Zelda | German Shepherd | Bellflower, CA | In Training

Meet Zelda! She's a thirteen month old German Shepherd from Bellflower, California here for our Two-Week Board and Train program! She loves to jump on people, bark and lunge at dogs, and pull on her leash. She also has issues following basic commands. Stay tuned for Zelda's fourteen day transformation!

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Pupdate: Sunday, June 12th 2022

After I picked up Zelda, we walked around Magic Johnson Park for awhile, which gave me the chance to get to know her! She loves to pull on her leash and she barked at another nearby dog at the park, but overall she's very sweet! She was a little skeptical of me at first, but I think she's starting to like me! After the park, we went home where I let her sniff around my house. We spent some time bonding and it seems like she's quickly getting used to being with me!

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Pupdate: Monday, June 13th 2022

Zelda went to Legg Lake today for her first full day of training! We worked on her Heel and her Come To Sit commands. For Heel, I'd like Zelda to walk nicely at my left side with her ears at my knee. For Come To Sit, I want her to come to my right side, go around my legs, and sit at my left side. She is picking up on these commands very quickly. I believe her parents were already working on the "Come" portion, which just leaves the "To Sit" part! Either way, she's doing a great job! She did bark at another dog who was training nearby, but it seemed as though she only engaged in that behavior when the other dog acknowledged her. That is a bit of improvement in my book! Zelda did want to jump on me a little when performing her Come To Sit commands, but I used our Off command as well as apply a light muscle stimulation with our E collar and she seems to be learning very quickly that it's not acceptable to jump!

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Pupdate: Tuesday, June 14th 2022

Zelda went to Almansor Park today for training! She started working on her Place command. For this, I want Zelda to hop up onto an object such as a bench! This can help boost her confidence, and can also be used in the home. For example, if Zelda has a bed at home, you can show her that this is her "Place" and send her there or have her stay there whenever you want! Last night, before bedtime, I put a blanket out in front of my couch while I was watching TV and had Zelda "Place" there. She did a great job of holding that position and just relaxing with me! I also simply enjoyed the company of such a good pup!

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Pupdate: Wednesday, June 15th 2022

Zelda went to Pan Pacific Park today! There were a handful of dogs, and she was still definitely distracted by them. That being said, she's didn't bark or pull toward them at all! She's starting to understand she isn't supposed to do that, and fighting the urge to try to interact with them. In today's video, you'll see Zelda Heeling around the park and walk near a few different dogs. You can tell she's very interested when near them, but she does a pretty good job maintaining her Heel, and Sitting when asked!

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Pupdate: Thursday, June 16th 2022

Zelda went to The Grove for training! We started working on her Down command, which Zelda seems to already know pretty well! In a fairly crowded place like The Grove, Zelda finds it difficult to hold any of her commands for very long. I want to get her to the point where she can hold her Down, Place and Sit commands for at least Two minutes in a distraction filled area. Working with her in a completely neutral environment, like my living room, she has all of her commands down almost perfectly, and can hold all of her positions for a very long time. The part that Zelda is finding difficult is performing this well when there are dogs and people all around her! I'm going to take her to more crowded places to help!

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Pupdate: Friday, June 17th 2022

Zelda went to the Santa Monica Promenade today for training! As usual, she did a good job with her commands, but she's still just a little bit nervous being out in public. She worked around several other training dogs today, including the one in the above video! As you can tell, she's made a ton of progress as far as pulling and barking at dogs, but she does turn around to try to sniff the new dog once. She also tries to lay down when I ask her to sit a couple of times. When she does this, I reiterate the "sit" command, create some upward tension with her leash, and apply a small muscle stimulation with her E collar. Overall, she did a great job today!

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Pupdate: Saturday, June 18th 2022

Zelda went back to Santa Monica today! She continued to work around other dogs and she continues to improve! One of the dogs she was around today was a big male German Shepherd. When I first picked up Zelda, a German Shepherd walked by who she relentlessly pulled toward and barked at. I'd say it's a sign of improvement that she was able to, fairly reliably, perform her commands without being too distracted by the other dogs.

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Pupdate: Sunday, June 19th 2022

Zelda went to Almansor Park today for training! I started having her perform commands with the leash dragging. This allows me to get an idea of how she might act off leash, while still having the leash available if needed! Her Heel was very good! I still need to create some leash tension during her Come To Sit command to get her heading in the right direction. Other than that, she's doing very well!

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Pupdate: Monday, June 20th 2022

Zelda was off leash at Legg Lake today! She behaved very well, even when some other dogs passed us! She still had a little trouble with her Come To Sit command, but she's starting to get it right! Really good for her first day off leash!

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Pupdate: Tuesday, June 21st 2022

Zelda was off leash at Almansor Park today! She did very well! She even performed pretty well around the squirrels and geese at the park! In the above video, you'll see Zelda perform a few of her commands off leash. She gets distracted by the ducks, geese and other things a couple times, but considering they are only a few feet away from us, I think she did wonderfully!

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Pupdate: Wednesday, June 22nd 2022

Zelda and I went to Pan Pacific Park today for training! There were plenty of dogs and people around to serve as distractions, but Zelda did a really good job ignoring them! Today we worked a lot on her "extended" commands. For her Sit, Down and Place commands, I want Zelda to be able to hold each position for at least two minutes. She did very well with this today, and she was able to hold each position without moving!

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Pupdate: Thursday, June 23rd 2022

Zelda went to Citadel Outlets today for training! I'm very proud of the progress she's made, as a week ago she would've been excited/nervous at the start of training. Today, however, we got to the outlets and Zelda was cool as a cucumber the whole time! In the above video, when Zelda is laying down, she's actually in front of an open store door. I don't think you can see in the video, but several employees from the store were pointing and telling us how well behaved Zelda is! So proud!

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Pupdate: Friday, June 24th 2022

Zelda went back to Citadel Outlets today! She did a great job today, as well, although there was one tiny dog who caught Zelda's eye! She focused a little too much on that dog as it was barking and lunging at Zelda. Zelda held her position, and merely focused too much on the dog. I can't blame her too much though, given the other dog's yapping, I found myself focusing too much on it as well! Overall, another brilliant performance by Zelda!

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Pupdate: Saturday, June 25th 2022

Zelda went to Almansor Park today for her last full day of training! For her video today, I wanted to showcase some of the manners we've been working on. For food manners, I want Zelda to sit and wait when I place food in front of her, without trying to gobble it up immediately! For door manners, I want Zelda to wait at the door when I open it, and not rush through! For car manners, I want her to hop up into my car and walk straight into her kennel. I'm extremely proud of Zelda's improvements over the last couple weeks. She is becoming very well behaved, and I'm going to miss having her around!