This is Kylo!! He is an 11 month old German Shepherd from Woodland Hills, CA. He is a sweet and inquisitive pup, but he has a lot of anxiety, nips at his Mom and Dad, guards his food and toys, and is impossible to keep calm on walks or with guests entering the home. He is here for a Two Week Board and Train program and I am so excited to see how he is going to grow over the next 14 days!
Pupdate 08/02/2020
Kylo is getting all settled in! He is a bit fearful of me and we are building some trust, so we did his first lesson with out the E-Collar and will do that introduction tomorrow! He is a sweet and curious boy and I was rewarded with a sweet little kiss as he happily went into the kennel to nap for the afternoon! I can't wait to see him come out of his shell over the next few days!
Pupdate 08/03/2020
Mr. Kylo is coming along! He has done awesome in the kennel and is working hard! He has a lower appetite than I would like but he is eating enough. We worked on his recall, his Heel, and his Place command today and he is coming along so fast! He is such a sweet pup!
Mr. Kylo ate all his dinner! He did need a little cheese and some company to feel comfortable eating, but once he had that he ate it all and then did a few victory zoomies around the yard!
Pupdate 08/04/2020
Look Mom and Dad, no leash direction! Kylo worked really hard on his Heel today! We did two different walks around the neighborhood and on the second one he dragged his lead on the ground for almost all of it! His lead got picked up for a couple high level distractions (over excited husky that wanted to say hi really bad and a group of very active kids), just in case, but ultimately didn't even need it. He wasn't super hungry this morning again but I am fine with him having a lighter AM appetite as long as his weight stays steady. He is still pretty anxious but is getting more and more confident every time I take him out.
Pupdate 08/05/2020
Kylo officially has a basic understanding of all of his commands! We did two long sessions today. The first was in the backyard and we introduced walking through the weave poles, getting some distance/duration for his Sit and Down, as well as some extreme duration Placing all with other pups as distractions! Our second we did some Heel practice at the school parking lot, and Kylo learned some side correction! This is teaching him to automatically go to the proper Heeling side even when he starts off on the wrong one. He is coming along great! He has been an angel in the kennel, is getting better about coming out of it on command, and is now eating all his food like a champ!
Pupdate 08/06/2020
Kylo's Place game is on point! We worked on sending him to place and upping his duration/distance while in Place, which also gave me the opportunity to do some real distance recalls too! He is working very hard and only needs leash direction occasionally for his Down command. I am so proud of how well this guy is coming along! He was a bit too excited to start his day and refused to eat his breakfast, but finished his whole dinner!
Pupdate 08/07/2020
Kylo is coming along awesome! He worked very hard today and did absolutely awesome during his PM session practicing his Heel on a neighborhood walk! He does get itchy from time to time but he always tries to maintain his Heel while scratching!!
Pupdate 08/08/2020
Kylo working hard on his Place and Down skills at a park in Long Beach! He is starting to gain a bit of confidence, we have been working on keeping his head up tall and happy for receiving pets. He isn't needing the leash for his Downs anymore, which means he is getting close to not needing it at all!
Pupdate 08/09/2020
Kylo worked on a little bit of everything today, but mostly got some duration and distance with his Down and Sit commands! He was getting a bit confused between Break (be a dog/do what you want) and his Recall, defaulting to his Recall anytime he was released so we worked on getting him excited about getting to explore and be a pup! He is eating well and is getting a bit more confident everyday!
Pupdate 08/10/2020
Kylo worked in a shopping center today primarily next to a grocery store. He was very into his "I'd rather be on Break face" when ever I had the camera on him! He was initially terrified of the shopping cart noises, so we worked through all of his duration commands (Sit, Place, and Down) with them going by until he didn't flinch an inch! I even had a couple who watching him in his lesson from their car comment that they wished their pup was so well behaved! Kylo now knows all of his commands pretty well and I will be spending the next couple days proofing them and using them to build up his confidence!
Pupdate 08/11/2020
Kylo's duration for his commands is getting longer and longer every lesson! He worked very hard today. He had dogs, skaters, strollers and more passing by while in his commands and didn't even flinch! He also got to play with both Nico and Briggs at the same time today! He has met both and oscillated between excited and scared with each of them but today with both of them with him he actually came out of his shell and was playing full throttle with both of them! He wasn't super hungry this morning but ate all his dinner!
Pupdate 08/12/2020
Kylo is doing awesome! He worked on a bit of everything today, but his big accomplishments were his first set of "puppy push-ups" (switching between a Sit and a Down and back) and conquering his Place to Place (going from one Place to another) skills!
Pupdate 08/13/2020
Kylo has gotten so much more confident with his two playmates in the past two days! He is such a happy boy with his two friends! He got an extra long play session today after working very hard in his two lessons! We are gearing up to film his final video and practiced a few of the more nuanced pieces of his commands to get them cleaner (puppy push ups, tight Heel, Place to Place). I can't wait to film his final video and get to show off all his new skills to his Mom and Dad!
Pupdate 08/14/2020
Kylo worked very hard today polishing up some of his commands for his final video! He is one sharp pup and has been so much fun to work with! He has come such a long way in two weeks and his two buddies are going to miss playing with him!
Pupdate 08/15/2020
Kylo finished his final video today! He is a total champ and we are all going to miss his silly sweet nature, especially Mr. Nico. Kylo is all packed up and ready to head home with Mom in the morning!
