Meet Louie! He's a one year old Catahoula Leopard Dog here for our Two-Week Board and Train program! Louie is very friendly with people and other dogs, however he gets very excited, pulls on his leash, jumps and play bites. Over the next two weeks we'll be showing Louie how to properly greet people and other dogs, and how to be the best pup he can possibly be! Stay tuned for Louie's fourteen day transformation!
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Pupdate: 8/7/2022
After I picked up Louie, we hung out and got to know each other at Hacienda Park for a little while. He seems to like me, and he's very nice, but he is definitely a puller! If he wants to go somewhere he's not afraid to try to drag you there with him! After the park, we went home where I let him sniff around my house for a bit and get used to being there! So far, so good!
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Pupdate: 8/8/2022
Louie went to El Dorado Park today for his first full day of training! We worked on his Heel, Sit, and Come To Sit commands. He did a much better job with heeling today, and he's doing well with holding his sit, too! For the Come To Sit command, I want Louie to come to my right side, move around my legs and sit on my left side with his ears in line with my legs. For his first day with this command, he did a really good job! He also seems to be getting more used to staying with me. He seemed much more comfortable with me in my home!
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Pupdate: 8/9/2022
Louie went to Almansor Park today for training! We continued working on the commands he's learned so far. He seemed very nervous at this park, which is strange, because it wasn't particularly crowded. His Heel command is coming along nicely, as is his Come To Sit command. He's not able to hold his Sit for very long, but he seems to be improving!
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Pupdate: 8/10/2022
Louie went to Pathfinder Park today for training! Again, he was very nervous. Furthermore, he seems to fixate on every distraction that comes anywhere near him, including other dogs, people, squirrels, geese and vehicles. We're working on the Off command, which I utilize to draw his attention away from distractions and back to me. He is becoming fairly responsive to the Off command, however it seems like as soon as his attention leaves one distraction, he immediately focuses on another. That being said, he did a good job with his commands today. He started learning the Place command, where I ask him to hop up on a raised object, such as a bench, and hold his position there.
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Pupdate: 8/11/2022
Louie went to Citadel Outlets today for training! He was extremely nervous around all the people, but he still managed to perform his commands fairly reliably. We worked on the Down command today. He was a little too nervous to do it at first, but he started to pick it up fairly quickly! It was hot today so we didn't stay very long. After the outlets we went home to keep working! I took Louie on a run last night, which I think
helped him sleep through the night. I'm probably going to continue taking him running with me each night.
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Pupdate: 8/12/2022
Louie went to Huntington Beach today for training. I feel this increase in distractions was a bit much for him. He was very distracted by the people, dogs and bikes all around us, and he even growled and lunged at a dog who approached him. To be fair, that dog was not on leash and ran up to us without warning, but I still feel Louie's reaction was inappropriate. Louie performed most of his commands relatively reliably. Although, with the amount of distractions he was unable to hold his focus and duration commands very long. It took a lot of repetition and consistency to get Louie to follow through more consistently. Due to the amount of distractions Louie was very amped up and would become frustrated with following through with the task. When Louie becomes frustrated he bites at my hand and the leash. Louie has no intention to fully bite, but this is an attempt to get me to stop what I am asking him to do.
Today also happens to be Louie's birthday! Happy birthday Louie! We will be running later this evening and doing a bit more training, so Louie will enjoy a birthday snack before bedtime.
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Pupdate: 8/13/2022
Louie went to Almansor Park today for training! There was a party going on while we were there, which definitely got Louie's attention, and he had trouble ignoring it. He did very well with most of his commands, though! He just wasn't able to hold his positions for very long due to the people and noises. There are tons of pigeons, ducks and geese at this park, but, Interestingly, Louie seemed to ignore the birds in favor of the people! Due to his breed, I thought he would have more issues with the birds!
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Pupdate: 8/14/2022
Louie went to Montebello Mall for training today. Although the mall was crowded, I did see a good improvement in his behavior. He was able to perform all of his commands with very little to no leash tension, which you can see in the above video. Previously, I had to apply leash pressure to help him Down, for example, but today I was able to simply give the verbal command and point at the ground! This is definitely an improvement! He was very nervous and distracted by all the people, but he was able to complete most commands reliably through those distractions. When he has something to do, he will almost always follow through. It's just when he isn't given something to do, he will break his commands. For example, he still finds it hard to sit still and hold his positions for very long.
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Pupdate: 8/15/2022
Louie went to Wilderness Park today for training! He did a good job for the most part! His commands were reliable, and he even seemed to be able to hold his Sit and Down positions for longer periods of time. He still seemed a little uncomfortable holding his position for the Place command, but he was eventually able to hold it for a full minute. Our goal for each of his positions is for him to be able to hold it for two minutes. With low distractions, I think he might almost be there with his normal Sit or Down on flat ground. For Place, he's about halfway to that goal!
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Pupdate: 8/16/2022
Louie went to Almansor Park today for training! He did well with his commands while I had the leash in my hand as normal. Today I started trying to go through commands with the leash dragging. This gives me some idea of how he might behave off leash, while still having the leash attached. Louie did a very good job Heeling with me while the leash was dragging, however he did have a hard time with his Come To Sit without me using the leash. This is still a good sign that Louie is heading in the right direction, and I'm very proud of how far he's come!
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Pupdate: 8/17/2022
Louie went to La Bonita Park today! I think today was his best day so far! We were there with a few other trainers and their dogs, and Louie did get very distracted by said dogs, but he managed to control himself fairly well. I also dropped the leash, and just stepped on it for some of his Come To Sits, and he managed to perform the command about half the time with zero leash pressure. Over all, Louie exhibited more control today than he has in the past, and did a wonderful job with each of his commands. He will still be on leash at almost all locations, he simply showed great signs of progress today!!
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Pupdate: 8/18/2022
Louie went to the Outlets at Orange today for training! He did really well! There were certainly times when he got a little too excited and nervous, but with so many distractions around, I think he did great! For today's video, we Heel around the outlets, and Louie does a good job holding his Place and Down commands!
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Pupdate: 8/19/2022
Louie went to Fashion Island today for training! He was definitely excited to be there and see all the people and other dogs, but after training for a while he started to calm down! Other than that, he performed well today!
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Pupdate: 8/20/2022
Louie went to Almansor Park today for training! For his last full day, we worked hard in the morning, but I gave him lots of playtime after! For his Pupdate today, I wanted to show some of the manners he's been working on. For food manners, I want Louie to sit and wait while food is placed in front of him until I allow him to go for it! For Door manners, I want Louie to sit by the door when I open it, without trying to rush out. For car manners, I want Louie to hop into the car when asked, and walk directly into his kennel! I'm super proud of how much Louie has progressed in the last two weeks, and I hope he'll progress further in the future! He's a very sweet and loving dog who I'll miss spending time with!
