Meet Kaia! She's a one year old Samoyed from Santa Monica, California here for our Two-Week Board and Train program! Kaia is a sweetheart who loves to play and give affection. She knows some basic commands, but has trouble following them reliably. She loves people, but she also likes jumping on them, pulling on her leash, and demand barking. She also likes to steal and chew whatever she can get her paws on inside the house. Over the next fourteen days we'll work on Kaia's obedience inside and outside the home, show her how to properly greet people and other dogs, work on getting her barking down to a manageable level, and show her how to be the best pup she can possibly be! Stay tuned for Kaia's two week transformation!
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Pupdate: 5/27/2023
After picking up Kaia, we made our way to Almansor Park to get to know each other! She barked at me a little when she first saw me, but she's quickly warming up to me. When I walked her to my car from her home she jumped right into my car and walked right into her kennel, much to my surprise! At the park, we walked around and bonded together. She seems to know how to sit, but I'd like her to be more responsive when asked. When we got home, I let her sniff around my house to help get her settled in. She seems to be adjusting well so far. She barked a little bit in the car, and once or twice while inside. I believe she barks when she really wants to play or wants attention from her family in general, so I think I'll start to see more of that behavior once she gets to know me a little more!
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Pupdate: 5/28/2023
Kaia went to Almansor Park today for training! We started working on her Come To Sit command and her Place command. For Come To Sit, I want Kaia to come to my right side, walk around my legs and sit at my left side with her ears at my knee. She was already pretty good at sitting, but we worked on having her sit in a more proper position, facing the same direction as me. She also likes to sit then get right back up, so we're working on her ability to hold her position as well. For Place, I want Kaia to hop onto a raised object, just as a bench or the place cots she's on in the above pictures. She had no hesitation when asked to get on them, but again, she had trouble remaining in any given position. There were some other dogs at the park, which Kaia got a little excited to see and pulled toward them. She did the same when she first saw the geese and ducks by the pond. So far, the most barking she's done for me has been in the morning when I let another dog out before her and she barked to try to get me to choose her first. Other than that her behavior has been pretty good so far!
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Pupdate: 5/29/2023
Kaia went to Whittier Narrows Park today for training! We passed several other dogs throughout the day, and she got very excited about the first few. When she does this, we'll be using "leave it" as her command in conjunction with a light stimulation from her E collar to let her know she should ignore the distraction and move on. After the first few dog distractions, she started to understand what we wanted and was able to walk by some dogs without getting too overly excited. For Kaia's heel, we'll be using the words, "with me" to indicate Kaia should be walking with me in heel position, and "break" to let her know she's allowed to sniff around and explore a bit more. She's still pulling on her leash every once in a while, but she's improving! In the above video, you'll see Kaia work on her Come To Sit and Place commands. She still has a bit of trouble holding her positions, and she needs more work on her exact placement with her Come To Sit, but she's doing a great job!
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Pupdate: 5/30/2023
Kaia and I spent the day at the park near my house. We had only a few encounters with other dogs and she maintained composure for all except one of them. For that one, she moved for a split second then decided to hold her sit position. I told her to "leave it" but she sat back down and looked at me almost before the words passed my lips. This tells me she knows I want her to remain calm around other dogs, and she's willing to do so. There were only a few ducks and geese by the pond today, but while around the ones present, Kaia seemed to disregard them much faster than the last time we were here. Kaia has mostly been barking out of jealousy when I give affection to another dog in front of her. That did not happen today. I'm currently unsure if that is because she's growing fond of my personal puppy, the usual impetus for her barking, or if she is actually learning to share affection.
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Pupdate: 5/31/2023
Kaia went to Garfield Park today for training! There were several less populated areas where I felt that Kaia was doing well enough for me to drop her leash. Allowing the leash to drag gives me some idea of how she might perform off leash while still having access to the leash should I need it. For her Heel, Come To Sit and Down commands, she did a great job with the leash dragging. Her place command still needs some work before she's comfortable performing it without the leash. Kaia gets tons or compliments on her behavior and her appearance, and often people want to pet her. I managed to catch one such case on camera today, and you can see Kaia still gets a little excited and tries to jump, but mostly sits back down when I ask her.
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Pupdate: 6/1/2023
Kaia went to Santa Monica Pier today for training! She did well for being in such a crowded space. She was great with each of the commands and I was able to drop the leash a few times while we were there. There were a couple times she got a little excited about other dogs being around, including once when she barked to try to play. Other than that she was around the other dogs for most of the day and behaved well nearly the whole time. Great job, Kaia!
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Pupdate: 6/2/2023
Kaia was off leash today at Whittier Narrows Park! She did a great job. While we were there, only a couple other dogs came near us, and Kaia was able to ignore them. Kaia had to try a few times to place herself on the big rock in the video, but after she realized she could make the jump, she had no trouble with it. Kaia enjoyed her first session being fully off leash, although I think she still has a little more work to do before I take her off leash somewhere more crowded like Santa Monica. While at home, Kaia has been equally well behaved. She hasn't made an attempt to steal any laundry for several days and her barking has been only occasional. If she barks to try to get my attention or play, I use the "off" command and ask her to place on one of the place cots in my home. She seems to understand when I ask her to lay on the cot, that it's not play time and she should settle down and take a nap.
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Pupdate: 6/3/2023
Kaia and I went to Almansor Park today for training! It was a little hot so we only went for a few minutes in the day then went back in the evening. She was off leash for most of our time today, and she did perfectly fine. The geese and ducks around the pond didn't give Kaia much trouble while working through her commands.
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Pupdate: 6/4/2023
Kaia and I went to the park this morning, but it started to get hot, so we took a break in the afternoon again and went back out this evening. For today's video, I wanted to show just how far she's come when asked to hold her positions. Only a handful of days ago, she struggled to sit still for only a few seconds without me directly next to her, we've been working on her ability to hold her position at a distance and also for longer periods of time. She still has a lot of work to do, but I think her long distance recall at the park is a good example of her progress! It was already getting warm when we shot this video, so I only demonstrated once, but she did a good job with this all morning!
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Pupdate: 6/5/2023
Kaia went to Garfield Park today for most of her training! She's getting very good at ignoring the other dogs and distractions in general. She still has trouble breaking away from an interaction if she's already begun play. For example, her main playmate has been my personal pup, and sometimes Kaia will still try to fake me out and pretend to stop playing, then immediately try to re-engage. She's getting better each day, and we'll continue to work on it. As far as her commands and her other behaviors in and out of the house, she's been doing a wonderful job. She was off leash all day at the park, and we had zero issues.
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Pupdate: 6/6/2023
Kaia had fun today, but we still got some work done. She's already gotten good at ignoring most dogs, but I want her to be able to play when she's allowed to but return when called. For today's video I'm showing us practicing that! I had someone hold onto my personal pup, then I released Kaia with "break" to allow her to play. I then called her back to me and she has been listening fairly well!
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Pupdate: 6/7/2023
Kaia went to Santa Anita Mall today for training. She was off leash for most of the time and behaved very well. We spent some of the time in their outdoor areas and some time inside. It wasn't as busy as it is on the weekends, so Kaia didn't have any issues behaving or performing well. For her video today, I wanted to show some of the manners we've been working on! For Kaia's food manners, I want her to sit patiently when I put food in front of her without trying to gobble it up immediately. Practicing this impulse control can be very helpful, especially if you cook and accidentally drop something on the floor that Kaia shouldn't eat! Kaia gets very excited to eat her meals, as demonstrated by her sassy sit in the video, but she's been very good at waiting to be released to eat! For car manners, I want Kaia to hop up into my car and walk directly into her kennel when asked. We're always going somewhere fun and practice this all the time, so she's done well with this too!
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Pupdate: 6/8/2023
Kaia went to the Santa Monica Pier today! She was off leash for a lot of the day, and did a great job the whole time. She did a wonderful job of ignoring the distractions. She didn't seem to mind the people, birds, or the other dogs! For her video today, we got footage of her walking off leash in close proximity to a couple of dogs we don't know. Throughout the video, she does a pretty good job of staying in heel position, and ignoring the strangers and their dogs.
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Pupdate: 6/9/2023
Kaia went to Santa Anita Mall today! She was off leash for almost the whole time, and had zero issues. I was particularly impressed by her noticing the turtles swimming in the little fountain, then looking at me instead of trying to investigate further. She was also noticed by a family with about five children who all surrounded her and wanted to pet her. She maintained composure and showed just the right level of excitement while being petted, without going too over the top. Great job all day, Kaia!
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Pupdate: 6/10/2023
Kaia and I had a nice relaxing day at the park for her last day with me. She's done such an amazing job, and I'm quite proud of her progress. For today's video, I wanted to show more of the manners we've been working on! For greeting manners, I want Kaia to sit nicely while being approached and petted by a stranger. She struggled with this one from the beginning, but she's doing a great job with it now! For door manners, I want Kaia to wait patiently when I open the door before going in or out. I want to be able to leave the door open for a couple minutes without worrying about her running out. For example, if I need to bring groceries inside from the car. We work on this every time we leave or enter my home, so she's doing well with it! Kaia is going home tomorrow, and I will miss her presence in my house. My personal pup is also going to miss their playtime each night!
