Meet Iggy, she's a two-year-old Sheepadoodle from Studio City, California! This sweet and intelligent pup is back with us for a One Week Board and Train Program. She recently completed a Two Week Board and Train Program with us about a month ago, and now she is back to continue her training journey here at OffLeash SoCal. Our goals for this week will be to advance her obedience, improve her basic commands and manners, as well as elevate her skills by teaching her some brand-new commands! Stay tuned for her seven-day transformation!
Pupdate 11/17/2024
Iggy and I visited a park today after her pick up! We began our session by practicing each of her basic obedience commands around distractions. She did great with this, and seems to remember each command well! Later in the session, we began introducing the new advanced commands! These commands include Come to Heel, Under, and Send Away to Place.
The Come to Heel command is another variant of a recall command, though instead of having her perform the Come to Sit maneuver, the goal is for her to come over from a distance, and immediately begin walking alongside her handler in the Heel position. Since this is a different command than Come to Sit, instead of using the "Come" verbal cue, we will use the "Heel" verbal cue to provide distinct instruction on what form of recall is being asked. To introduce this command, we had Iggy hold a stationary position, then walked away a few feet and faced away from her. We then asked for the Heel cue, encouraging her to get up from the position and enter into a Heel as we began walking together. We started out with a small distance from her for today, though as we practice more we will gradually increase the distance from which she is recalled into a Heel.
The Under command is an advanced variation of the Down command, where the goal is for Iggy to crawl or lower herself underneath a suitable object, such as a bench or table, and perform and hold the Down position. Since Iggy is a larger dog, finding an accessible object she can physically fit underneath is important to ensure her success. We found a bench that worked well for today's introduction, and throughout her training we will continue practicing with different kinds of objects to continue building her understanding of the new command. To introduce this command, we used a hand signal and a bit of leash pressure to guide her under the object, pairing it with the "Under" verbal cue. Once she was under the object, she was then asked to perform Down. She was a natural at this command, and had no trouble crawling under the bench when prompted once she began to understand the concept!
The Send Away to Place command is similar to the normal Place command, though the goal is to have Iggy be able to independently walk over to an object and Place on it, while she and her handler are physically distanced from the desired object. We introduced this command by practicing Place as normal with familiar objects using the "Place" verbal cue, though with each repetition slowly added more distance between myself and the place object while asking her to Place. Today, I was able to get about three feet away from the object without her getting confused about what to do. If I went too far away, she didn't quite feel comfortable walking by herself all the way to the object and Placing on it, and needed me to come a bit closer before she understood what to do. We will continue practicing this with gradually increasing distances to improve her understanding and reliability at greater distances.
Pupdate 11/18/2024
Today Iggy and I worked around different areas of my neighborhood, where we practiced all of her commands. The residential areas of the neighborhood were great for practicing her leash dragging skills in a safe environment, and the more busy urban areas such as near shops and restaurants provided excellent distractions such as people, dogs, and noisy street traffic. We also brought along Kobe the Goldendoodle puppy for one of our training sessions, who is also staying with us for a board and train program. Iggy loves playing with Kobe, so he provided a great distraction whenever he was around!
Iggy did a great job with each of her basic commands today, and expertly performed Heel, Come to Sit, and Extended Sit, Down, and Place all without any issues. She also did a great job performing them without any guidance from the leash, so when working in appropriate areas we were able to drop the leash during training.
We also continued to work on Iggy's advanced commands of Under, Come to Heel, and Send Away to Place. Iggy did very well with her Under and Come to Heel commands, and has very quickly come to understand the expectations for both of them. She happily crawled underneath various objects such as tables and chairs, and had no issue calmly remaining in the Under position tucked beneath the object. She was able to be recalled into the Heel position with Come to Heel from a good distance away with consistent results, which was also great to see! Iggy struggled a bit with Send Away to Place again however, and seemed to be a bit confused about what to do unless I was near the object she was being asked to Place on. We were able to get good results with a distance of around four feet, though ideally we'd like her to be consistent even at further distances.
Pupdate 11/19/2024
Today Iggy and I visited a busy outdoor mall, where we continued practicing all of her commands around lots of distractions. She has been doing great with her commands in quieter environments, so we put her to the test today by training in a busy place! The mall had big crowds of holiday shoppers and lots of other dogs, along with distractions such as food, music, fountains, and a trolley that drove through periodically.
Iggy overall did an excellent job during our visit here, and she was generally very calm, focused, and neutral towards distractions! She didn't seem to mind the hustle and bustle going on around her, and was happy to perform commands asked of her. She as usual did excellently with each of her basic commands, and had no trouble performing Heel, Come to Sit, Down, Place, and Sit. We were asked to keep her on leash while visiting here, though Iggy performed all of her commands with a completely loose leash, so it remained as simply an accessory rather than a tool needed for training.
Iggy's advanced commands each made good progress during our training today, and she seems to understand each of them at this point. Her Under was especially useful today, as we visited a restaurant patio together where there was a perfect spot for her to Under at our table. She happily performed Under when prompted, and calmly remained there for the entirety of our time spent there. Even with waiters bringing by food, Iggy understood to stay in position and ignore the temptation! Iggy's Come to Heel was also good today, and she was able to be recalled into this command from a good distance without issue. Her Send Away to Place also saw some progress, and we spent some extra time working on this command using objects she was comfortable and familiar with to help set her up for success. At first she needed me to get quite close to the object to prompt her to Place on it, though after a few repetitions with the same object she began getting more confident with it and was able to be sent from about six feet away.
Pupdate 11/20/2024
Today Iggy and I visited an indoor mall, where we practiced each of her commands around distractions. The mall was pretty busy, and had lots of holiday shoppers, dogs, and other distractions such as food and music.
Iggy did a great job staying focused and following instructions. She was very calm, collected, and neutral to her surroundings throughout our visit. She also got tons of compliments about her cute looks and impressive obedience skills! At one point she even had a crowd of people and children watching us train together, and many of them came to say hello to her and asked to pet her. Iggy was thrilled to get all the attention, and was very well behaved during greetings. Even when people were very enthusiastic with talking to and petting her, she understood not to jump on anyone and to stay in the position asked of her.
Iggy did fantastic with her basic commands, and while a leash was required when working in the mall due to policies, I was able to simply tuck the leash in my pocket and practice her commands without needing to use it at all. During stationary commands I was able to drop the leash and she understood to stay exactly where she was asked to. Iggy also did well with her advanced commands, and we didn't need to use the leash for any of these commands either. Her Come to Heel and Under commands are both solid and consistent, and she was able to be sent to Place from a distance of around seven feet! At home, Iggy has been doing very good with Send Away to Place and she can reliably be sent to a Place object from anywhere in my home, which has been very handy for situations such as people coming to the door!
Pupdate 11/21/2024
Today Iggy and I visited a local park, where we practiced all of her commands around distractions. The park was decently busy, and had many people and other dogs, alongside other distractions such as squirrels, ball games, and scooters. The park also had an abundance of squirrels, which are one of Iggy's favorite distractions!
Despite the busy environment, Iggy did a fantastic job staying focused and performing each of her commands! The biggest distraction for her was definitely the squirrels, but while actively training she understood that chasing them was not allowed, and even managed to keep her focus fully on me when they were around during training. She did try to chase one squirrel while she was on a break, though she only ended up getting a few feet in its direction as she instantly stopped and came to me once recalled.
All of her basic and advanced commands were very reliable and consistent, and she had no trouble performing them even while off leash. We spent some extra time working on her Send Away to Place, and testing the limits of the distance at which she could be sent from while in a public place. She seems to understand the command well now, and was able to Send Away to Place from fifteen feet away pretty consistently which is very impressive! We practiced from larger distances as well, but she would sometimes lose motivation part way and stop momentarily, leading to me needing to take a step or two towards her and ask for the command again to prompt her to follow through completely.
Pupdate 11/22/2024
Today Iggy and I visited a mall, where we practiced all of her commands off leash around distractions. The mall was pretty busy, and had plenty of people, some other dogs, as well as food, music, and fountains to serve as distractions.
Iggy was completely unbothered by her surroundings, and did an excellent job staying focused on her training. She seemed to always understand exactly what was expected of her at any given moment, and did not rely on any reinforcement during training as she always listened on the first ask. She performed both her basic and advanced commands effortlessly, and we experienced no issues with any of them. She also got lots of compliments and people that wanted to come say hello to her, and she as usual was very sweet, calm and well mannered with each person that greeted her.
We have been getting lots of exercise lately with all the walking around we do during training, so we gave her a bit of extra food during her meals today to ensure her weight is maintained.
Pupdate 11/23/2024
Today was Iggy's last full day with me, so we spent our day putting to use all of her learned skills to have a great final day together! We visited an outdoor mall, and we practiced all of her commands around distractions while off leash. The mall was pretty busy, and had lots of people and other dogs around, along with food, music, and other various distractions to train around.
As usual, Iggy did a fantastic job staying calm, focused, and on task during our visit. She performed each of her commands excellently, and had no notable issues with any of them. She also got tons of compliments from people, and ended up with many people admiring her and asking to pet her. As always, she thoroughly enjoyed the attention and had a blast saying hello to all the nice people!
Iggy has once again been an absolute pleasure to work with and share my home with. She is so sweet, intelligent, and fun, and she truly brightens the day of anyone she is around. During the past seven days, she has achieved a great level of improvement with her basic obedience and manners, and has mastered the new advanced commands taught to her as well! She will certainly be missed once she returns home, though I am forever grateful to have had the opportunity to work with this wonderful pup. Good girl Iggy!
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