Meet Skylar, a nine-month-old Bullterrier Pitbull Mix from Los Angeles, California who is here with us for our Two Week Board and Train Program. This sweet and playful pup has some knowledge of a few basic commands, but she is easily distracted by her surroundings and struggles to listen when asked to do something. Skylar has some bad habits, such as pulling heavily on the leash, jumping on people, and playfully nipping when she is overly excited. She also tends to get overexcited when seeing other dogs, and often reacts by barking and trying to pull or lunge towards them. She often gets into mischief at home as well, and likes to bark excessively, chew on furniture, and counter surf. Skylar also has a tendency to resource guard food, toys, and personal spaces from her two Central Asian Shepherd "siblings" at home, which can lead to potentially dangerous behaviors like growling and snapping. Over the next fourteen days, we will be working to improve Skylar's obedience and manners, as well as improve her issues with overexcitement, reactivity, and resource guarding to set her on the right track to becoming a well-behaved pup both on and off leash! Stay tuned for her transformation!
Pupdate 10/27/2024
Today Skylar and I spent the day bonding and getting to know each other after she was dropped off with me. While walking around the park after her pick up, she seemed a bit overexcited by all the distractions around. Her attention span was definitely on the lower end, and she struggled to pay attention to me for more than a fleeting moment, which is to be expected for her young age! Generally she was much more focused on everything around us, and was very easily distracted by smells, people, balls, dogs, and anything else she found interesting. She did end up barking at one dog we encountered at the park, but she quickly play bowed and did a zoomie run in a circle, which is an indicator her dog reactivity could stem from a place of overexcitement and desire to play rather than from a place of fear or aggression. We will continue to look into this matter so we can work to address it.
While at the park, I tested her current knowledge of commands to see if he's had any prior training, and what areas may need some extra focus on going forward. I asked her basic commands such as Come, Heel, Sit, Down, and Place, but she was often more focused on her surroundings rather than anything I was asking of her. She would sometimes Come over to me when called with lots of excitement and encouragement, though she would rarely come all the way to me, and mostly ignored the recall cue and her name. When asked to Heel, she didn't seem to recognize the command at all and was almost always walking or running around trying to pull wherever she pleased rather than staying next to me. She was able to Sit and Down a few times when asked, though it was very inconsistent if she followed through or not. I asked her to Place on some low, easy to reach objects, but she didn't seem to understand what was being asked of her and seemed to lack the confidence to attempt even small jumps. She didn't seem to have any understanding of leash pressure either, and was often trying to pull against the leash in an attempt to get where she wanted to go. Switching to a slip lead did help to manage her pulling and begin teaching her the concept of leash pressure.
After our time at the park, it was time to head home and get her settled into my home. She was unable to jump into my car on her own, but with some guidance, she was able to get her front paws up and from there was comfortable receiving a boost to help her the rest of the way up. She wasn't too sure about the kennel either, but she was able to be lured in by tossing a treat inside to follow. Anytime Skylar is to ride in a car with me, she will be secured in a kennel for her utmost safety. She will also be in a kennel at home during nighttime or any other time she is unsupervised. When we got home, she eagerly explored around the new environment, found a fun toy to play with, and eventually found a comfy spot to settle down and relax. After some time had passed, we went out for a walk around my neighborhood to let her become familiar with the area where we will be taking walks daily going forward. When exiting the house to start our walk, Skylar kept trying to shove her way out the door as soon as it was opened, so we will also be working to improve her Door Manners to make sure she can respect the boundary a doorway creates as this will help keep her safe. After our walk she enjoyed some dinner, which she was pretty excited for. She tried to jump on me and the counters a few times, and generally seemed quite impatient for it. During her program we will be working on her Food Manners as well, as this is a great way to improve her patience and obedience. She also appears to get along well with my personal dog, Percy the Australian Shepherd, and they met through a baby gate with no issues. She was a bit excited to greet him initially and wanted to play, but once she understood they weren't going to be playing she settled down and went back to relaxing. She also was completely neutral towards him while he walked around the room while she was in her kennel, with no growling or signs of discomfort even when he approached to sniff her at the kennel door. Percy was also visible nearby while behind the baby gate as she ate dinner and played with toys, and she didn't seem to mind his presence at all and did not display any resource guarding behaviors. Overall she seems to be settling in nicely, and we are so excited to begin this training journey together!
Pupdate 10/28/2024
Today Skylar and I visited a park, where we met up with some other OffLeash SoCal trainers and their pups! This was a great opportunity to train in close proximity to other dogs and people in a controlled environment. She was definitely a bit excited and distracted overall, though she managed to keep relatively calm despite being near so many dogs. She wanted to look at them or sniff them sometimes if they were close to her, but seemed to understand that she wasn't going to be playing with them, and she did not bark at them or pull towards them excessively. During our session, we focused on introducing her to the concept of leash pressure, e-collar stimulation, and the Heel Command.
Pressure is a fundamental tool used in teaching basic obedience commands. The idea is that whenever pressure is applied, be it from a leash or an e-collar, it is paired with a command. The pressure then remains present until Skylar follows the pressure and the command being given. The moment she follows through, the pressure immediately turns off and a reward is given. Yesterday, whenever the leash was used to apply pressure, she would often firmly resist it, try to pull in the opposite direction, and make no attempt to turn the pressure off, so it was clear she didn't quite understand the concept of leash pressure just yet. She strongly pulled against the pressure when using a flat collar, and mostly ignored the slip lead as well. We ended up switching to a prong collar for today's session, which helped tremendously to stop her pulling behavior and teach her the concept of pressure. We spent a good amount of time focusing on teaching her what leash pressure means, and how to turn off the pressure once it's applied. She learned that trying to resist it was not successful or rewarding, and that simply following the directional pressure and paying attention to what I was asking of her was very simple and rewarding! After a while of practicing with this, she did much better and began showing a better understanding of leash pressure. In order to properly introduce the e-collar, it's very helpful for Skylar to first have a solid understanding of leash pressure, as this is the most simple form of pressure due to the clear directional guidance it provides. Once she understood the leash pressure, we began adding in a new form of pressure from the e-collar. By pairing these two forms of pressure simultaneously, she will come to understand that each pressure has the same meaning. With time and practice, this will allow the leash and e-collar to be used interchangeably, and eventually allow the opportunity to begin training with the e-collar only, without the need for a leash! Be sure to check out today's video for an in-depth e-collar tutorial!
Heel is an important command for Skylar to begin developing early on in her training, as her strong pulling while on the leash can pose dangers to her handler, herself, or others in the area if it is allowed to continue. The goal for the Heel command is for Skylar to be able to follow directly alongside her handler on their left side at their heels, and maintain that position while walking unless released or given a new command. This precise positioning takes a lot of practice to master, but it will effectively eliminate pulling on the leash or veering off in different directions, and allow her handler to take the lead on walks instead of her trying to pull them around wherever she pleases. To introduce this command, I kept the leash short but loose, and ensured she stayed on my left side in roughly the Heel position as we walked. If she began to veer off, pull ahead, fall behind, or otherwise create tension on the leash, leash and e-collar pressure were applied, and the verbal command Heel was given until she returned to the desired position. During Heel, her sole focus should be following her handler's lead, and as such she needs to remain neutral to and ignore her environment, which means no sniffing, staring at distractions, or otherwise becoming distracted. When walking in the correct Heel position, the leash was loose, no pressure was applied, and lots of praise and rewards were given to create value in this position. As she gets better with this command, she will have an easier time staying in the Heel position without as much guidance needed, and will need to be given reminders less frequently. Overall she did a good job today and seemed to catch on pretty quickly, though more work will need to be done before she can Heel reliably, especially around distractions.
Pupdate 10/29/2024
Today Skylar and I worked around my neighborhood, where we introduced two new commands, Come to Sit and Place. We also continued working on her Heel command, which she did a pretty good job with overall! My neighborhood was relatively quiet overall, though there were some areas with denser amounts of distractions such as bicycles, dogs, people, and squirrels. Skylar was a bit excited when we started our training though was able to settle down pretty quickly and begin focusing on training without too much issue. We did however encounter a trash truck, which Skylar was very scared of. Upon seeing and hearing it, she immediately tucked her tail and tried to run away from it, so we moved back to a threshold where she could comfortably exist around it without panicking. She never fully seemed to relax while it was within her sight or earshot, though with some time she did seem to understand she did not need to flee from it, and we rewarded all moments of calm behavior while near it. We will definitely have to put in some work to begin resolving this flight response behavior going forward.
Come to Sit is an important command to begin practicing early on in Skylar's training journey, as it will be our main form of recall. Having a solid recall is important for any pup's obedience training, though this will be especially crucial for her to master if she is to be allowed off-leash. The goal for Come to Sit is for Skylar to come directly to me when called, and circle around to perform a Sit on my left side. The Come to Sit command when performed in its entirety ensures that she not only comes when called, but also requires her to sit beside her handler and not leave that spot unless released or given a new command. By having her sit on the left side facing forward, we are setting her up for success to begin walking in a Heel as she is already in the desired position for it. We introduced Come to Sit today by combining the verbal command with leash and e-collar pressure to grab her attention and guide her towards me. Once she followed the guidance and approached me, the leash was used to then guide her around to my left side, where she was then asked to perform a Sit. As we practiced more, she began to rely a bit less on the leash pressure to grab her attention and guide her, which is a good sign of progress! She would tend to sit slightly out of the desired position once she got to me, though for her first day, she did a great job overall! With each successful repetition, I made sure to reward her with lots of praise and affection, to build up a positive association with the command and coming to me when called.
The goal for the Place command is for Skylar to jump or climb onto a designated object, such as a bench, a bed, or another object with defined borders, and hold a stationary command while remaining on the Place object until released or given a new command. We first practiced with a comfortable dog cot while at home that she is familiar with, and she quickly picked up on the concept and rarely needed any guidance to perform it. We then moved this training outside to practice Place on new types of objects, such as low walls, rocks, and other easy to reach platforms. She was a bit underconfident with some of the objects at first and needed a bit of extra encouragement or guidance to help her up, though after a few repetitions with a new object she seemed to get the hang of it and was able to Place pretty well! We'll need to spend some more time working on her durations however, as she would often try to break the position before being released.
Pupdate 10/30/2024
Today Skylar and I visited a local park, where we practiced all of her commands around distractions. The park was relatively quiet, though we did encounter some other dogs, people, children, and lots of squirrels. She was definitely excited at times, but did not display any reactive behavior towards other dogs today. She got a bit spooked when loud noises occurred such as honking or loud engines from the nearby street, though she didn't try to run away from these distractions which was good. We focused on improving her reliability with performing commands while distractions were visible or audible around us, as this is when Skylar tends to struggle most.
Skylar is often easily distracted, as she tends to focus on her surroundings even when asked to perform commands. Moments like this are a great opportunity to implement the Off command. The goal for the Off command is for Skylar to stop whatever she is doing, and focus on her handler. This is a very versatile command, similar to "no" or "leave it", and can be used in various situations, such as to interrupt fixation on distractions, barking, jumping on people, eating or sniffing things she's not supposed to, or any other behaviors that are undesirable or inappropriate at that time. The verbal Off command when paired with leash pressure and the e-collar allows us to interrupt the behavior and help her to refocus so that she is in a better mindset to listen for upcoming instructions. Once the Off command is given, it's beneficial to immediately follow it with another command such as Sit, Come, Heel, etc. Once she stops whatever behavior she was doing, asking her to set her focus on a task will help keep her attention away from what initially distracted her or caused the undesirable behavior. Skylar has shown good progress in understanding the Off command so far, and with each repetition, she seemed to be quicker to respond and refocus when prompted. However, more work will need to be done in various situations before she is fully reliable with the command.
Skylar did a pretty good job with her Heel command today, and seems to be catching onto the concept pretty quickly! She understands where she is supposed to be when the command is given, and is able to maintain the position with minimal guidance from the leash. She is no longer tending to pull while walking, so we were able to switch over to a slip lead successfully and she continued to do fantastic about responding to the leash pressure. Her Come to Sit was good overall as well, and with little to no distractions around she did a great job performing it with minimal guidance needed, though with greater distractions around she tended to be more stubborn and needed more guidance. Her Sit, Down, and Place commands are coming along nicely, and she was able to perform these commands consistently when asked. She did good with her durations as well, and was able to hold her positions for around thirty seconds consistently, which is a great improvement so far!
Pupdate 10/31/2024
Happy Halloween! Today Skylar and I visited a local shopping strip, where we practiced all of her commands around distractions. This location had a variety of distractions present, including groups of people, other dogs, and loud noises such as car engines, honks, and sirens from the busy street nearby. We also encountered some people wearing Halloween costumes, which were a unique distraction to work around today!
Skylar was a bit overwhelmed by everything at first, though as we spent some time walking around and training here, she began to settle down and adapt to the environment. She was however easily spooked by various stimuli, particularly sudden loud noises or movements. Whenever a loud car or bus passed, she would tend to break her commands and either freeze or try to move away from where the noise was coming from, though once the noise stopped or we moved away far enough she would gather herself pretty quickly and recover the obedience without further issue. This would also happen when walking past buildings that had automatic sliding glass doors, as the unexpected movement would tend to catch her off guard. We spent some time working around these difficult distractions today and with time she did seem to get more comfortable and was able to stay more neutral in their presence, though more work will need to be done before she is able to maintain her focus when first encountering distractions such as this. Overall she did a good job with each of her commands today, and her training is coming along nicely!
Pupdate 11/1/2024
Today Skylar and I worked at home and around the neighborhood. While working outdoors we continued practicing each of her commands around distractions. Around the residential areas of the neighborhood, we encountered distractions such as dogs, people, bicycles, and squirrels. Other areas of the neighborhood had more major distractions such as construction zones and noisy, fast moving street traffic. Overall Skylar did a good job training today, though she still seems to be easily spooked by certain stimuli and tends to be a bit nervous and flighty at times so we continued to work on this whenever the opportunity arose. At home, we spent some extra time working on house manners, including areas like Door Manners which is featured in today's video!
The goal of Door Manners is for Skylar to hold a stationary position while near a door and remain there until invited through the doorway once released or given a new command such as Come or Heel. She is asked to hold the position at the location asked of her, and not break the command even if the door is left open, if someone is knocking on it, or if people walk in or out of it. This practice teaches important boundaries, and prevents impolite and possibly dangerous behaviors, such as trying to escape through open doors, jumping on people who enter, and shoving past people when walking through doorways. When she first came to me, she would often jump on the door or on me when wanting to go out, and was unable to hold her position for more than a moment or two as she would excitedly get up and try to rush out. If a gap was made in the door, she would try to shove her face through the door or between my legs to get out. With daily practice, Skylar is making good progress with her manners related to doors, and is learning to respect the boundary and follow instructions even with the added distractions the door may create. When first starting the practice she still tends to struggle a bit with holding her position and will sometimes impulsively break position and try to get up to walk out or follow me before she is asked to, though after being reminded a few times this improves and she has an easier time following instructions.
Pupdate 11/2/2024
Today Skylar and I visited a local shopping strip, where we continued practicing each of her commands around distractions. This location had a variety of distractions present, including groups of people, other dogs, and noisy traffic from the nearby streets. The narrow sidewalks also put us in close proximity to these distractions, as well other distractions such as food on outdoor tables at restaurants along the strip.
During today's session, we focused on practicing each of her commands with as minimal leash pressure as possible. By reserving the use of leash pressure only for when she truly needs it, we can encourage her to problem solve, make her own choices, and use her knowledge of commands to follow through with what is being asked of her. Having her become comfortable with training without leash guidance will help her depend on it less, and is the first step toward preparing her for potential off leash training!
Skylar did well with her Heel overall, and rarely needed any leash pressure to guide her. She was generally very good about sticking right beside me as we walked around, and was neutral to most of her surroundings such as people and other dogs walking past. She would sometimes want to look at these distractions, but understood not to fixate or let them distract her from her position. She did however have a few moments where something loud nearby would spook her, and she would scamper away a few feet out of position before she was able to recover and return to the position. She sometimes would reach the end of the six foot leash we were training with today, but usually she was able to calm down and reposition before reaching this distance. She was able to perform Come To Sit pretty reliably with no major issues, and seems to have a good understanding of what to do and where to go when the command is given. She was able to Sit, Down, and Place today all without any leash pressure, which was great to see! She was generally able to hold her positions for about a minute at a time pretty consistently, though when the distraction levels increased past her comfort threshold, such as if there was loud engine noises, honking, or sirens, she tended to struggle to hold her commands as she would get nervous and want to move away.
Pupdate 11/3/2024
Today Skylar and I visited an outdoor mall, where we continued practicing each of her commands around distractions using minimal to no leash pressure. The mall wasn't overly busy, but still had a variety of distractions present including people, other dogs, food, and pigeons! Skylar did a good job of staying focused in this environment, and while she did get a bit excited or nervous at times, she was generally quite calm and neutral towards her surroundings. When distracted by something, she was typically quick to redirect her focus back to training when prompted. We used a long leash during training today, which allowed us to give her more physical freedom to make choices and mistakes. Holding on towards the end of the leash gave her around fifteen feet of space before any tension would be applied, which is a good step to begin simulating how she might behave while off leash. She never attempted to move more than this distance away today on her own accord, which was great to see!
Skylar did great with her Heel, and was able to maintain her position beside me as we walked around the mall with minimal to no leash pressure needed! Her Come to Sit was good as well, and she was very consistent with her recall and always came right to me when called. Her stationary positions were a big focus of today's session, as her durations for holding these commands still needs some work when practicing them in distracting areas. At home or in other quiet environments she has shown a great understanding of the implied stay and has been able to hold her positions for well over two minutes, though when around distractions she still tends to pop back up out of position frequently. Once given a few reminders, she's better about holding the position until released, though this is something she will need more practice with before she can hold her positions reliably in a consistent manner.
We also had some great opportunities to practice Skylar's Greeting Manners today, as there were lots of nice people who wanted to say hello to and pet her. The goal for Greeting Manners is for Skylar to be able to meet or greet people calmly and politely, whether in public or at home. Skylar came to us with a habit of jumping up onto people she was excited to say hello to, which even with her friendly intentions, is a dangerous behavior as she could accidentally injure someone! As such, this is an important area of her training and is something we have been working on whenever the opportunity arises, whether it be at home with me or my guests, or out in public with new people. To help Skylar learn the desired manners, we first have her perform and hold Sit or Down directly beside her handler, as this gives her a task to focus on and discourages her from breaking the position to jump on anyone. If she tries to jump up, any affection being given abruptly ends, the Off command is given, and she is immediately asked to return to position. When having a new person greet Skylar, it's important to inform them of her training and the expectations set for her, that way they can help reinforce the training appropriately. All praise, attention, and affection should be reserved strictly for when she is stationary, calm, and following instructions. If she is rewarded when behaving poorly, then the training will be inconsistent and be detrimental to her progress. Staying consistent with these manners is key to her success, as she will come to understand that jumping on people is not a rewarding behavior, and only delays or prevents her from getting what she wants, which is to say hello to people and get attention from them! She did a good job with her greetings today, and she didn't try to jump on anyone, which was great to see! She did sometimes break her position due to her excitement, though she was quick to correct herself and return to position when prompted.
Pupdate 11/4/2024
Today Skylar and I visited an indoor mall, where we continued working on each of her commands around distractions using minimal to no leash pressure. The mall was decently busy, and had plenty of people walking around, as well as a few other dogs and distractions like strollers, food, and music. Overall Skylar seemed pretty relaxed here and didn't appear to be feeling nervous about her environment, which was great to see!
While training we continued to focus on practicing her commands without using any leash pressure. She ended up doing a solid job with each of her commands without any guidance, so we moved onto leash dragging exercises. This is where the handler drops the leash along the ground and allows it to drag during training, which helps to give us a good idea of her behavior while essentially off leash, while still having it handy should it be needed for any reason.
In this environment, Skylar did an excellent job with her training, including with the leash dragging! At no point did I need to pick it up to guide her or prevent her from wandering off. Even when given full physical freedom, she actively chose to stay near me, follow commands, and focus on me. She would get slightly distracted now and then but never enough to disrupt her training, and she was quick to refocus when prompted. This was a great location to begin practicing this type of training, as it is a safe and enclosed space free of any major risks such as busy streets. While Skylar is making progress with controlling her flight response when nervous, it still wouldn't be a wise choice to practice leash dragging or off leash training while in potentially dangerous places.
Pupdate 11/5/2024
Today Skylar and I visited a park, where we continued to practice each of her commands around distractions using no leash pressure. The park was decently busy, with other dogs, people, children, and small animals. The grassy fields also served as a good distraction due to all the interesting smells on the ground. Skylar was a bit excited when we first arrived, but overall didn't appear to be feeling anxious or overstimulated, and was able to maintain a good level of focus during training.
We continued practicing her commands with the leash dragging while at the park, and she did a great job overall! She made a few small mistakes here and there, but she was almost always able to correct herself without any need for the leash. She was generally very consistent with her commands, and seemed to understand all of them very well. She would sometimes get stubborn about something when initially asked, but after a few asks she would follow through with what was being asked of her. Even with full physical freedom and plenty of interesting distractions around, Skylar never strayed far from me and understood to follow commands even if I wasn't holding the leash.
Pupdate 11/6/2024
Today Skylar and I visited an outdoor mall, where we practiced all of her commands around distractions. This location was pretty busy, and there were many distractions around such as many groups of people, other dogs, children playing, food, and music.
Skylar did seem a bit overwhelmed by it all when we first arrived, though she quickly settled down and adjusted to the environment, allowing her to stay calm and focused. Once she had adapted to the surroundings, she was very neutral to nearly everything around us, including other dogs walking past, crowds of people moving around her, and even smells of food on nearby tables at the outdoor restaurants. The only distractions that seemed to bother her were loud noises. One such example was when a mall employee was rolling a trash can across the ground, which made a noisy sound as it moved along. Skylar was quite spooked by this and had jumped up out of her sit and moved away a few feet when she first heard it, though she was able to snap out of her frightened state and refocus on me when prompted. Even when she was spooked, it was good to see her quickly recover and be able to set her focus back onto training. She got some reassuring pats and a few pieces of kibble for her good work, and after that, she sat calmly as the trash can continued along nearby, not seeming as bothered by it.
We began our session on leash when we first arrived to allow Skylar some time to adjust to the new environment, though as she quickly adjusted we transitioned to leash dragging. She did an excellent job with this, and made it clear the leash was not needed in this environment so we switched to a small handheld leash loop. This allowed her to essentially be off leash, while still having something handy to grab should it be needed without anything having to drag along the ground and get in the way. We never needed to use this handle leash, and Skylar did a wonderful job with each of her commands and impressed everyone around with her obedience skills! She got lots of compliments, and a few people stopped and asked to pet her, which provided some more opportunities for Greeting Manners. She did great with this, and politely enjoyed all the attention she received!
Pupdate 11/7/2024
Today Skylar and I visited an indoor mall, where we practiced all of her commands around distractions while off leash! The mall was pretty busy with groups of people walking around, as well as a few other dogs, music, and food. Despite the busy environment, Skylar did an excellent job staying calm and focused.
Skylar was able to perform each of her commands excellently while we were at the mall. We started the session with some repetitions of each command on leash, and she quickly proved the leash to be unnecessary so we continued our practice while off leash. She didn't seem to notice or mind the lack of the leash, and did a fantastic job with each of her commands.
She was able to Heel wonderfully, and stuck right by my side as we walked around the mall and passed various distractions. Whenever minor adjustments were needed, she was able to reposition herself quickly without any physical guidance. Her Come to Sit was consistent and reliable, and she did a great job with both the recall and positioning aspects of the command. Her stationary commands were solid overall, and she was able to perform Sit, Place, and Down anywhere asked of her without issue. She was generally very good about holding her positions as well, even as various distractions passed by around her. The only command she had some trouble with was holding her Sit for an extended period, as she began to get tired towards the end of the session and wanted to break the Sit to relax into a Down. While we don't want to encourage breaking commands for any reason, it's also important to recognize and respect her limits, so when it became clear she was uncomfortable holding her Sits we switched to only having her hold it for brief periods, and using Down when asking for extended stationary positions for the rest of the session.
Pupdate 11/8/2024
Today Skylar and I visited an outdoor mall, where we practiced all of her commands around distractions while off leash. The mall had a variety of distractions present, including groups of people, other dogs, children running around, food, and music. We were able to capture some great footage at the mall today, which will be used in putting together her final video, so be sure to check out today's video for a sneak peek!
Skylar did an excellent job with her commands today, and was generally very focused and calm! We were able to train around heavily distracting areas such as by groups of people, other dogs, and tables with food on them without her losing focus which was great to see! She was generally very neutral to her surroundings, and only a few distractions here and there seemed to catch her attention, though it was quickly regained with use of the Off command. Some noisy distractions seemed to unnerve her slightly, though she didn't try to flee from anything and managed to keep her composure and obedience despite being a bit nervous about the sound.
Skylar did well with her Heel overall, and while some minor mistakes were made on occasion such as veering off or stepping ahead ever so slightly, she was always quick to correct herself when prompted and had no issue doing so while off leash. Her Come to Sit was always solid and reliable, and she always came running to me happily whenever she was called! Her stationary commands were great overall as well, and she was able to perform Sit, Place, and Down whenever and wherever she was asked to. She was able to hold her positions for around two minutes each, and very rarely broke the command once she was asked to enter it.
Pupdate 11/9/2024
Today was Skylar's last full day with me, so we spent the day putting all of her learned skills to use to have a great last day together! We visited a park, and she had a great time practicing commands and playing while off leash. Skylar is not only excelling with her skills and manners while out in public, but she has also made huge transformations in her behavior inside the home as well! House manners are something we have been working on little by little each day since day one. Even seemingly mundane day-to-day tasks can provide excellent opportunities for training! These manners include areas such as Food Manners, Door Manners, and Car Manners.
The goal for Food Manners is for Skylar to be able to hold a stationary command while her food is prepared and set in front of her. She is then asked to remain in that position until she is released before she can get up and eat her food. Skylar often gets very excited about her food, and in the early stages of her training she was prone to jumping on me or the counters when anticipating food, and rushing to the food bowl the moment it was set down even if it meant trying to knock me out of the way to get to it. As she progressed in her overall obedience, she quickly replaced her bad habits and learned to be polite and patient even when faced with very tempting distractions such as food directly in front of her! She now does very well with her Food Manners, and she is able to control her excitement and await the release command before digging in!
Another area of manners we have been working on is Skylar's Door Manners. The goal of Door Manners is for Skylar to hold a stationary position while near a door and remain there until released or given a new command, such as Come or Heel. She is asked to hold the position at the location asked of her, and not break the command even if the door is left open, if someone is knocking on it, or if people walk in or out of it. This practice teaches important boundaries and the importance of thresholds, and prevents impolite and possibly dangerous behaviors she once displayed, such as trying to escape through open doors, shoving past people when walking through doors, or rushing over to jump on people who enter through the door. Skylar has made a massive transformation with her manners related to doors, and understands to follow instructions no matter what distractions the door may present. After Skylar has been asked for a stationary command, a door can be left wide open, and she understands to not get up or walk through the doorway unless given permission to, and when invited she can walk nicely through the doorway without shoving through or trying to rush out. I can even leave her sight completely and walk in and out without her feeling the need to get up and follow me, and she has also been doing great with holding her position calmly while people other than myself enter or exit through the door which sets her up for success with Greeting Manners!
Having good Car manners makes transporting Skylar easy, safe, and as hassle-free as possible. The goal for Car Manners is for Skylar to be confident and able to jump into the car when prompted without needing any physical assistance. Once in the car, the goal is for her to willingly enter a kennel when asked, without needing to be physically guided or lured inside. Skylar came to us a bit underconfident, and was not initially able to jump into the car on her own, however with all of our Place practice came a new level of confidence within her, and she is now confident with her jumping skills! She also has learned to love the kennel, and happily enters it whenever she is asked to.
Skylar has made such an amazing transformation in these past two weeks, and the differences in her are truly night and day! She came to us with limited knowledge of obedience commands, and often struggled to focus due to her tendency to immediately become overexcited, distracted, and overstimulated by everything around her. She has since learned to stay calm, focused, and neutral to her surroundings even in the most busy of places. Her confidence, patience, discipline, and overall manners have all improved so much! Skylar also replaced many bad habits with polite behaviors, and is no longer a leash-pulling, dog-reactive, counter-surfing, jumping-to-greet people kind of pup! Her acquired skills and good behavior have allowed her to safely enjoy the freedom and fun that comes with being off leash, which opens the door for training and fun times without the hassle of a leash! While she may seem like a whole new dog, she is still the same goofy, loving, and playful pup she always has been, and with her new obedience skills she is even more of a joy to be around and take with on all sorts of adventures! Skylar has been such a pleasure to train and share my home with, and I am forever grateful to have had the opportunity to help this good girl become the best version of herself! With her intelligence and eagerness to please, the sky is the limit for this pup, and I know she has a very bright future ahead in her continued training journey with her family!
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