only being with us for one week, she was able to get a great refresher on her previous obedience commands and learned how to walk in a loose, structured heel. Way to go Evie!
It has truly been a pleasure having her with us. Dottie and my family will miss her dearly. We are so proud of her progress, and I can’t wait for her to show you everything she has learned!
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