Gaia | Husky & Pit Bull Mix | Los Angeles, CA | In Training

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Meet Gaia, the 6 year old Husky mix from Los Angeles, CA. She came from the countryside and isn’t used to the busy city life, large groups of people or other dogs. Gaia hasn’t had any formal obedience training but she responds to the commands “come”, “sit”, and “down”. She won’t hold the commands for any length of time and is anxious on leash and pulls in all directions. Stay tuned for Gaias 14 day transformation.

Pupdate | 6/5/2022

Today was Gaia's first day here. I let her relax and walk around to get used to the place. We worked loose leash walking and played fetch. She did very good with training and she's very sweet. She enjoyed playing with the ball a lot.

Pupdate | 6/6/2022

Gaia is doing great! Today we introduced "place", continued loose leash walking, and practiced door manners. We also added onto her basic sit commands the behavior of stay. Gaia shouldn't get up on her own once you've given her a command. She has been struggling with this but has shown good progress. I've also been doing exercises to condition her to stay on my left side, she likes to veer to the right.

Pupdate 6/7/2022

Gaia worked - Come to Sit at the park, load up, and staying with me while mimicking off leash with a 15' lead. She also met a group of dogs off leash and did well though she showed some nervousness. I have not yet seen her bark at a person or a dog.

Pupdate 6/8/2022

Gaia worked on an unstable Place at the park. She did amazing with this. Sending pups to Place and balancing on unstable surfaces helps build confidence. She also worked heeling (left side) while moving through a group of dogs.

Pupdate 6/9/2022

Gaia worked Heel with doggie daycare level distractions. She did great. What she struggled with was anticipating what I wanted her to do - going to place because we worked it earlier - vs what I was asking her to do which was Heel. Counter training can fix this pretty quickly. I walked past the place board on purpose until she listened and heeled.

Pupdate 6/10/2022

Gaia is doing great and enjoying her stay. She's made new furriends too! We have worked on strangers greeting her with no reaction and more distractions. I cut her nails as well. Gaia does well with dealing with environmental triggers when following a strong leader to give her some extra confidence. We also worked car manners, door manners, and food manners. She has a spot of fur missing from her right elbow - I will monitor and send photos each day.

Pupdate 6/11/2022

Gaia worked Extended Sit with distractions. She is stressed when she's separated from her handler. She may get up before staying in the position. She did great but we will continue to work on her holding her commands. Her elbow looks better today. It's not pink like yesterday.

Pupdate 6/12/2022

Gaia's halftime check-in! Gaia is half way there and doing well. Her heel is pretty solid, and she does great with distractions. Things she's still working on - the down command holding commands longer with distractions and remaining focused when her handler walks away from her. Her elbow is looking better today.

Pupdate 6/13/2022

Gaia worked down, door manners, and extended commands. Her elbow appears ok. She enjoys playing with the smaller dogs too.

Pupdate 6/14/2022

Gaia worked heel, come to sit, and extended sit with distractions. Exercise is an important part of training and she enjoys bike rides with my dog Bravo. She has good confidence with the dog walk too. We put neosporin on her elbow today.

Pupdate 6/15/2022

Gaia had a great day working her extended commands at Pan Pacific park today. She even placed on new unfamiliar objects as well

Pupdate 6/16/2022

Today Gaia worked on her new skills with a different handler. She was very happy and excited to do a pack walk with her furrriends. Increased socialization with safe dogs, and structured walks will help with anxiety she may have with other dogs.