Puppy Foundations

What Foundation Camp Did for Cooper

Before camp: Leash pulling, jumping on people, and overexcitement on walks.

Breed: Boston Terrier
Age at intake: Almost eight months old
Campus: Cave Creek
Program: Foundation Camp
Length of stay: Two weeks in camp

Still from Cooper's first journey episode

Before

Where Cooper Started

Leash pulling, jumping on people, and overexcitement on walks

Debbie brought her Boston Terrier puppy Cooper to the Cave Creek campus for out-of-control puppy behaviors: pulling hard on leash, jumping up on people, and getting overexcited around other dogs and people on walks. Trainers Sierra and Micah started him on the basics, heel at the left side, sit, down, place, and come, and found sit and place came easily while holding a down and a sit took more repetition because of his strong-willed personality.

As the days built, the team moved Cooper into supervised daycare socialization, where other dogs proved to be his biggest trigger. Staff worked calm, non-jumping greetings with people almost daily and stepped in on the dog-to-dog greetings, redirecting and separating him when he got pushy or overexcited rather than letting the moment escalate.

The stay closed out with command proofing around distractions, continued counterconditioning to his triggers, and a transition lesson that introduced Debbie to the prong collar the team found worked best for him, along with advice on keeping walks short his first week home.

The program

Cooper's Foundation Camp

Cooper came in for a Foundation Camp stay built around basic obedience and impulse control, since his puppy energy showed up as pulling on leash, jumping up on people, and overexcited greetings toward other dogs. Trainers worked heel, sit, down, and place daily, moved him through supervised daycare sessions to practice calm greetings with dogs he found exciting, and layered in handling and noise desensitization on top.

Episode by episode

Watch Cooper's Journey

Filmed during the stay, in order. Nothing here is staged after the fact.

See every Training Journey

After

Where Cooper Ended Up

14Days in camp

3Episodes filmed

By the final training days, Cooper was holding calm, non-jumping greetings with people as a matter of course and could be walked away from a pushy playmate at daycare instead of escalating the interaction. Command work held up in a group class field setting with other dogs present, with only momentary lapses when a nearby dog barked or moved.

At his one-week follow-up, Debbie reported his manners had kept improving at home and credited the practice she had put in herself. Holding a stay on the place bed was named as the one piece still needing extra work, and weekly group classes were set as his next step for practicing around distractions.

Published April 22, 2024

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