Meet Gigi, she's a one year old Yellow Lab from Palos Verdes Estates, California here for our Two-Week Board and Train Program! Gigi is incredibly sweet and playful with people, however she can be very reactive to other dogs. She loves to jump on people, bark, pull on her leash, and needs some work on her basic commands. Over the next fourteen days, we'll work with Gigi on her manners in and out of the house, teach her how to properly greet people and other dogs, work on her basic obedience skills, and show her how to be the best pup she can possibly be! Stay tuned for Gigi's two week transformation!
After picking up Gigi, we spent some time at the park getting to know each other! She barked at some other dogs she spotted, but we stayed clear of them for now. She is an extremely strong leash puller, and seems to only want to go in the direction of her choice. That being said, she's been super sweet to me so far!
In the above video, I ask her for some basic commands. It seems like she sort of knows her Sit command, however, I want her to be much more responsive when asked to perform it.
When we got home, I let her sniff around my house to start getting settled in. My personal pup was in her crate, and Gigi sniffed her without any issue. It seems like she's starting to get comfortable here!
Gigi went to Maple Park today for her first full day of training! I introduced her to our Come To Sit, and Heel commands. For Come To Sit, I want Gigi to come to my right side, walk around my legs and sit at my left side with her ears at my knee. After that, I want her to be able to walk politely at my left side without pulling forward or away from me. Gigi isn't a huge fan of walking without pulling, but she's doing a surprisingly good job considering how much she was pulling me yesterday. She seems to be getting the motions of her Come To Sit as well!
We were around several trainers and their dogs, as well as other patrons of the park. Upon our arrival, Gigi did a good job of behaving and not barking or lunging at the dogs who were already there. What we noticed, however, that whenever a new dog came into her view, whether they were entering the park, or coming up behind us, that is when she would feel the need to bark and act up the most. This is great information that will be very useful for how we approach her training moving forward!
Gigi and I went to Almansor Park today for training! There weren't quite as many people and dogs around as yesterday, but just enough to use as distractions. Much like yesterday, the biggest reactions she showed were when she was caught of guard by a new dog. That only happened a couple times today, and it feels like each time, her reaction is slowly getting more subtle, which hopefully soon will turn into no reaction at all.
In today's video, Gigi is showing the Heel and Come To Sit commands she's been working on!
Gigi and I went to Eugene A. Obregon Park today for training! We continued working on the commands she's learned, and started working on her Place command! For Place, I want Gigi to hop onto a raised object, such as a bench, and remain there until I either release her from command or ask her to perform a different command. She had very little trouble learning the motion, however she's so excitable and wiggly, she did have difficulty remaining placed. She often wanted to hop off and come to me for pets. We'll continue working on these durations, as well as her impulse control.
One dog came close to us, and Gigi almost started barking, but I asked her to come to me instead. She did so, and once she was in heel position right next to me, she didn't try to bark or lunge at all. It seems she's making some progress each day!
Gigi went to the park with me today! She had her worst reaction so far though. Stepping on her leash as it drags is a great way for me to tell how she might do off leash while still having access to the leash. She did a great job nearly all day, but then broke her commands to go to the end of her leash and run at another dog. She came back to me with a sharp correction from her collar, but unfortunately, I cannot allow her to be off leash after this point. We'll keep working towards that goal, but she is not quite ready.
Gigi and I went to Santa Monica Pier today! She did fairly well considering the environment! There were a couple of obnoxious Shiba Inu dogs barking at her at one point, but Gigi did a surprisingly good job of heeling by them. As long as I continue to remind her of the task at hand using her verbal commands as well as her E collar, she tends to remain very well behaved!
She did not like being asked to lay down with everything going on. This isn't very surprising, since she is so squirmy, but once she assumed the Down position, she did a pretty great job of maintaining it! Her durations are one of her weakest links, and I'm proud of how well she did holding her positions today!
She did bark at one person on the pier. In her defense, it was an inebriated gentleman, making loud noises and kicking the air randomly, and I probably would have barked at him if Gigi had not. I don't think this can be held against her. Overall, great job today!
Gigi did a better job at the park today. On the weekends, Almansor Park is a little more patronized than usual. Luckily for us, that means there were more dogs! Even in her above video, there were a couple times I had to remind her to ignore the dogs walking by. I noticed I had to remind her fewer times then usual, however, I noticed she was trying so hard to resist the urge to react to the small dogs, she was visibly shaking at times. This tells me she understands what I'm asking of her, but she is still finding it extremely difficult. To make her training a little more bearable for her, I included tons of time where she got to just sniff around and play with me, because I could see she was trying so hard! With the support of my verbal reminders and her E collar, she did very well today!
Gigi did a great job on the walk to the park. Her Heel was beautiful, and she responded to her commands perfectly! Her only misstep today was a pair of little corgis that she wanted to growl at. When I corrected her with her verbal commands and her E collar, she immediately responded and assumed her preferred position! Not an amazing day for Gigi, but better than most!
Gigi and I went to Studio City Recreation Center today for training! She got to work around tons of other dogs, including a couple other dogs who are in training. She did a great job around the other training dogs, however I needed to stay on top of her to keep her focused when a new dog came by.
Her Down command was much better than usual, and she was able to hold her sit and down for much longer today! She still usually starts the day very wiggly and excited, but tends to calm down as we work.
Gigi and I went to Garfield Park today for training! It was a much more relaxing day for Gigi, since there were far fewer dogs around this park. She did a great job with all of her commands today, and took a nap when we got home. After that we worked on her indoor manners for the rest of the evening! She's been doing great inside, although she still gets pretty excited when she thinks we're about to go for a walk, or go outside.
Gigi went to Santa Anita Mall today! For the first few minutes she was very excited and wiggly, but after a bit she calmed down and performed amazingly well inside the mall. In the above video, you can see her heeling around the mall with me, and even holding her sit position around quite a few people. Her ability to hold her positions is the most difficult part of training for her most days, but she did a great job today! Especially in an area such as a mall!
Gigi went to Santa Monica Pier today for training! She did much better than last time, and even got to say hi to some people! She was very excited to be there, but did well with all of her commands. When saying hi to strangers, I want her to hold her sit position without standing up or jumping up. She got up a couple times when very excited, but after some practice, allowed the person to pet her in a relatively calm manner.
As for her commands, as long as I stayed on top of her with her E collar, she did a great job!
Gigi and I went to Garfield Park today for training! She seems to really like this park and does very well while we're here. Only a few dogs today, but she did well to mind her own business while we walked around.
For her video today, I wanted to show some of the manners we've been working on! For her food manners, I want Gigi to be able to sit and wait patiently when food is placed in front of her. Practicing this each time she eats is great for her impulse control, and also can help prevent Gigi from accidentally eating something bad off the ground, or eating something dropped while cooking!
Her door manners are used to help Gigi resist the urge to run through the door any time it opens. She loves going outside, so this one is tough for her, but she's been doing well. To practice this, we sit for a moment whenever we go through a threshold, including doors, gates, fences, etc. I also want to be able to go through the door myself and walk around without Gigi breaking that threshold. Only when I'm ready for us both to go through, should she enter or exit.
For car manners, I want Gigi to wait for my signal to jump in the car, and once she does, to walk directly into her kennel. Gigi quickly figured out that the car means we're going somewhere fun, so she has loved getting in from the start! She would try to get in the car without going into the crate, however. She has gotten much better about that, as you can see in the above video!
Gigi and I had a slow day today due to rain, but we still got over to the park a few times in between the showers. At the park, there were very few people and other dogs, but on the walks there and back, we went by a wide variety of dogs. There was even a pair of pugs that barked their heads off at Gigi, but she did well to continue walking.
While at home, we continued working on Gigi's household manners! She is still doing a great job.
Gigi is going home tomorrow, and I am so proud of her for the progress she has made! She is a super sweet girl, and I'm going to miss her once she's home!
