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Writer's pictureOffLeash SoCal

American Labrador - Dog Training | Finn | Seal Beach, CA.

Finn, an Labrador Retriever from Seal Beach, CA went through the Balanced Canine Training SoCal 1 Week Board & Train dog training program. Finn was trained by dog trainer Mike Dark La Habra Heights, CA.




Finn, the seven month old American Labrador from Seal Beach, CA. is here for our one week board and train program. Finn is enthusiastic with high energy, doesn't always pay attention to his handlers, pulls on walks, jumps up to greet new people, and all of the behaviors are exacerbated when he is with is sybiling. Check out the new and improved Finn in only one week!



Teaching Finn how to drink water from the spicket in the backyard.

Five minutes into our first official walk together Finn isn't all that bad. I learned later on the walk that Finn needs to learn to behave like this around other animals. We encountered a neighbor with a small dog and Finn went nuts. This too we can, and will, work on.

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Pupdate 07/06/2020

Finn met up with trainer Anna, who primarily does work with service animals. To put Finn to the test early, Anna asked Finn for down. Down is a submission command so typically dogs aren't inclined to give it easily or right away. Later Anna started shaping the come, heel, and sit commands. Finn did a good job and there were some limited distractions to test Finn as well.

This is a day one example of what happens when teaching heel. Finn is likely tired, and probably over the whole experience. On a positive note Finn does demonstrate how to find the correct heel location several times. He is a long way from finished, but is definitely on the right track.

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Pupdate 07/07/2020



This morning Finn went on a 4.5 mile hike/walk. Practicing heel, sit, and place Finn got into the groove of a brisk walk in the correct position.


Last night we concluded training with a brisk walk around Naples Island and Belmont Shore (approximately 2.5 miles); Finn did very well with the human and canine distractions.

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Pupdate 07/08/2020

We went on another 4+ mile walk this morning, down Whittier Blvd. I wanted to incorporate more distractions (traffic) to see how Finn reacts- he did well. I have ticked up his AM food consumption by one cup both this morning and last. With the extra work I don't want him dropping too much weight.

Working with the weave pole to improve Finn's ability to be off leash and still follow the handler. Normally I wouldn't leave the less than stellar performance, but I think it is fair to show you what he is doing. This was after SEVERAL walk throughs prior.

Back at again in the evening, we worked more off leash heel, place, sit, down as well as holding the sit and down for longer periods of time.

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Pupdate 07/09/2020


Please excuse the picture quality- I was a one man show today, lol. Did our 4+ miles up through the hills double heeling the two boys today. At the end of the walk, the last .75 of a mile they were both off leash and still heeling so I'm feeling good about the prospects of making this whole thing happen with Emma.

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Pupdate 07/10/2020



I try to be transparent with clients and how their dogs are doing. Finn is five days into his training and is a wonderful student. We are ahead of what I had hoped for by this time, so I don't think showing you his mistakes are degrading to the training. Finn had worked for nearly two hours at this point and was clearly saying "I'm over it!"

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Pupdate 07/11/2020

Out doing a little work in a park this morning. Finn still hesitates to "Place" when asked until he feels comfortable doing the command on a specific object.

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