Tomato | Mixed Terrier | Glendale, CA | In Training
Updated: 5 hours ago
Tomato is a five-month-old Terrier Mix from Glendale, CA, here with us for our Two-Week Community Board and Train Program! She’s a sweet, curious girl with plenty of personality, but she can sometimes have a mind of her own when it comes to listening. Tomato often decides for herself when it’s time to pay attention, and she loves following her nose—sniffing around, grabbing things off the ground, and occasionally pulling on the leash when something catches her interest.
Over the next fourteen days, we’ll be working on building Tomato’s obedience, improving her manners both inside and out of the house, and teaching her to be more reliable and responsive even when there are distractions around. We’ll give her plenty of structure, practice, and positive experiences to help her become a more well-rounded companion.
Stay tuned for Tomato’s two-week transformation!
8/30/2026
After picking up Tomato today, we spent some time hanging out at the park and getting to know each other. She’s such a sweet girl! Tomato does like to put a little extra enthusiasm into her leash walking and pull at times, but she’s been very friendly and seems to already be warming up to me nicely.
Once we got home, we took some time to settle in and get Tomato comfortable with her new environment. So far, she’s adjusting really well and seems to be settling in nicely! I’ve really enjoyed having her with me already, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with her and working with her throughout her stay. She’s off to a great start!
8/31/2026
Tomato got to meet some new friends and their trainers today! She was a little fiesty at the beginning and end of our session, but for the better part of the morning, she did a pretty good job behaving and staying engaged with me.
I used Tomato’s regular kibble as her food reward throughout our training, and it proved to be a great way to get her attention and keep her focused. Building that engagement will be especially important going forward as we work on her obedience and reliability around distractions.
Overall, Tomato had a good first day of training! We’re off to a nice start, and I’m looking forward to building on today’s progress over the next couple of weeks.
9/1/2026
Tomato and I had a fairly pleasant day today! We used her breakfast kibble to work on her Place, Sit, and Down commands, and she’s already getting pretty good with all three. She’s showing that she understands what I’m asking and is becoming more consistent with each practice session.
Her toughest command by far is still Heel, and most of the challenge comes down to her attention span. When we practice Place with me standing in front of her, it’s much easier for her to keep her attention on me. But once we’re walking, her attention seems to go everywhere! The path ahead, a nearby bush, something interesting on the ground, Tomato wants to investigate it all.
For our evening walk, I decided to focus exclusively on bringing that attention back to me. Instead of practicing her other commands, I used her dinner as we walked. Each time Tomato looked up at me while walking on a loose leash, she earned a little bit of food. Since she’s so low to the ground, this can make things a little slower, but it worked well and gave her a good reason to start checking in with me instead of constantly looking for something else to sniff or investigate.
We’ll want to eventually get her walking attentively without needing food, but for now this is great practice for teaching her that keeping her attention on me is rewarding. The more we practice, the more natural that attention should become.
We also started introducing her Off command today. For Tomato, Off will be more than just a command for jumping, it will essentially mean “don’t do that” in situations where she needs to disengage. That can include jumping on people, fixating on another dog, grabbing or investigating something she shouldn’t, or even sniffing the ground when she’s supposed to be paying attention. This should be a very useful command for her as we continue working on her manners and impulse control.
Tomato is making good progress, and we’ll keep building on these skills tomorrow!
9/2/2026
Tomato and I spent our morning working on her Heel command, and I’m happy to say it’s looking much better! She’s paying more attention to me while we walk, especially after the work we did yesterday. She’s definitely starting to understand that staying engaged with me makes our walks much smoother.
One thing we’re still working on is what happens when we stop. Tomato has a tendency to either move in front of me or try to slip behind me instead of staying right by my side. I’m working on teaching her to settle into a Sit directly next to me whenever we stop, which will help make her Heel much more reliable.
We also continued working on her Come To Sit command. I don’t just want her to come when called—I want her to come all the way around and finish sitting neatly at my left side. She’s getting parts of it, but just like with her Heel, getting that nice, close Sit next to me is proving to be the tricky part!
She’s still making progress, though, and I’m happy with how much better her attention has gotten. We’ll keep building on it!
9/3/2026
Tomato was generally a very good girl today! We met some other dogs out at the park, and she mostly behaved herself, with just one instance of leash pulling that we had to work through. Overall, she handled the distractions around the park quite well.
One thing I’m continuing to notice with Tomato is that she learns commands very quickly, but she is also very quick to test whether she really has to follow through. For example, she was doing great with her Come To Sit for several repetitions, then suddenly decided she was done working and threw a little fit. Like many intelligent dogs, these are some of the most important moments to work through. She needs to learn that she cannot simply opt out of a simple command because she doesn’t feel like doing it. If she learns that pulling away or refusing can get her out of something, then that becomes the lesson we are teaching her, which would ultimately be a step backward.
That being said, we had a very pleasant time around the pond, where there were plenty of distractions for her to take in. Tomato did very well overall, and that is certainly encouraging! She’s a very smart girl with a lot of potential, we just need to keep working through those tougher moments and make sure she understands that following through is not optional. Very good girl!
9/4/2026
Tomato worked on her recall command today! We continued practicing her “Come To Sit,” where the goal isn’t just for her to come when called, but to come all the way over and sit neatly at my left side.
She continues to have a bit of a hard time getting into the proper position next to me, but she’s been doing well overall and making progress with the exercise. She’s not quite ready for off-leash work yet, so we’ll keep building up her reliability and positioning before taking that next step. We’ll continue working on it!
9/5/2026
Tomato had another good day of training! We continued working on her recall and especially her Come To Sit, focusing on having her come all the way back to me and settle into a sit at my left side. She’s still working through that last part, but she’s making progress and doing better with each session. She’s not quite ready for off-leash work yet, so we’ll keep building her reliability and confidence before taking that next step. Overall, she was a good girl today!
9/6/2026
Tomato and I stayed mostly inside today to avoid the rain, so we took the opportunity to focus on her in-home manners! We worked on helping her stay calm and attentive around the house, with a big focus on her door manners.
For door manners, we practiced having Tomato wait patiently instead of rushing toward the door whenever it opens. I worked on having her sit and hold her position while I approached the door, opened it, and moved through it first. We also practiced waiting when the door was opened for someone else, rather than trying to follow or squeeze through. If she got up before being released, we simply reset and tried again. She did a nice job learning that the door opening isn't an invitation to bolt through it!
We also practiced coming to the door calmly when someone approached, waiting for permission before going outside, and holding her position while I stepped in and out. These exercises are helping Tomato understand that she needs to wait for direction instead of making her own decisions around doors. She did well overall and is starting to show better impulse control.
It wasn't the most exciting weather day, but it ended up being a productive one for Tomato! We’ll keep building on these home manners and continue working toward making her obedience more reliable in everyday situations.
9/7/2026
Tomato had a slower, more relaxed day today as we worked on her commands and home manners while doing our best to avoid the rain! We had light showers coming and going throughout the day, which actually kept things nice and cool, so we were still able to get out for some fun walks whenever the rain let up. Tomato did a good job staying focused and practicing her obedience, and we continued reinforcing those good manners throughout the day. A nice, productive day for this little girl!
9/8/2026
Today we’re showing off Tomato’s Food Manners! Tomato did a great job waiting patiently for her meals and has been very respectful around her food. She really doesn’t need many reminders to wait before being released to enjoy her meal, which is a great sign that she’s learning to control her excitement and be polite around food!
We got outside for a nice outing this morning and managed to sneak in a little evening time outside as well. Unfortunately, we had some rain and thunder throughout the day, so we spent a good amount of time indoors. That gave us a great opportunity to work on her manners around the house and let her relax between training sessions.
Tomato continues to be a very good girl, and her food manners are coming along wonderfully!
9/9/2026
Tomato had a nice day today! With no rain to worry about, we were able to get outside for some pleasant walks and enjoy some time exploring. It did get quite hot in the afternoon, so we headed back inside during the warmest part of the day to keep everyone comfortable. Tomato had a fun time both inside and out, and overall she had another good day!
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