Juno | American Pit Bull Terrier | Pasadena, CA | In Training
- Alex Kruse
- Jun 28
- 8 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Meet Juno! She's a 5-year-old American Pit Bull Terrier from Pasadena, California, and she's here for our One Week Board and Train Program. Juno is generally a very sweet, mellow dog who loves people, but she does sometimes jump up when she wants to greet them. She's good with other dogs for the most part, but will bark or sometimes lunge at them if they go for her first, and she has issues coming when she's called. She's also been known to sneak food off tables and counters here and there. Over the next week we'll teach her all her commands, let her know that she doesn't need to react when other dogs are barking at her, and work on her manners around people and their food! Stay tuned for Juno's one-week transformation!
6/28/26
Juno and I hung around at the park for a little bit so we could bond some and so I could get a feel for what she might already know. She sat for me when I asked her to, but I might as well have not even been there for everything else! She didn't pull on the leash too badly, but wasn't very interested in taking direction from me on where I wanted to go either, and she wouldn't even look at me when I tried to call her! She did seem very calm otherwise, though, even when other dogs passed. She was interested in them, but didn't bark or lunge towards anyone. No one barked or lunged at her, though, so she wasn't given any reason to react. She did just fine in the crate on the car ride home, and she seemed to settle right into her new environment without any signs of anxiety. I did introduce her to a few other dogs, but she wasn't a huge fan when one of them got in her face, so I decided to keep her separate for safety reasons at least for today. Once she gets a little more used to things I'll try her again with only a couple calm dogs and see how she does. She didn't seem to mind being in her own yard, though, and mostly just sat there watching the world go by. She's clearly a very go-with-the-flow sort of lady, and I look forward to seeing what she can do moving forward!
6/29/26
Juno and I headed over to Pamela Park, a local neighborhood spot that normally only has a handful of kids running around. I was aiming for lower distraction for our first real day of work, but as you can see, there are kids all over that playground! Luckily, Juno didn't seem bothered by any of them at all, and wasn't even all too interested in checking them out. She was happy to be out in the grass and definitely wanted to do some exploring, so a good portion of the session was spent just helping her figure out where her Heel position should be. She doesn't actually pull too hard, but she does have a tendency to want to wander off at will, so we're working on positive praise and verbally marking her when she's in the proper position with no leash pressure, then using verbal and collar corrections when she starts to veer off-course and puts tension on that leash. She was starting to catch onto it by the time we left the park, and I was able to walk her with a more relaxed hold on the lead. We also worked on having her hold her Sit position until I either called her to me or I gave her a verbal release, which is just the word, "Break!" And I began to teach her to come around into a Sit by my side when I call her. At home she's doing really well. She hasn't really jumped on anyone when she's happy to see them yet, but she does do these little bunny hops, so I know it's in there! She's a little bit nervous still, so I think we may see the jumping behavior more when she gets to know people and really wants to say hi. She's done a little bit of barking, but she stops immediately when corrected with the collar, and she definitely does react when other dogs try to snip at her first. For now I don't see it as being reactive in the sense that she'll go after other dogs for no reason, but she will absolutely defend herself if need be. This, of course, is a very natural thing to do for any of us! But taking her breed, natural instincts, and what I've seen of her response time into consideration, I would recommend we just stay careful about what sorts of dogs she's allowed to interact with. She's a pretty mellow gal, so anyone who isn't dominant and sort of minds their own business, she does fine with. But if there's even a chance that it's the sort of dog who might challenge her, we don't want to let her get too close to those. I haven't experienced her lunging at other dogs while just out and about yet, but I'll of course correct that behavior if I see it too. Otherwise she really seems like a sweet, relaxed sort of lady!
6/30/26
For today's adventure we went out to Library Park in Old Town Monrovia, which tends to have plenty of dogs, kids, and bikes cruising around, along with people picnicking in the grass. The overcast weather meant things were a little less busy than usual, but there were still plenty of distractions around. Juno did perk up and stare at a dog going by that was just walking, but no barking and no attempts to move towards it. I simply prompted her to keep moving and she walked away without issues. For the Heel she did more lagging behind than pulling as she was sniffing around in the grass, so it was more about getting her to keep up than anything else today. She was also being stubborn on her Recall, mostly just wanting to sit where she was, so I did have to use corrections on that one to out-stubborn her, but after a couple tries she stopped fighting me on it and came when I called her. She's doing well with her Extended Sit, and I taught her to Place up on the park bench today, which she did without any issues. Basically, she's smart and catches onto things quickly, but it's when she goes into lazy mode that we actually struggle! Otherwise I haven't seen any big behavior issues that aren't easily corrected. She's a pretty sensitive girl, so mostly she responds to simple verbal corrections, including when she's jumping. I give her a simple "Off" the second she even thinks about it, and she drops right down. And then she usually goes for a toy instead, which I give her high praise for. We want to make sure we encourage appropriate behaviors as much as possible, so if she wants to play with a toy instead of jumping, we're going to give that to her and tell her she's a good girl for making that choice!
7/1/26
Today I took Juno over to Live Oak Park, which tends to be one of our busiest parks in the area. The weather still isn't great, so even that park wasn't as crazy as usual, but there were still kids and joggers and a couple of other dogs walking around. And the guy cruising around in his lawn mower in the background. I wasn't sure about that one at first, but Juno didn't care about him at all, or anyone or anything else that passed by. We worked more on getting her to keep up with her Heel, respond a little faster with her Recall, and holding her Place longer before releasing her. She was fine with all of those, but she did do some tugging on the way back to the car, so we got a chance to really work on the pulling finally. It took a few times going back and forth for her to get it, but I was able to get her to walk at a nice, calm Heel to the car before we left. She's doing great at home with everything. She has tried to jump now when she gets excited, but she's slow about it and responds quickly to corrections. She's waiting before she gets her meals and she isn't bashing through the gates or doors. There haven't been any issues with her and the dogs that are a good match for her either. I still wouldn't recommend putting her with anyone who is going to challenge her, it simply isn't worth the risk, but she hasn't been lunging or snapping at anyone who's being obnoxious through the fence either. Overall she's really been a pretty calm girl!
7/2/26
I brought Juno to the Peck Road Water Conservation Park today, which has the start a very long trail I had intended to walk down a ways. She was very much not about that lol. It was definitely warmer today than it has been the last several so she preferred to hang out at the park and in the shady areas. For commands, we worked mostly on our Heel and our Recall. Now that she's no longer anxious, she's starting to get a little more bold and stubborn. Sometimes their real personalities don't kick in until closer to the end of the week, so she had a little backslide in following through on her commands as she's starting to test whether or not I'll actually make her follow through. I, of course, do correct her and make sure she does as asked, so by the time we left she wasn't giving me any more trouble. That really just means when she goes home it'll be very important to stay on top of her for at least the first few days. If she learns she can get away with not doing as asked, then she's going to blow off the training entirely and continue with her old habits. She's smart, though, just a little lazy, so I know she can do it with the right motivation!
7/3/26
It was back to Live Oak Park for us today! There were soccer games and summer camp activities going on, so I challenged Juno with quite a few more distractions than usual. She did fine with everything, even when a little dog on a leash lunged and barked at her. Her biggest issue right now is still just that laziness and stubbornness when she's in the sun. She does not like being even a little bit hot, I noticed, so she'll fight me when she doesn't want to step out of the shade. She does great when we're in the cool spots though lol. And she's started getting much more energetic and excited when she sees people, so I'm getting far more opportunities to work on her jumping. She's very responsive to simple verbal corrections, though, so it hasn't been a difficult behavior to overcome. She's pretty sensitive so even slight corrections will have her back in line normally. She's a good girl!
7/4/26
Happy 4th of July! Today was our last day, so I worked quite a bit on Juno's house manners with waiting at the door, waiting for her food, and just staying in her Place on her cot. She's really great with all those, no issues, and then I also took her out to the park very early before it got too hot for her to handle. There were a lot more dogs out today, but she had zero problems with anyone. She was far more interested in rolling around in the grass and getting belly rubs. She did pick up the pace for me while walking, and she was faster on her Recall without fighting me this time. As for the video, no, I didn't drag her to backyard cookouts or make her watch fireworks lmao. Just a bit of video editing to help celebrate the holiday! She is at home away from any chaos where everything is nice and calm and safe! It'll be a great last night to spend with her, just cuddling together and watching movies. She's so very sweet, and super silly once her personality came out! It was really fun watching her shine over the week, and we'll miss having her around. Thank you so much for letting me be part of her learning journey!
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