Millie | Corgi | Los Angeles, CA. | In Training.
- heatheroffleashsoc
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
This sweet little lady is a five-year-old Corgi from Los Angeles, CA, who has just joined us for our Three Week Reactive Board and Train Program. Millie has been described as a loving and excitable girl who enjoys getting out and exploring the world around her. However, during those adventures, Millie has found herself struggling to navigate certain situations, especially when encountering children and other dogs in public. These moments can lead to barking, snapping, and difficulty staying calm.
Millie has also developed a habit of barking at people who approach her home, making it clear that she is looking for some guidance on how to better handle these everyday experiences. While she has plenty of personality and enthusiasm, we believe Millie is ready to learn new ways to communicate and build confidence.
Over the next three weeks, we’ll be working closely with Millie on her basic obedience, impulse control, and house manners, giving her the tools she needs to approach her adventures with more calmness and ease. We’re excited to watch her progress and see the transformation she’s capable of making.
Stay tuned to follow along with Millie’s journey!
6/21/2026
Today was Millie’s first day with me, so we started things off with a walk at Lake Balboa Park. This gave us the perfect opportunity to get better acquainted with one another while also allowing me to assess what she already knows and where we can begin building from there.
It looks like Millie has a good understanding of her sit and down commands, but she currently treats them more as suggestions rather than something she needs to follow every time. That’s completely okay, and we will work on making those commands more reliable and something she understands as an expectation.
We also took some time to introduce the concept of heel and continue working on her sit command. For heel, we focused on helping Millie understand that she should stay connected with me rather than veering away. Anytime she tried to wander off, I would turn in the opposite direction and apply a gentle correction to help guide her back. Millie wasn’t a huge fan of this at first and did try to put the brakes on a bit in protest, but we simply encouraged her to keep moving forward rather than allowing her to avoid the exercise. By the end of our walk, she was already starting to walk a little nicer with me, which was great to see!
For her sit command, we worked on creating a clearer understanding of the cue by applying gentle upward pressure with the leash behind her ears and releasing that pressure the moment she made the choice to sit. We then praised her for making the right decision. We also made an attempt at her come to sit command, but for right now that was a bit too much for her, so we will revisit that once she has a stronger foundation.
After our walk, we headed back to the car to load up and make the trip to her home away from home for the next few weeks. Millie handled the car ride really well! She was very quiet and relaxed, which was wonderful to see. Once we arrived, I gave her some time to explore both inside and outside, and she seemed to settle in nicely. She was understandably a little nervous with all of the new changes happening around her, but that’s completely normal, and I’m confident she will become more comfortable as she gets into a routine.
All in all, it was a great first day of introductions! Millie did a wonderful job adjusting to all the new experiences, and I’m excited to continue building her confidence and helping her grow over the next few weeks.
6/22/2026
Today Millie and I headed out to Home Depot to work on her distraction training and see how she would handle a busier environment. I wanted to give her the opportunity to experience a place where there is always some kind of commotion happening — machines running, forklifts moving around, shoppers pushing loaded carts, and all sorts of unexpected sounds and movements.
As expected, Millie found the environment a bit overwhelming at first. She was nervous and unsure, even flinching at some of the louder noises and sudden movements around her. Instead of immediately asking her to work through it, we took a moment to simply sit and observe. This gave Millie the chance to take everything in at her own pace and learn that even though big things were happening around her, none of those things were meant to harm her. This helped her start to settle and gain a little more confidence in the environment.
Once she had some time to process everything, we began working on her heel command throughout the store. Due to her uncertainty, Millie stayed next to me but kept some distance between us. This was completely understandable, as she is still getting comfortable with me and learning that I am someone she can trust. As our visit continued, it was wonderful to see her slowly begin to relax and close that gap, moving a little closer to me as we walked. Those small changes are important steps in building her confidence and connection with her handler.
We also spent some time working on her sit command. Millie is starting to understand that sit is not just an option, but something she is expected to follow through with. It was great to see her beginning to offer the behavior with less hesitation and less fuss. We also continued practicing her come to sit command, and today’s attempts went much smoother than yesterday’s, which was a great improvement!
Along with everything else, we also introduced Millie to the e-collar today. Like many of the new things she has experienced so far, she was a little unsure of it at first. However, as she continues to relax and build confidence, I’m sure she will become more comfortable with it and understand it as another tool to help guide her.
We still have plenty of work ahead of us, but so far Millie is making good progress. Today was a big step for her, and I’m very proud of the effort she put in despite being in an environment that was outside of her comfort zone.
I did discover quite a bit of fleas and flea dirt on her while giving Millie some extra love today, but no need to worry — I got her all taken care of and sorted out with a quick trip to the groomer. She handled the trip well just did not enjoy getting her nails clipped. She has some irritation on the skin around her chest and back side because of the fleas, but I will continue to monitor this closely.
All in all, Millie had a great day. Watching her slowly gain confidence, trust, and understanding has been wonderful, and I’m excited to continue helping her grow into the confident pup I know she can become!
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