Osa | St. Bernard | Venice, CA | In-Training
- Scott Hansen
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 16 hours ago
Meet Osa! Osa is a two-and-a-half-year-old St. Bernard here for our Two-Week Urban Board and Train Program. Osa was recently adopted by her pup parents. Osa came to establish a solid foundation of obedience. She is a loving pup that has a few unwanted behaviors. Osa pulls hard on the leash when distracted, can mouth at people when she wants their attention, and plays too rough with other pups at times. Her obedience is unreliable and inconsistent. Osa can perform a command or two with proper motivation; however, she lacks structure and performs tasks inconsistently. Over the next fourteen days, Osa will learn to be an obedient pup through consistent, clear communication and balanced training at home and by discovering new people and places. Osa will learn to perform all these things on leash through a positive and balanced training environment. Through structure and consistency, Osa will demonstrate how great a pup she can be! Stay tuned for Osa’s two-week transformation!
Osa | St. Bernard | Pupdate 08/30/26
Today, Ms. Osa joined me for her Two-Week Urban Board and Train Program. On the way home, we stopped at a local park to see what commands Ms. Osa could perform. She jumped out of the car, very excited! So excited that she performed zero commands! She performed about as well as you would think, which is not very well. She was running all over the place and checking everything out. She ignored my command at all costs, even though there was no one else at the park. I think you know all that, and that's why she's here. After I tested her skills, we had a mini photoshoot to obtain her profile picture for her blog. I don't know if you know this, but as soon as dogs see a phone or camera in front of their face, you are now invisible to them, and they must ignore you at all costs. Once we got what we needed, we loaded up and headed to Ms. Osa's temporary residence for the next two weeks. Ms. Osa was fine during the car ride home.
Once we got home, I took a minute to set up Ms. Osa’s crate. Ms. Osa got to meet my mini trainer while I was working on setting her crate up. It was love at first sight (more for my mini trainer, but I think Ms. Osa won’t mind the extra attention). I let Ms. Osa smell Ms. Toji and Ms. JoJo through the front gate. Ms. Osa had her tail wagging and was interested in the pups. Ms. Osa sniffed them through the fence. I observed for reactivity in this initial meeting. Ms. JoJo did bark at Ms. Osa, and I had to let Ms. JoJo know that it was ok. Ms. Osa had no problems getting into the house. I let her explore each room and meet everyone. Throughout the introductions, Ms. Osa showed a happy, excited interest in everything in the new environment. She was excited to meet everyone.
Then, I let Ms. Osa smell Ms. Toji and Ms. JoJo through my screen door to the dog run area. Here, I did not observe any adversity. I took Ms. Osa outside to meet Ms. Toji and Ms JoJo. I tethered Ms. Osa to a post on my gazebo while I went and brought one dog at a time to meet her. I started with Ms. Toji meeting Ms. Osa. This meeting went well. Ms. Toji let Ms. Osa know what her boundaries were with a quick, loud, impactful bark. So impactful that Ms. Osa fell back in surprise. This is how dogs communicate and work together. Ms. Osa respected Ms. Toji’s space after that. Then, I put Ms. Toji away. Then I went and brought over Ms. JoJo. Ms. JoJo had her e-collar on in case of any adversity. Ms. JoJo is a sweet pup but can be kennel proud, which is why she barked at Ms. Osa initially. During the actual meeting, Ms. JoJo wanted attention from me and let Ms. Osa check her out. Ms. Osa hung out with Ms. Toji for a while tonight, and they seem to get along fine. I’ll allow Ms. Osa, Ms. JoJo, and Ms. Toji an opportunity to hang out together tomorrow. I will supervise this initial group meeting and ensure that they are ok.
We then went on a long walk around the block so that she could get used to the sights, sounds, and scents of her temporary new neighborhood. She didn’t pull too hard at all. As a matter of fact, she lagged. She didn’t win the record for slowest walk around the block, but she deserves an award for lack of interest in the walk. She did stop occasionally and sniff a few spots, but nothing excessive. My mini trainer could have walked her without any issue. As a matter of fact, my mini trainer would go get Ms. Osa and have her speed up. I didn’t let her walk Ms. Osa for fear of Ms. Osa becoming stimulated and trying to pull away for some unknown cause. She ignored all the other dogs in the houses that barked at us as we went around. I did notice the slight stiffness in her right rear leg. It looks like she’s not bending her knee, but it doesn’t seem to cause her any discomfort. I know she has the energy to be a playful pup because I saw it when we went to the park; she was bucking like a bronco.
After the walk, I gave her plenty of water and let her relax. She’s a mouth breather! Although her crate was set up and open, she relaxed on the hardwood floor to cool off. I’ll use food as needed to motivate her to go into her crate.
I expect to see her work well with the structure and positive reinforcement. I expect her to respond well to treats if she isn’t overwhelmed by the structure and e-collar. With clear, persistent communication and expectations, she will learn to be a well-mannered pup!
I gave her dinner and observed how much she ate. I keep track of her weight and will ensure that she maintains her weight while she is with me, although she doesn’t quite fit all the way on the scale in a sit position. She might need to just stand on it.
I've attached the e-collar familiarization video. Please review the video a few times before Ms. Osa's turnover. We'll practice together to make sure you are comfortable with the system before using it with Ms. Osa. There is one small difference between the unit I review in the video and the one you will receive. We are going to start her on the e-collar 1200 model, which does not need to be paired after every charge! Probably the best feature of the 1200. I will work on finding a good level for Ms. Osa tomorrow.
Osa | St. Bernard | Pupdate 08/31/26
Today, Ms. Osa and I headed over to Lady Riveter Park in Long Beach, CA. We met up with Mr. Mike and his pups, Oso and Ruby.
I started the training with a slip lead on Ms. Osa. I wanted to see how she would react to the pressure of the slip lead giving input to Ms. Osa. With a pup as large as Ms. Osa, a prong collar may not give enough pressure through her double coat. A slip lead slides over her head, and we put it up by her ears to apply pressure in the correct locations. I started by working on the "heel" while Oso and Ruby were hanging out on the dog cot. Ms. Osa was actually pretty good with this one. I then had her perform a "sit" and "down" near the two pups. She was able to do this pretty well. I was using treats to keep her motivated. When she performed the command properly, I released the pressure and gave her a treat. Releasing pressure, combined with a well-timed treat, is how we reinforce the desired behavior.
I then introduced the e-collar. I started at 0 and worked my way up. I saw the first signs of responsiveness at level 10. Level 15 seemed to give a good response too. We don't want to have too low a level, as it is more of a tickling sensation than a stimulation. I worked up to about level 30, where I saw the most significant reaction. This is good to know the upper limit. If we go beyond that, then we need to check our equipment or reassess the amount of stimuli. The e-collar is a much better communication tool than the pressure of the leash when it comes to Ms. Osa. The pressure is a lot harder to apply on such a big pup like Ms. Osa. She was quite responsive to the e-collar in a meaningful way. I ended the training with her at about level 15. The e-collar goes up to level 100, so these levels are really good.
We also went for a walk through the park after the video turned off and worked on her "heel". She did well with this task. She did stop and go potty despite letting her out for over an hour before heading out. I think she was more excited to play with Ms. JoJo and Ms. Toji and forgot to use the restroom.
I introduced "sit", "down", "place", "heel", and door manners. I was also able to introduce "Off!" as she was being quite intrusive with Ruby and Oso. Things like door manners are going to go a long way in establishing boundaries and limits with Ms. Osa. She lacks impulse control. She is happy, excited, and intrusive at the wrong times. Due to her large size, it can be overwhelming at times.
She did sleep in her crate last night. She barked for about 15-20 minutes before finally relaxing and calming down. After our training, I had her relax in the crate again.
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