Ruby | Poodle X | Altadena, CA | In Training
- Alex Kruse
- Nov 9, 2025
- 9 min read
Updated: Nov 22, 2025
Meet Ruby! She's an 18-month-old Poodle mix from Altadena, California, and she's here for our Two Week Community Board and Train Program. Ruby is a great little rescue who still has a lot of puppy energy, so while she's super excited to meet new people and dogs, she doesn't always go about it with the best manners. She also needs to learn to hold her commands when given, not to dash out open doors, and that brushes are not her worst enemy! Over the next two weeks we'll teach Ruby how to Wait before darting through open doors and gates, help her curb some of those puppy impulses, get her solid on all her basic commands, and help show her that grooming can be a good thing. Stay tuned for Ruby's two-week transformation!
11/9/25
We started off Ruby's first day with a visit to Victory Park on the way home just so I could see what she could do. She was of course very happy to be there and incredibly distracted by the other dogs and people hanging out at the park, but she did okay with coming over when I called her and with her Sit. She'll definitely need some work on that Heel and her Down, and also to focus up when there are distractions around, but we'll get her there! At home I put her out in the yard to hang out with my dogs. She had no issues with any of them at all, and seemed happy to be in the company of other four-legged friends. She definitely tries to squeeze out the gate when I go in and out of the yard, so that is going to be our big focus these first few days. Other than that, though, she did great and she gets along with everyone very well! I'm looking forward to having her as my guest for the next two weeks!
11/10/25
Today was group practice day at the park, so I got to work Ruby around other people and dogs. We did a lot of work on just having her wait before she could go up and greet anybody, people or dogs. She's very social and just wants to say hi to everyone, but she needs to understand that not everyone wants to say hi to her! And then also to sit and wait politely before she could get any attention, and that jumping doesn't get her any. Aside from that, I began to introduce her Heel, which means to walk at my left side until released with no pulling on the leash, and also to sit any time I stop walking. We worked on Place just a little bit as well, and began the process of teaching her Recall. As far as at home goes, she's already starting to take a nice pause before darting through doors or gates, so I think she'll catch onto that one pretty quickly. She's getting along with everybody, and she's a very polite cuddler! There was only a little bit of that puppy cobbing behavior which seemed to spawn from some uncertainty more than anything. She's overall an amazing house guest!
11/11/25
I took Ruby over to the big Arcadia Park across from the mall today not only for some more distractions, but for a nice little park walk. She was doing pretty good with her Heel and other commands until she noticed the squirrels! The terrier in her came right on out! I wound up spending a majority of the session on her Leave It command and working on staying at her Heel while we walked past them. I don't mind her looking and being interested, but she needs to not yank on the leash towards them and needs to know if she's been given her Heel command, she needs to stay on it until released. At home I did some work introducing her to being brushed. I started with showing her the brush and then giving her a treat just for looking at it, then started briefly and lightly touching her body with it and rewarding her right after. This is just to teach her that the brush is a good thing, and if she lets me use it, she gets rewarded. I've also been working on rubbing and holding her feet, which she's already doing just fine with. I'll try and see if I can fully introduce the nail clippers before she goes home!
11/12/25
I took Ruby to a smaller neighborhood park with few distractions today so I could see about moving her off the slip lead while we work. I put her on a long line and attached it to her flat collar, and while it took her a few tries to learn she was not allowed to pull on that either, she did fall into place pretty quickly and we had a pretty smooth session from there out. She stuck to her Heel fairly well with only a few verbal corrections, she sat when I stopped walking without me having to tell her to do so, and she's starting to grasp her positioning for her Recall. We're working on extending her Down position on the ground, but she actually holds it really well in her Place command. She just prefers to lay in comfort lol. I did more work with messing with her feet today, and she actually did really well with letting me get in between her pads to get some sticky stuff out of there. No biting, just a little twitching around. I also used different types of brushes and rakes on her to keep giving her that exposure and she responded well to all of them. The cobbing is definitely something she does when she's anxious and trying too eagerly to please. I find if I just nab her chew toy and hand it to her, she'll redirect to that pretty instantly; so instead of trying to fully stop that behavior, I would just give her something appropriate to redirect it onto. Otherwise she's doing really great!
11/13/25
I brought Ruby out to the Library Park in Monrovia today to work more on trying to get closer to an off-leash Heel. I used my thin leash clipped to my belt so it would be relatively hands-off, giving it light checks here and there if she didn't respond to my verbal cues. We did laps around the park really trying to solidify her proper positioning, and she was getting it down nicely by the time we finished. There were lots of distractions today too with kids on the playground and workers putting up the lights around the big trees, so it was a great day to challenge her with all that!
11/14/25
We had a nice little indoor session today at Home Depot to stay out of the rain. She was a little bit anxious with all the new sights and sounds, but despite that she was still able to perform all her commands for me. We stuck with the small tether attached to the belt for her Heel work, and after a few warm-up laps with my hand on it, she was able to walk with me without me adding any pressure to the lead. We then worked on our extended Sit and Down, and drilled her Recall quite a bit. She did really good today overall pushing through that nervous energy, and I know she'll get better with that as she gets more exposure. She's doing great!
11/15/25
Another rainy day meant another day at Home Depot, but I wanted to give her more exposure to it anyway since she was so nervous yesterday. She did a little better, still alert but a little less anxious than yesterday. We went up and down the halls at our Heel, and then spent some time over with the Christmas animatronics to give her some exposure to those. She wasn't overly thrilled with them, but I just needed to get her to where she could be near them without trying to skitter away. They're going to be everywhere in people's lawns as the holiday draws nearer, so I want her to know early that they aren't something she needs to run away from!
We had a rain-free morning so I took Ruby out to Live Oak Park to work on getting her closer to being off leash around crowds. I'm still using the thin leash tether just to be safe, but I didn't have to touch it at all today. She stayed close all on her own, even when other dogs were nearby! We worked a bit on her Place and Recall as well, then wandered over to the other corner of the park where there's a softball field that's fully fenced. There I dropped the long line and let her have the run of the field, then called her back here and there to make sure she'd come to me even without being attached. I worked on her Heel there too, totally hands off and untethered, and she did great! And she was much happier being back outdoors!
11/17/25
It was group practice today, but because of the rain we all still met up at another Home Depot! Third time was the charm, apparently, as she did absolutely great wandering through the aisles with very little stress. The only time she got a little nervous was actually during filming because the trainer holding the camera also had a dog with him, so she turned back a couple times just to check out what the other dog was doing. Once she realized the dog wasn't trying to sneak up on her, she relaxed and continued at her normal Heel just fine! She was even fine going past the Christmas displays, which were a little different (and bigger) than the ones at my local store, so the exposure those first two days paid off! She gets all gold stars for the day!
11/18/25
Ruby and I went over to the Rotary Park in Monrovia for practice today. The park is entirely fenced-in, so I was able to fully drop the leash without having to worry about her taking off anywhere. We worked mostly with her dragging the long line around without me holding onto it and she did really great with that. She only needed verbal cues to keep her focused. I did attempt to take the lead off entirely and that didn't go quite as well. She sensed immediate freedom and tried to take off after some squirrels. She came right back when I gave her a correction with the collar, though, and then seemed a little lost with where she should position herself, so I put the line back on to help her out. We'll keep working on it!
11/19/25
I wanted to show off some of Ruby's house manners, especially her waiting at the door since that was one of the biggest concerns. She still needs a couple verbal reminders here and there when she's off leash because she's a really excitable gal in general, but she will wait when she's told now. The same goes for waiting for food and waiting before she gets in and out of the car. On top of that, I was able to clip all her nails today and trim out the hair between her pads. She whined and wiggled a little bit when we started the process, but with a few small verbal corrections and her treat reminders, she fully relaxed and just let me do it. And brushing hasn't been a problem at all for the better part of her stay. She's doing amazing!
11/20/25
I took Ruby back to Santa Anita Mall today to get her exposed to more indoor sound and foot traffic. She did really today! There were a couple nervous lip licks, but otherwise she cruised around like it was no big deal at all. I had her on the thin leash tether on my belt only, and I didn't have to touch it once the entire time we were in the mall except to unhook it for the pictures. She stayed put where I posed her, came when I called her, and kept in a beautiful Heel position the whole time. It was so nice to see her confidence up!
11/21/25
We waited for the rain to pass this morning so I could take her back out to the park for some full off-leash practice. We went over to Live Oak again and practiced around the basketball court, the field, and the playground to finalize everything she's learned. She did a phenomenal job, even with the kids on the bikes and scooters moving all around us! She greeted people very sweetly at the playground too, no mouthing or jumping at all! She's come a very long way in her two weeks, and I'll make sure we do something fun tomorrow for her last day as a reward!
11/22/25
It's time for Ruby's last pupdate! I took her out for a fun hike along the Royal Oaks Trail and up on a branching horse trail. She was almost entirely off leash the entire time, and when I did hook her back up, it was just for precaution's sake. She did great with checking back in constantly even when she was darting after birds, she came back immediately any time I called her and went right into her Heel, even with other dogs around, and she did her Sit and Place for me to pose for her pictures without any issues. I never had to use the collar once, everything was just on verbal command. She did perfect with everything!
Ruby has been an overall pleasure to have around the house. She's sweet, playful, smart, and caught onto things quickly. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of her learning journey, and we'll truly miss having her here with us!
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