Meet Hazel! She's a three year old Mixed Breed from Temple City, California here for our One-Week Board and Train Program! She's sometimes shy around new people, but extremely sweet once you get to know her! She can be a little over friendly, however, as she loves to jump on people she likes. This can be a problem due to her large size! She is also very strong and loves to pull her parents all over the sidewalk. She also has an affinity for barking at squirrels, and needs some work on her basic obedience skills! Over the next seven days, we'll boost Hazel's conditions, work on her obedience skills, show her how to properly behave on leash, and teach her how to be the best pup she can possibly be! Stay tuned for Hazel's one week transformation!
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Pupdate: 10/21/2023
After picking up Hazel, we stayed at Almansor Park for a while to get to know each other! She is extremely strong, and even using my full body weight she's sometimes able to pull me around. That being said, she's also extremely sweet, and she took to me very quickly! We walked around the park for a bit, and then went home. At my house, I let Sundara sniff around to get comfortable! She met my personal dog and other board and trains through the kennel walls, and it seemed like everyone is getting along so far.
Hazel hasn't eaten her dinner yet. This is pretty normal for such a drastic transition, but I'll offer it to her and leave it with her to see if she gets hungry enough to eat it.
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Hazel and I went to Los Angeles State Historic Park today! We started working on her Heel and Come To Sit commands, and introduced her to her E collar! For heel, I want Hazel to walk at my left side with her ears at my leg. She loves to pull on her leash, but she made a lot of progress with her heel today. She wasn't pulling nearly as much as yesterday. For Come To Sit, I want Hazel to come to my right side, walk around my legs and sit at my left side with her ears at my knee. She loves to come to me now, however she sometimes wants to jump on me instead of sitting. When she jumps on me, I use the Off command. Off is our "do not do" command which can be used whenever Hazel presents unwanted behavior. For Hazel, this typically will be applied to her jumping, but can be used in a variety of situations. Hazel growled at a new dog today, which is another time I can use the Off command. This was surprising to me because Hazel hasn't made a peep until she saw this particular dog. Hazel was in her kennel, and the new dog was walking by, so I think maybe this dog simply surprised her. Hazel is still adjusting to a very new environment and structure, and she's been extremely sweet to everyone else so far.
Hazel ended up eating all of her dinner last night, she just needed a little extra time to get comfortable.
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Pupdate: 10/23/2023
Hazel and I went to Whittier Narrows Park today for training! We continued working on her Heel and Come To Sit, which she's doing very well with. We also introduced her to the Place command! For Place, I want Hazel to hop onto a raised object with all for of her paws and remain there until I either release her from command or ask her to perform a new command. This command is great for building confidence, which Hazel needs a little bit of work on. She is doing great with this command, and she was willing to hop onto various objects from benches to playground slides with very few objections.
Hazel jumped on me a few times throughout the day, but much less than before. Now, when she gets excited she will run up to me and almost jump, but usually she remembers her manners, stops herself, and simply sits and waits for me to pet her. I give her lots of praise when she does this, so that she knows she's doing the right thing!
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Pupdate: 10/14/2023
Hazel and I went to Almansor Park today for training! Just like yesterday, her commands are getting better and better, although she still sometimes makes mistakes and wants to jump on me. For today's video, I'm going through each of Hazel's commands, what they look like, and how to practice them. This video will remain on her blog even after she goes home, so you can always refer back to it!
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Pupdate: 10/25/2023
Hazel and I went to Garfield Park today for training! It wasn't very crowded except for a handful of other people and dogs spread throughout the park. She didn't seem to mind the people as much as she has previously, but there was one dog who got her attention. She heavily focused on this little dog when we walked by, at which point I used the Off command, as well as a low level stimulation on her E collar to bring her attention back to me. Other than this, she behaved very well and performed each of her commands fairly reliably. She only jumped on me one time today, and it was when I got super excited, which excited her in turn. There was a five piece bluegrass band practicing under one of the shelters, and we stopped to listen for a while. Hazel was very polite and sat next to me while we watched. I hope she enjoyed that as much as I did!
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Pupdate: 10/26/2023
Hazel went to Santa Monica Pier today! This was the busiest place she's been with me, but she did great! For the first several minutes we were there, she was quite nervous of all the people. After practicing some commands and letting her relax in the shade for a bit, however, she seemed to warm up to the area. Soon, she was performing her commands with same accuracy that she would at the park!
In the above video, you can see Hazel performing some of her commands and heeling politely with me near many people. She does a great Come To Sit from her Down while Placed on a bench, Heels with me until we come to a stop and I ask her to hold a Sit. She's able to hold that position for about a minute before she breaks. Ideally, I'd like her to be able to hold her positions for about two minutes around distractions, so I quickly repeat the the verbal command, have her come back around and sit in the exact spot she broke from. For her first time at the pier with me, this is still a great amount of time for her, and she was able to hold her positions longer and longer each time we tried today! Great job, Hazel.
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Pupdate: 10/27/2023
Hazel and I went to Santa Anita Mall today for training! Similar to yesterday, she was a little wary of some of the people and the new environment for the first few minutes. Once we started going through her commands, she started wagging her tail and enjoying herself much more! After that, she was full of confidence for the rest of the day.
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Pupdate: 10/28/2023
Hazel and I went to Almansor Park today! We worked on her commands, but spent a lot of time playing. While playing, I want to be able to engage with Hazel and get her excited without her feeling the need to jump on me. To practice this, I initiate play, give her lots of love and affection, but as soon as she starts to jump, I stand up straight, stop playing, and use the Off command in conjunction with the E-collar. Once she calms back down, with all four paws on the ground, we can start playing again!
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Pupdate: 10/29/2023
Hazel went to Almansor Park for training! For her video today, though, I wanted to show one of her household manners we've been working on. For Hazel's food manners, I want to be able to place food in front of her while she politely waits until I'm ready for her to eat. Teaching this impulse control can be very good in case someone drops something on the ground that Hazel shouldn't eat!
We went to the park this morning, and she'll get going again tonight for some more work and exercise!
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