What Foundation Camp Did for Blaze
Before camp: Puppy jumping and short attention before he grew into his adult size.
Before
Where Blaze Started
Puppy jumping and short attention before he grew into his adult size
Danielle brought Blaze in at four months old, a Bernedoodle already showing the puppy behaviors she wanted handled before he grew into his adult size, jumping and trouble staying engaged, with two young kids at home who needed a calmer dog around them.
The two-week stay opened on foundational pieces: crate comfort, name recognition, sit and down, turns, and recall-to-front, with a slip leash and then a training collar in rotation. Socialization with new men, women, and other dogs entered the work in the first week and kept building through the second, alongside direct work on his energy level and the trouble staying engaged his family had raised.
By the second week the crate had become a quiet place he settled into willingly rather than needing to be coaxed, and the team had a set routine for introducing him to new people calmly.
The program
Blaze's Foundation Camp
Blaze moved in for two weeks of Foundation Camp at four months old, structured immersion built around getting a growing Bernedoodle's foundational obedience in place before he outgrew the puppy stage. Trainers started with crate comfort, since Blaze needed step by step coaxing just to walk in, then built heel, sit, down, and place, adding a training collar as a mild disruptor for pulling. Sessions stayed short and ended in play, because holding his attention in a busy facility full of dogs and people was harder for Blaze than for an average puppy.
Episode by episode
Watch Blaze's Journey
Filmed during the stay, in order. Nothing here is staged after the fact.
After
Where Blaze Ended Up
Blaze graduated able to hold place for roughly thirty minutes at the facility and to recall off leash with a voice cue alone after one light correction, and he went home wearing both a training collar and a prong collar, worn but not walked in public for the first week so Danielle could proof commands in a controlled setting first.
A week later he came back for a follow-up lesson. Danielle had held him accountable well during that week, and the session moved on to coaching her live: a single firm correction for leash mouthing, recalls rebuilt from short distances up, and holding a stay through a passerby without leash pressure. The trainer asked that Blaze's dad start attending too, so the follow-through would not fall on Danielle alone.
Published November 06, 2025
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