Meet Weber! He's an eleven-month-old Great Pyrenees from San Pedro, California. Weber is joining us for our Two-Week Board and Train Program! Weber has some issues with leash pulling, following basic commands, and getting a little aggressive with other dogs. Check back here over the next fourteen days to see Weber's transformation!
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Pupdate: Sunday, March 27th 2022
After picking up Weber, we walked through Hollydale Park for a little while, then went home! I let him sniff around and then had him lie down on my carpet where I gave him scratches and love for awhile to try to bond with him. After that, we walked down the street to a local park where we started training!
I started Weber's training by introducing him to Heel and Sit. While Heeling, I want the dog to walk on my left side with their ears at my knee, or in Weber's case, at my hip because he's so tall! Weber seems to be picking up Heel quite well! He tends to drift away once in awhile, but he's not doing badly for his first day.
Weber seems to already know how to sit. However, I want to improve his Sit by teaching him to hold it even when I walk away. He did pretty well with this today, although I couldn't get too far before he'd either try to lay down or follow me, so that is definitely something we can work on!
Weber's demeanor seems pretty relaxed, especially for his first day in a new place! He can be a little stubborn from time to time, though. He will go right into his kennel, get comfortable, and then refuse to come out. He certainly seems to like laying in the kennel more than most dogs!
I'm very happy with Weber's first day. He has been a good boy, and I'm starting to see areas where he can improve, and others he's comfortable with!
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Pupdate: Monday, March 28th 2022
Weber and I went to Home Depot today for training! He seemed anxious walking around, and some of the carts scared him a little, but overall he did a good job.
In the above video you'll see Weber Heeling around Home Depot until we stop, Weber Sits and I demonstrate the new command we worked on today: Come To Sit. For this command, I want Weber to come to my right side, walk behind my legs and then sit on my left side. He does this fairly well. Although he sticks his behind out a little too far, at which point I move him into the correct position, then give him praise to mark the position in his brain!
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Pupdate: Tuesday, March 29th 2022
Weber and I went to Pawsadena Dog Park today! Due to Weber's potential aggression towards dogs, we stayed on the outside, keeping a fence between us and the other dogs. That being said, tons of dogs flocked to him from the other side and Weber remained fairly calm! He let out a bark and a growl at a particularly curious German Shepherd, at which point I gave him a small muscle stimulation using his E collar. Other than that one outburst, he did pretty well in relatively close proximity to the other dogs.
We also worked on Weber's Down command. Down simply means I want Weber to lay down on his belly and to do so immediately when I ask. To practice this, I ask him to Down, then apply light downward leash tension and apply pressure between his shoulder blades with my other hand. As soon as his belly touches the groundwater, I give him verbal praise and scratches to mark the position. Weber still needs some work on this one, as he can be a little stubborn! However, his Down, and all the commands he knows so far, are getting better and better each time he does it!
Weber didn't eat breakfast for me yesterday morning, so this morning I mixed in a dash of peanut butter into his food and he gobbled it up! I'd like him to be able to eat his dry food without any additional incentives, but the most important thing is that he's fed, so it will work for now!
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Pupdate: Wednesday, March 30th 2022
Weber and I went to Cheviot Hills today for training! His Heel is coming along excellently! I can already expect him to walk nicely at my side and turn when I turn! I'm also very pleased with his Come To Sit. He will come exactly when asked and automatically sit at my side nearly every time! His Down command is still giving us trouble. As you'll see in the above video, I still need to provide a small amount of tension to get him moving in the right direction.
After Cheviot Hills, we went to a local park near my house to introduce Weber to the Place command. For this command, I want Weber to hop up on a raised object, such as a bench, and either Sit or Down. Weber was a little skeptical when I first tried to get him on top of a picnic table, but he doesn't seem to be having too much trouble so far!
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Pupdate: Thursday, March 31st 2022
Weber went to Citadel Outlets today for training! He did well with all his commands, except for Place! He's still a bit uncomfortable jumping up onto random benches. For the pictures above where he is on a bench, I Heeled him quickly toward the object, asked him to Place. He, at first, would stick his front paws up, but not jump all the way up. I give him praise for this because it's progress! Then we reset and walk toward the bench again until he jumps all the way up! I think the benches from today were quite a bit smaller than the picnic tables from yesterday, so Weber needed a little confidence boost to perform! As you can see in the above pictures, once he got up there, he seemed quite happy!
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Pupdate: Friday, April 1st 2022
Weber and I went to Santa Monica Pier today for training! This is the most crowded place he's been with me so far. He maintained composure for the most part, but had a little difficulty adjusting to all the noises and smells!
In the above video, you'll see how I've been practicing the Place command with Weber! He refused to get on these benches at first, but after a few tries, he started to gain a little confidence!
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Pupdate: Saturday, April 2nd 2022
Today Weber and I went back to Santa Monica Pier for training. He was a little skittish yesterday so I thought it would be good to go back today and see how he adjusted since yesterday.
For today's pupdate, however, I'm showcasing Weber's Car Manners! In the above video, I Heel Weber to the back of the car, have him Sit, then Down, then load up! When loading up, I want Weber to hop into the car and walk straight into his kennel so we can be on our way without any fuss! Weber is getting quite good at this!
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Pupdate: Sunday, April 3rd 2022
Weber and I went to Red Hill Park today! I started Heeling him with the leash dragging, as he's getting responsive enough to walk nicely at my side without me holding the leash! He still needs a little leash tension while performing the Place and Down commands, however.
There was a baseball game in the park while we were there, and Weber was a bit hesitant to go up to the fence, but after walking around a little, he didn't seem to mind!
Weber met a new dog today, and barked at him. When this happens a give him a little stimulation with the e collar and say "Off."
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Pupdate: Monday, April 4th 2022
Weber and I went to a local park to train today! I have him on a bungee leash which is a short loop that can be grabbed as a leash, or put around the neck to simulate Weber being off leash. He knows all his commands now, he is just sometimes stubborn about performing them. He is getting better every day, though!
As you can see in the above video, he is now Downing when I point the the ground rather than me having to give leash tension! This is a great improvement, however he doesn't do this one hundred percent of the time, so I'd still like more from him. Similarly, he gets into Place when asked, but only roughly half the time. I'm proud of his work so far, but he still has a ton of room for improvement!
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Pupdate: Tuesday, April 5th 2022
Weber was off leash at Wilderness Park today! He did very well! He knows all of his commands now, he just needs to be more consistent! My plan is to take him to more populated places the rest of this week to get him as exposed as possible to all kinds of distractions.
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Pupdate: Wednesday, April 6th 2022
Weber and I went to the Montebello mall today for training! He walked nicely with me all throughout the mall, even off leash! In the above video you'll see Weber perform a Down, then hold it for a full two minutes. He isn't even too distracted when people are walking by. That being said, Weber can be a bit stubborn, so my goal is to get his energy up a bit, and make the training fun so he doesn't want to quit while we're working.
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Pupdate: Thursday, April 7th 2022
Weber went to Shoreline Village today for training! He did well off leash! It was a hot day, so I put my hat on Weber for awhile! To escape the afternoon heat, we went home and finished training inside!
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Pupdate: Friday, April 8th 2022
Weber and I started off the day by training in our local park! It started to get hot very quickly so we retreated inside until this evening. We resumed training at the Outlets at Orange when it started to cool down!
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Pupdate: Saturday, April 9th 2022
For my last full day with Weber, we went to Santa Monica Pier! I wanted him to get tons of exposure to various distractions for his final day with me. For today's pupdate, I'd like to showcase some of Weber's manners! In the above video, you'll see Weber's door, car and food manners! For his door manners, I want Weber to be able to sit at the door when I open it and wait to be invited out. For car Manners, I want him to hop up into my car when asked and go directly into his kennel. For food refusal, I want to be able to put something appetizing in front of him without him trying to gobble it up! In this case I put some left over Chinese food in a bowl, which I thought might entice Weber, but he did a good job at refusing it!
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