Meet Tucker, a Labrador Mix from Costa Mesa,CA and he has joined OffLeash for our One Week Board and Train Program. Tucker is the best companion and is friendly with people and dogs. He can get a bit excited when it comes to meeting people which causes him to jump when greeting. Out in public, Tucker can be hard to control because of how easily distracted he can be. He pulls on the leash during walks, only follows through with commands when he feels like it, and has a hard time holding commands. Tucker also loves to jump on the counter when at home. Over the next seven days, Tucker and I will be working on his on leash obedience and manners. Stay tuned to see his transformation!
Pupdate 4/28/2024
Tucker had no issues settling into my home. He was so excited to meet new friends! He ran around, explored, and played all day. After Tucker familiarized himself with my home, I did a bit of training to see what commands Tucker knows. With treats, I was able to get him to go into a sit and down. I also worked on conditioning Tucker to the e-collar. In the video, I explain the details of the e-collar. I will also be explaining how we use the collar throughout the training. After being out in the hot sun, Tucker splashed around in the doggie pool to cool down.
Pupdate 4/29/2024
Today Tucker and I trained at home and worked on the command place. In the video, I explain what place is and how Tucker got to learn this new command. He was a bit distracted by the dogs walking around, but the treats kept him engaged. I also held him accountable to following through with the command each time I asked him. It is important that we make Tucker follow through each and every time we ask him to do a command because we don’t want him to push any boundaries later on. Tucker caught on pretty quick to learning a new command and he is doing great with the e-collar as well. Tucker has a hard time holding commands longer than a few seconds, but we got to work on that today and he will continue to improve throughout training.
Pupdate 4/30/2024
Today Tucker and I trained at Hacienda Park. We worked on a new command, heel. In the video I explain how we worked on the command and what the structure should look like. I started off practicing with a prong collar to help prevent Tucker from pulling and it made a big change already. As we practiced the command, Tucker started to understand what the word meant. I was able to remove the prong and use the e-collar for corrections instead. The way the e-collar works with a heel is a bit different than using it with sit, down, or place. Instead of giving a freebie, we are going to give a corrections whenever he is not in the right heel position or is distracted. We also are going to find one number that Tucker listens to right away and stay on that number.
We also continued to work on the other commands he learned yesterday. He is doing great fixing his mistakes after a correction is given. Tucker is still struggling to hold his commands, but I am able to move around him some more. Tucker is doing great and once again had caught on to learning a new command pretty quickly.
Pupdate 5/1/2024
Today Tucker and I worked on a new command, come to sit. In the video I explain how I started teaching Tucker how to recall. We first started with treats and no e-collar since he doesn’t understand the command. Tucker did very well and was very engaged with today’s training. There were light distractions that Tucker did well ignoring. We also continued to work on all the other commands he has learned while implementing the e-collar when needed. Tucker is doing great not pulling on the leash anymore and is holding his commands a bit longer than before. It takes time for Tucker to adjust to new places. He usually gets overly excited and will be easily distracted. I have been giving Tucker time to adjust to his surroundings whenever we go out training. This consists of a long walk and continuing to work him through his excitement. I also make sure to hold him accountable to following through with any command until I break him. It is still a work in progress but great improvement! Tucker is now ready to take on more distractions and more new environments!
Pupdate 5/2/2024
Today Tucker and I trained at Irvine Spectum and worked on his obedience around more distractions. Also, I added a clip from yesterday when we met up with the other pups in training. All the dogs were great distractions for Tucker since he loves meeting new friends. We were able to work on him holding each command as the dogs walked by and also heeling past them without Tucker pulling on the leash. Tucker still needs his time to adjust to new environments which is understandable since he is new to being out with different surroundings. I worked on bringing his excitement down like we did yesterday by doing a long heel and making sure he follows through with each command no matter how distracted he gets. After warming up, Tucker started to do very well with staying focused. He still struggles a bit with holding his down, but we did lots of repetition and I implemented corrections when needed. He was also being stubborn when it came to being in the correct position when I would ask him to come. I made sure to correct Tucker’s mistake by making him do the command over until he got it right. Once he followed through correctly and I would reward Tucker with a break and sometimes treats.
With today’s training, Tucker had a shorter adjustment time to a new environment. His biggest distractions today were birds. Whenever he became fixated, I would tell him “off” and give him a correction. Also, a man let his dog run up to Tucker. I told Tucker “off” and “come” which he responded well too and recalled back to me. Overall, Tucker was a bit stubborn today, but I worked him past it. To get Tucker to be more calm out in public, it is important to continue to take him out and get him used to being near distractions. His excitement comes from him being curious and wanting to explore, but the more he goes out and works on his commands out in public, the calmer he will become! Today Tucker showed lots of improvement and I was very impressed by his heel!
Pupdate 5/3/2024
Today Tucker and I trained at the Brea Mall. I was so proud of Tucker today because he needed no adjustment time! He was calm and followed along to each command right away. Tucker made minimal mistakes today and even went into his down the first time I asked. We did need to practice the structure of his down at first because he would try to lay in front of me instead of on my left side. So, I pulled out the treats to perfect his down and after some practice, Tucker started following through perfectly! He even had some admires who complemented Tucker on how well behaved he was being. One person came up to greet him and Tucker stayed in a sit and did not jump! Today was a great day of training for Tucker!
I have also changed the e-collar we will be using with Tucker. The stimulation on the e-collar technologies 300 was not strong enough and I was reaching high numbers with Tucker. He is now on a Dogtra 1900 which allows us to work on lower numbers to bring back Tuckers attention. The remotes may look different, but all the concepts are the same.
Pupdate 5/4/2024
Today Tucker and I stayed home and worked on his food manners and door manners. Tucker gets very excited when it comes to his food, so we practiced him waiting patiently until I said break for him to eat. He did break command a few times to get his food, but we practiced and I implemented corrections when he would get up. After our practice, Tucker was doing great staying in a sit until I allowed him to get his food. With Tucker’s door manners, he also gets very excited to run out the door. We did lots of repetition of having him either sit or down as I opened the door and walked in and out. We also practiced with somebody else coming in as well. Tucker having door manners is great for preventing him from running out the door as soon as it opens, and also for preventing him from jumping on our guests when they walk through the door. After working hard, Tucker played with his friends the rest of the day. He can’t wait to come home and show you everything he has learned!
