Calpurnia

The Adventure Begins: 04/10/2025

Jump To: Character Sheet

Jump To: Skill Tree

Coaching Resources

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Start Here 〰️

The Handbook

The Handbook is a lengthy read, but has just about everything you might need to know when starting a program. This is the absolute best place to start with your training package.

Start Here

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Start Here 〰️

Guild Hall Home

Guild Hall is a client portal within my website - you’ll find classes and events available only to past and present clients there, as well as discounts on certain future services. You’ll also find recommended outlets for your dog, including sports, events, and sniffspot information.

Google Drive

Your google drive is available to you to reference your contract and contact and care form, make updates to your dog’s care information, upload vaccination records, as well as share videos and photos with questions or for feedback!

Character Sheet

Calpurnia was an absolute joy to have for her 2-week puppy board and train! She showed excellent focus, eagerness to learn, and a true love for training.

Focus Areas:

Novelty exposure
Loose leash walking
Neutrality to distractions
Intro to foundational agility skills

Ongoing Challenges:

Polite greetings (reduce jumping/nipping in excitement)
Tolerance for patting/handling
Guarding behaviors (with other dogs)
Noise and car sensitivity (shuts down in high noise environments)

Adolescence Prep: She’s a bright spark and will benefit from extra structure as she hits adolescence. I recommend she return for a 3-week stay as part of a modified 2x3 program:

Arousal regulation
Leash manners
Greeting behavior
Settling/relaxation
Includes 5 handoff sessions across both stays

Confirm dates in the next two weeks for the discounted $3000 rate (normally $3700).

Please reach out with any questions or to schedule the next phase!

06/17/2025

It was great seeing you and Calpurnia again! I loved seeing how much progress she's held onto since her board and train—she’s a bright pup with so much potential. Here’s a recap of what we discussed and some next steps to keep things moving forward.

Session Recap & Key Focus Areas:

1. Potty Habits
You're doing a great job managing her space—keep it up! Continue tracking the timing and context of her accidents (e.g. after playtime, certain times of day, or high excitement). Spotting a pattern will help you proactively set up successful potty opportunities.

2. Door Transitions & Biting Behavior
To ease the intensity around coming and going, try introducing a "superbowl" setup at entrances. A shallow planter can work great here. Practice sending her to it calmly before going in or out. You can also do longer superbowl patterns up and down the driveway outside of normal walks to help her associate this transition with calm engagement rather than over-excitement.

3. Social Excitement (People & Dogs)
Because Calpurnia is naturally social and people are likely to want to pet her, you can use that opportunity as a reward. Start with requiring eye contact before giving permission to say hello. As she gets better, cue other easy behaviors (like sit, down, touch, or spin) to help build polite greeting habits.

For times when she can’t say hi, set up a few short sessions outside your home during busy times so she can observe and practice "Look at That." Reward any appropriate focus on distractions, even if she doesn’t always look back to you.

Try to work in similar neighborhoods when you walk both dogs to help them learn to disengage from exciting triggers as a team.

Handful Homework: Quick, consistent sessions can go a long way. Take a handful of treats and:

Practice superbowl patterns up and down your driveway with both dogs
Work on Look at That with Calpurnia in the front yard during busier times

Each handful session is complete when the treats are gone—easy to fit into your day without needing a big time commitment!

@likemagicdogtraining Ever wonder if your dog’s ready for more real world stuff—like greeting the neighbor kids without launching into orbit? 🚀 Super Bowls is one of my go-to games to build skills and test the waters. In this clip, I’m using it with Mabel to see if she’s ready for some polite hellos. Spoiler: she nailed it. 💪 This game is fun, flexible, and way more than just a “silly food thing.” It’s a confidence builder, a focus booster, and a handy reality check when your dog’s excitement level is 🔥🔥🔥 Have a teen dog who’s a lot sometimes? This one’s for you. 🐾 #DogTrainingTips #AdolescentDogs #ReactiveDogSupport #DogTrainerLife #MannersMatter #SuperBowlsGame #PositiveDogTraining ♬ Walking Around - Instrumental Version - Eldar Kedem

@likemagicdogtraining When to Stop and When to Stare? A question I get often when learning "look at that" is when to reward. Look at That is already a tough behavior for pet owners to work on. We're told from Day 1 to reward our puppy for engaging with us, and now, suddenly, we're rewarding them for...looking away? And then I introduce the idea that my criteria for Look at That is often fluid - depending on the situation, I might mark and reward a dog when they are looking out at the distraction/trigger, or I might wait for the "complete" behavior - and wait for them to look back at me. When you're choosing how and when to reward your dog with this, consider: ❓How long has the dog been working off of these distractions? ❓How does the dog feel about the distraction? ❓How new is the dog to not only this behavior, but this environment? This particular distraction? ❓How likely is the dog to react and how likely are they to recover? ❓Is the distraction likely to become more difficult to work off of, easier, or stay the same? ❓What is the potential fallout of a reaction right now? Take our current board and train, Misa, in these two videos. In the first one, I stop her and reward early, marking and treating her while she's still looking out. 1. She has been working for a while off of dogs - she already worked off of Hunter before this. 2. She's in a new environment at a park we haven't been to before. 3. Little dogs historically are particularly challenging for her. 4. Riz is still growing, and is unpredictable - he's unlikely to do something to make the challenge harder, but he could! 5. If Misa were to react, I risk influencing Riz's willingness to work off of her (and other dogs) in the future. Whereas, in the second clip, we're somewhere more familiar, she's coming into the training session fresh, and Louis the stuffed Frenchie is both unlikely to do anything unpredictable and unlikely to be impacted emotionally by her reaction. In that situation, I judged it safe to wait for her to "complete" the behavior. The choice of when to mark is always going to be a little bit of a judgment call in the moment, but these are the guidelines I use to help me make that choice. What other considerations do you make with when to reward your dog when working off something tough? #dogtrainer #dogtraining #boardandtrain #positivereinforcement #canineenrichment #levelup #decompression #reactivitytraining #premack #envirtonmentalrewards #toytraining #trainingclass #ellicottcitymd #puppytraining #socialization #puppies #puppiesofig #puppiesofmaryland #dogs #dogsofig #dogsofmaryland #supportsmallbusiness #cooperativecare #cooperativehandling #conditioning ♬ Catchy Rock - Evgeny

October 2025

Calpurnia’s three-week stay built beautifully on her puppy foundation. She’s grown into an expressive, confident adolescent who’s learning to channel her enthusiasm through thoughtful structure and games.

Focuses Achieved: