Simon | Corgi | El Segundo, CA | In Training
- Alex Kruse
- Jan 18
- 12 min read
Updated: Jan 31
Meet Simon! He's a 5-year-old Corgi from El Segundo, California, and he's here for our Two Week Community Board and Train Program. Simon is a pretty typical Corgi who has a lot of energy, loves his people, and has the smarts to pick up on commands quickly. On the other hand, he's got that Corgi stubborn streak so he doesn't always do the commands when asked, nips at heels sometimes, barks when he wants something, and can be reactive on leash towards other dogs. Over the next two weeks we'll teach Simon some impulse control so he doesn't give in to those herding instincts, help him understand that other dogs walking by aren't a threat, and teach him that he isn't in charge of the house and should perform his commands when told. Stay tuned for Simon's two-week transformation!
1/18/26
I kept Simon at the park for a little bit after the drop-off so I could get a feel for his personality and how well he could follow instruction. I know he knows some of his basic commands, but he was not so inclined to listen to any of them. He was super friendly and let me pet him all over, and he didn't have any issues on the ride home, but he was definitely more interested in everything else at the park than he was in paying attention to me. At home he got along pretty instantly with the other dogs. He's a little anxious, which is normal for their first day, but despite that he still managed to go explore every corner of the play yard and the house. He did a little barking when he was still in the play yard and I went inside, but he quieted down pretty quickly in favor of going on a sniff adventure. He seems like he'll settle into the home without too many issues, and tomorrow we'll jump straight into the training! I can't wait to see what he'll accomplish in the next two weeks!
1/19/26
Today was a strong start for Simon! I took him over to a local park where there's typically people but not too many dogs. I wanted to establish my relationship with him first as the handler before I challenge him on the leash reactivity. We worked mostly on getting him to Sit on the first command, holding the Sit until released, and then teaching him the Heel position. I already knew he could Sit, so between the treats and introducing him to the e-collar, it took no time at all for him to be responsive on that one. The Heel though! I know I was told how smart he was, but he caught onto his positioning so fast! You can see the first round where I literally have to lure him into place with the treat, then a few tries later he was smoother with it, and it was only a few more practice runs before I was already jumping straight to just verbal and hand signals only. He also went from pulling hard on the leash to very quickly being in position and super attentive as we walked, and after only guiding him through it twice, he caught onto the fact that I want him to Sit every time I stop walking. With him being this responsive, I'm hopeful that we should be able to curb his leash reactivity without too much difficulty, and I'm excited to see how far we get in the next weeks!
1/20/26
I took Simon to another small neighborhood park that usually has more people passing through, and the occasional dog. No dogs came, but there were a few more distractions than yesterday between people, squirrels, and the soothing sounds of leaf blowers right next door. Simon didn't seem too thrilled with that and was slightly more nervous than yesterday, but he was still able to give me all of his commands. We did a little more with the Heel and Extended Sit still on the short line, then I introduced Place on the cot. It's clear he's also familiar with this one, but I thought maybe it being outdoors with the noise would be more challenging. Apparently not! We also worked on his Recall, or we also call it the Come-to-Sit. He knows Come, but this adds an extra step where he has to go around our legs and sit at the Heel side. He was a little hit and miss with positioning, but he's getting the idea pretty quickly. A little more practice and I think he'll have it down, easy. Between yesterday and today I feel like he's already gotten really responsive with me, so tomorrow we'll see how he does on-leash around other dogs (he's doing great with the pack at home off-leash).
1/21/26
We had our weekly group practice today, so it was my first chance to introduce Simon to other dogs on-leash. I went in slow, prepared for any sort of reaction, but there weren't any! Granted it wasn't coming up on other dogs walking on a narrow sidewalk, but typically with bad leash reactivity cases, he would've been going off before I was even halfway across the park. I had him holding a Sit or Place from a little bit of a distance at first, just watching his body language for any signs of irritation. He was curious and I could tell he wanted to go sniff the the other dogs, but there were no signs that he might lunge or snap. I did a little parallel walking with the shepherd mix once I was confident he wasn't going to start any trouble, and he remained attentive on me for his Heel the whole time. That makes me feel confident that I can take him out for more challenging scenarios to places where I know there are a lot more dogs walking. He's giving me high hopes!
1/22/26
It was raining today so it was a great time to work indoors. I focused today's pupdate on teaching all the steps of the Leave It command, so even cutting out a lot of my rambling, it's still going to be a longer one! Keep in mind that I'm demonstrating all the steps at once, but in reality we typically focus on each step much longer before moving onto the next. It's also a little hard to see what I'm looking for Simon to do at first since I'm moving quickly to mark the behavior I want. I'm watching for his little snoot to move away from my hand, even just a little bit, and I'm watching his eyes. I'm marking the very moment when I can see that he's stopped focusing on my hand so he starts to catch on that he's getting rewarded for disengaging. As he begins to understand the concept better, it becomes more obvious as he moves away from my hand entirely. Dogs tend to get this one pretty quickly, and Simon's a fast learner on top of that, so he should definitely have it down by the time he goes home!
1/23/26
I know one of the goals was to be able to take Simon to city areas and eat without him causing issues. We wandered through Old Town Monrovia today specifically going through the outdoor dining places to see what he could do. His Heel wasn't as strong as it's been at the parks, but I walked him right past several dogs who were under tables or just going down the sidewalks, and while he was interested, he didn't show any signs of reactivity. It's generally been fairly easy to get his attention back on me when he looks a little too interested in something, so the redirecting has been working well. His Extended Sit command for photo posing was perfect. He never tried to break the Sit without being released, even when people were passing by. And we did some Recall in the park at the end of the session, which he did cleanly every time. He's doing great!
1/24/26
I took Simon over to the dog park today to see if I could get any sort of reaction out of him around other dogs at play. We didn't go inside, just walked around by the fence and the field across the parking lot, practicing all our basics while we were there. He definitely started off much more distracted by all the smells all over the ground, but as far as reactivity goes, I once again didn't see anything. He looks, he's curious, but there's no tension in his body, no hard stares, no barking or signs that he wants to lunge. The little dachshund in the video barked at him but he had zero reaction at all. I'm thinking he might not be a reactive dog so much as a protective one, and he doesn't feel the need to be protective of me. That doesn't mean he doesn't like me or doesn't care what happens to me, but more because he's aware that I don't need him to protect me. He sees me as an authority figure who can handle herself, so he can relax instead of thinking he has to stand up in my defense. A lot of that comes directly from the training and him knowing he has to follow through when I ask him to do something. It's that follow-through that really matters when it comes to a lot of behavior issues. I'll continue to see if I can challenge him and maybe try to locate specific triggers that might set him off, but so far I haven't seen anything concerning in regards to reactivity with me. It's a good thing! It's much easier to manage than just straight leash reactivity to dogs in general.
1/25/26
Today I worked with one of our other trainers who has a dog with known reactivity. I wanted to see what Simon might do if a dog actually reacted towards him first. There was only the initial lunge from the other dog, and then it calmed down for the rest of the session, but it was enough to gauge what Simon would do in that circumstance. He backed up behind me, which is good! No tension, just a little bit of nerves and him looking towards me to keep him safe, which is exactly what we want. I continued to work him around the dog for a bit, just going over his basics, and then I worked on some fun stuff. I noticed he has some tricks up his sleeve, so I started expanding on those a little bit to switch things up for him. He thought that was very fun! He did get excited when some kids were kicking a football around. He very much wanted that! But he settled down with a short Leave It command. He did great today, and tomorrow we'll really start jumping into the steps of getting him fully off-leash!
1/26/26
I walked Simon along the wash behind my neighborhood today, working him on a thin cat leash that was clipped to my belt so I could be entirely hands-off. It's very lightweight so it's only one step away from him having no leash, but it insures safety while he's still learning. The wash trail is also a narrow pathway with fences on both sides, and comes to a dead-end, so if he did happen to snap the leash and take off, there wasn't really anywhere for him to go. With that level low distraction, I only had to give him a couple corrections to get him to stay in his proper Heel position. He never really tried to pull ahead, only needing a small verbal correction the couple times he was speeding up a little too much, but he did try to cross behind me to the other side a few times. Some small resets got him back inline, and we continued on our way. Overall, he didn't do too badly for his first time!
1/27/26
Simon and I headed out to Arcadia Park today, which is one of our biggest parks in the area. The park service workers were out tagging people for dogs being off-leash, so I kept him on the long line and just dropped it here and there when no one was around to continue practicing all his commands hands-free. He was much cleaner on the Heel today, and his Recall is looking great! He met a few other dogs, and again, no reactivity except when a big, dopey puppy got right in his face and didn't listen to his warning. That's not reactivity at all, it was just a little snap to tell the pup to back off, which is absolutely fine for him to do. After the session I gave him some free time to just be a dog and enjoy the park, sniffing all the things and rolling around in the grass. It was a great day for both of us!
1/28/26
I wanted to show off some of Simon's general manners today, working fully off leash. We already know he understands how to wait before being allowed to eat, so I've been making it harder for him by going out of sight and turning my back so he knows he still has to wait even when I'm not looking at him. For the car manners, he also has to sit and wait before boarding up, and he also understands now that he has to go into the crate when we're riding in the car. Then, most importantly, we've worked on making sure he does not go out the door unless given permission. This applies to gates as well, or generally any threshold. He shouldn't be dashing out even if the door is standing wide open. He does have the e-collar on, but he does all these things on verbal cues only, and I also often practice when he's not wearing it so he knows it still applies when he's not in training gear. We've also been working more on his Leave It and Drop It commands. He can do the Heel while treats are scattered now, and is much faster with dropping things. We practice that when he wants to play ball and he's been catching on quick!
1/29/26
Simon and I went off to Rotary Park today, which is my chosen park for fully off-leash work since it's fenced all the way around. Turns out I didn't need to worry about the fence because he did amazing! With other dogs and people around (one of the dogs was even reactive), Simon performed first with me just holding the long line very loosely, then dropping the line and letting him drag it around, and then finally taking it all the way off. He never once tried to dart away or go exploring on his own, even afterwards when I had him on break and told him he could go run around a little! He sniffed around but stayed very close to where I was at all times. He's become a total rockstar!
1/30/26
I have to admit, today's crowd had me sweating, but Simon really told me, "I got this, you have nothing to worry about!" I took him over to Live Oak Park to try out his off-leash skills around heavier distractions, but I did not anticipate the strollers and a kid coming up fast behind me on a scooter. I could hear him coming and was super prepared for Simon to break that Sit, but no, he stayed calm and came straight over to me when I called him as if nothing happened. He didn't try to go over towards any other dog, he didn't wander over to anyone walking the track, he wasn't concerned about the chaos of the kids on the playground or all the balls bouncing around on the pickleball courts. He sat when people came up to greet him and acted like a gentleman. He was absolutely perfect today! I brought my own tennis ball and just chucked it around for him in the field after the session because he did such a great job, and he loved every minute of it! And when we were done, he snapped right back into his Heel so we could head to the car. He's been an A+ pupil all around!
1/31/26
It's our last pupdate in your two week program! I gave him an easy day today, starting off with some Drop It exercises while we were playing ball at home, then going for a long hike along the Royal Oaks Trail. I kept him on the long line for safety since some of the trail is also a bike path, plus a busy road is nearby, but he never pulled on it and he would often come back into his Heel without me having to ask for it. If he was wandering in front of me, he checked in frequently for approval, which is exactly what dogs should be doing when walking ahead. We worked on all our basic commands periodically as we walked, but mostly I just wanted him to have a super fun last day with me!
Simon has been an amazing student overall. He's such a fast learner, he's silly, he's cuddly, and I'm genuinely going to miss him a lot! I'm so impressed with the way he turned around from being stubborn and ornery about following commands to becoming one of my sharpest pupils. He's one of the only dogs I've had who actually get excited any time he sees me pulling out the e-collar! He knows it means he gets to go on an adventure and be put to work, and I think he actually really enjoys being given a job. He's an active working breed, so even some basic training while out and about gives him a task that keeps his brain focused. Just keep up the training and I think he'll be a lot better with his family outings moving forward. He's an absolute gem, and thank you for letting me be a part of his learning journey!
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