Bruce is an 1-Year Old Labrador Retriever from Walnut Creek, California who attended our 3-Week Off Leash Training.

Bruce is easily excitable and loves every human and dog he meets. He drags his owners to investigate every single dog, person, or smell with enthusiasm. Although his family loves Bruce’s happy nature, it can be difficult to control, making him a chore to walk and limiting activities that he’s invited along for. His family wants to be able to take him to stores, events, crowded trails, and eventually do therapy dog training. Their specific goals for camp were: recall, avoiding distractions, wait patiently and to reduce leash pulling.

We started by teaching Bruce the following commands: sit with built in stay, down with built in stay, heel, loose leash walking, come when called, and place. Since Bruce really loved treats, the first week of camp we used treats to teach obedience. Once he had a clear understanding we introduced a slip lead and then e-collar pressure for off-leash reliability.

Bruce was given engaging tasks to keep his brain busy and focused instead of being overly engaged with his environment. Once he was tuned into his handler he was taken on many outings to practice his focus skills in many environments.

When Bruce first came to us he was out of control and unruly. He rushed up to people and dogs and frantically threw his body at every distraction he came across. By the end of camp he was working at busy parks and heeling around stores full of people off-leash. We are so proud of his progress, great job Bruce!