Meet Selena! She's an eighteen month old Husky Mix from Los Angeles, California here for our One-Week Board and Train Program! Selena is extremely smart and sweet, but sometimes she like to wander off and jump over her fence! She loves to explore, but sometimes that means going over to the local playground and jumping on anyone she can get her paws on! She also pulls on her leash and has a bit of trouble with her basic commands. Over the next seven days, we are going to work on Selena's manners in and out of the house, tighten up her basic obedience commands, work very hard on her impulse control, and show her how to be the best pup she can possibly be! Stay tuned for Selena's one week transformation!
Pupdate: 5/5/2024
After picking up Selena, we went to Almansor Park to get to know each other! She is very sweet, but needed a little bit of time to adjust to me. At the park, I asked for several basic commands to see what she would give me initially. She did a relatively good job with these commands, except for her Heel command! For the other commands, she would respond some of the time, but ignore me most of the time. When she offered me a sit or down, she would then hop up immediately, which I'd like to work on. Selena is a very smart pup, but her biggest weakness is her impulse control, so we'll likely be focusing on that.
Back at home, I let Selena sniff around my house and get accustomed to the new areas. We played around for a little while and I believe she is starting to like me! After only a few minutes, I think she started to get used to the new environment and is settling in well!
Pupdate: 5/6/2024
Selena and I went to the Santa Monica Promenade today for training! This was a fairly crowded area for her, especially being so early in her training, but Selena did a great job! When we first started walking, she wanted to pull forward, but after a few minutes she began walking more politely next to me. Every once in a while she would get excited or distracted, and pull again, but she did a wonderful job for the most part. She got distracted a bit from the other dogs around us, but I noticed her biggest weakness seemed to be children, when small children would run by, Selena would immediately get excited and forget about her commands. Another interesting part of today was Selena's aversion to the fountain. While walking around the fountain, pictured above, Selena pulled hard away from it at first. She didn't want to approach the moving water until we spent several minutes walking and sitting close by. Other than those few things, Selena did an amazing job today!
Pupdate: 5/7/2024
Selena and I went to Almansor Park today for training! We spent the majority of our time trying to relax around her main distractions. For her this means children and other dogs. Luckily, there are almost always celebrations at this park, so she got plenty of practice.
Pupdate: 5/8/2024
Selena and I walked around downtown Alhambra today for most of our training today! Similarly to our other days, she did a great job with her behavior once she got used to the environment. Her commands went very well, her biggest challenge was the distractions of other dogs walking by us and the noise from the traffic.
Pupdate: 5/9/2024
Selena and I went to the park in the morning and Home Depot later in the afternoon. Getting her playing around with me made her troubles at the store nearly disappear. When we first got there she wasn't a huge fan, and the loud noises of the forklifts didn't help. She did a good job of walking through the garden center, which is the easiest location at the store, and then making our way through the rest of the departments, she slowly became more accustomed and worked with me diligently!
Pupdate: 5/10/2024
Selena and I went to Santa Anita Mall today for training! She needed just a few minutes of warm up before she was following her commands and heeling with me brilliantly. There were only a few issues we ran into today. She didn't like the fountains, which I've seen before, so we coaxed her toward them and got her comfortable sitting next to them. She also didn't like walking next to the glass railings on the upper portion of the indoor area. The heights seemed to scare her a bit and it took a good amount of time walking back and forth before she got used to the strange view. Aside from that, she did everything wonderfully today!
Pupdate: 5/11/2024
Selena went back to Santa Anita Mall today! She did a similarly good job, with her aversion to the water related areas being the same. For some reason, she just doesn't like any moving water. I was able to help her place on the fountains again, but she was still not super happy about it. That being said, she didn't push me too hard against it like she did at first yesterday. After that, we went to the park, where Selena could get a bunch more exercise and playtime! She did a great job today.
