Louie | Portidoodle | Woodland Hills, CA | In Training
- Alex Kruse
- Aug 3
- 9 min read
Updated: Aug 17
Meet Louiei! He's a two-year-old Portidoodle from Woodland Hills, California, and he's here for our Two Week Board and Train Program. Louie has had some previous training with his basics, but he's not always consistent with following through, and often breaks position before being released. He's very cuddly and wants to visit with people, but he can be a little selective at times with who's allowed to come close. He also has a habit of getting a little mouthy or jumpy whenever he wants to play or just wants some pats. Over the next two weeks we'll teach Louie how to maintain all his basic commands, walk on Heel both on and off leash, be less reactive around strangers, and help him curb some of the demanding behaviors he's exhibiting. Stay tuned for Louie's two-week transformation!
Louie had a pretty nervous start, exhibiting some signs of separation anxiety at first, but he warmed up a little more as we spent some time at the park. I tested him out on some of his commands, and while he was able to give me a few solid Sits and did decently well with his Recall considering the circumstances, there's a lot of room for improvement! Once we got home I gave him some time to explore around the house a little bit, then I got him out in the play yard to meet the other dogs. He relaxed a lot more once he realized he has friends, and even chased the ball around a little with the pack. My housemate came out to meet him and he took to her pretty quickly, no signs of any reactivity, and he was able to sit nicely for treats with the rest of the pack. I think he'll adjust pretty quickly to being with me, and I can't wait to get him out and really working!
8/4/25
Today we went to the park for some practice with the Off Leash SoCal group. He's starting to learn what the e-collar means and how to respond appropriately to it, and I also had him on a prong collar as an additional training aid to help establish some boundaries. We did a lot of practice with his Heel, some work on his Sit and Down, and general manners around people and other dogs. He is still just a little bit anxious, but overall he's starting to catch onto the basic expectations I'm establishing for him. At home he did start to exhibit some of the behaviors he's in the program for, including biting at the leash, jumping up, and trying to rush through gates or doors. We're working heavily on those gate and door manners primarily as that can be a safety hazard, and he's already beginning to catch on that he needs to Sit and Wait until he's released before he can go through. The most important thing to remember about any of these behaviors is not to give in when he's showing them. They're all coming from a place of him wanting something, so we need to teach him that the wrong behaviors won't get him what he's looking for, but also show him the right behaviors that will get him what he wants. Mostly all we're looking for is a Sit (good manners), so once he understands that, we should see a pretty decent reduction in many of his problem behaviors. He's already learning pretty quickly, so I'm optimistic that we'll be able to curb at least some of those behaviors before he heads home!
8/5/25
Today I took Louie over to Old Town Monrovia to work on his Heel in a little bit more of a crowded setting. He didn't have any negative reactions towards anyone, adults or children, but we are still working on getting him to walk with a nice, loose lead instead of tugging where he wants to go. He did Sit nicely for a little girl who wanted to come up and pet him, and I walked him around a playground where there were toddlers running around and screaming. He did great there with no signs of reactivity, only a little bit of anxiety, which was very manageable. We also stopped in at the Library Park to work on his extended Sit, his Down, and his Recall. At home we're continuing to work on his jumping and his gate-dashing, and he's getting better at offering the Sit on his own now instead of showing those problem behaviors. He did finally get mouthy with an arm grab this morning, and while it was gentle, we don't want to encourage that. He got a quick verbal correction and was immediately told to Sit, which he did so without issues, so I think he'll catch onto that one pretty quickly. It's all about setting those boundaries and giving him a more clear guideline on what's expected of him. We're getting there!
8/6/25
ook Louie out for a walk along a local wash where I could work on his commands without distractions today. He did really well with his extended Sit and Down, and he's beginning to catch onto his Recall where he comes around to Sit. I tried his Heel just tethered to my belt today so I could try for hands-off, but I still had him on the prong collar and needed to send him a few corrections on the e-collar to remind him to hold his place. He did pretty well with that for the first part of the walk, but returning back to the car was a little more tricky. He likes to try to rush ahead when he knows we're heading home, so I had to utilize the training equipment a bit more and do a lot of u-turns to remind him that we wouldn't get any closer to the car if he was pulling. It took some time, but we got there! At home he's starting to automatically give me a Sit more frequently before I let him out of doors and gates, which is great! He's still doing a little jumping but it's gotten much better too, and I only had to correct him once today on mouthing when he got a little too excited this morning for breakfast. Otherwise he's been doing really well with his manners at home. No other issues there at all!
8/7/25
It was hot today so we went inside to work at the Home Depot. I switched off the prong collar to a Sidekick, which is a head harness, to work on his Heel and went several laps with him on that. He responded well to it, so I eased it down to just the slip lead and did a few more laps before doing just one round with dragging a long leash attached to his flat collar. He actually did okay with it for his first time, so if I can get him to respond a little more cleanly on that leash drag, then I'll feel more confident in his ability to be off-leash in more public settings. He was a little bit nervous with the sounds of the larger carts going by, but overall he did really good today! He also only attempted to jump up one time today, and didn't try to mouth me at all. Progress!
8/8/25
Today I decided to challenge Louie with a mall trip. It was another hot day so it was reasonably crowded, and while that made Louie pretty anxious, he did start to relax by the time we left. Since it was his first time I mostly just worked on his Heel, trading off and on between using the nose piece on the Sidekick and switching it down to just a slip lead depending on how busy the areas of the mall were that we were working in. He was able to do his extended Sit, Down and Place to the point where I felt confident in dropping the leash and stepping away from him for several seconds, but he definitely wasn't ready to try the Heel off leash. I'll take him back more times throughout the week to get him more comfortable with the noise, but he did really well with all that distraction for his first time.
8/9/25
I wanted Louie to get a little more exposure to kids since it was mentioned they could sometimes make him nervous, so I took him out to Brookside Park where there's a children's museum. I kept him far enough away where he wouldn't pose a safety risk just in case, but he could easily see the kids running up and down the path and climbing all over the nearby playground. There was also a volleyball game going on across the field in the distance, so plenty of people wandering through the park today! Despite all that, aside from the distractions and being a little anxious, he did great with all of it. There was no reactivity, not even when we were heading back to the car and a large group of kids ran right up behind us and split around us. He jumped just a tiny bit because it startled him, but then went right back to his Heel, no problem. I was able to drop the long line a couple times while working on his commands today, and I didn't have to use the Sidekick at all for his Heel, so big improvements! When he's anxious he has a tendency to want to lay down when I ask him for a Sit, so we did quite a bit of work on that today, just getting him to Sit naturally and to hold it when I walk away. His Come-to-Sit is also showing quite a bit of improvement. He's still not ready to work off-leash out in public, but he's getting better with the leash drag, and at home where there's little distraction he's doing really well. Little by little, we're getting there!
8/10/25
Back to the mall again with Louie! I kept him just on the slip lead today, no Sidekick this time. He stuck with me for the most part but there were still moments where he'd try to pull away to the side or ahead. He was really good at lining back up with mostly verbal corrections though. He struggles a little with holding his Extended Sit in busy areas like this, but his Recall today was pretty clean, and he did really well with letting people pet him. Once again, no reactivity at all, even with other dogs walking through the mall, and he's getting really good at going into the Sit when we reach doorways.
8/11/25
Louie had a great day today! I took him to a smaller, fenced park that only had a couple kids playing in it. We worked on only the long leash today, with me holding onto it at first to remind him where his positioning should be, then the rest of the session I just let him drag it. I really felt like today he was finally not only getting the hang of everything more cleanly, but he seemed a lot more relaxed about it too. I'm really pleased with his progress!
8/12/25
I challenged Louie with a much larger park today and still stuck to only the long line drag. There were a lot more people at this park and other dogs, but due to its size they were far more spread out, so he actually did really well again. We spent a lot of time just walking around where I let him do dog things as he pleased, then would call him back to do some commands here and there before releasing him again to play. He had a great time and performed all his commands really well, and he stuck within several feet of me the entire time using mostly only verbal commands. It was a great day!
8/13/25
Back to the mall for Louie today! It was a little slower than the last few times I took him, so between that and the repeat visits he was a little more at ease. I was able to do quite a bit of Heel work just on the thin tether, and then worked on his Sit, Place and Recall on the long line. He was very popular today with lots of people wanting to pet him and compliment us on how good he was. He's really been showing a lot of improvement these last few days!
8/14/25
Look who made it off leash! Yes, we're at the wash again that's fairly narrow and fenced in on both sides, but he could run forward or back if he wanted to. He stuck with me on the Heel, and when I'd break him to run around doing dog things, he came back promptly on his Recall. He wasn't anxious at all and seemed to really enjoy the walk. We only passed a few other people with their dogs, but he didn't pay them any mind at all. He's doing really good for me in his last few days!
8/15/25
Yet another return to the mall! He was a lot more confident this time, especially around the larger crowds. He was friendly with all the people and stuck to his commands pretty well. There were still just a few times here and there where he'd briefly test me to see if he could wander off, so I would still recommend he stay on leash in crowded areas, but otherwise he did really well!
8/16/25
It's our last Pupdate in your two week program! We went back to the big Arcadia Park for a little bit this morning just to give him some normal dog time. I kept him off leash there and he did great! For the video I wanted to show off his house manners and how far he's come along with that. He no longer darts through doors without permission, he waits before diving into food, he's great with getting into and out of the car, there is no more jumping or mouthing, and he's been really good with dropping things for me.
Louis certainly had his issues when he first started off, but he's come such a long way over these past two weeks, and it's been an absolute pleasure having him stay with me for his training and growth process. He's got a mind of his own, but he's really learned to control many of his own impulses. With continued structure and practice, I think he could really become the family dog he's expected to be. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of his learning journey!
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