Teddy | Goldendoodle | La Habra, CA | In Training
- Tanner Strong
- Oct 6, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: Oct 19, 2024
Meet Teddy! He's a one year old Goldendoodle from La Habra, California here for our Two-Week Board and Train Program! Teddy is a bit skeptical of new people, even though he's extremely friendly! He loves to run out of the door whenever it is opened, and tends to not listen to any obedience commands. As he walks, he loves nipping at shoes, pulling on his leash and jumping all over people he likes. He also tends to get to crazy in the house whenever there are guests. So, over the next fourteen days, we will work on Teddy's obedience skills, help him with his manners in and out of the house, help him with his impulse control, and show him how to be best pup he can possibly be! Stay tuned for Teddy's two week transformation!
Pupdate: 10/6/2024
After picking up Teddy, we went over to Almansor Park to get to know each other! He's been a little standoffish with me, especially while exploring the park. He wasn't willing to give me any commands, including our basic Sit command. Luckily, that all changed once we got home! He was allowed to sniff around my house and get familiar with this new environment. He was immediately much more willing to engage with me and even play around a little bit. He was not the biggest fan of the crate, and began barking on the drive home, but I'm not too worried, as he has already shown an aptitude for settling in and learning basic commands. In addition to his pictures today, I am adding a tutorial video and picture of his new E-collar. Please watch this video as it will make the transition process much smoother once Teddy is ready to head home!
Pupdate: 10/7/2024
Teddy and I enjoyed our day walking to the park a few different times throughout the day! When starting a longer walk, the first thing I want Teddy to understand is the importance of the pressure he will receive from both the leash itself, and also the E-collar. I want him to start learning that hitting the end of the leash means he's going too far and he needs to come back to me. We start very slowly, only moving back and forth across one part of the grass or sidewalk, gradually turning his new loose leash walk into a more precise Heel. For Heel, I still want Teddy to follow the pressure from my leash and E-collar, but with his ears more in line with my knee. By using more and more precise corrections throughout our walks, Teddy began understanding that Heel means he should return to this position. When I want him to be able to walk more freely, sniff a tree, or anything else he wants to do, I tell him this with the word Break! Teddy was fairly uncomfortable walking to the park, but once we made it there, he started loosening up a bit and having more fun.
Pupdate: 10/8/2024
Teddy and I spent the day at the park today! Since we drove instead of walked, we didn't have the initial walk as a warm up, but we got to warm up around more distractions! There was a small dog that Teddy really wanted to say hi to. It's important for Teddy to understand that he doesn't need to go greet every single dog we see. We continued working on his Heel command, as well as his new Place command! For Place, I want Teddy to hop onto a raised object, such as a bench, and remain there until I either release him from command or ask him to do something else. This command is great for building confidence out in public, and also is extremely useful at home. While home, I want Teddy to have a spot where he can go when I do something that doesn't involve Teddy, such as cooking or cleaning. Once he's a little better with it, it will also be useful when having guests over. I use a place cot for this at home, but it can be anything with defined borders, such as a blanket or towel. Starting with something raised, though, makes it much easier for Teddy to identify the borders and have a better idea of where exactly I want him to stay. Back at the park, Teddy had the most difficult with the picnic seats, as they are a little harder to balance on than the wider benches. I can tell he is gaining confidence slowly but surely, but I'd like him to continue getting more comfortable.
Pupdate: 10/9/2024
Teddy is still struggling with distractions out in public, and seems to fluctuate between a state of nervousness and excitement. For example, today at Garfield Park, he got excited to see a few of the dogs, although he's doing much better at not pulling toward them, but then if we went to a new section of the park he would walk on his tiptoes, looking around as if a monster was going to pop out from behind the trees. After we were there for a while, his confidence started growing, just like it did at Almansor Park previously. We introduced him to his Come To Sit command today, and he did alright with it, with some caveats. For Come To Sit, I want Teddy to Come to my right side, walk around my legs and Sit at my left side with his ears at my knee. Once he learned the motions, he would come around me, but want to sit way far away, stop in front of me, or turn all the way around to face me. To help with this, we add some sort of wall or object next to us on the left side so that Teddy has to maintain a more precise position at my side. When adding this, he struggled way more, and seemed much more nervous than doing it out in the middle of the fields. Back home, practicing in a corner, same thing. He responds to a lot of encouragement, and once he's in the correct position, he happily touches my hand with his nose, knowing he earned some praise, but for Teddy, closing that distance accurately seems to be very tough. That being said, he's doing better and better with Place, and he's working on holding the Place position for longer and longer!
Pupdate: 10/10/2024
Teddy and I went to Home Depot today for training! When we arrived, we went in through the garden center. He was immediately enamored with the garden, wanting to sniff each and every plant we walked past. He even lifted his leg for a second to mark one, but I caught him in time with the Off command. Off is our general "do not do" command and we use it for any unwanted behavior such as jumping, or marking in this case. This is the reason we don't allow Teddy to mark every single thing he wants while on walks, unless he is on break. After some time in the garden, we proceeded inside. He was much more timid, and had trouble keeping engaged with me. He did not like the lumber section very much at all. The lumber section often has the most going on, and the loudest noises. Usually, I can get Teddy's attention, and get his tail wagging even around distractions, but I had trouble with this in the lumber section. Eventually though, a kind man wanted to say hi to Teddy and we took this opportunity to work on his greeting manners. After initial hesitation, Teddy started wagging his tail and he almost made it through the interaction without breaking his Sit command. He ended up lifting his front legs and sitting back on his butt as if to hug him, at which point I called him back into his Sit. Overall, Teddy was less excitable, but more nervous today, and had some trouble with his commands in these new areas, but it was a very productive day!
Pupdate: 10/11/2024
Back at Home Depot, Teddy did a much better job in the garden center today. He spent less time trying to sniff every plant, and more time paying attention to me. Inside the building, he was still pretty distracted by everything going on. In certain areas we had more success, but he still wasn't thrilled about the lumber section. While he was able to perform his commands, he usually required some amount of leash direction, and tapping my leg or snapping my fingers to try to keep his attention. He seemed the most concerned while actually performing the various tasks, whereas he did a much better job holding his positions while carts and other distractions went by! I also had much more success getting his tail wagging in this area, which I like!
Pupdate: 10/12/2024
Teddy and I started working on his commands with the leash dragging today. Allowing the leash to drag gives me some idea of how he might perform off leash while still having access to the leash should I need it. Out in a field, with very few distractions, he quickly began picking up his commands without the guidance of leash tension. That said, I had to really work to keep his attention by tapping my leg, snapping my fingers, and staying on top of him with the Off command and E collar. The nearest other dog was a couple hundred feet away and Teddy would still try to sneak a peek if I didn't consistently keep his attention on me. His work today, however, is a huge step in the right direction. Since I am now confident in his knowledge of the commands, most our focus now will go towards getting him as comfortable as possible around tons of distractions!
Pupdate: 10/13/2024
Teddy and I continued working on his leash dragging commands today. We tried working closer to more distractions, specifically a birthday party that was going on at the park! When we were around mostly people, he did a wonderful job, as he preferred to stick close to me anyway. The times he got excited were when we saw other dogs. At these times, he would start drifting out of place as we walked, at which point I would pick up his leash. Something else I noticed was he tried to take more advantage of his slightly increased freedom by constantly wanting to sniff everything. This isn't new for Teddy, but he started understanding he couldn't get away with it while the leash is in my hand. Now, with enough time and work, he should start learning the same thing applies even when I'm not holding the leash! This also goes for his habit of marking everything, although I did not see much of that today.
Pupdate: 10/14/2024
Teddy and I went to Santa Anita Mall today for training! Much like Home Depot, Teddy enjoyed the open air sections much more than the indoors. The indoor sections may cause sounds to reverberate more, making them slightly more intimidating for Teddy. While outside, I was able to keep Teddy mostly confident and happy, but needed to work hard to keep his attention. Inside, he shut down quickly, and had a much more difficult time paying attention, and walked around almost crouched down, having trouble pushing through his nerves. Once I saw this, we went back outside and decided we should tackle that section another day. Back outside, we worked on his confidence by practicing Place on several objects and loosening up a little to try to get him in a more playful mood. This seemed to work, and I started getting some tail wags again! We will go back another time to see if slowly easing him into the new environment will help.
Pupdate: 10/15/2024
Teddy and I went to Whittier Narrows Park today with several other trainers and their dogs! This was pretty tough for Teddy, and he wanted to get playful and say hi to all the new dogs. While he did a fine job with most of his commands, he had significantly more trouble holding his positions without breaking around his new friends. When this happens, we want to make sure Teddy follows through with resuming his original position as quickly as possible. We don't want to laugh it off and say it's fine just this once, as he will quickly learn that he doesn't need to listen. When we are ready for him to leave his position and allow him to sniff around or say hi, we use the word, "Break!"
Pupdate: 10/16/2024
At the park this morning, there wasn't too much going on, aside from all the geese and other critters. Teddy has been pretty good about the geese and ducks, but he gets pretty excited about squirrels! We tried finding as many squirrels as possible to work around, and he ended up doing well bringing his attention back to me with enough repetition!
We went back in the evening, trying to find more activity, which we did! There was a soccer game going on, as well as some people playing basketball. Teddy was initially very interested in the sports and people running around, and took a few minutes of relaxing in the grass before I was able to easily bring his attention back to me. We then found a pug who couldn't help but bark his head off at Teddy. This was by far the biggest challenge of the day for Teddy. We walked back and forth around the small dog, and for most of the time Teddy found it extremely difficult not to stare at and try to approach the dog. He would happily bounce towards him before coming back to me when called. It took a lot of repetition, but working on his recall and heel near this loud dog was extremely valuable for Teddy today.
Pupdate: 10/17/2024
Teddy and I went back to Santa Anita Mall today! He did a little better in the outside areas, but it was also gloomy out, so there weren't as many people. Inside, we were able to walk around most of the mall without Teddy getting too spooked. He did a much better job than our last time there. There were more people inside, many of whom had little dogs that got Teddy excited. While I want Teddy to remain calm inside the mall, I believe the extra dogs inside helped him get more comfortable and confident. We will work on honing his commands at the mall more, now that he has the confidence to go through the whole place.
For his video today, I'm showing the Door Manners we've been working on! These have been tough for Teddy, as he gets pretty excited to go outside, and would often try to push out before me when I opened the door. We practice this each time we leave, even if it's just for a second or two. For the purposes of this video, I have him Sit in front of the door when I open it, for around one minute, but in reality, the goal is for me to be able to open the door without Teddy paying much attention to it. Sometimes, I have him on the place cot in the dining room while I open and close the door over and over again to make the door moving a nonevent. At this point, Teddy perks up and watches me when I open the door, but has been doing a much better job of holding whichever position I ask of him.
Pupdate: 10/18/2024
Teddy and I once again went to Santa Anita Mall to get him as much public exposure as possible! Today my goal was to try to have him behaving without me needing to constantly snap my fingers and slap my leg to keep his attention. Performing his commands without that extra help was a little tougher, and he definitely got distracted at times. We ran into several other dogs, which is Teddy's main distraction. The first couple we saw, he could help but to hop around with joy. Remaining calm and asking him to Sit helped a lot. After some warm up and a nice training session, we ran into a few more dogs who Teddy did a better job ignoring. He still looked at them and gained a pep in his step when he saw them, but he contained his excitement for the most part. He's doing a bit better with these things each day!
Pupdate: 10/19/2024
Teddy and I went to Almansor Park today! There were plenty of soccer games, parties, and other groups of people to work around. There were tons of times when I felt dropping his leash and allowing it to drag was a fine idea, and he did well. When small dogs started getting close to us, and Teddy got a little too excited, I picked up the leash. The best practice he got today was practicing his Down as close as possible to the soccer games and other events, watching as he slowly started to relax more and more.
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