Meet Potato! He's a ten month old English Bulldog from Alhambra, California here for our Two-Week Board and Train Program! He's a sweet and sensitive Bulldog who is extremely friendly! However, he finds it very difficult to follow his basic commands. He loves pulling on his leash, jumping on people, and stealing food from the counter and straight out of people's hands. Over the next fourteen days, we will work on Potato's obedience skills, teach him how to appropriately interact with friends, help him with his manners in and out of the house, and show him how to be the best pup he can possibly be! Stay tuned for Potato's two week transformation
Pupdate: 10/6/2024
After picking up Potato, we stayed at Almansor Park for a bit to get to know each other! He's the friendliest dog I can imagine, and he's settling in well with me. While walking around the park, he displayed his strength by pulling me around as much as he could. Once he got more familiar with me, he started trying to jump on me. He was circling me as we walked and it seemed to me that he was seeking comfort by trying to jump up. Once we got home, he was allowed to sniff around and get familiar with my house. He immediately found my personal dog, and they bowed to each other and tried to play, even though she was crated. My personal puppy is typically very well behaved, so it was clear that they loved each other on first sight. They will be great friends, even though I'm not yet ready to let them play together.
Even though I've only had him for a number of hours, he has gotten roughly a dozen compliments about how cute he his. Now imagine how many he will get when he is cute AND well behaved!
In addition to his pictures today, I'm adding a video tutorial and picture of his new E-collar! Please watch this video as it will make his transition home much more smooth.
Pupdate: 10/7/2024
Potato and I enjoyed our day walking to the park a few different times throughout the day! When starting a longer walk, the first thing I want Potato to understand is the importance of the pressure he will receive from both the leash itself, and also the E-collar. I want him to start learning that hitting the end of the leash means he's going too far and he needs to come back to me. We start very slowly, only moving back and forth across one part of the grass or sidewalk, gradually turning his new loose leash walk into a more precise Heel. For Heel, I still want Potato to follow the pressure from my leash and E-collar, but with his ears more in line with my knee. By using more and more precise corrections throughout our walks, Potato began understanding that Heel means he should return to this position. When I want him to be able to walk more freely, sniff a tree, or anything else he wants to do, I tell him this with the word Break! Potato had the easiest time with his walk when there was a clear path such as a sidewalk. When we were walking around the fields, he had a slightly more difficult time understanding he still needed to be in his Heel position. Also, one of the main things he struggled with today was going in and out of the door respectfully. He would try to burst through the door to start playing as soon as we got home! We practiced simply going in and out more when we got home so he could put the leash manners we worked on to the test! He still needs a lot of work on this, though.
Pupdate: 10/8/2024
Potato and I spent the day at the park today! Since we drove instead of walked, we didn't have the initial walk as a warm up, but we got to warm up around more distractions! He struggled with a few different people we walked by, sometimes wanting to spin around to see them, especially if they came up behind us.
We continued working on his Heel command, as well as his new Place command! For Place, I want Potato to hop onto a raised object, such as a bench, and remain there until I either release him from command or ask him to do something else. This command is great for building confidence out in public, and also is extremely useful at home. While home, I want Potato to have a spot where he can go when I do something that doesn't involve Potato, such as cooking or cleaning. Once he's a little better with it, it will also be useful when having guests over. I use a place cot for this at home, but it can be anything with defined borders, such as a blanket or towel. Starting with something raised, though, makes it much easier for Potato to identify the borders and have a better idea of where exactly I want him to stay. Back at the park, we had to find objects that he can actually hop onto, there were a few benches and objects, but we also practiced a lot with the place cot, which he liked the most!
Pupdate: 10/9/2024
Potato is still pretty excitable at first, but after he calms down a bit and gets some exercise, he starts learning and doing a pretty good job. For example, when we went to Garfield Park this morning, he went back to struggling with distractions, but towards the end of our time there he was willing to learn and work. I would suggest a nice walk for him each morning to help get his wiggles out. We introduced him to his Come To Sit command today, and he ended up getting the hang of it by the end of the day. For this command, I want Potato to Come to my right side, walk around my legs and Sit at my left side with his ears at my knee. Trying to show him these precise movements first thing in the morning was nearly impossible, but once we worked on his Heel and Place commands enough he started being much more engaged with me. Back at home, I also wanted to work on this command, which he did well with, in conjunction with his Place. I started asking him to Come to me from the cot, but then what I found was he started thinking he was supposed to go with me every time I stepped away, so we also worked on holding his Place position. I only want him to leave the place cot if I ask him to Come or Break. This nuance can be difficult to understand, but he's starting to get the difference!
Pupdate: 10/10/2024
Potato and I went to Home Depot today for training! He seems to he settling in to my routine and was much more manageable early this morning. Once we got to the store, he started off very well, he peed in the grass before we entered through the garden center. Other than the occasional sniff of a plant, he behaved much better in this section than I thought he would. We walked around the garden for a while, practicing his commands along the way. Once we got into the store we started running into more obstacles for Potato. The first thing he saw was a giant broom pushing around dirt in front of us, and he immediately turned tail to go back to the garden. With a little guidance, we made it past the broom. There were plenty of people in the store, which I thought would be the biggest issue for Potato, as almost everyone looks at him and tries to greet him. With this, he actually did a great job, mostly ignoring the people. The other distractions, specifically squeaky carts being pushed around, were hit and miss for Potato. He would sometimes walk by with plenty of confidence, but other times want nothing to do with them, even pulling away from them at times. I had trouble identifying exactly which ones he didn't like, but I believe it came down to how fast they were moving. If they were just a tad bit too quick for him, he would have a reaction. There were a few times he was simply curious about an aisle or object, and would stare down it instead of following me or performing his commands, but not too often. Overall, he had some strong reactions to certain things today, but he actually did better here than I expected.
Pupdate: 10/11/2024
Back at Home Depot, Potato had a much better time with the distractions. He was still a bit aloof some of the time, stopping to stare into the distance, but we had far fewer moments where his response was to run or hide from things. He was able to perform most of his commands without guidance from the leash, unless he had one of his moments where he stopped short to look at something. Working on his commands where tons of distractions were present, this happened more often, but he still did pretty well! We're slowly working through his issues, and he's chugging along slowly but surely.
Pupdate: 10/12/2024
Potato and I began working on his commands with his leash dragging today! Allowing the leash to drag gives me some idea of how he might perform off leash while still having access to the leash should I need it. After a fairly extensive warm up using his leash, I started dropping it and relying on my hand gestures, verbal commands, and E-collar to guide him through the motions. It was fairly tough at first, but he started getting the hang of it little by little.
There was a soccer game going on while we were there, so the distractions were pretty tough for Potato, especially the kids running by. He was able to hold a seated position roughly half the time that someone got close to us. To help keep his attention, I'm using the Off command any time he gets distracted. Off is our "do not do" command and can be used for any unwanted behavior, such as jumping. I can also use Off when Potato starts fixating a little too much on the distractions to keep him a little more focused. I'm fairly happy with his performance today regarding his commands, the key from here on out will be getting him around as many different distractions as possible, and having him give me a similar performance!
Pupdate: 10/13/2024
Potato and I continued working on his leash dragging commands around slightly more distractions. I thought for sure the basketball courts would be the toughest for him, but after he heard the bouncing balls a couple times, he seemed to get used to the noise. By far the more difficult area for him today was the pond. There were kids running around, geese and ducks, as well as loud music playing. In this area, I needed to pick up his leash, as he kept trying to dart away. I did notice that most of the time when he broke his commands, it was in the opposite direction of the pond itself, so it is possible he simply didn't like the water. He still did a good job, today, just not in that particular area!
Pupdate: 10/14/2024
Potato and I went to Santa Anita Mall today for training! It was a little much for him. I found him losing focus frequently, so we worked a lot on simply holding his Place/Down commands, to try to relax. There were a few people he seemed suspicious of, and even barked at once. He did put in an admirable effort with his Place command today, though! He often struggles with jumping up on objects due to his size and shape, but I was happy with his effort today. We will be going back to this mall in the hopes that we can ease him in and show him that it isn't too scary. I think the large amount of activity plus the new environments were a little much for him all at once today, though.
Pupdate: 10/15/2024
Potato and I went to Whittier Narrows Park today with several other trainers and their dogs! He didn't seem to mind the other dogs very much, but had a little more trouble performing around the other trainers. He got the opportunity to actually work with a few of the other trainers as well! He wasn't thrilled about performing his commands for the others, but after an extensive warm up he started working for them relatively reliably. Today was a good break for Potato, as it was less intense than the mall yesterday, but he still got a lot of work done around a ton of great distractions!
Pupdate: 10/16/2024
Potato and I went back to Santa Anita Mall today for training! We spent most of our time trying to hold various positions and relax. Once he settles in, he can hold his Place and Down commands quite well, but if he is still warming up, he still wants to pop back up to take in his surroundings. We also tried to get as many people to pet him as possible. With some of these strangers, he was a bit standoffish, but then sniffed and was happy to let them pet him. With others, such as the woman in this video, he immediately loved and had the opposite issue of trying to lean towards them before they offered their hand. Ideally, I want to try to make sure Potato settles into a seated position before asking the person to pet him. If he gets up, I want to reset him into that seated position then resume the greeting once he relaxes a little bit. He did a good job of not jumping on me or any of the strangers! I'd like to get him enough experience with this to the point where he finds a happy middle ground between getting shy and overly excited, where he can be as relaxed as possible no matter the demeanor of the stranger in question. His overall behavior at the mall today was miles better than our first time here. But I'd like to keep going back to try to get his behavior in a mall almost as good as he has been at home with me.
Pupdate: 10/17/2024
Potato and I went back to his favorite mall today! He did roughly the same as yesterday with his commands, although he did better with his greeting manners. I'm trying to get him introduced to as many people as possible, and it seems to be helping! He didn't shy away from anyone today, but stood up for a couple people that he really liked. He still refrained from jumping! Practicing these greeting manners has also helped in other areas of his training by honing his impulse control. His impulse control was practically nonexistent when we started, but is slowly improving. One way building his impulse control helps is with his door manners, which is what I'm showing in today's video. As mentioned in one of his early Pupdates, Potato was a little monster when it came to going through the door! He would spin around try to push past me to get out. He's doing better now, as we practice this a little each time we walk through the door. For the purposes of this video, I have him Sit in front of the door when I open it, for around one minute, but in reality, the goal is for me to be able to open the door without Potato paying much attention to it. Sometimes, I have him on the place cot in the dining room while I open and close the door over and over again to make the door moving a nonevent. When we practice it this way, Potato pops up to see, and he's still anticipating me inviting him through the door, which is better, but still not perfect!
Pupdate: 10/18/2024
Potato and I went to the park today to continue his training! It was extremely windy when we went, which Potato did not like very much. Some of the times we've been here, Potato had some major trouble remaining calm when we got close to the pond, so we spent most of our time around said pond! He did much better than before. We took it very slow, practicing his recall and heel closer and closer to the water. We then started practicing his Place command on the rocks next to the pond! We practiced holding each of his positions in various locations, which is what he previously struggled with the most. He still broke his Down several times, but he had much more fun today than last time, and he was able to do a better job!
Pupdate: 10/19/2024
Potato and I went to Santa Anita Mall today once again! Today was the busiest day we've been there. The first several minutes were tough, and Potato wanted to play around, but after some warm up time, he started behaving pretty well. Heeling in such close proximity to such loud people was the toughest part for him, but he did well with each of his commands, and I was especially proud of him for being able to hold his Sit, Down and Place positions better than he ever has before! He even managed to hold his Down while practicing his greeting manners, which was something I thought he wouldn't be able to do. Today was tough for Potato, but he ended up doing pretty well!
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