Otis | Bernedoodle | Sherman Oaks, CA | In Training
- Alex Kruse
- Dec 21, 2025
- 11 min read
Updated: Jan 3
Meet Otis! He's an 8-month-old Bernedoodle from Sherman Oaks, California, and he's here for our Two Week Urban Board and Train Program. Otis is a sweet, friendly boy who has had prior training as a young pup, but he's starting to really push his boundaries in his teen months. He's doing a lot of pulling on his leash, jumping up on people and couches, darting through doors, and he's a little too much when trying to greet other dogs. Over the next two weeks we'll remind Otis that he does still have to follow through on his commands when told, teach him better manners when greeting people and dogs, get his Heel under control, and make sure he waits at doorways. Stay tuned for Otis's two-week transformation!
12/21/25
We spent some time at the park today just trying to see what Otis could do. It's clear he does know his commands, but he's definitely deciding himself when he wants to listen or not. He's not a heavy dog, but he certainly has a strong pull despite that! Heel is going to be one of the first things we start working on, and while he's very excited while he's coming for his Recall, it's very hit and miss whether he'll come the first time he's asked or not. Considering he knows all his basics already though, I believe it won't take long to get him back in shape with his training. At home he mostly spent some time getting acclimated to his new space. He was a little nervous at first, but settled in just fine after he got a chance to explore. He played with my dogs for a little bit, and is good at reading cues, so I didn't see anything concerning about his behavior there. We'll see if that shifts at all when he's more comfortable and more of his personality starts to come out. We're off to a good start though and I look forward to working with him over the next two weeks!
12/22/25
Mondays are our group practice days with the other trainers and their dogs, so Otis got to start working with distractions right off the bat. I focused mainly on his leash walking today, introducing him to a training lead that goes around his nose to give me extra control. He fought with it a little bit at first, but caught on pretty quickly and was able to give me a decent Heel around the park and past the other dogs. We also worked on teaching him to Sit every time I stop walking, tested his Extended Sit just a little bit, and worked on his Recall some. Mostly for the commands he already knows we're just working on reminding him that he has to follow through as soon as he's told and not ignore his handler. He did pretty good today for his first training session, and I can't wait to see what he can do once he gets used to the routine!
12/23/25
Today I took Otis to a local neighborhood park where I could work him without any distractions. We still focused mainly on our Heel, this time starting with the nose halter, then removing it down to just the slip lead. He was able to fall inline decently well, and is already starting to get the hang of sitting when I stop walking without being told. I then shifted him to a longer lead to test his Recall and distance on his extended Sit. He did really well with both of those, so with the Recall we just have to refine his ability to come to the proper position on the Heel side. We also did a little bit of work with his Down and Place, both of which can definitely use some more practice, but we'll get there! At home he's doing well. The other dogs have accepted him into the pack and they play well together. We're working mostly on the jumping and waiting at doors, but otherwise he's been very well-mannered. He's a little nervous about our Christmas tree, though, so we're working on exposure on that one. Other than that, he's doing great!
12/24/25
Since it's a rainy day I took Otis over to Home Depot to do some indoor practice. He pretty much froze as soon as we stepped in the door! I've noticed he gets a little skittish when he's experiencing new things, so this was good exposure practice for him. I didn't push him too much on anything since he was so nervous, mostly just walked him around on his Heel, did some work with his Sit, and just a little work on his Recall in the more quiet aisles. He was starting to relax more by the end of the session, but was definitely not a fan of the beeping floor cleaner car driving around. It's something to take note of, and I'll be repeating these visits in the future just to get him more used to different indoor atmospheres.
12/25/25
Merry Christmas! Otis had a great day today! Everyone got some holiday doggie cookies with their breakfast this morning, then we went on a nice walk around the neighborhood before the rain could start again. He's getting much better with his Heel every day, and with sitting when I stop. We worked on his Down and Place once we got back, and he did amazing letting me pose him for his Christmas photos. I should be able to work him on a regular flat leash soon as opposed to a slip lead, and he's already catching himself on the jumping instead of me having to tell him anything. If he remembers all his commands and can do them solidly fast enough, I might be able to add in some fun tricks before he goes home! He gets an A+ on his progress for Christmas, and we'll see how much I can do with him in the coming weeks!
12/26/25
It was back to Home Depot for Otis today since the rain came back, but it's good exposure for him anyway. He was much less nervous this time around, and once he realized that people like to pet him there, he felt right at home! We worked on all of his core commands, but I was also able to do quite a bit of work on his greeting manners. He's learned not to jump on me at home, but with strangers he's still very excited to say hello. You can see in the video where the girls come up that I'm putting my foot down on his leash. This makes sure that even if he does jump (which you can see him trying to do initially), he can only get a couple inches off the ground. I made sure the girls understood not to pet him until he stopped trying to jump, then he gave up and lay down on the floor, making it easy for the kids to give him that attention. There were several people who wanted to pet him, so I was able to practice this a few more times during the session. He still needs some work before it becomes instinct to sit instead of jumping, but I'm sure he'll catch on soon enough!
12/27/25
I took Otis out to Old Town Monrovia today, starting at Library Park. He was definitely more distracted by the other dogs who were out and about, so he got more reminders than usual that he still needed to maintain his commands, but the bigger issue was actually his anxiety. I thought he'd be better outside than he was in Home Depot, but he was skittish around anything that wasn't familiar to him. I had to go really slow getting him to realize that the sled and the bear statue in the photos weren't evil, and there were a few other bronze statues I couldn't get him to go near at all. He was nervous passing through the outdoor dining areas as well. Some skittishness isn't a major problem, but just be aware that it will definitely override his need to hold commands if he gets too scared of something. I'll keep working on exposure therapy as much as I can in the upcoming days, but I recommend it's something to keep up on once he gets home. He needs to get out more and experiencing new things while he's still young enough to move past some of that anxiety. Just try to keep it light, fun and rewarding for him, and he should be able to tolerate a lot more as he gets older.
12/28/25
I had a little fun with Otis's training this morning when we got up, just playing around with some new tricks he might learn. I know he can do Shake very well, so I started to teach him High Five with the other paw. He was catching onto that pretty quickly! I also started teaching him Back Up, which is one of the most useful commands I have for my own dogs when I just need a little space. He struggled with that one a little bit, but I think he can get it! On top of that, I really worked him on his Place, extending the time more on how long I expected him to hang out on his cot before releasing him. For our outside session I took him for a walk along a local wash so I could see how well he could do his Heel with almost no leash direction. You can see what I mean about him being nervous in new settings, with him glancing around at noises and shifting his body out of Heel position whenever we went near something he wasn't sure about. For the most part, though, I was able to correct him using only verbal cues, so I think he could do really well even off leash down the line if he can build up a little more confidence. Everything else he did great with!
12/29/25
In my continued mission to expose Otis to different environments, I took him over to PetSmart today where he got a chance to not only work inside again, but around other dogs and temptations. He was, as per usual, a little nervous going in, but he actually relaxed a lot faster here than the other places we've been. I think he knew it was dog-friendly! He was still a little jumpy with noises down aisles he couldn't see, but there was nothing that made him dead stop or forget to listen to commands. We took the opportunity to really work on his Leave It command, making sure he knew not to touch any of the toys, bones, or treats that were easily within reach. We also used it when passing by other dogs so he'd know not to lunge for them. He did incredibly well with all of it today, and of course he got a cookie from the cashier on the way out, which made it all worth it for him!
12/30/25
Another new adventure for Otis today! I took him over to the Santa Anita Mall where we worked mostly around the outdoor area on all his commands, and also took him inside for a small loop to get him used to the noise. He generally did very well with all of it despite how crowded and noisy it was. The only thing that really set him off, as you can see in the video, is when he stepped on that metal plate. It made a sound and he hated it! He recovered quickly enough, but then on the way back, he put on the breaks when he saw the plate again and would not step over it without a lot of coaxing. That then carried over to the metal on the floor outside the elevator. He hopped over it to get inside, then was okay until it started moving. He got just a little anxious about that, and I think it completely blew his mind when the door opened to a totally new place lol. He very much wanted to run out there! So yeah, more things he'll need some practice with so he isn't so afraid of the world out there. Otherwise he's doing very well with all his commands.
12/31/25
Today I wanted to show off some of Otis's house manners, most importantly the waiting at the door. He still has some puppy impulses he has to fight, but he's relatively self-correcting now or will respond to just a small verbal. He should not be going through doors or gates without being released to do so, he should wait before getting to eat, and we've taught him to stop and sit before loading up into the car. He'll get into the crate in the car no problem now, as opposed to those first few days when I had to lift him into it lol. He's also gotten better at maintaining his Place until released when he's just hanging out with us in the living room with the tv on. He still needs reminders not to get up and follow when we get up and move around, but he'll listen just fine to those verbal cues. His jumping has gotten a lot better too. You can see him thinking about it, see the shift in his body, then he'll remember on his own that he's supposed to sit. He gets all the attention when he self corrects like that, so it makes it worth it for him!
1/1/26
It was back to the mall for us today, this time doing a whole stroll around the inside. It was pretty crowded, but the only major issues we ran across were still with those metal plates in the floor! He remembered! We had to walk over several of them while we were wandering through the mall, and eventually he realized they weren't a portal to a new dimension of unspeakable horrors. He was aware of them, but walking over them without flinching by the time we left. We worked on all the commands he's learned and did some more work with his greeting manners. There were no attempts to jump on anyone! He did want to shake hands, but he was sitting and polite, and the people loved the handshake lol. The only time I had to use the collar at all was to remind him he couldn't go say hi to a small, hyper dog that was trying to get to him first. He fell right back in line with the correction and didn't try bothering any of the other dogs who wandered by. He did really great today!
1/2/26
Since we had a nice little break in the rain, I took Otis out to a fenced-in park to do a little practice on all his commands around kids. He did great, as he has been, being attentive to the kids playing and to the other dogs in the park, but he didn't try to run over to greet anybody. I even took him off leash for just a little bit to work on his Recall, and while he did have an initial moment of "I'm free! I can do what I want!" a quick reminder with the collar set him straight again. He did his work, and then I let him have some free play time to sniff around and just be a dog. It was a great day overall!
1/3/26
It's our last Pupdate in your two week program! The rain gave us a little break today after all, so I was able to take Otis out on one of my favorite trails for a fun last day. It seemed everyone else in the area had the same idea, so we passed by a lot of people on bikes, joggers, and of course other people with their dogs. I traded back and forth between walking Otis on his Heel and letting him just have the lead on the long line. As long as he wasn't pulling and wasn't trying to run up on anybody, he was allowed freedom. He did really great with just verbals with the exception of when a small, reactive dog was lunging at him. He took that as "play with me!" and tried to wander over, but a small correction on the collar with a firm "Leave It" had him changing his mind right away. Other than that, he was a perfect hiking companion!
Otis has been a fun guy to work with overall. He's still definitely got some teenage pup impulses he'll have to control, but he's pretty quick at following through with some reminders. His confidence has built up quite a bit over these two weeks, but I would still very much recommend getting him out and exposed to as many new things as possible. Once he gets through his puppy stage and feels more comfortable with new things, he's going to be an absolutely wonderful dog. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of his learning journey!
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