Hazel | Husky | Pasadena, CA | In Training
- Alex Kruse
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
Meet Hazel! She's a 3-year-old Husky from Pasadena, California, and she's here for our One Week Board and Train Program. Hazel is a typical silly, energetic Husky who has a lot of energy and loves to play, but she often turns that into absolute mischief. She grabs things off tables and counters, won't come when she's called, and her favorite game in the world is playing escape-my-human so someone will chase her. Over the next week we'll make sure she understands that she has to follow through on commands when told, that she can't get on furniture to steal things, and that "Come" doesn't mean "It's time to play tag!" Stay tuned for Hazel's one-week transformation!
7/5/26
Hazel certainly wanted to be goofy right off the bat at the park! All she wanted to do was run around and play while I was trying to get her to do some of her commands. She did give me a Sit one of the times I asked, and she sort of fell in line with her Heel, but jumping around and zooming past me was so much more fun for her! We definitely have some work to do in getting her to listen when she's told she needs to do something! She did settle into the crate just fine on the car ride home, and she had no issues at all with any of the other dogs in the play yard. There were a few attempts to tug and paw at the gate at first, but after a couple corrections, she was pretty quick to go find a nice shady spot to lay down in. It was hot today, so she wasn't out for long before I brought her in to nap in her crate, and she was more than happy with that arrangement. She hasn't made any of the standard Husky singing sounds, and has generally been pretty calm so far. Hopefully she'll keep that up and I can get straight to work on that stubborn streak of hers when it comes to following commands!
7/6/26
Today was group practice day so Hazel got a chance to work around other dogs as distractions right off the bat. She was interested in sniffing and making friends, but for the most part she didn't pay them so much mind that it kept her from working. The labs running over proved to be a little too tempting for her to hold her Sit, but she got back into it with a correction. It's very clear she knows all of her commands, and when I have a treat in my hand she's pretty quick to follow through, but I'll be working on weaning her off those over the week so she isn't relying on them. The only thing she's genuinely struggling with is holding her Sit until she's been released. She's very quick to want to bounce back up the moment I begin to step away from her, so I'll be building up her duration and my distance from her gradually over the week until I can cleanly be at the end of the long line without worrying that she's going to break. At home she's doing fine with the other dogs, but she does still try to test the fence here and there so I have to keep a close eye on her. If she's not being monitored she's inside in her crate, which she doesn't seem to mind. It's cooler in there anyway, and like Juno, she very much prefers a cool room to being outside! She's also had some house time where she's freely roaming and I'm watching her on the cameras in another room, and much like correcting her when she tugs on the fence, I correct her if she even thinks about getting up on the counters or shelves. She catches onto corrections very quickly, so I don't think it'll take too long to break her of that habit!
7/7/26
It was super hot today so we wandered over to Home Depot for practice so she could stay cool in all that thick hair of hers! She was incredibly well-mannered and not anxious at all! She did a little bit of tugging on the leash so most of the session was used just correcting her Heel whenever she started picking up the pace, but outside of that she did really well with everything else, including her Extended Sit commands. She's been struggling with that one so I wasn't sure how she'd do inside a new environment with the forklifts moving around and all the new smells, but she was nailing it! On top of that, because she's cute and fluffy, all the workers wanted to stop to pet her. She didn't jump on anybody or get unruly. She just sat very nicely and soaked up all the attention she could get! It was a really great day for her today!
7/8/26
Thankfully it wasn't quite as hot today as it was yesterday, so Hazel and I worked over at Arcadia Park where we could hit plenty of shade if needed. There weren't too many people out there today, but there's always plenty of squirrels to serve as distractions! They caught Hazel's eye several times, but she was really good about not being tempted to go chase after them. I started her off on her prong collar for a little bit to get her used to the area, then I switched the leash to her flat collar so if she pulled, she'd be aware the pressure was no longer on the prong. She did make a few subtle attempts to take advantage of that, but nothing a couple corrections with the e-collar couldn't fix. She gave me her Heel, Sit, Extended Sit, and Recall all on the flat with very few issues, so we'll try her without the prong entirely when I take her out tomorrow. We still have some refining to do with her positioning on the Heel and the Recall where I'm hoping to get away from any leash pressure at all to help guide her, but she's definitely catching onto all of it. She's also much more mellow now at home when I'm moving her between the crate and the yard, and she's learning very quickly she can't get on those counters! She's also learning that giving me that Husky sass is absolutely not the way to get what she wants, but a nice, calm sit will do the trick every time! She's having a great time in the play yard with the other dogs on top of that (without any escape attempts), and her absolute best friend is our little male corgi. He does a great job of wearing her out so she's always super ready to just go lay down in her crate when it's time to come in for naps! She's been a pretty pleasant house guest overall so far!
7/9/26
I took Hazel out to walk a little bit of the Royal Oaks Trail today, finding the spots that were mostly shaded so she didn't overheat. She was strictly on the flat collar and e-collar, no prong today, and she did great! She didn't try to pull at all, she came when I called her, and she didn't have any reactions at all to any people or bikes that passed by. When I put her in a Place on the bench and she realized how much cooler it was up there with the breeze flowing under it, she decided to hang out there for awhile even after I released her lol. Which was fine, I wasn't in any hurry, so I sat down beside her and we just enjoyed the passersby until she was ready to roll again. I let her have the lead off and on so she could sniff, but she came back every time I called her to put her back in her Heel. When we got home she chose to go straight to her crate for that afternoon nap again, just enjoying that air conditioning. It was a nice, calm day overall with her!
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