Whiskey | German Shepherd | Duarte, CA | In Training
- Alex Kruse
- Jun 29
- 14 min read
Updated: Jul 12
Meet Whiskey! She's a 4.5-year-old German Shepherd from Duarte, California, and she's here for our Two Week Urban Board and Train Program. Whiskey is super friendly and really wants to go say hello to everyone, but she makes that known by pulling towards people and dogs, and letting out some very loud whines! She's smart and does know pretty much all of her basic commands, but she won't do them unless she wants to, and she breaks position whenever she wants. She's also been known to steal food off counters when no one is looking. Over the next two weeks we'll refine all her basics and let her know that she does have to follow through when told, teach her what proper greeting manners should like, and get her to stay off those counters! Stay tuned for Whiskey's two-week transformation!
6/29/26
I hung out with Whiskey at the park for a little while longer after pickup just to see if I could get her to work with me. I know I was told she knows all her commands, plus several fun tricks, but the only thing I could get her to do with any luck at all was the Sit. She was much more interested in the grass and trying to wander towards whoever was passing by on the sidewalk to listen! On the plus side, she wasn't anxious at all about getting into my car, and was quiet on the ride to my house with no issues. Once we got home I introduced her to a few dogs in our big play yard so I could find her proper play group. She got along with them just fine, but did do quite a bit of pacing along the fence lines for a little while after arriving. I know she hasn't been out of the shelter long, so I let her run and just watched her until she finally settled down on her own. I want to be careful not to make her think she's gone straight back to any sort of kennel situation, so I'm allowing her that space to move and get comfortable with her surroundings along with the other dogs. She did better once she came inside the house and got to just hang out with people (on leash still so she couldn't attempt to go surfing those counters!). She ate all her dinner without any issues, and was able to go into her crate just fine. Once she gets over that little bit of separation anxiety, I think she's going to do great and I look forward to working with her over these next two weeks!
6/30/26
Whiskey did really well today for her first official day of training. At home we've been working very hard on not jumping up on the gates when she wants to go through them, and she's certainly made her stubborn streak very clear. Once we got out and working, though, it was like something in her head clicked into place and she was responsive and attentive without any of that anxious whining. Basically, her working dog side flipped on and she was totally with me. She was picking up on her Heel super fast, I was able to extend the time and distance with her Sit pretty quickly, and it only took her a few tries for her to understand that she couldn't break her Down until I gave her a release word, which for us is, "Break!" Her Recall was pretty good on the short lead, and she's catching onto the fact that I want her to come to my Heel side and sit down when I call her; and she was already interested in climbing up onto the picnic table while I was getting my filming gear put away, so I went ahead and tried her Place command there too. She still struggled a little with staying in the Down position there, but we got it after a couple tries. I will mention that once we were done with session and I just walked with her around the park, she had her nose thoroughly glued to the grass the entire time. She was picking up on every tiny scent that was there, so it might not be a bad idea to get her into some fun nosework. I think she would find that very mentally enriching and it would give her a job to do, which should help curb all that jittery energy of hers. Her breed is geared to do that work, and from the looks of it, she's a total natural!
7/1/26
I worked Whiskey over at a small, mostly fenced neighborhood park today just to see if that would help her hone in more. There were very few distractions, which definitely did help! I worked on all her commands, and once I had her locked in, she was nailing all of them. By the time we left I was already working on dropping the majority of the long line she was on so that she was dragging it around more than relying on leash pressure for anything, and she was doing well with her Heel on that. I typically don't do that until several more days in, she's really smart! I still have her on the prong collar, but I'm hoping to get her working on only the flat collar in the next few days. At home we're still working on the attempts to dash through gates and doors, and she's still showing a bit of that separation anxiety, but she's getting better each day. She whines less and quiets down faster, and she's been sleeping better in the crate at night. She's much calmer when we get home after completing sessions, so I think a lot of it just has to do with her needing to get her energy out somewhere. She likes the work!
7/2/26
Today was the first day I tried Whiskey without her prong collar, so I brought her over to Rotary Park for safety. It's a small park with a playground that's fully fenced in, so if she got away from me for any reason, there was nowhere for her to run off to. Turns out I had nothing to worry about! I let her dawdle and sniff around a little bit first, which has become the routine so she gets some of the excitement out of her system, but when I told her it was time to work, she locked in pretty quickly. I kept the lead loose but shorter at first, then by the end of session I was doing the line drag again where I was barely holding onto it. She's getting really good at her Heel without relying on any leash pressure already, and she's able to hold her commands a lot better even when there's distractions (as seen in the video where she's in her Down and her head perks up to look behind me - there was another dog back there!). She's still working on nailing her final position at the end of the Recall, and she's been a bit hesitant on going down when I put her in her Place command, but overall she's coming along really quickly with all the commands. She's also more and more relaxed at home as she's settling into the routine. Today she even backed away from the gate when I went to pull her out for session. She's learning!
7/3/26
Whiskey and I were back at the park to continue working on her leash drag practice on the flat collar. She starts to wander here and there when she's not paying attention, but she's quick to get back on track with mostly verbal corrections. Her Sit and Down are much cleaner now, and she holds them longer. We're still working on getting her to go into her Down more cleanly when I put her in her Place command, but she's getting better at it every day. She's continuing to get better at home too, doing a lot less of the gate dashing and focusing more on me when I approach her. She's still anxious when she's alone for a little bit, but she calms down faster now. I do need to put a kiddie pool in her yard though so she stops trying to swim in her water bowls!
7/4/26
Happy special holiday video from Whiskey! Today I took her over to the Home Depot to see how she'd do in an indoor shopping setting. She was fine out in the garden area, but she was definitely anxious once we got inside. She wasn't frantic, but she did pull a little more than she's been doing out at the parks, especially when we got near doors and she wanted to escape. Despite that, she was able to hold her Sit for me and do her Recall. I didn't make her hold her Down for too long since she was already so antsy, but she did lay down when asked. She also didn't freak out as badly as I thought she might when the forklift went by, but she definitely didn't like it! I'll have to get her a lot more practice over this next week with busy indoor spaces just to give her that exposure, and I'll do my best to make the experiences as pleasant as possible. Overall she did pretty good considering, and she didn't try to jump on anybody, nor did she bark at anyone passing by. She is nervous about fireworks, as we found out for a fact last night when there was a fireworks show at a nearby park. We had to bring her inside early to go into her crate as she was doing a lot of heavy, frantic pacing outside when things started up. Once in there, though, she settled down pretty quickly. She was alert, but she was laying down and just listening, and she went to sleep pretty quickly after things died down. That means we're ready for the chaos that will be tonight. She'll be in her crate, the tv's will all be playing calming music, and she'll have toys to keep her busy so it'll be a good holiday evening!
7/5/26
I wanted to give Whiskey some more indoor exposure with some foot traffic, and boy did I get it today! I took her over to the mall to work upstairs by the theater where I figured there would be some people, but not too many given the early afternoon hour. I was wrong! There were people crossing around us all over the place! She was anxious again like she was in Home Depot yesterday, so not overly panicked but definitely a little stressed and distracted, so she wasn't as sharp with her commands as she is at the parks. There was a little more leash pressure keeping her in position on her Heel, and she was all over the place with her end position for her Recall today, but I have to give her kudos for mostly staying under control as people came close to her. I certainly hadn't anticipated the boys roughhousing right next to us, so I was aiming for just staying where we were, calm and under control, until they were finished. You can see her come up out of her Sit for a moment as they're running, she definitely wanted to go get involved! But she settled back into place with a correction and some leash pressure until I was able to get us away from the chaos. While it was a break in her command, she didn't lunge and didn't bark at all, so considering how she was when I picked her up and that it was her first time inside the mall where everything was new and loud and busy, I think she did great with that. I just need to keep bringing her back and to other crowded areas to get her less anxious and less distracted so her commands stay nice and sharp. Otherwise I'm really proud of how behaved she was today!
7/6/26
Today I brought Hazel to Old Town Monrovia to wander up and down the shops. There's typically plenty of people in the afternoon shopping or grabbing lunch and sitting at the outdoor tables, which served as great distractions for Whiskey with that busy nose of hers! Despite her interest in what everyone was eating, she stuck pretty well to her Heel and listened whenever I asked her to Leave It. She sat and went into her Down and Place when asked, and held all her commands until I released her. She was less anxious outside than inside despite the foot traffic, which helped keep her more inline today despite wanting to sniff at everything. Mostly the only thing I needed to really correct her on was just reminding her not to walk ahead on her Heel. She didn't pull but she does have a tendency to want to pick up the pace, so I have to get on her every so often to fall back into the proper position when she starts thinking she can inch ahead. Outside of that she did really well navigating the small crowds of Old Town today!
7/7/26
One week in exactly and today it was like the "On" switch flipped in her brain during session. We went back to the mall and parked ourselves in the center of it where there's the most traffic, and she did absolutely amazing. She responded entirely to all verbals with no corrections, I had to do very little leash pressure work, and she got pet by so many people without trying to jump on anyone! She was sharp and focused and just ready to work today. I was so proud of her! And then at home she's been a lot more patient waiting for me to get her out of the crate, through gates and through the doors. She's keeping herself entertained with toys while inside and not jumping on anything, and she's not pacing around like a zoo tiger anymore. It seems like she's finally settling into the routine and knows if she's just calm, she's far more likely to get what she wants than if she acts out. And I still have another week to go so I think she'll have everything down nice and sharp by the time she goes home!
7/8/26
Whiskey's a swimmer! I took her over to the Santa Fe Dam today to test her out with a lot more distractions, plus I knew she'd probably like splashing in the water since she plays in the kiddie pool at home. I was not prepared for her to fully dive right on in and go laps! She loved it! That being said, I'd recommend either bringing her back often to play around in the water, or going on the SniffSpot app to look up where to rent time at doggie pools. It's great exercise for them, a great way to stay cool in the summer, and easy on those shepherd joints. Plus it's just plain fun to watch her! As for her training, she was definitely a little more distracted when it came to her Heel. Her nose got in her way again more than any of the actual big distractions (other dogs, people, bikes, peddle cars, geese, etc). She just wants so badly to sniff every square inch of the grass whenever we go somewhere new! I let her do a little sniffing, of course, but she needs to pay attention and stay on her Heel when asked until she's released. It only took a couple corrections to remind her of that, but then she remembered that yes, she still had to do what I said even at the lake! I did a lot of off and on training in bursts while we were there, so a few minutes of Heel, then she could have the lead and go play, then I'd call her back to me here and there before sending her off again. I'd make her do her Sit, Place and Down for the photo ops, then she could play again. It was a good balance of fun time and work time so she knew she still had to listen if I gave her a command, but she got to enjoy herself too. That way we both got to have a fun, pleasant day at the lake!
7/9/26
Today I brought Whiskey out to a little park that's pretty shaded and has a tennis court, hoping there'd be people there in the heat. There weren't, lol, but it made for a nice little practice place that was still new to here! I did everything with just barely holding onto the end of the long line, so it was practically like doing it hands-free, and she performed all her commands just fine. Since she's doing so well I went ahead and taught her how to place under a table so she'll know what that means if you ever want to take her out and snag lunch at an outdoor diner or whatnot. It only took her a few tries to get it, then she was great! She's gotten incredibly sweet and attentive at home too. Her focus is absolutely amazing when she's waiting for me to give her a command, but she's a lot of fun when she's just playing with toys too. She's really just become a great dog all around!
7/10/26
For today's video I wanted to show off some of Whiskey's improved manners around the home. We start off with her Recall out in the wash behind my house so I had room to show her ability to come even without the leash on. That space is fenced in on both sides and comes to a dead end so I like to practice back there without a leash sometimes where I know it's safe to do so. I wouldn't recommend having her free roam in open spaces as she is particular about which dogs she gets along with, but I did want to show that she does respond now to her Recall in the case that she gets out of her collar again. And then I also wanted to show some of the manners that display her impulse control now. She knows how to sit and wait until she's released before she gets into the car. This prevents her from leaping in when you aren't quite ready for her yet! She also knows to wait at the door even when it's open so this will make it easier to get in and out, and also allow guests in and out, without worrying about her darting away. And last is waiting until she's released to eat, which keeps her from jumping around and knocking the bowl of hands! On top of that, she's stopped jumping on people and hasn't tried to get up on any counters or pull things off shelves. She just needs a lot of toys to keep her occupied and then she's not so bored that she needs to get into mischief!
7/11/26
Whiskey and I took a hike along the Royal Oaks Trail today, which I know is close to her home so I figured it'd be a good idea to see how she did there with bikes, strollers, joggers, and other dogs always sharing the paths. She did fantastic, as I expected by this point! She's still forever more interested in sniffing what's on the ground than in whoever or whatever is passing by, but she will readily respond now to her Recall or Heel commands when I want her back by my side and paying attention. She was really interested in a ground squirrel that zipped by, but after a simple verbal correction, she didn't try to lunge for it or dart over to where it disappeared to. She gave me everything I asked for without hesitation, held everything until I released her, and didn't try to sniff at or jump on any people that we passed by. It was just a pleasant hike all around!
7/12/26
It's our last pupdate in your two week training program! I took Whiskey up to Monrovia Canyon Park, which is a nice spot for hiking and camping with lots of trails to explore. We went up to the overview first and actually encountered a deer halfway up the trail! Whiskey certainly was interested, but thankfully with a sharp Leave It command, she decided not to chase it and take us both down a hill lol. She did a really great job listening to me overall through narrow paths, and passing people and other dogs. I let her walk ahead for the most part and she was quick to slow down any time I asked her to, she came back to her Heel any time I asked, and had no issues sitting for her pictures. She even sat nice and still when a little toddler came up to pet her and was very gentle with him, it was so sweet!
Whiskey has had a pretty great turnaround over the two weeks I've had her. She seems to really enjoy working and absolutely loves going on these outings. She'll still have some of those "caged tiger" moments at home, as I call them, where she just starts pacing in circles no matter how large her space is or whether people are with her or not, but taking her out to put that energy somewhere helps calm that a lot. She really wants to please people and wants to have a job to do, so just keep working with her and getting her out in the world and she'll do amazing! She's a great dog all around, and thank you for letting me be a part of her learning journey!
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