This is Rusty! A 8 month old Mini Australian Shepherd from Oxnard, CA here for our two week Board and Train program! Rusty is a super sweet and cuddly pup who loves to be goofy. He is here training with OffLeash SoCal because he pulls on the leash and has some separation anxiety issues. Over the next two weeks, Rusty will learn basic and fundamental commands so he can go on lots of adventures so keep checking his PAWsome transformation!
PUPDATE 6/13/2022
Today mostly consisted of getting Rusty used to everything new. He whined a little during the car ride home but not too much but he vomited his morning food. He seemed really overwhelmed with the new environment so we took a walk around the neighborhood. I spent most of the time with him petting him so he gets comfortable with me. I worked a little with the e collar and I noticed he did well with the Sit command but struggled with the Down command.
PUPDATE 6/14/2022
I worked with Rusty on Come to Sit today at the local park. He struggled with going around to my right side after I told him to come. It was an important moment in the video when he would not come when called and I slowly increased the e collar. My tone was the same throughout and as soon as he walked toward me, I gave him lots of praise for it. We will continue to practice recall at a distance to help with his separation anxiety but also to work on recall in general because that was your main concern with Rusty. He did not eat all of his breakfast today but he ate his dinner. He pooped today at the park.
PUPDATE 6/15/2022
Rusty had a good day today. We really worked on the Down command and Place command because he has been struggling with that. His Come to Sit and Heel has improved. I noticed Rusty has been going at his pace which is normal. He is making his own strides and improvements each session so I am happy about that. He did not eat all his dinner tonight but he is acting normally.
PUPDATE 6/16/2022
Today I worked on Rusty's Place command. As you can notice in the video, he is still unsure about the command overall. It took him a while to get more comfortable with walking onto the place cot. Giving him lots of physical and verbal praise like petting him and having a high tone of voice. We will continue to practice different place objects so he gets more comfortable with the command. Later, I practiced his other commands like Come to Sit, Heel, and Down and overall there was a lot of improvement. He did well with Come to Sit but sometimes he does not sit close to my right side. His Heel command keeps improving each time we go on a walk and there are a lot of moments where he looks up at me for reassurance so that is a great sign! There was no resistance from Rusty when we practiced the Down command.
PUPDATE 6/17/2022
I took Rusty to a local outdoor mall to practice all the commands he has worked on this week. He was doing well with Come to Sit and was Heeling well most of the time. He knows which Heel side to go on so that is great to see. He had a little set back on his Down command today as he was being stubborn again and not going into the command easily. He tries really hard to go on different place objects and he gets his front paws up sometimes on the objects. Then, there were some friendly ladies who wanted to meet him and he was unsure about them at first but he warmed up to them quickly.
PUPDATE 6/18/2022
Rusty had a very eventful day today. I took him to The Collections in Oxnard to practice all his commands in a more distracting setting. I really wanted to practice his place command since he struggles with it. I started to work on an object that was very low to the ground and he seemed to understand a little more each time we practiced. I think he feels more confident with a running start going on place objects and when he gets on the object, I praise him a lot. He was very skittish when a loud sound would happen while we were walking around but he did not try to run away so that is a good sign. He is eating the majority of his food, drinking water, peeing and pooping normally.
PUPDATE 6/19/2022
I wanted to film the final two tutorial videos which are the Heel and Down commands. He has made a lot of progress with his Heel command and he is still working hard on his Down command. With his Heel command, it was important for him in the beginning to learn the boundaries of where he needed to walk. In the Heel video, I had the leash drag on the floor when I felt confident he understood what I was asking him to do. In the Down video, it was important that I guided him back to where I originally placed him in a down command.
PUPDATE 6/20/2022
I took Rusty to a local outdoor mall to practice with him being off leash for the first time. Overall, he did quite well! He stayed with me the entire time and I was not worried about him running away at all. I was really proud of his Heel command today as we walked through the mall. He even stayed close to me when someone nearby was saying how cute and well behaved he was. He still had some troubles with going on the place objects so we are still working on that. He did better with his Down command too. He did have a tendency to try to come closer to me when he was in a Sit. He had some diarrhea this afternoon so I will keep you updated on that.
PUPDATE 6/21/2022
I went to an outdoor mall in the valley to practice all his commands off leash. Overall, he did well but we still have some more training to work on. He did much better with going on the place objects so that was a huge win today! He struggled with Come to Sit and Heel. I think he overthinks what I am asking him to do. In the video during Come to Sit, I let him figure out what he should do instead of guiding him with a leash. Letting him learn allows him to remember it better. He does well with his Heel command the majority of the time but as you can see in the video he gets excited when people walk. He did much better with his Down command and was able to stay in the Down command while a lot of people walked by! He had better stool today as well.
PUPDATE 6/22/2022
I took Rusty to an outdoor mall to work on all his commands off leash. Overall, he did well. He struggled going on the fountain bench but he had no problems going on the other place objects. I also worked on his duration commands like Sit and Down and he stayed in each command for 2 minutes! Great work!
PUPDATE 6/23/2022
I took Rusty to the Janss mall to try to film part of his final video. He did great in the beginning and even went on the place objects with ease. However, when it was getting warmer, he got more tired and did not want to jump on the objects. He had difficulty doing Come to Sit but his Duration Sit on Place in the beginning of training was excellent and I am very proud of him for that. His Heel was also great today and he was sticking by my right leg more. It is very important for him to keep his attention by praising him and keep his Heel light and upbeat.
PUPDATE 6/24/2022
It was a challenging day of training for Rusty. While his Heel was still on track, he had a very hard time with going into a Down command and staying in the command for two minutes. He would get out of the command when I moved, was close by, and when I was behind him. His duration Sit on Place was good today but stopped wanting to go on objects when he was tired after an hour. He second guesses himself a lot while training. For example, he only gets confused and walks on the left side of me if I walk too slow. He also gets in this state of mind where he does not listen to the command I am saying and he just gets nervous and whines.
PUPDATE 6/25/2022
Rusty had a better day today as we focused on his home manners that include crate manners, door manners, and food manners. He did great at staying in command while I was doing door manners and food manners! Crate manners took a little longer for him to be comfortable going in the crate because the crate was moving when he tried to go in and I think it scared him. He is eating/drinking/peeing/pooping normally.
PUPDATE 6/26/2022
Rusty had a good day today. We took it easy and went to the local park when it was cooler outside. I let him off leash to run around and he had a blast! I worked on all his commands and it seemed to be doing well with them. He still struggled sometimes going on different place objects so I still needed to help him from time to time. Can’t wait to show you everything he has learned tomorrow!
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