Pepper | Husky X | Pasadena, CA | In Training
Updated: 8 hours ago
Meet Pepper! She's a year-and-a-half-old Husky/Border Collie Mix from Pasadena, California, and she's here for our Two Week Urban Board and Train Program. Pepper is a smart girl who loves people, but she can be a bit dominant with other dogs and will lunge and bark at them while on leash. She also has a tendency to pull, she has issues coming when called, and she jumps. Over the next two weeks we'll get her shaped up when it comes to listening to all her commands, we'll show her how to properly walk on a loose leash, and teach her that she doesn't need to go after other dogs. We'll also make sure she knows what proper greeting manners look like! Stay tuned for Pepper's two-week transformation!
9/1/26
Today was a getting-to-know-eachother day, and at the park I learned that Pepper is really good with her Sit command, and also really wants to dig at ground squirrel holes! She's definitely easily distracted, and has a solid pull on that leash. I was excited when she came when I called her, but was very quickly surprised when she flew right past me! I can see that she's a smart dog, so I believe she'll able to learn those commands pretty quickly once I can get her to focus in. For now, though, I need to work on her letting her know she can't walk all over me! At home she settled in pretty well in the dog run adjacent to the play yard where she could see the other dogs play, and they could also sniff each other through the fence. That went just fine, but when I tried to actually introduce her to the others? I learned very quickly that she's a really dominant lady. She did somewhat okay with the dogs who weren't paying her any mind, but if anyone even remotely tried to correct her for attempting to hover over them, it was clear that she'd be ready to put them in their place in ways that were not going to be appropriate. That being said, for now she'll be hanging out in her own space, and I can try again later if she seems to adjust to the other dogs being nearby. Inside the house she was certainly curious about everything! I had her on leash in the main parts of the house to make sure she didn't get into things, then let her off when she was inside the room where she'd be sleeping. She found the toys pretty quickly, and I introduced her to her crate, which she settled right down in without issues. I can tell her impulse control is going to be a bit of a challenge, but she's a sweet girl and I'm looking forward to working with her!
9/2/26
I took Pepper out to Pamela Park today, which is a little park in my area that typically has a few scattered people, but otherwise is pretty quiet. I wanted to work her with very little distraction since she's one of those dogs that wants to be everywhere all at once doing all the things! I let her sniff and wander around a bit first just to bring some of that energy down, then we got to work on her basic commands introducing the release word, "Break!" to her so she can begin learning that she cannot break those commands until she hears that word. She definitely has a hard time staying still in one place for too long, so I kept her extended Sit and Down short and simple for her today while she's catching onto the concept. She was picking up on the Heel command fairly quickly, which surprised me some considering how much of a puller she is! I kept a treat lure in front of her face for a little while just to show her where her alignment should be, and also to get her used to following my hand. Then I was able to already begin fading the lure, which means I hold the treat up against my chest and only give her a piece of it after several steps. This helps her keep her focus on me while walking, as well - if she's looking up at me because I have the treat, then she's not looking at all those other distracting things around her! I'll be able to fade that out eventually, as well, but for right now I really need to get her to start checking in regularly. Once you lose her attention it can be a little difficult to get it back! She was more relaxed today at home when it came to the other dogs. She was watching them more with a playful eye and less of a challenging one, which is hopeful. I still didn't feel ready to try her with anyone just yet, but we'll see how she's engaging tomorrow. If she seems like she's going to behave, I'll see about integrating her again with a couple of mellow, non-dominant dogs. If that doesn't pan out, I would simply suggest she doesn't get play time with others unless you know she's very familiar with the other dog, and the other dog doesn't try to challenge her. And that's totally okay! Not all dogs are going to be social creatures, just the same as how some people are introverts. She can get plenty of play and exercise with her people just fine, and a little bit of training work per day is a great way to help wear her out!
9/3/26
Today Pepper and I wandered over to yet another little neighborhood park to practice. It's always hit and miss whether there are kids on the playground or not, which there weren't today, but there was a group of people just offscreen to the left who were hanging out at the picnic tables. It was pretty much what I wanted - distractions that were closer to us, but not so intense that they would trigger Pepper's impulsiveness. She actually did really great with that today, I'm pleased to report. She was much more attentive in general today and willing to show some patience so she could get those rewards. Her Heel was much cleaner without me having to rely quite as much on the leash pressure, she held her Sits and Downs for much longer, and she's beginning to grasp the coming around into the sit when I call her. I figured she'd catch on quick with her breed and all! I also introduced her to Place today using the picnic table as her frame of reference. She was a little bit wary of laying down on it the first few times, and pretty quick to pop back up, but she got it down pretty well after running through it several times. I'll gradually increase the amount of time she's expected to be in her Place position for, as well as adding more distractions and creating some distance from her. We're at a good place to start, though!
9/4/26
I decided to mix it up a little bit today and took her to Home Depot so I could see how Pepper worked in an indoor public space. She was a little bit nervous at first, as most dogs tend to be when I take them in there, but she perked up more and more as we wandered through the store. There was a surprising lack of forklifts or floor cleaners moving around today, so I didn't get to see her reaction to those, but she was very much unbothered by the big Halloween decorations. That's a great thing, as it means you'll be able to still walk her around your neighborhood as we get closer to Halloween without worrying about her panicking. She only did a little bit of pulling here and there, but she responded quickly to corrections, and she got into and held her picture poses for me without any issues. She's improving pretty quickly each day, and I was really happy with how well-mannered she was in the store today! As far as other dogs go, she will now do a few play bows along the fence with them, and they'll play some chase games with her here and there, but the moment I tried to put a dog in with her that she's seen and sniffed and been close to every day, she still went immediately back to posing over him, hackles up and trying to dominate. He's really good about it and didn't really care, and she settled down once she realized that, but as of now I am still very much going to suggest she should not be in play groups or greet other dogs while out walking. We can make sure the walks are peaceful without her reacting to passing dogs, but I think that can shift very quickly depending on how the other dog(s) may react to her trying to be in charge. Outside of that, though, she's really been progressing, and I know she'll keep on getting better over the rest of her stay!
9/5/26
Pepper and I went to go work in Lucinda Garcia Park today, which has a nice walking trail all the way around it and playgrounds that draw in rambunctious kids. Her attention kept wandering to the playground, but I was able to get her to focus back on me by just saying her name, and the distractions didn't cause her to break her commands at all. She's finally able to Sit and Down for extended periods of time in a more relaxed pose where I don't feel like she's going to bolt the second I take my eyes off her, and she comes when called without issues, but we're still working on her coming into that solid Heel position at the end of the recall. She's gotten a lot better walking on the leash with almost no pulling at all, but she still has a few space cadet moments here and there where she forgets to pay attention to where I'm moving and she starts drifting off. She's pretty good about coming right back when I give her a little verbal cue that she needs to stay at that Heel, and she's catching onto going into her Sit whenever I stop walking. She did really well today overall, and I'm excited to see how much she'll continue to improve moving forward!
9/6/26
We took advantage of the rainy day and went to PetSmart to do some more indoor work. Other people clearly had the same idea, so there were plenty of people and some other dogs to work around. I didn't make her pass any of the dogs in the narrow aisles (I don't think she's quite ready for that yet!), but I made sure to chase some down at a reasonable distance to practice keeping her on her Heel when she was distracted. She did a little bit of pulling here and there, but she was quick to back down with mostly just verbal corrections and a short tug on the leash, so we're seeing improvement! She was also really good with getting into her poses and staying there, but I definitely had to cheat and use a treat lure to get her to look in my direction. There was so much going on, she couldn't decide what to look at! Overall, she did really well in there, especially considering her breed blend, and the fact that we still aren't even a week into her training yet. I'm really proud of her today!
9/7/26
It was still a little sprinkly this morning and definitely muggy, so I headed to the mall with the intention of doing some indoor work, but completely forgot to consider the holiday madness! The place was packed, and I didn't feel like Pepper would be quite ready for that much chaos just yet, so we worked outside in the promenade area where it's generally a little less crazy. As it turned out, she was less worried about the foot traffic as she was about the escalators! She wouldn't go anywhere near them, so naturally I made her work close by anyway just for some exposure therapy while we were at it. I didn't ever drag her over closer than what she could tolerate, so she was able to relax a little more as we worked, but she was still a bit nervous and a little clingier than usual. She broke that Sit a couple times trying to stick by me, but she was able to get it right after only those couple corrections. On the other hand, I'm glad she now preferred to be in her Heel instead of breaking the command to try to run off and play! I did finally capture her response to another dog in close vicinity. Her interest in the other dog was still a little more than what I would like, but she was able to Sit with no lunging or barking. We did pass a couple more dogs on the way out and she wasn't as interested in them, but they were bigger dogs and we know her issue is more with the little guys. Considering the larger crowd than I was expecting and the surprise fear of escalators, she did really well today overall, and now I know I need to get her around escalators more with some really good treats!
9/8/26
It was still raining today, so we found ourselves back at Home Depot for another indoor practice. I'm very pleased to be able to say that today was Pepper's 'clicking in' day, which typically happens around the one week point, so she's right on schedule! By that I mean it's almost a night and day difference where we go from fumbling a little bit with the commands, to being able to do everything pretty smoothly without any corrections and almost no leash pressure. She was flying through all our exercises, so for the first time since I've had her out, I switched my lead from slip collar mode to just clipping it to her flat collar. That gives her more pulling leverage if she wanted to, but she stayed right with me and performed all her commands without relying on those leash corrections at all. She was attentive, she wasn't fighting me on anything, and she wasn't worried about anyone else passing by. She really did amazing today! And then for a bonus I couldn't help snapping a pic at the skeleton bbq setup as we were heading out. She laid right down on that set like she totally belonged!
9/9/26
Fourth day inside but this time it was because of the insanely high heat! We went to the mall again and wandered around inside this time since it was less crowded. Pepper was still working just fine with the leash simply clipped to her flat collar, even as we passed other dogs and small, excited children running around. I made her sit in front of the booth with the little squeaking, walking puppy toys and she didn't try to eat any of them either lol. I also worked quite a bit on her fear of escalators. I coaxed her closer and closer to them using good treats until she was able to sit next to them without being stressed. She followed all of her commands without hesitation, and stuck to my side with no issues during the Heel. I feel like I could've just hung out there and shopped without worrying about whether she'd behave or not. She was the perfect, well-mannered pup today!
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