Meet Logan, a 2-year-old Alaskan Husky from Menifee, California who is here for our Two-Week Board and Train program. Logan is a friendly boy who loves people and other dogs. He is also very anxious, pulls like a sled dog when walking on leash, and doesn’t listen to commands when other dogs or distractions are around. Stay tuned for his fourteen-day transformation!
Pupdate 2/5/2022
Logan and I worked on loose leash walking/heeling and come to sit at the park. I started out with Logan on a 20 foot leash thinking we would do long line work, but he packed in pretty quickly and I had him loose leash walking in matter of minutes. He’s very sensitive to pressure and responded beautifully to leash guidance. He could sit on cue but was not able to hold it for any duration. For come to sit I guided Logan around my back with the leash, lured him into a sit, marked with “yes” when his rear-end touched the ground, and then rewarded with a high-value meat treat. Logan was anxious when I first put him in the crate, but settled down after training and was quiet while the van was moving.
Pupdate 2/6/2022
Logan and I worked on loose leash walking and e-collar conditioning on my property. I found the lowest level that he works at, tap the button while he's not looking in my direction, and when he turns towards me I mark with "yes" and reward with food. Once he understood what the taps meant, I introduced "place" and started asking for duration on his down. The day before he struggled with sitting for more than a second before breaking the command. I'm using a combination of his kibble and a higher value meat treat. After training there was no whining from Logan while in his crate.
Pupdate 2/7/2022
This morning Logan and I did more work on his come to sit, place, and heel inside the dog run. His come to sit is almost there, which is very impressive considering the short amount of time we've been working on it! I used his kibble to reinforce the position and say "break" and then toss a treat towards the "place" cot to release him. When he finished eating it, I would hold the button on the collar and say "come" to activate him. Later on I'll only need to say "come" without using the button. In the afternoon we worked in the dog run with Juno as a distraction. Logan did really well around her, except he struggles keeping a tight heel when I turn into him. When I called her while he was in a down on place he did break it and struggled to go back into the position. Next time I'll have a leash on him to guide him back down if necessary. For this being only his third day of training he's doing great! He did get to socialize with a couple of dogs and was playful but a bit too pushy with the females. They verbally corrected him and he took it well. He was a little too interested in one of the smaller male dogs that was moving away from him, so I removed the smaller dog and let Logan only interact with dogs closer to his size.
Pupdate 2/8/2022
In the morning Logan and I worked on his commands on the property while I had dogs playing in the run. It was enough of a distraction for Logan to have to work through. We practiced place on various objects and worked around the ducks and chickens. His come to sit is perfect, and he’s heeling nicely in a semi-distracting environment. Logan is showing great engagement and is a pleasure to work with.
Pupdate 2/9/2022
Logan and I worked on his commands at Shelter Island. When we arrived, he was very distracted by people walking by and whatever smells were on the ground, but it didn’t take long for him to settle into training. Since he understands the “heel” position, when he starts veering out of position I say, “no, heel” and give a small leash pop toward my leg.
Pupdate 2/10/2022
Logan and I worked on his commands at the park. He really struggles with distractions so we're starting in low distraction environments and I'm using food as motivation. He's not that into affection when things are going on around him. Logan can do a come to sit perfectly when there isn't anything going on around him, but he finds it difficult to complete if anything else is happening. I've been going up slightly on the e-collar to motivate him to complete his come to sit.
Pupdate 2/11/2022
Logan and I worked on his commands in front of a Starbucks. He is easily distracted by people walking by and will try to linger and stare, but we continue to work through it. His come to sit looks nice! If he gets distracted and cannot complete it I go up a couple points on the e-collar. He is holding his extended down and sit. In the crate when he whines because I'm walking out of the house I use the e-collar at a higher-level in combination with "off" to interrupt his mindset. It has worked well for us!
Pupdate 2/12/2022
Logan and I worked on his commands at the beach. He’s doing better around distractions but still wants to move towards dogs. When he tries to break the heel position, I say, “no, heel” and give a small leash pop towards me as well as a tap on the e-collar.
Pupdate 2/13/2022
Logan and I practiced his commands at the Outlets at San Clemente. He wanted to chase after the birds we saw in the food court so I’ll be focusing on that when we go back to the beach. When we arrived he seemed stressed out, looking in every direction, trying to sniff people who walked past us, and unable to hold an extended sit. It was a warm day so I made sure to keep him in the shade while we worked on extended stays. As our session continued, he settled in and began heeling better. He struggled with seeing dogs and will brake position to go towards them. In the morning I introduced him to a female who is part husky and he immediately tried to mount her. No sniffing, just right into a dominant position but was verbally corrected by her and backed away. I removed her from the run since she was very uncomfortable.
Pupdate 2/14/2022
Logan and I went back to the beach to work on his commands around birds. He really wanted to chase after them the last time we were there so I took him to the top of the pier where the birds congregate and we worked there. We continue to work around dog distractions, as Logan is very dominant and confident in his dog to dog interactions. In the run he got to socialize with Juno, and tried to immediately jump on her. Again, no sniffing, just very rude behavior, and was verbally corrected for it. She had to establish boundaries for a good 5 minutes before he was able to interact in a more appropriate manner. Logan just picked at his food today and appears to have slimmed down with all the walking and social interaction that he's had here. More of his hips are now showing and he looks even healthier now!
Pupdate 2/15/2022
Logan and I worked on his commands at Lowe's but we spent more time in the parking lot than in the actual store. Not sure why Logan was so nervous, but he could not focus or hold a down. He was looking every which way, trying to sniff people, and had to be reminded to stay in the heel position. We did some back and forth leash walking without the e-collar just in the parking lot, and Logan had trouble following my lead. In the van he was whining pretty much non-stop, and I had given him time to potty in the dog run and again when we arrived at Lowe's. Once we returned to the property he was fine. No whining in the crate. It's almost as if being around so much activity is stressful to him.
Pupdate 2/16/2022
Logan and I went to the pet store to work on getting him more comfortable in stimulating environments. I want Logan to be near the action and take it all in without going past his threshold where he's vocalizing. If he can look at things, sniff the air to take in information, and remain engaged with me (turn in my direction when I mark and reward), that's even better. Last night I waited a few hours after feeding to offer him dinner again and Logan ate everything.
Pupdate 2/17/2022
Logan on the slat mill.
Before going out this morning I ran Logan on the slat mill. It made a small difference in terms of his anxiety in the crate, but Logan appears to have separation anxiety and confinement issues that will take longer to work through than two weeks. He was quieter in the crate but did vocalize when we stopped. Today I decided to use a different leash that is great for dogs with anxiety or fear. We had to work through Logan not wanting anything over his snout, but once he accepted it, our loose leash walk was a piece of cake. He was visibly calmer. He would occasionally get stuck staring at something so I would go up a couple of points on the e-collar. That was enough to get him moving again. Overall he did really well today! Big difference from yesterday, and to our left off-screen was a playground with a lot of activity.
Pupdate 2/18/2022
In the morning, Logan socialized with Juno. He came on really strong and she kept him at a distance, correcting him verbally until he was interacting more politely. After that, he went back in the crate, ate his breakfast, and was settled in for a nap. In the afternoon I put him on the slat mill before we went to work around distractions in a shopping area. He was anxious on a regular leash so I switched him over to the leash that goes around the snout and it helped.
Pupdate 2/19/2022
Logan and I continue to work on loose leash walking around distraction by the shopping center. He definitely does better in public when he has burned off some energy prior to going out. I tried to introduce him to a one year old male golden retriever but he did not like the dog and came charging at the fence with his ears forward and growling. This was the first interaction of this sort that I’ve seen from Logan, but I don’t expect dogs to get along with every dog they see. In the attached video he is playing with Milo the Doberman. He initially tried to mount Milo without any sniffing and was verbally corrected for it. It took several introductions to get to this point.
