Rza | German Shepherd | Los Angeles, CA | In Training
- Robert Steinbach
- Feb 15
- 8 min read
Updated: Feb 22
Meet Rza!
Rza is a 10-month-old German Shepherd from Los Angeles, CA, who is joining us for a 1-week board and train program. Rza is a happy and playful pup, but he struggles with following through on commands and has a habit of extreme leash pulling during walks. While he has a great temperament, his lack of consistency in obedience makes it challenging to manage him, especially in stimulating environments.
Over the next week, we will be working on teaching and reinforcing his obedience, improving his leash manners, and building his ability to stay focused and follow commands reliably. Our goal is to help Rza become a well-mannered and responsive companion, making walks more enjoyable and training more effective for his family.
Stay tuned for Rza's transformation!
Pupdate 1/15/2025
After picking up Rza, we spent time focusing on acclimation and bonding to help him settle into his new environment. I introduced him to the rest of my pack at home, and overall, he handled the introductions well. However, I can see how challenging it has been for you, as he gets overly excited and tends to pull and jump when trying to interact. We’ll be working on refining his greeting manners so that he learns to approach both dogs and humans in a much more controlled and respectful way.
Later in the day, we went on a walk to our local park to assess his current leash manners, "heel," and responsiveness to basic commands. As expected, his excessive leash pulling and tendency to wander during walks stood out as key areas that need improvement. Over the next week, we’ll be dedicating significant time to cleaning up his leash work, reinforcing engagement with his handler, and ensuring he learns to walk with structure and focus.
Rza is a happy and eager pup, and I’m looking forward to helping him develop better impulse control and follow-through.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s pupdate!
Pupdate 2/16/2025
Today I introduced Rza to several of his basic obedience commands like “sit”, “heel”, “come to sit” and “off”. Rza is very strong willed and likes to pick and choose when he wants to follow his commands. I transitioned him to a different type of leash that goes over his muzzle and he was much more willing to follow commands after that. He still tried to fight it a bit but we made a lot of progress.
His “sit” is getting much more consistent but his “down” is still a work in progress.
I also slowly started to introduce Rza to the E collar today and I will start incorporating that into his training moving forward. Rza also spent some time socializing with my dogs at home. He was a little unsure how to behave at first but I corrected him when he was trying to be dominant and rewarded him when he was displaying good behaviors like sniffing the dogs from behind and playing.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Pupdate!
Pupdate 2/17/2025
Today Rza and I continued to work on his “heel”, “sit”, “down”, “come to sit” and “off” commands.
Rza was a little resistant to the “heel” command at first but after about 5 minutes he figured out the game and was doing a much better job of walking by my side. I’ll be taking him on a longer walk this evening to continue practicing this new skill. Also I give Rza the “sit” command every time I stop walking. This will eventually become something that he does without being given a command, but it will be something that takes consistency on your part to continue to improve. Every time you stop walking, tell him to “sit” and make sure he does it. Every time you get to a corner to cross the street, give the “sit” command. Every time are going to walk out of the door with him, make him “sit” and wait until you give him permission to walk with you. I will be doing all of these things with him over the rest of his time here with me but it will be important to keep up with that training once he’s home and getting the commands from you and your family. He will only keep getting better over time.
He’s still nipping a bit but it’s already cut in half from day 1 and the e collar has cleaned it up a lot. I spent some time today trying to do things that would cause him to try to nip at me and then correcting him when he did. By the end of the session he had no desire to nip. That doesn’t mean that it’s fixed forever but he is definitely learning that it’s an unwanted and unacceptable behavior. I’ll spend a little time every day working on that and again, it will be up to you not to allow it at home as well. I would recommend keeping the e collar on him the majority of the day so that the times that he gets amped up and might get into the old habit of nipping, you can correct him with the e collar and the “off” command.
We also spent some time working on his come to sit command in my yard and he is improving little by little. He is a very smart dog and completely capable of learning and performing the commands. He’s just now starting to learn that it’s not a suggestion when he receives a command and that it feels way better to follow the command and get a treat or some love vs not following the command and getting a correction with the leash and the e collar. Like Ice Cube said “Today was a good day”
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Pupdate!
Pupdate 2/18/2025
Today Rza and I headed to Rynerson park to continue working on all of his commands.
Rza’s “heel” command is looking great. He’s improving every day. He is getting better with the “come to sit” command as well.
I’ll spend more time working on his “place command” as he has a tendency to get distracted and want to leave before being released. Same goes for his “sit” and “down” commands. I spent more time extending the time that I kept him in the “sit” and “down” positions and I also put more distance between him and myself so that he knows he should stay there no matter where you are positioned and until he is given the “break” command which is what I use to release him. Today he also got to meet 5 new dog friends and did a good job of interacting with all of them. Overall he’s making great progress.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s pupdate!
Pupdate 2/19/2025
Today’s training session with Rza went really well, and I’m pleased to report that he’s showing a lot of improvement. We focused on several key commands, starting with “sit,” “down,” “place,” and “come to sit.” Rza responded better than ever to these cues, especially when we were practicing “come to sit.” He’s becoming more consistent, and you can see that he’s starting to understand the structure we’re providing. His focus was spot-on, which made our session more productive. I can tell that Rza is beginning to grasp the routine and the expectations of each command, which will only make future training sessions even more successful.
We also worked on his “place” command, and he did a fantastic job of maintaining position. He’s starting to understand that when he’s given the “place” cue, it’s a time for him to settle and stay there until released. This progress is important as it builds his impulse control and his ability to relax, even when there are distractions around. He was much calmer today than in previous sessions, and his ability to hold that position for longer periods is definitely improving.
After the training exercises, we took a walk around the neighborhood, which gave us a great opportunity to work on Rza’s greeting manners. He tends to get a bit excited when meeting new people or other dogs, but today, he showed a much better response. He was able to remain focused and calm when approached, without pulling on the leash or jumping up. This is a huge improvement! We also worked on redirecting his attention back to me when he started to get distracted. It was great to see how he started offering calm behavior on his own without constant corrections.
Overall, Rza is making incredible strides, and today’s session was a clear example of his growth. I’m excited to continue building on this momentum and help him become even more well-mannered and obedient. His progress shows that the consistency and patience we’ve been working with are paying off.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's pupdate!
Pupdate 2/20/2025
Today’s K9 training with Rza was a comprehensive and challenging experience for both him and his handler. The session began with a 30-minute heel walk, which served as a great warm-up for Rza to get into the rhythm of the day. During the walk, we focused on maintaining a tight heel and reinforcing basic obedience, but it quickly became clear that Rza was having difficulty staying fully focused, especially as we moved into more distracting environments. While he showed promise in the controlled settings, the true test came later when we moved into public spaces.
The next part of training took place on 4th Street in Long Beach, a busy area with lots of foot traffic and various distractions. While Rza has trained in lower-traffic environments before, today really highlighted how much he lacks focus in busier settings. His distractions were likely largely due to his immaturity, as he’s still a young pup, and his attention wavered frequently, making it difficult for him to maintain solid follow-through on commands like “come,” “sit,” “down,” “place,” and “heel.” He was far more interested in the surrounding environment than in completing tasks, which is a normal challenge at his stage of development. This experience reinforced the need for continued training and exposure to real-world distractions.
We continued the session with a 1-hour training period at Shoreline Village in Long Beach, another bustling spot. Despite the extended exposure, Rza’s ability to concentrate on his commands continued to wane. At this point, I could see that he had reached his mental and physical limit for the day. The amount of distraction in such busy spaces was too much for him to process, and his responses became inconsistent. Knowing that pushing him further would not have been productive, I decided to end the session early.
Given the challenges Rza faced today, I believe that an additional week of training would be highly beneficial for him. He has a strong foundation, but he needs more repetition and consistent exposure to distractions and other real-life environments to improve his focus and obedience regardless of distractions. In particular, he needs to continue working on reinforcing his follow-through with commands amidst external distractions, which will require more persistence. By giving Rza more opportunities to learn in these high-stress, high-distraction environments, we can help him build the confidence and discipline needed to perform consistently at a higher level.
I understand that a second week of training might not be in the cards at the moment but it would be something to keep in mind for the future.
With that, make no mistake, Rza has made a significant amount of progress this week and he is capable of following all the new commands he's learned. I will go over everything with you on Saturday during his drop off, this will allow you to continue Rza’s training at home so that he continues to improve.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's pupdate!
Pupdate 2/21/2025
Today, we took Rza back to a few public places for training and his final exam. While his attention span is still short, he was able to perform all of his commands in a high-traffic environment, demonstrating great progress. That said, it will be crucial for you to continue working with Rza once he’s back home to reinforce everything he has learned. It’s completely normal for a young pup to test boundaries in a familiar setting, so staying consistent with his training will help solidify his obedience and focus.
Tomorrow during turnover, we will go over all the details of his training, and you will have the opportunity to handle him yourself to ensure a smooth transition.
Looking forward to seeing you then and showing all of Rza's progress.
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