Luigi | German Shepherd Mix | Redondo Beach, CA | In-Training
- Scott Hansen
- Apr 5
- 21 min read
Updated: Apr 19
Meet Luigi! Luigi is a three-year-old German Shepherd Mix here for our Two-Week Board and Train Program. Luigi was rescued by his pup parents when he was six months old. Luigi is a loveable pup; however, he does display some unwanted behaviors. Some of those behaviors include pulling hard on the leash when he sees a cat or a squirrel, eagerly or excessively greeting new people at home, being demanding when he wants to play, and pushing guests out of his house. Luigi can perform a command or two, however, he lacks structure and will perform the tasks inconsistently. Over the next fourteen days, Luigi is going to learn to be an obedient pup through consistent, clear communication and balanced training at home and in discovering new people and places. Luigi will learn to perform all these things on and off-leash through a positive and balanced training environment. Through structure and consistency, Luigi will demonstrate how great a pup he can be! Stay tuned for Luigi’s two-week transformation!
Pupdate 4/5/25
Today, Mr. Luigi joined me for his two-week board and train program. Mr. Luigi is a kind pup. He is a well-behaved pup. We stopped at my local park to see what commands he could perform. Here's a clue: he didn't do very well! He was distracted by the parties, possibly squirrels in the trees, kids playing, and avoiding me at all costs. That's fine! We then had a quick photo shoot for his blog's profile picture. Taking a picture of a dog is almost impossible. They see the phone come out, and all of a sudden, you are invisible. We managed to get one taken after some patience.
We came home and let Mr. Luigi smell around the house and check everything out. He got to meet everyone. I let him meet Ms. Toji through the outside gate, and they didn't mind each other at all. I then let them meet each other through the screen door inside the house. They were still fine. I took Mr. Luigi out into the side Ms. Toji hangs out on, and there were no issues. Mr. Luigi marked everything, but Ms. Toji didn't care.
I tried to introduce Mr. Luigi to Ms. Bella, my other board and train, but Ms. Bella was not very happy about another dog being with me. We are not going to have them hang out. Ms. Bella goes home tomorrow, so it's best we just keep them separated.
After all that excitement, we went ahead and took a walk around the neighborhood. This gives Mr. Luigi a chance to check out the sights, sounds, and scents of the neighborhood. This also gives me a chance to asses him further. I was observing his behavior at the park, and then on this walk I am assessing what will be the best course of action for him. At this point, he was pretty tired from the drive, the park stop, and all the excitement from Ms. Toji, but he still wouldn't stay next to me. He was nice and calm on the leash and made sure to mark as many things as possible during our walk around the neighborhood.
When we got back, I let him hang out with Ms. Toji and monitored how well they got along. I put his blanket and your shirt in his crate for him to relax in. Once Ms. Bella goes home tomorrow, I'll give him more space to roam around and enjoy himself.
Attached is the e-collar familiarization video. Please review it a few times before Mr. Luigi's turnover. We'll practice together to make sure you are comfortable with the system before using it with Mr. Luigi.
Pupdate 4/6/25
Today, Mr. Luigi and I spent some more time getting to know each other. He was also given more time to get to know Ms. Toji. They have been perfectly fine together.
He didn't eat all of his dinner. He only ate the wet food this morning, but when I brought him in in the afternoon to get out of the heat for a few hours, he went into his crate and finished his breakfast. I'll do everything I can to give him opportunities to eat his food. I keep track of his weight as well. As long as his weight is ok while he is with me, we'll be fine. The food tracker will be updated every day but I won't comment on it unless his weight is being affected.
By the way, the crate door was left open, and I didn't ask him to go in there he was just comfortable in there. I went and checked on him after I heard him eat all his food. He came out and then hung out with me in my office. He gave me plenty of licks and let me play with him.
As you can see in the video, I had my mini-trainer assist me today. She's six years old. Mr. Luigi did so well with her. She helped me introduce the e-collar to Mr. Luigi. Other than when I actually put the e-collar on Mr. Luigi, it will be challenging to tell when I actually use it for the first few times. This is the best way to start the training. We're just outside having fun. He doesn't even know we're doing training. He doesn't know that I'm introducing and assessing his ability to perform all these commands. He just sees a happy little child, a squeaky tennis ball, and a strange new guy. The last part will change this week.
I placed a rush order on the XL Chuck-It Ultra Ball you sent me with Mr. Luigi. However, I ordered one with the squeaker inside of it. I also ordered a few of the regular-sized ones. I'll mix those in to see if he enjoys playing with them. Those are closer to the size of a baseball or tennis ball. This was a great idea, as it helped me significantly in today's training session.
After making sure he liked playing with the ball and didn't mind the mini-trainer, I slid the collar comfortably onto him. I used the 3/4" titanium hypoallergenic contact points to ensure good contact with his skin through the thick shepherd fur. Once it was on, we played some more. Eventually, I raised the remote to level 5 and pressed the stimulation button. No reaction. I went to 10. Slight reaction. Then I went to 15. Too much reaction. Back to playing. And then that was it. His levels are somewhere between 10 and 15. I think I did one more around 12 and he just kind of looked around like a ghost tapped him on the shoulder. Perfect. More play.
Then we used the ball to prompt him to perform a sit, down, place, and come-to-sit. My mini-trainer practiced the "heel" with him at the beginning and again at the end. No e-collar. We also introduced "Break!" which means he can break the sit or down and come to us or go chase the ball. As I mentioned before, he only thinks we were playing for the ball.
Going forward, I will pair the voice commands with the stimulation of the e-collar while rewarding good behavior with the ball and lots of play. We want him to be a happy pup and be positively rewarded for all his great choices. Once he understands how to perform the commands consistently, I'll fade out the ball to prompt the proper obedience command and increase the distractions. However, he will still earn the ball for successfully completing harder and more challenging tasks. The goal is to always end our training on a positive note and with a few minutes of play. I will be one of his new favorite people before these two weeks are all said and done.
Above are the pictures of your e-collar receiver with the 3/4" titanium hypoallergenic contact points attached. This is Mr. Luigi's unit. I'll be using it for the next two weeks and handing it over to you at the end of this training. Don't forget to register your unit as it has a 1-year warranty on it!
Pupdate 4/7/25
Mr. Luigi and I loaded up and headed over to Whittier Narrows in El Monte, CA. We met up with some of our fellow Off Leash trainers and their board and trains. Mr. Luigi didn't do so well on the car ride over. We lost one of your towels on the drive over due to the throw-up. I had laid it down expecting him only to excessively drool as he had done previously. I made sure to have the fan on for him and the air conditioning on extra high. I observed that as soon as he gets in the vehicle, he starts excessively drooling. He does have car rides paired in his mind as a stressful thing. I'll see if I can come up with something to work on for this.
Once I cleaned up his mess, we met up with our trainers and their pups. Mr. Luigi performed so well around all the other pups! We practiced his "heel" a lot more today. I was on the lookout for squirrels at the park. Towards the end of our training session, I was able to locate one brave squirrel on the ground. We went straight for it! Mr. Luigi spotted the squirrel as well. He was locked in. For most of our time at the park, I was using either the vibration feature or around level 10 to get his attention. When he was focused on the squirrel, I had to go up to level 30 to break his focus. The good news is that I was able to break his focus and redirect him away from the squirrel. He didn't yank me on the leash or exhibit any other nuisance behavior besides the stalking and focus. We circled the tree in a nice, calm manner, and Mr. Luigi was looking but not as hyper focused. As we walked away and he was calm, I threw out the ball for him again. This will be our recipe for success: when he makes a good decision to not chase after a squirrel or cat, I will reward him with the ball.
For the rest of the time, we practiced the heel, sit, down, place, and come-to-sit. I mixed in ball play once again to make sure he was having fun. At the end, I had him perform an extended place and down with a few of the other pups around so that he understands its ok to just relax with other distractions around. I was impressed with his heel as I let the leash drag a few times without me holding it and he was staying where he needed to be. We "heel" everywhere we go, so I expect this to be his strongest command.
When we got home, he only did his drooling thing in the car. Not too bad. I introduced the door manners, which is where he has to sit at the door, and I go in first. He can not enter through the door until we allow him to. This will be the new standard for all doors at all times.
Pupdate 4/8/25
Today was another warm day so I focused on Mr. Luigi's door manners. I displayed for you the two types of door manners. The first version is the one that we will practice the most. This is where he must sit and wait for us to go through the door. Then we say "ok" or "heel" and he joins us through the door.
The second version is the one you will utilize when you need to check your mail or when guests are coming over. You put Mr. Luigi in a "place" or even a "down" at the door. Open the door and go out and check your mail and then come back. Go get your groceries etc. As people come in, he needs to stay in the "down" or "place". People may greet him with a gentle pat on the head if he is staying in the proper position. If he is getting up or becoming too rambunctious, have your guests step back outside and reset. Let them know that you are training Mr. Luigi and that he's working on staying calm as people come over. If he does a good job, you may give him the "break" command and give him the ball.
The things we'll tackle this week include going to more parks with squirrels and distractions and practicing in more distracting places. He's also doing very well, so we might try to be at leash dragging all commands by the end of the week.
Pupdate 4/9/25
Today, we went to Rynerson Park in Lakewood, CA. It was another hot day, so we waited until the late afternoon when it was a little cooler. Mr. Luigi is such a pleasure to work with. I focused on conducting most of the commands with the leash dragging. There were no squirrels or cats at this park, but I do have a park nearby that is rampant with squirrels, which we will visit soon. He is understanding the commands well and is happy to please at low-levels of stimulation. As you can see, I am still mixing in lots of play with the ball and lots of positive reinforcement throughout our sessions. Mr. Luigi was able to perform a two-minute sit and two-minute down with all the runners and walkers at the park. I was quite pleased with his performance today. I think we can push for a backyard, low-stimulus, off-leash session this weekend and see where Mr. Luigi is at. We are currently ahead of where some of my other dogs usually are. If he can lock in his come-to-sit by this weekend, we will have a powerful week of advancement all next week.
Pupdate 4/10/25
Things have been going well enough with Mr. Luigi that I decided to give off the leash and try with him today. I would rate this session a 5 out of 10. His heel and come to sit were not very good off-leash. His extended sit, place(when I finally asked him to), and extended down were excellent. When I used the leash to guide Mr. Luigi, we were able to get back to form on the heel and come to sit. We just have to keep getting the repetitions in, and Mr. Luigi will continue to get stronger and better. We had some more play to end our session.
Pupdate 4/11/25
Mr. Luigi and I headed over to Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA, to continue to review his commands around people and more distractions. We continue to move in the right direction with our training. Luckily, our trips haven't been too long, but he is still excessively drooling in the car and crate despite putting the fan on and cranking the AC up to make it as comfortable as possible for him. I don't want to put a blanket or another towel down in case he decides to vomit again. I purposely avoid trips around meal times to ensure he has had time to digest his food and use the restroom. Trips are usually short and sweet, but that doesn't seem to matter. This is something that can be counterconditioned and shouldn't be avoided. Mr. Luigi has cars paired with a physical response. This is an example of classical conditioning. The car elicits a biological response that is paired to his emotions. Unfortunately, I can't implement the plan below because we need to travel frequently over the next two weeks to achieve the goals you requested, but here is what I would do if I only had to work on his car sickness for about two or three weeks. Please note that this plan below is assuming that he has no medical issues with his inner ears and that any underlying conditions do not cause his car sickness. There are medicines and various products that help mellow and reduce anxiety for pups, but that is avoiding the behavioral and negative association that Mr. Luigi has with cars. I am assuming that is a behavioral issue at this time. Here is a game plan that I would recommend for you (I'll make a video explaining the process):
Week 1 - Car off. All doors open. Throw the ball into a car with "load up". Have him jump out. Repeat at least 3x- up to 5x. Then, "load up" without throwing the ball. Throw the ball to him to get out of the car. Repeat 3-5x. Do this daily for the whole week. After the third day, mix it up when you give him the ball. Sometimes you give it to him for loading up, sometimes you give it to him for coming out. After Day 3, I would have him sit in the car for up to 3 seconds at a time before releasing him. If he can handle more time as the days go on, give him more time, 5,6,7,8, 10, or 30 seconds. Always give him the ball at the end to jump out. Conduct this drill at least 3 days up to 5 days.
Week 2 - First session - same as week 1 to ensure he remembered everything. start with a win. Then for the remainder of the week: Car on, Doors closed except for door to go in and out of the vehicle. Repeat the same process as week 1. Conduct this drill at least 3 days up to 5 days. I'm pushing for longer times in the vehicle before releasing him out of the vehicle. I might sit on the bumper of the car while he's in the back and play with him and pet him, but we want him in the car as long as possible without drooling or having an adverse reaction. I would likely introduce the crate with the doors open this week if he's doing well. If not, I'll wait one more week.
Week 3 - Introduce the crate or after reviewing week 2 for the first few minutes. Car off. Doors closed. Crate open. Load Luigi into the crate or seating area/seatbelt. Leave the car door open. Close the crate/ fasten Mr. Luigi. Turn the car on. Observe for any drooling from Mr. Luigi. Hang out with him. If he is fine during this process. Let him out, and play with him. Start over. Now close the car doors, and move the car 20 feet and see how he does. We want to let him out and play with him. Repeat. The car can go forward or backward. Same thing, three to five times this week.
Week 4- We're doing everything the same, but now we're extending the trips. This might mean you will only make it halfway down the block before you pull over and start playing with Mr. Luigi. It depends on how bad or quickly the positive association is taking. I don't know how paired this emotional and physiological response is in him. You can have someone observe him to make sure he's not showing any car sickness symptoms.
Week 5- Hopefully, you're taking Mr. Luigi to AYSO soccer games without any drooling or throwing up.
I would avoid doing any of this training around meal times just to make sure he has nothing to throw up or has digested most of his food. Each session shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes. We also want to end on a note where he didn't get sick or have a negative association with being in a car.
Back to today's training, he is doing better. I'll need to start squeezing in a few more and longer heels into our daily routine, but that won't take long to reinforce for him. I might use the pinch collar over the weekend just to make it extra clear to him to stay in the proper position. I think once I make it a little clearer to him, we won't have very many issues. He's smart and picks up on everything quickly. We stopped by the Apple store to pick up a graduation present for my daughter's college journey, and Mr. Luigi hung out with all the people in there without issue. We walked around the mall and practiced his extended "sit" and extended place/down. Reinforced the come-to-sit around some distractions. Lastly, of course, we brought his ball to play with him when everything was said and done! Who doesn't want to play with their favorite toy after being car sick and having to do all these obedience tasks around strangers?
Pupdate 4/12/25
Mr. Luigi and I headed over to Rynerson Park. I wanted to go to a busy park and the usual park was so busy that there was no parking. Change of plans to Rynerson. Rynerson was just as busy with kids parties and other activities. Mr. Luigi was definitely car sick but once that wore off he performed much better. If you didn't notice, I switched to a smaller, lighter leash. I use this one to simulate being off leash but I can still pick it up as needed to shape his behavior when he messes up. Overall he did really well today. Great extended sit and great extended down/place. He did try to wander off a few times on the heel. We did find a squirrel towards the end of our time at the park. We went towards it and he hyper focused on it. I had to go up to level 45 to disrupt the behavior. I went back down to 20 and he was fine. Its important to reset the levels each time after we raise the levels up. We'll keep working around distractions and seeing what Mr. Luigi can do. Lastly, every time he performed a good come-to-sit I gave him the ball. I really want to reinforce those good behaviors.
Pupdate 4/13/25
Today, Mr. Luigi and I headed over to Home Depot. Although, a short ride, I was still quite car sick. Once we arrived at the store, he did perfectly fine. He's a pleasure to work with. He really just needed boundaries put on his behavior. This week, you can expect to see videos of the car training steps, working mostly off leash and going to busier places. I have a park nearby where there are plenty of squirrels; however, if it's too busy with people the squirrels are up in the trees, and it may not be very productive for the squirrel training.
Pupdate 4/14/25
In today's video, I reviewed the process of how to counter condition Mr. Luigi's car sickness. This is a rare video without music and with me explaining everything. However, the earthquake alert this morning caused me to cease my recording. What wasn't captured was that Mr. Luigi was over it around the point the camera stopped recording. This was fine. This kind of training is physically draining, jumping in and out, mentally draining, overcoming the negative association with vehicles, and emotionally draining for the same reason we are trying to rewrite that negative association with positivity. What I went on to explain is that we want to end on a positive! Keep it short! Three to five minutes max for the first few weeks. If you don't need to take him anywhere, then this is just a fun obstacle game for him. Maybe incorporate it as part of your routine at the beginning and end of your walks. It should be a fun and exciting game, not work. If you're too tired or in a rush, don't do it. Not a big deal. The thing you have to be aware of is that if you keep it short too often, you are now conditioning him to only be able to go in the car for one or two seconds. We have to push him longer and longer. We have to be willing to close the door with him in the car for a few seconds. That's why I gave a progressive training plan. We have to set goals each week to push him further and further. A little bit of drooling that he can overcome is fine. We don't want excessive drooling. We want progress, not perfection, during this process.
Don't forget, always end on a win!
Pupdate 4/15/25
Mr. Luigi and I headed over to El Dorado Park in Long Beach, CA, today to go looking for squirrels! Lucky for us, we arrived early enough that there were a few out and about conducting their morning business. I spotted some prior to Mr. Luigi and pointed them out to Mr. Luigi. His prey drive for small animals is pretty high. I have been capitalizing upon it during his entire training with the ball. He loves chasing after the ball. It mimics chasing after small critters. It's a matter of channeling that drive to when we want it to come out and redirecting it. We went right for the squirrels. I only had to go up to about 18 or 20 on the e-collar this time, and then Mr. Luigi was giving me avoidance behavior and did not want to perform his obedience of a "heel". This is fine, but it's not exactly what I sought. I put the leash back on him and guided him into a heel, and on we went. He was perfectly fine after I showed him what I wanted him to do.
As you can see, we performed everything off-leash today at the park. I even had a lady compliment Mr. Luigi on how well behaved he was. I saw her watching us. I was pleasantly surprised by her compliments. When we were done, we played fetch with the ball for another five minutes. Then we went looking for more squirrels when he was a little more tired. He performed much better on his heel. Then, more fetch. Another five to seven minutes—lots and lots of fun and play. We have made sure to make this entire training as fun and balanced as possible. We want to ensure there are limits and boundaries to his behavior, but we mostly want to reward his good choices. I am super happy with where we are. Continue to look for more of the same practice for the remainder of the week!
Pupdate 4/16/25
Once again, Mr. Luigi and I headed over to Rynerson Park in Lakewood, CA. I was on my way to a different park, but I spotted about a dozen squirrels, so I took a detour and headed straight into Rynerson. We practiced a few of our usual commands just to make sure Mr. Luigi was performing at his usual high level. A few minutes into the video, you'll see me wander far away because I finally spotted a squirrel close enough. Mr. Luigi spotted the squirrel as well. We were completely off-leash. Mr. Luigi's ears popped straight up, and he locked in on his target. I turned and walked the other way and gave him the "heel" command while increasing the stimulation levels until I was able to get his attention. I did make it up to about 30 today. Once I got his attention back, we returned to the lower levels on the remote. Then he was a little excited, so it took a few moments to get him to calm back down from the excitement and stimulation. I tried to just heel and walk away, but that was asking too much of him in that moment. I stopped and had him "sit," gave him some pets, and let him know he did well by not running after it.
We wrapped our obedience review with some play, like we always do, and then we went squirrel hunting. We were able to locate about a half dozen more squirrels during our walk through the park. The levels were lower and lower each time to get him to stay focused on his "heel" and not chase after the squirrels. He's a dog and has the prey drive to go after them. When he would leave them alone and stay in the "heel", he would still look at them, we would walk the other way, and I would then throw the ball to reward him for making a good choice. We repeated this process for all the squirrels we ran into, and his intensity waned each time, and I had to give him less and less stimulation each time. This behavior has not been entirely eradicated from Mr. Luigi, but it has been diminished, and if you stay on top of this foundation, he should not be yanking or pulling you towards these distractions. Also, it is important to be mindful of these distractions when you can and disrupt Mr. Luigi when you can. As soon as I see his ears perk up and lock in, I give the "off" command followed by "heel". He can keep looking so long as he isn't giving me any more hyper fixation behavior, such as head up, ear perked up, tail up, stalking, etc. If he's looking and walking, I'm ok with that. The other behaviors are major precursors that he's going to pull or go after those things. The "off' and the "heel" are all at the same low-level stimulation as any other command. I don't go up until he starts ignoring my requests.
Pupdate 4/17/25
Today, Mr. Luigi and I headed over to the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica to review all his commands off leash in a high-distractor environment. Other than being extraordinarily car sick from the long car ride over there and the ten minutes it took me to clean up the mess, he performed everything so well! Everyone was impressed by Mr. Luigi and kept complimenting him, and noticed how well-behaved and well-mannered he was. He just needed the structure and consistency in his life. He also needed the reinforcement with the Ultra Ball whenever he performed well. This continues to be a good, balanced approach. We hold him accountable for good behavior with the low-level stimulation of the e-collar, whilst also rewarding him with the ball whenever he ignores squirrels, performs a great come-to-sit amidst distractions, and various other great tasks. It's also a great stress reliever if he's been a good pup after performing a long down or place after a bunch of new people come into the house, relaxing at a soccer game, or any other stressors that might be in his life. I have been ignoring him when he tries to bring me the ball to play with him in my office. I have instructed my kids to do the same, and since this is a family business, they all know the game. And because of that, Mr. Luigi will leave everyone alone.
Pupdate 4/19/25
Today was a quick review of all Mr. Luigi's manners around the house, including door, car, and food manners. The only hiccup was the off-leash car manners. Mr. Luigi does not want to go into the car after the long car ride to and from Santa Monica yesterday without encouragement with the leash or significant stimulation from the e-collar, which makes it even more of a negative experience. If you take the time to use the plan I showed you, it should make it better, slowly but surely. It might take a long time. I was also thinking that all the bumps and turns of the road don't help, so maybe a comfortable bed that he can lie down on might help. If he's standing the whole time, that will just make him nervous and anxious. When he's in that state, he won't take a toy or a piece of food to calm himself down.
He just ran out of dry food this morning. I mixed in some of Toji's food, and he ate all of that. I'll use that for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. We have enough wet food left for breakfast tomorrow.
Another reminder is that you will have to practice a little bit with Mr. Luigi. He is pretty good with all these commands, and you can tell that you have practiced with him. He wants to please, but is a little unsure of himself at times. That's where hooking up the leash and guiding him through some of those things are important, and showing him that he's going to be ok. Be consistent with him, and you will get the version of him. The inconsistency is when you get confusion and frustration from him, and likely will find yourself saying, "What's going on with you, buddy?"
We will review the e-collar and how to use it tomorrow. Please watch the video a few times and familiarize yourself with the different functions.
As a reminder, here are the obedience commands that he has learned while with me:
Sit/Extended Sit: Press the black "S" button + say "Sit".
Down/Extended Down: Press the black "S" button + say "Down".
Place/Extended Place: Press the black "S" button + say "Place".
Come-To-Sit: Press the black "S" button + say "Come" + use your hands to guide into place.
Heel: Press the black "S" button + say "Heel".
Food Manners/Refusal: The pup must patiently wait in either a "sit" or "down" position while you prepare the food. Then, say "break," allowing the pup to access the food.
Car Manners: Press the black "S" button + say "Load up!"
Greeting Manners: Have the pup "sit," then allow the new person to say hi
Door Manners: Place the pup in a "sit," open the door and then allow the pup to go through with you or say "ok" and let the pup inside or place pup in a "place/down" at the door while you go outside and check the mail or get your groceries then release with a "break" or "ok"
Off: Press the black button "S" + say "Off" to stop the pup from performing unwanted behavior. Always press the black "S" when using this command. NO FREEBIES!
"Break!" - no stimulation and the pup can freely sniff or go potty.
We will review how to perform all these tomorrow during the turnover! We can't wait to show you how much he has learned and how great of a pup he will be in the future!
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