Meet Romy, she's a nearly eight-year-old Dachshund from Sierra Madre, California! This sweet and playful pup is here with us for our Two Week Board and Train Program, where we will work on teaching her basic obedience and manners. She has limited knowledge of obedience commands, and struggles to listen reliably when asked to do something. She tends to be a bit stubborn at times, and has some poor habits such as pulling on the leash, barking at dogs and strangers, and jumping to greet people. Over the next fourteen days, we will be working to create structure and improve her obedience, discipline, and manners to set her on the right path to becoming a well-behaved pup. Stay tuned for her transformation!
Pupdate 1/7/2025
Today Romy and I spent the day bonding and getting to know each other at the park after she was dropped off with me. She barked at me when we first met, but ended up being very happy to greet me and get to know me. While walking around the park, she seemed eager to explore but also a bit overwhelmed by the distractions around us. Her attention span is definitely on the lower end, and she struggled to pay attention to me for more than a fleeting moment as she often wanted to sniff and look around. She also barked at any dogs or people who were nearby us, though after a few barks she would shift her attention elsewhere and seemingly forget about them. Romy also seemed to enjoy trying to play tug of war with her leash, and was often biting at and playing with it during our visit.
While at the park, I also tested her current knowledge of commands to see if she's had any prior training, and what areas may need some extra focus on going forward. I asked her basic commands such as Come, Heel, Sit, Down, and Place, but she was more focused on her surroundings rather than anything I was asking of her. She would sometimes Come over to me when called with lots of excitement and encouragement, though she would rarely come all the way to me, and mostly ignored the recall cue and her name. When asked to Heel, she didn't seem to recognize the command at all and was almost always at the end of the leash walking around wherever she pleased rather than staying next to me. She didn't seem to understand or have any interest in performing Sit or Down, and was unable to perform either command when prompted. I asked her to Place on some low, easy to reach objects, but she didn't seem to understand what was being asked of her for this command either.
After our time at the park, it was time to head home and get her settled into my home. She was unable to jump into my car on her own, but was comfortable with being picked up and placed into the car, and seemed okay with entering the kennel as well, which was a good display of Car Manners. Anytime Romy is to ride in a car with me, she will be secured in a kennel for her utmost safety. She will also be in a kennel at home during nighttime or any other time she is unsupervised. Once home, she seemed a bit nervous about the new environment, but after being offered a small treat and a comfy place to relax, she settled in and gradually became more confident about exploring around. Later, we went out for a walk around my neighborhood to help her become familiar with the area. Starting tomorrow, will be taking walks around the neighborhood multiple times daily to work on obedience training. When exiting the house to start our walk, Romy kept trying to run out the door as soon as it was opened, so we will also be working to improve her Door Manners to make sure she can respect the boundary a doorway creates as this will help keep her safe. During dinner time she was pretty excited, and was jumping on me a lot in anticipation for her food, so we will also be working on her Food Manners! Overall she seems to be settling in nicely, and we are so excited to begin this training journey together!
Pupdate 1/8/2025
Today Romy and I visited a park, where we trained around some distractions. The park had children, other dogs, people, and lots of squirrels around! We focused on improving her understanding of leash pressure and e-collar stimulation, as well as introducing the Heel command during today's session.
Pressure is a fundamental tool used in teaching basic obedience commands. The idea is that whenever pressure is applied, be it from a leash or an e-collar, it is paired with a command. The pressure then remains present until Romy follows the pressure and the command being given. The moment she follows through, the pressure immediately turns off and a reward is given. Yesterday, whenever the leash was used to apply pressure, she would tend to resist it, stop moving, or try to pull in the opposite direction, and made no attempt to turn the pressure off, so it was clear she didn't quite understand the concept of leash pressure just yet. We spent a good amount of time focusing on teaching her what leash pressure means, and how to turn off the pressure once it's applied. After a while of practicing with this, she did much better and began showing a good understanding of leash pressure! In order to properly introduce the e-collar, it's very helpful for Romy to first have a solid understanding of leash pressure, as this is the most simple form of pressure due to the clear directional guidance it provides. Once she understood the leash pressure, we began adding in a new form of pressure from the e-collar. By pairing these two forms of pressure simultaneously, she will come to understand that each pressure has the same meaning. With time and practice, this will allow the leash and e-collar to be used interchangeably. Be sure to check out today's video for an in-depth e-collar tutorial!
Heel is an important command for Romy to begin developing early on in her training, as her habit of pulling every which way on the leash makes walking with her a challenging task. The goal for the Heel command is for Romy to be able to follow directly alongside her handler on their left side at their heels, and maintain that position while walking unless released or given a new command. This precise positioning takes a lot of practice to master, but it will effectively eliminate pulling on the leash or veering off in different directions, and allow her handler to take the lead on walks instead of her trying to pull them around wherever she pleases. To introduce this command, I kept the leash short but loose, and ensured she stayed on my left side in roughly the Heel position as we walked. If she began to veer off, pull ahead, fall behind, or otherwise create tension on the leash, leash and e-collar pressure were applied, and the verbal command Heel was given until she returned to the desired position. During Heel, her sole focus should be following her handler's lead, and as such she needs to remain neutral to and ignore her environment, which means no sniffing, barking, staring at distractions, or otherwise becoming distracted. When walking in the correct Heel position, the leash was loose, no pressure was applied, and lots of praise and rewards were given to create value in this position. As she gets better with this command, she will have an easier time staying in the Heel position without as much guidance needed, and will need to be given reminders less frequently. Overall she did a good job today and seemed to catch on pretty quickly, though more work will need to be done before she can Heel reliably, especially around distractions.
As an additional note, we are keeping a close eye on the local wildfires throughout Los Angeles, and should any threaten my residence we have evacuation plans prepared to ensure everyone's safety. We are also monitoring the air quality from the smoke, and should it worsen to the point where it is unhealthy to breathe, we will either train at indoor locations or travel to an outdoor location that is not affected.
Pupdate 1/9/2025
Today Romy and I worked on her training while inside my home to avoid spending too much time outside due to the poor air quality. We focused on introducing her to the Place command, and working on her door manners.
The goal for the Place command is for Romy to jump or climb onto a designated object, such as a bench, a bed, or another object with defined borders, and hold a stationary command such as Sit or Down while remaining on the Place object until she is released or given a new command. We introduced this command today using a dog cot, which is low to the ground and easy for her to physically get onto. Due to her small legs, picking suitable objects is an important part of setting her up for success! We started by using some leash pressure to help guide her onto it, and once she began to understand we started layering in the e-collar as well. She seemed to catch onto the idea easily enough, though was sometimes a bit stubborn and would try to freeze in place and refuse to move towards the object, and would need some guidance from the leash to get her moving again. She also struggled with performing Sit, which has been a trend since day one. She tends to need some physical guidance from me putting pressure on her rear for her to enter the Sit position, so we spent some extra time working on this command both on the dog cot and while on the floor.
The goal of Door Manners is for Romy to hold a stationary position while near a door and remain there until released or given a new command, such as Come or Heel. She is asked to hold the position at the location asked of her, and not break the command even if the door is left open, if someone is knocking on it, or if people walk in or out of it. This practice teaches important boundaries and the importance of thresholds, and prevents impolite and possibly dangerous behaviors she once displayed, such as trying to escape through open doors, shoving through people's legs when walking through doors, or rushing over to jump on or bark at people who enter through the door. We worked on this today by having her hold her position on the dog cot, and practicing opening and closing the door. If she broke her position, the door was closed and she was reset into position. Gradually I would leave the door open for longer periods, as well as move in and out of the doorway. It took a few tries, but she quickly seemed to understand that the door opening was not an automatic invitation to walk through it, and that she could only do so if given permission! We will continue working on these manners daily to ensure the concept is solidified in her training.
Pupdate 1/10/2025
Romy and I trained around my neighborhood today. The air quality improved in my area today, so we were able to safely spend some time outdoors. We trained around some distractions, including other dogs, people, bicycles, squirrels, and birds. We focused on the Come to Sit and Down commands today.
Come to Sit is an important command to practice in Romy's training journey, as it will be our main form of recall. The goal for Come to Sit is for Romy to come directly to me when called, and circle around to perform a Sit on my left side. The Come to Sit command when performed in its entirety, ensures that she not only comes when called, but also requires her to sit beside her handler and not leave that spot unless released or given a new command. By having her sit on the left side facing forward, we are setting her up for success to begin walking in a Heel as she is already in the desired position for it. As we practiced more today, she began to rely less on the leash pressure to grab her attention and guide her, which is a good sign of progress! She would tend to sit slightly out of the desired position once she got to me, though for her first day, she did a great job overall! With each successful repetition, I made sure to reward her with lots of praise and affection, to build up a positive association with the command and coming to me when called.
The goal for the Down command is for Romy to lay down completely when asked, and remain in that position until released or given a new command. To begin working on this command, we used some physical guidance to guide Romy into the Down position while the verbal command was given. After some practice, she seemed to catch on to the concept, so we began adding in the e-collar stimulation as reinforcement .We kept the duration for this command pretty short at first with lots of breaks and praise, as this helps make the training fun and rewarding. As we continue to practice this we will continue increasing the duration gradually so she can learn to remain in this position for extended periods of time. We will also continue adding in more distractions so she can be reliable with the command in any situation or environment. While she seems to understand the command at this point, she does tend to be a bit stubborn and hesitant to perform it, especially when she is distracted, excited, or nervous about something, so lots more work will need to be done before she can reliably perform it when prompted.
Pupdate 1/11/2025
Today Romy and I visited an indoor mall, where we practiced all of her commands around lots of distractions. There were lots of people visiting, which created a distracting environment. We also met up with some of the other OffLeash SoCal trainers and their pups here, so working alongside them provided an additional challenge to the environment. We spent a lot of time practicing Heel with all of the walking around we did, and we also focused on practicing the Off Command.
Romy is often easily distracted, as she tends to focus on her surroundings even when asked to perform commands. Moments like this are a great opportunity to implement the Off command. The goal for the Off command is for Romy to stop whatever she is doing, and focus on her handler. This is a very versatile command, similar to "no" or "leave it", and can be used in various situations, such as to interrupt fixation on distractions, barking, jumping on people, eating or sniffing things she's not supposed to, or any other behaviors that are undesirable or inappropriate at that time. The verbal Off command when paired with leash pressure and the e-collar allows us to interrupt the behavior and help her to refocus so that she is in a better mindset to listen for upcoming instructions. Once the Off command is given, it's beneficial to immediately follow it with another command such as Sit, Come, Heel, etc. Once she stops whatever behavior she was doing, asking her to set her focus on a task will help keep her attention away from what initially distracted her or caused the undesirable behavior. Romy has shown good progress in understanding the Off command so far, and with each repetition, she seemed to be quicker to respond and refocus when prompted. However, more work will need to be done in various situations before she is fully reliable with the command.
Pupdate 1/12/2025
Today Romy and I visited a park, where we practiced all of her commands around some distractions. The park had some children, people, other dogs, and squirrels around to serve as distractions.
Romy needed some time to adjust to the new environment, but overall seemed to adapt quickly and was able to focus with decent reliability. She was sometimes distracted by other dogs and people that were close by to us, though she understood not to bark at or pull towards them, and was able to follow commands even in close proximity to them.
She did well with her Heel overall, and was able to stick beside me as we walked around the park. Walking along the sidewalks and pathways was noticeably easier than while on the grass, as there were fewer scents to distract her, though even when distracted she was able to correct herself with only minimal guidance needed. Her Come to Sit was good overall, and she understood to Come to me when called. We spent some extra time focusing on her stationary commands today, including Sit, Down, and Place. She often needed some physical guidance for Sit, though she was able to perform Down pretty well without assistance. We also worked on teaching her to Place on various objects around the park, many of which were higher up than she is used to and required a small jump to get on, such as low benches, walls, curbs, and rocks. We found that playing a game of "follow the leader" helped a lot in these situations, where having me step up onto the object first and having her follow helped significantly with her confidence, encouraging her to make the jump needed to get into an object that she cannot simply climb or walk onto.
Pupdate 1/13/2025
Today Romy and I visited a local shopping strip, where we practiced all of her commands around distractions. This location had a variety of distractions present, including groups of people, lots of other dogs, and loud noises such as car engines, honks, and sirens from the busy street nearby.
This was a challenging environment for Romy, as she tended to be uncomfortable around loud noises or sudden movements, which were plentiful here due to the busy street. We spent some extra time working around these difficult distractions today, and with time she did seem to be slightly less nervous about their presence, however more work will need to be done before these distractions are something she can reliably remain calm around. She did get distracted by other dogs and people walking by as well, though she was rather easily able to redirect her attention back to her training when the Off command was used.
She did well with her commands overall, especially with her Heel! She understood to walk directly beside me once the command was given, and she was able to maintain her position with very minimal to no leash pressure needed at all, which is a great display of her skill with the command. Her Come to Sit was decent as well, and her recall was solid, though she often needed some guidance for her positioning. She was able to Place on some low, easy to reach objects around the location, such as low walls like seen in today's video, though she did need some warm up time being introduced to these new objects before she was confident in jumping onto them. Romy seemed to struggle most with her Sit and Down commands today, which was likely due to the busy environment making her feel a bit uneasy. She regularly needed physical guidance to perform the commands, and was prone to breaking them shortly after entering them.
Pupdate 1/14/2025
Romy and I took another trip over to the busy shopping strip to continue working on her commands around distractions. Distractions such as people, other dogs, bicycles, and loud street noises were common here. She was a bit overwhelmed when we first arrived, though she did seem to remember the time we spent here yesterday and managed to settle into a more focused mindset relatively quickly. She did still seem particularly nervous about the loud sounds public transport buses made, and would tend to be startled by them, so we spent some time working close to a bus stop where many would come and go. This helped to expose her to the distraction more while working to create a positive association with them, which will help to encourage neutral behavior when encountering them.
Romy continued to do well with her Heel today, and was able to Heel beside me very well as we walked along the sidewalks, across crosswalks, and around various distractions. She would sometimes begin to walk ahead or veer off slightly if her focus began to drift, though she was able to correct herself when asked without leash pressure needed. She was able to perform Place quite well, and was able to jump onto a variety of objects without hesitation. She did notably struggle with her Sit and Down again today however, and often needed physical guidance in order to perform them. While in quieter areas such as at home, she has been overall reliable with them, apart from some stubborn moments here and there, so it's clear she understands the commands, though when many distractions are added her reliability noticeably drops. We will continue focusing on these commands in the coming days, as they are important components for her training that also relate to the success of other commands such as Come to Sit and Place.
Pupdate 1/15/2025
Today Romy and I visited an indoor mall, where we practiced each of her commands around distractions. The mall was decently busy, and had lots of shoppers, dogs, and other distractions such as food and music.
This was another tough environment for Romy, as the unfamiliar environment and busy atmosphere caused her to feel quite overwhelmed. When we first arrived, she displayed many clear indications of this, such as trembling and stress panting. We took some time before jumping into training to help her settle down and adjust to the environment. We found a bench in a quieter area of the mall, and gave her some time to take in all the sights and sounds of the location in a way that she felt safe and comforted by sitting beside me and getting lots of pets and positive reinforcement. This seemed to help a lot, and after about ten minutes her stress levels noticeably lowered, so we found another bench in a higher-traffic area and repeated the process until she could feel at ease here as well.
By the time we began actively exploring around the mall and practicing commands, Romy seemed to be in a better mindset to focus on commands, and overall did a good job! Her Heel was solid overall, and she was able to maintain her positioning reliably with no assistance from the leash needed. She would sometimes make small mistakes if she began to lose focus, though was always quick to correct herself. Her Come to Sit was good today overall as well, and she was great about coming to me when called. She did end up needing some guidance more often than not to help her position herself, but she did much better about actually sitting when prompted rather than trying to jump on me or roll around on the floor. Speaking of Sit and her other stationary commands of Down and Place, she ended up doing much better with these today. It took quite a bit of practice with guidance at first, though towards the end of our session she was consistently able to perform a Sit and Down anywhere she was asked to without assistance. She also did well about remaining in these positions until released, even with plenty of distractions around.
Pupdate 1/16/2025
Today Romy and I visited an outdoor mall, where we continued working on all of her commands around plentiful distractions. The mall had lots of people, other dogs, food, music, and other distracting surroundings present.
Romy was feeling a bit anxious when we first arrived, though by following a similar tactic as yesterday by finding a nice spot to sit at together, she was able to adjust to the environment pretty quickly. Her nerves seemed to settle, and she became much more receptive to commands and had an easier time staying focused.
Today's focus was on practicing her commands with as little leash pressure as possible. The ultimate goal for her training is for her to be consistent with each of her commands without the use of the leash to guide or reinforce. This is done by focusing more on the verbal cues and hand signals for the commands, and using only the e-collar as reinforcement rather than the leash. By reserving the use of the leash only for when she truly needs it, we can wean her off the concept of always needing physical guidance for his commands, and instead teach her to problem solve and use her knowledge of commands to follow instructions given to her. She ended up doing pretty good with this today overall, and was able to perform most of her commands pretty consistently without any leash pressure needed! The command she most frequently needed guidance with still was her Come to Sit, as she would tend to get confused about where to go when no guidance was provided, so we will spend some extra time working on this in the coming days.
Pupdate 1/17/2025
Today Romy and I visited a Home Depot, where we practiced her commands around distractions. The store had a variety of distractions present, including people, shopping carts, other dogs, and loud noises from nearby machinery.
Romy was a bit overwhelmed when we first arrived, and needed some time to take in all the sights, sounds, and smells around the store. We found a quiet area away from the distraction-dense aisles, and warmed up her training there. We focused on having her perform all of her commands with minimal leash pressure. Once she seemed to settle down a bit, we ventured into more distraction heavy areas and continued the training. We made sure to provide lots of positive reinforcement and encouraged every bit of calm, focused, and neutral behavior she offered. She was sometimes a bit unsure of the sounds coming from nearby aisles, though after being exposed to them for a while she had an easier time tuning them out and keeping her attention on training. She did experience some minor flight responses due to certain noises or movements that made her uneasy, though she seemed to recover quickly and return back to me to continue her obedience. Overall, she did a good job with her commands, and we spent some time focusing on Come to Sit, which saw some improvement by the end of the session!
During our visit, Romy was quite popular and got lots of compliments from store visitors and employees alike. This provided some great opportunities to practice her Greeting Manners! This is an area of her training we have been working on whenever the opportunity arises, whether it be at home with me or my guests, or out in public with new people. The goal for Greeting Manners is for Romy to be able to greet people calmly and politely, whether in public or at home, both with new people and with people she already knows. When having a new person greet Romy, it's important to inform them of her training and the expectations set for her, that way they can help reinforce the training appropriately. All praise, attention, and affection should be reserved strictly for when she is stationary, calm, and following instructions. If she is rewarded when behaving poorly, such as if she is jumping, whining, or barking, then the training will be inconsistent and detrimental to her progress, so staying consistent with these manners has been key to her success. She did a great job with her greetings today, and was very polite, sweet, and calm with everyone she met!
Pupdate 1/18/2025
Today Romy and I visited a Petco, where we practiced all of her commands around distractions. The store wasn't overly busy during our visit, but there was still a wide variety of distractions to train around, including people, other dogs, treats, toys, and shopping carts. Romy was nervous when we first arrived, but eventually ended up settling down and eventually came to enjoy our time here!
We spent some extra time desensitizing her to shopping carts, as this was a distraction she was particularly uneasy about. Anytime someone pushed a cart past us, she would tend to break command to run or move away from it. We started by getting a cart out and keeping it stationary as we worked around it, which she ended up doing well with after a few minutes. We then began moving the cart slightly, getting her familiar with the noise and movement it made. By the end of the session, she was able to walk alongside me as I pushed a cart without issue, and no longer was concerned about people pushing carts past us.
Once Romy was feeling more at ease in the environment, she ended up doing a great job with her commands! She was able to perform them each with no leash pressure needed, and seemed to understand what was expected of her anytime instructions were given. She also got many compliments from shoppers and employees on her great obedience skills, and her cute looks of course!
Pupdate 1/19/2025
Today was Romy's last full day with me, so we spent the day putting to use all of her learned skills to have a great day together! We visited an outdoor mall, where we practiced all of her commands around distractions using no leash pressure. There were plentiful distractions around, but Romy didn't seem to pay too much mind to any of them, and was able to perform her commands very well! We had visited this mall once before, and she seemed to be somewhat familiar with the environment, allowing her to quickly adjust and stay focused during training. She had many admirers and got lots of attention from people, so we also had some more awesome opportunities to work on her Greeting Manners.
Romy has made such an amazing transformation in these past two weeks, and the differences in her are truly night and day! She came to us with little to no knowledge of any commands, and had a tendency to become overexcited, distracted, and overstimulated by everything around her. She has since learned to stay calm, focused, and neutral to her surroundings even in the most busy of places. Her confidence, patience, discipline, and overall manners both in public and at home have all improved so much! Romy has done an excellent job learning every command taught to her, and has fully disproven the silly notion that older dogs can't learn new tricks! While she may seem like a whole new dog, she is still the same goofy, loving, and playful pup she always has been, and with her new obedience skills and confidence levels, she is even more of a joy to be around and take with on all sorts of adventures! Romy has been such a pleasure to train and share my home with, and I am forever grateful to have had the opportunity to help this good girl become the best version of herself! With her intelligence and eagerness to learn, the sky is the limit for Romy, and I know she has a very bright future ahead in her continued training journey with her family!
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