Meet Pete, a four month old Giant Schnauzer puppy from Woodland Hills, CA! Pete has joined us for a Three Week Puppy Board and Train Program. Pete is here with us because his pawrents wanted to set him up for success in life and to work on some of his behaviors like overly excitedly jumping on people, mouthing and pawing, pulling on the leash, pottying in his bed, and learning to be more independent! Over the course of the next three weeks, Pete will work on general obedience, doorway manners, greeting manners, potty training and learning to properly socialize! Stay tuned for his progress!
Pupdate 12/11/2022
Today Pete and I met for the first time at Pan Pacific Park and I took some time to get to know him better. He is certainly an energetic puppy who is just now learning about being out and about. He is interested in everything around him and is quite adorable even when he wants to say hi by mouthing my hand. Afterwards, we took some time to get him accustomed to his new temporary home and his surroundings. We took a nice walk in the city and let him soak in the noise and road traffic. I look forward to beginning our training tomorrow but for now, I will let him settle in! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/12/2022
Today Pete and I worked on "heel, come to sit, sit and down" and not jumping up on me. I decided to use treats as a way of teaching little Pete the desired movements and behaviors. However, I instantly regretted doing so because he's not a Schnauzer, he's an alligator. He comes in mouth open and attempts to eat the treat, my fingers and hand. Not to mention the terrifying clack of his teeth when I chicken out and he misses....I will have to adjust my hand positioning or use gloves to protect my fingers from the Schnauzeragator. He is very food driven and eager to please so that makes luring and shaping the best way to teach him all the positions and exercises. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/13/2022
Today Pete and I had a fun session practicing “sit, down, come to sit and heel”. When I picked Pete up, no one told me I would end up picking up a snapping turtle. We worked on taking treats or food with some level of control and by the end, there was a 50/50 chance of my finger being bit. Pete is a very willing learner and we will continue to work on guiding him in the right direction. He is already learning to walk at heel without pulling and pottying outside when he needs to! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/14/2022
Today Pete and I went to the park to meet with other Offleash SoCal trainers to work on our “heel, sit, come to sit and down”. Pete is doing so much better about taking treats and we incorporated the use of a clicker for now. He’s doing very well with his potty training and has been going potty on schedule on his walks. He only had one potty accident on Monday and required a bath. Pete is a sweet puppy but is wary of strangers walking at a distance and will bark at them until they walk closer. We will work on this slight reactivity with proper socialization and focus on incorporating training in more populated locations. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/15/2022
Today Pete and I worked on "heel, sit, down, come to sit and car load up manners". Because Pete is still so young and we want to be mindful of his growing joints, I introduced the car load up manners with a pet ramp. Pete is ever so cautious of jumping up onto elevated platforms and is very hesitant of coming down as well. We have also begun working on adding more duration to his exercises as he is very easily distracted by all that goes around him. We are still working on his barking at strangers which stems from his unfamiliarity to strangers and his naturally wary nature. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/16/2022
Today Pete and I had some fun! He met his roommate, Maxwell, the 10 month old Black Lab and we all went on a beautiful scenic walk together. I wanted to make today a more fun day of socialization for Pete. I noticed that he isn't quite well socialized with other dogs and he makes it a point to avoid dogs who try to sniff him. Maxwell is an absolutely gentle giant and is so patient with Pete! For the first time, Pete initiated interest and introduced himself with kisses as Maxwell sat patiently for Pete to get comfortable. Once they got to know each other better, we walked together and I believe, they are now the best of friends. I hope that this helps Pete with his confidence and to feel less afraid of other dogs. Unfortunately, our walk had to end before we reached our destination because I had a bad fall and hurt my foot. After we had some rest at home, we ended the night with car load up manners. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/17/2022
Today Pete and I joined another Offleash SoCal Trainer on a visit to the Citadel Outlets for an outing! There were LOTS and LOTS of people there and Pete was able to greet a couple of strangers. He was certainly really excited about the new surroundings and maybe even a little overwhelmed, but he seemed to do relatively well despite never having been in a crowd like today. We practiced "heel, sit and down" at the mall and we will be back soon for more. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/18/2022
Today Pete and I ended our day with a night session at the park! I introduced leash pressure and Pete did quite well for the most part. We are working on curbing his mouthing as he does tend to do so on the rare occasions that he feels slightly overwhelmed. We worked on "heel, sit, down and extended sit". He is doing better with the durations on his exercises but in a field of yummy grass, he gets distracted for his downs. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/19/2022
Today Pete and I went for another adventure to a scenic area to practice our exercises in a different environment. We saw a lot of wildlife including a beautiful pair of deer! Pete needs work with his durations so we did just that with different strangers walking by us with their dogs. He did okay but we will continue to challenge him to work on his exercises in various ways. On a happy note, he no longer barks at strangers and is doing very well with learning to just pass by strangers without reaching out to sniff. A couple of strangers wanted to greet him and he would try to give them his paw so we will continue to incorporate calmer energy during greeting manners. He also encountered stairs for the first time with me and he was a bit hesitant but conquered his fear!!! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/20/2022
Today Pete and I went to Pan Pacific Park to work with another Offleash SoCal trainer! Pete had a chance to work on his "heel, sit, come to sit and down" with the other trainer. It is important to add variety into training to ensure that our pups can transition back to their owners well so we continued with our exercises despite him wanting to come back to my side. His "downs" have improved immensely and he does not redirect anymore!! Such a huge win for Pete because that was one of the biggest struggles we had. We ended our night with a training session at Home Depot and Pete did much better this time and didn't bark at everyone walking by. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/21/2022
Today Pete and I worked immensely on duration with our exercises. We worked on “place” on an elevated bed to help him from getting distracted by the things on the floor. We are slowly working our way up and he is doing better to wait for our “break” to get up. He barked at someone on a scooter yesterday so we went on the hunt to find a scooter in town and he got introduced to one with treats! For Pete, helping him see new sights and introducing the unfamiliar is absolutely crucial because he is still so young and wary. We will take a trip to a skatepark tomorrow and see how he does! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/22/2022
Today Pete and I went to the Citadel Outlets to begin practicing for our final video! There were lots of holiday shoppers and plenty of distractions to work through but Pete did generally well. He had a hard time jumping up for place but that's not surprising as he has always been hesitant about jumping up to an elevated level. His duration is coming together and he did better to stay focused on his exercises while people cooed at him. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/23/2022
Today Pete and I tackled a challenge today! Pete has always been very scared of heights and stairs, so today, we took some time to work on building his confidence up around stairs! He immediately pulled the brakes on me when we got to the staircase to go down so I decided to slowly introduce the stairwell by placing him at the bottom of the stairs and encouraging him to go up instead! Once he started feeling more confident with going up the stairs, going down the stairs became a lot easier. After our session, I gave him a short water break and when we got back to the stairs at the top, he was much more comfortable about going down to the bottom! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/24/2022
Today Pete and I went to the Whittier Narrows Recreational Park to work on "place" on a park bench! As you can see in the video, Pete is a little hesitant at first about jumping up and once he gets it, he does it with ease! He is doing so much better with his durations and although he needs reminding from time to time, it's still a huge improvement! We will continue to work on his "come to sits" and place tomorrow! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/25/2022
Today Pete and I spent our Christmas training at the park nearby! There were lots of distractions, other dogs, people and a metro train going back and forth by where we were practicing our exercises. Pete is doing much better with not getting all too distracted and we will continue exposing him to different environments to help him! He practiced "extended sit, extended down, place, heel and come to sit". Stay tuned for more and Merry Christmas!
Pupdate 12/26/2022
Today Pete and I began working on doorway manners without the elevated bed! He has been practicing "place" on different elevated objects for the last few days so I thought it was time to see how he would do without a bed or set boundary and he did so well! His durations are coming together and he is certainly understanding the exercises well. He is also a lot better about managing his excitement throughout the exercises and not getting all too distracted. We will be going to Home Depot today to see how he will do with more distractions! Stay tuned for more-
Pupdate 12/27/2022
Before our trip to Home Depot, Pete and I went to the park to work with distractions happening around us. There were many dogs off leash, squeaking of toys, and people playing basketball. Pete was certainly very interested in watching everything happening around him as he is still learning neutrality in different environments. We worked on “place, sit, down and come to sit” and he did well. We will continue working on his durations and clarity of his exercises as he needs some more work in busy environments. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/28/2022
Today Pete and I worked on all of our commands at Home Depot and ended the night at another park. He has shown much more confidence in climbing up onto elevated objects for place and holding for extended sits and downs. He gave warning barks to strangers at the park but understandably so since it was dark out and harder to see people walking by. We finished our session with some obstacle course fun on the playground and he even went up on the wobbly bridge! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/29/2022
Today Pete and I went to the Citadel Outlets to practice for our final video! Pete seemed to be a little overwhelmed this visit and had a hard time focusing on the exercises at hand. We did train late into the night the day before so he could just be feeling a little off. We practiced more of our "come to sits and extended sits" as those were the exercises that Pete had a hard time with today. Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/30/2022
Today Pete and I went to the Citadel Outlets to record our final video! Pete did really well this visit and even though it was drizzling, little Pete worked on all of his exercises like a champ! He was able to work past a large dog barking aggressively at him and sat without mouthing for his greeting manners. We are super excited to show his pawrents all that he has learned! Stay tuned for more!
Pupdate 12/31/2022
Today Pete and I finished going over the rest of our manners in preparation for him to go home. We worked on our "doorway manners, load up manners and food manners". He is doing very well on the elevated bed for "place "now and being more polite about waiting for his food. We are looking forward to showing his pawrents all that he has learned over the last two weeks. Stay tuned for more!
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