Meet Ozzy! Ozzy is a one year old Blue Heeler from Ventura, California, here for our Two-Week Board and Train program! He is very sweet, however he has issues jumping, pulling on his leash, greeting other dogs, and following basic commands. Over the next fourteen days, we'll be showing Ozzy how to behave on and off leash, and how to properly greet people and other dogs! Stay tuned for Ozzy's two-week transformation!
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Pupdate: 8/21/2022
After picking up Ozzy, we played around in Reseda Park for a while, and it seemed like Ozzy warmed up to me quickly! After the park, we went home, where I let Ozzy sniff around my house and tried to get him used to being here! Ozzy is definitely a puller on the leash, but over all he seems very sweet and ready to learn!
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Pupdate: 8/22/2022
Ozzy and I went to Wilderness Park today for his first full day of training! We worked on his Heel, Sit, and Come To Sit commands. He already mostly knows how to sit, but I'd like him to become more responsive when asked to do so, and I'd like him to be able to hold his sit for longer periods of time! For Heel, I'd like him to walk next to me with his ears at my knee, without pulling ahead or veering to the side. For Come To Sit, I'd like Ozzy to come to my right side, walk around my legs, and sit on my left side with his ears at my knee. As you can see from today's video, Ozzy is doing a great job with all of these so far!
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Pupdate: 8/23/2022
Ozzy went to Almansor Park today! He did a really good job with the commands we've been working on. He seemed a little nervous today at the beginning. A lot of people jog around the park, and if someone came up behind us he would get a little startled. After about an hour or so, he got much more relaxed! We started working on his Place command today! For Place, I want Ozzy to hop up onto a raised object such as a bench. I believe this will help with Ozzy's confidence in new places. I noticed Ozzy hasn't been eating all of his food, so I'm adding some water to his food to get the aroma rising and get Ozzy more interested. This seems to be working, but if Ozzy doesn't eat all of his food tomorrow, I'll add a small amount of peanut butter to entice him.
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Pupdate: 8/24/2022
Ozzy went to Pathfinder Park for training! He seemed a lot more relaxed today. We spent a lot of time working on his Come To Sit command, since that seems to be the one he's struggling with the most. He will come to me reliably, but then he likes to sit right behind me rather than coming all the way to my left side. After some repetitions of the command, he seems to be a lot more comfortable with it! In today's video, you'll see us Heel and perform the Place command several times. Ozzy seems to really like this command and he's getting extremely good at it!
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Pupdate: 8/25/2022
Ozzy went to Citadel Outlets today for training! This is the most populated and distraction filled area we've been to so far. Ozzy was very nervous when we first got there, but after walking around and checking out the area, he seemed to calm down. Even while he was nervous, he nailed all of his commands! We introduced the Down command today, as well. He wasn't fond of it at first, but he quickly got used to lying down, even with several people walking by!
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Pupdate: 8/26/2022
Ozzy went to Huntington Beach today for training! He was nervous at first, but not nearly as much as at Citadel Outlets yesterday! This shows me he's definitely acclimating to these high distraction areas. He didn't even seem to get too spooked by the many bikes riding by! In today's video, you'll see Ozzy go through most of his commands. He only makes one mistake in the video; he gets up from a down position before I ask him to. Other than that, he did great all day!
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Pupdate: 8/27/2022
Ozzy went to my local park today for training! He nailed all of his commands on leash, so I decided to try working with him while his leash dragged on the ground. This gives me some idea of how he'll do off leash, while still allowing me access to the leash if I need it. He did great! He made only one mistake while heeling. He got spooked by someone behind us and veered a few feet to the side for a second, but he quickly regained his position and kept moving with me! He did excellently with all of his other commands.
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Pupdate: 8/28/2022
Ozzy went to Brace Canyon Park today to continue his training with the leash dragging! In the above video, you'll see Ozzy demonstrate his ability to perform his commands with the leash dragging. In the video, he makes one mistake around the one minute mark. He walks too far forward during a Come To Sit. At that point, I have him come back around to do it again. Whenever your pup makes a mistake like that, it's important to have them follow through with whatever you ask of them! This is a very minor mistake for Ozzy, and I believe he will be off leash for all of his future training sessions in parks. For more distracting environments, I'll still have him on leash for the first half hour to an hour of training, because he can be very nervous at the start of those sessions. However, based on the way his commands and his demeanor are progressing, I don't think he'll have many issues cutting that time in half over the next few days.
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Pupdate: 8/29/2022
Ozzy was off leash at Hollydale Park today! He did a great job almost all day. He was very relaxed and confident off leash, and performed each command almost flawlessly. He did break his position one time to try to sniff another pup, but he came back fairly quickly when I called. He didn't make any more mistakes like that for the rest of the day! He seems to be adjusting well to being off leash, although I will still start him on leash when we go to new and more challenging areas!
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Pupdate: 8/30/2022
Ozzy went to Home Depot today for training! He was very nervous so I kept the leash on him while we were there. He eventually started to calm down, but he still got spooked by certain noises. In the above video, you can tell Ozzy is nervous by how much he's looking around anytime something happens. About halfway through, a guy with a cart comes up and Ozzy doesn't seem to want to go near it. When I ask him to come, he wants to come straight to my left side rather than to my right like normal. He follows through each time, but his movements are very choppy. In the garden center he did much better, though! There was less noise and movement, so he did a great job with all of his commands there!
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Pupdate: 8/31/2022
Ozzy went to Montebello Mall today! He was very nervous almost the whole time, but he started to calm down a bit about halfway through. He was able to be off leash a little less than half the time, but that's still good progress for him! We worked on all of his commands, and he did very well with them on and off leash. We also spent a lot of time just sitting in crowded spots letting people pass Ozzy. Luckily, there were several people who wanted to pet Ozzy, so he got a lot of experience being approached by strangers! He would get very nervous at first, but then loosen up when they started scratching his ears!
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Pupdate: 9/1/2022
Ozzy went to Santa Anita Mall today for training! He adjusted a little better than yesterday, so I think he's making good progress! That being said, he was still very nervous at first in the new place. He was able to go off leash for about half the time!
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Pupdate: 9/2/2022
Ozzy went to Fashion Island today! He did a great job all around. He was still a tad bit nervous, but acclimated to his surroundings much faster than he has the last few days. He was able to go off leash sooner and for longer because of that! For his video today, I wanted to show some of the manners we've been working on. For food manners, I want Ozzy to sit when I put food in front of him, without trying to gobble it down before I release him! For his door manners, I want to be able to open my door and have Ozzy sit and wait without trying to rush out before me. We've been working on these each day, and Ozzy has done well with them!
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Pupdate: 9/3/2022
Ozzy and I had a mostly relaxing day today for his last full day of training! We went to the park early in the morning, but it very quickly got hot. We spent the rest of the day working inside! I've added some pictures from Fashion Island yesterday, but today's video focuses on more of Ozzy's manners! For his Greeting manners, I want Ozzy to sit nicely while being approached by a stranger and let them pet him without dodging his head or backing away! This was very difficult for Ozzy at first. He often wanted to retreat behind me, but after a while he gained the confidence needed! For his car manners, I want Ozzy to hop into the car when asked, and walk directly into his kennel. Ozzy never really had any issues with this one! He started picking it up as soon as I started with him!
Ozzy has been a great pleasure to work with for the last two weeks. He's extremely loving and gentle, and I will miss him dearly when he goes home!
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