Harlow | Lab X | Rancho Mission Viejo, Ca | In Training
- Alex Kruse
- Jun 14
- 9 min read
Updated: Jun 22
Meet Harlow! She's a 5-year-old Lab mix from Rancho Mission Viejo, California, and she's here for our One Week Board and Train Program. Harlow is super sweet and loves her family, strangers, and other dogs, but she gets a little too excited when meeting new people. She has a tendency to jump on everyone she meets, she counter surfs, and isn't very responsive with her recall. She's also moving to a new house where she will no longer be allowed on the rental furniture, so that'll be a new experience for her. Over the next week we'll work on teaching her that she can't be on couches anymore, get her Recall back into shape, and show her what her manners should look like when meeting new people. Stay tuned for Harlow's one-week transformation!
6/14/26
After pick-up we spent a little time at the park just getting to know one another. Harlow was a little bit nervous, but that didn't stop her from jumping up at me when she wanted attention! She did give me a Sit a couple times, but only after much repetition and when she had nothing else to look at. Her Heel certainly needs work and, as mentioned, we'll definitely work on that Come command a lot more! She seems like a happy, loveable lady though, and I'm sure once we bond a little more and she realizes I have the food and treats, she'll catch onto things in no time! At home she pretty much settled right in. She had zero issues going out in the play yard with the other dogs, and she's been behaved and quiet. She's sniffed around, napped, and gotten attention from my housemates as well so we could start straight in on proper greetings without jumping up. She's not as anxious as I thought she might be, so I anticipate she might not struggle too badly with the move. If she's doing this well already here, I anticipate she'll be fine in a new house when she has all her people around her. I look forward to really getting to see what she can do over the next week!
6/15/26
Mondays are our group practice day, so Harlow basically got thrown straight into the deep end with distractions on her first real day of work! She actually did really well for her first time! She's clearly a very fast learner, and she's incredibly easy to motivate. Between treats and figuring out she's a major tennis ball gal, I was getting her to perform all her commands in no time! I started her off on her prong collar, but less than an hour in and I had already switched to just having the leash clipped to the flat collar. She was beginning to understand her Heel pretty nicely by the time we finished, she had no issues with her Place command, and she clearly knows her Sit and Down. Mostly with those I'm working on getting her to hold the commands until she gets her release word, which is "Break!" So if she got up before I gave her the release, I simply corrected her and put her back in position. She was also good coming when I called her, but I was only working her on the short leash for the day to keep it easy. I'm teaching her to come around to the Heel side and sit when I call her, as well, so she's learning extra steps at the same time. I was very impressed with how smoothly she was catching onto everything, she's so smart! At home she's definitely doing a lot of that jumping that was mentioned, so we're working hard on that! She tries to push through the gate every time I go in and out too, so I'm working on making her Sit before I even open it. I was also adding in a "back up" command, which I was doing a little bit in the video when working her with the tennis ball. That way not only does she have to show good manners when doors open, but she also needs to take a few steps back away from it to give space for people to move in and out safely. Ball dogs tend to catch onto that one faster because they know it means the ball gets thrown farther, so I'm absolutely taking advantage of that! Outside of that, she had a great night and settled in very quickly. She's having a great time with her dog friends, and I'm excited to see how much more she can do before the end of the week!
6/16/26
Harlow and I headed over to a little local park to start refining some of these commands without too many distractions. There were a couple kids on the playground behind the camera, but she never even looked their direction, which made it pretty easy to keep her focus. I took her out directly on the flat collar, no prong, and while she did pull initially when we were entering the park, after a couple of quick corrections she caught on that pulling is not allowed. I had her on the long line, as well, so I could work on some more distance with her commands, and have something lighter on her during her Heel to start getting her less reliant on leash pressure. Her Heel was starting to look pretty clean after a few times circling around, her extended Sit is great, and she'll come when I call her. We're still just working on getting her to understand where I expect her to be at the end of the Recall, but she's getting it! I also worked on her Place a few times using the table as a designated spot, which she didn't have too many issues with once she understood what I was asking. The jumping has already significantly improved, but she still goes for it when she's a little too excited, so we're definitely still working on that. Her Off command is working pretty quickly when she does jump, as well as when she's even thinking of investigating what's on a counter or getting on the couch. And I'm definitely using the e-collar in tandem with those commands, so she's figuring out pretty quickly that it's not worth it to even try. She's also catching onto backing up and sitting when we go through gates and doors as opposed to trying to bash through, so progress! Overall, while things are still a little clumsy-looking, she's learning pretty quickly. That ball motivation is super handy and can definitely be a great tool to teach her just about anything!
6/17/26
For today's session we went out to Library Park in Monrovia, which is in the heart of the little old town area and is typically pretty busy with distractions. There were other dogs, kids running around, bikes, and people having picnics. Harlow would only express interest in any of them if people walked up too close to her, then she wanted to go say hi with a friendly tail wag. For the moment I'm just calling her back to me and not letting her do the greetings just yet, which she's responding to well. I want to get her jumping just a little more under control before I have her saying hello to strangers, but we're getting close! With everything else she's doing great with only a few corrections needed. I'm really impressed by how quickly she's caught on to the Heel command and how fast she is to readjust her pace when only just verbally corrected. Her positioning on her Recall improved quite a bit just in one day, too, she's so smart! There's still a lot of that anxious energy whining she does whenever we first set out anywhere, but she gets to work and settles in pretty quickly, especially knowing she gets to have ball time to break up the learning moments here and there. I think mostly she's just one of those dogs who is very active both physically and mentally, so once she has somewhere to put it, she calms right down. When she gets to the new home, I'd recommend she gets plenty of exercise, and use training sessions in bursts throughout the day to give her mind something to focus on. Keep that up and I think she'll do just fine, considering how quickly she settled in here!
6/18/26
Harlow and I headed over to Live Oak Park today, which is normally really busy, but it wasn't too crowded this time. I think it's because the weather is a little cooler and overcast, but we still had plenty of summer camp kids around to be distractions! I worked Harlow mostly on just a leash drag with the long line, having her rely mostly on verbals and the collar signals for her commands. She responded really well to that in general, even with the kids playing ball nearby. Her form isn't entirely perfect, as to be expected with the number of days we've been at it, but she does everything I ask without much difficulty. After the formal session I dropped the line entirely to just let her have room to run for ball play in the soccer field. She always came back when I asked her to, and of course to bring the ball back with no signs of being a flight risk. At home we had some people over so I put her on a leash and worked on her greeting manners without jumping. She had the e-collar on, of course, but I didn't have to use that or tug the leash for corrections. She sat very nicely to get pets from everyone without any issues (outside her little whines she still has to make!). She's also getting very good at waiting at the doors and gates. She's definitely doing great for still being within one week!
6/19/26
Today Harlow and I went back to Library Park and did a lot of work near the playground where there were lots of kids and people with their dogs, plus the squirrels were super active over there! I did let a few people pet her and she didn't try to jump on anybody, which was great! She was very interested in the squirrels, but any time I called her name, her attention was back on me. She performed all her commands beautifully without any issues at all, and of course got her designated ball time after session where I let her run free with just the leash dragging behind her for safety. She loves our little training outings a lot I think because she knows she gets ball time if she does everything for me. Take advantage of that toy drive as much as possible when she gets homes and she'll keep doing great!
6/20/26
For today I wanted to show off how far we've gotten in Harlow's house manners. The door manners were one of the first things I made sure Harlow understood since she had a tendency to want to bolt through it, but now she knows that she has to sit there and wait for me to release her before she's allowed to come or go. Food manners are another important one, so she has to stay calm and ignore the bowl until I release her to eat. Then, of course, since getting on couches and counter surfing were some of the top concerns with Harlow moving into her new home, we've worked a lot on those manners over the past week. She learned very quickly that she is not allowed to put even one paw up on the couch at all. I didn't actually ask her to lay down on the floor where she was, she just chose to be there because she knows she can stay close by and hang out as long as she's not crawling up with us. Then to show how well she's doing with no longer trying to get food off counters, I brought out a doggie biscuit and set it in range before walking away. The second treat I brought out was a piece of salmon jerky, and I left the room entirely after setting it on the table. Harlow barely even looked at them because she knows she's not allowed to just grab things unless given to her. She got a big biscuit at the end for being such a good girl! She's still going to need practice with these things since I've only had a week to work on them, but as I've said pretty much daily, she's a quick study and very eager to please so I don't think there'll be any issues with her maintaining her manners at all once she gets home!
6/21/26
Since today was an extra day, we didn't do anything too formal. I took her over to the nearby park to toss the ball around for her and do some casual training in the process. In the part of the video where she takes off on the right side early on, she had gotten sidetracked by something in the grass. I called her back and she came running right over, no problem! She'd probably do fine without the leash drag too, I just have it on for safety just in case since it's only been a week. But because it's only been a week, I can't keep expressing enough how impressed I am by her! Harlow's been really great to work with overall, and I'm really glad I got a chance to meet her. I'm going to miss her after she goes home! I think she's going to do just fine at her new house, and thank you so, so much for letting me part of her learning journey!
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