Porter had a great start to the week. He was able to attend the K9 Nose Work class I taught on Monday and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He already has a lot of drive for the boxes despite only doing this 4 times. Tuesday morning was his agility class, which he equally loves. He's very enthusiastic about the ladder, wobble board, and ramps. Although his favorite thing...the one he pulls to the most of all any time we are within 10 feet...his crate. lol It's awesome, and a little annoying at times but it's a good thing to be annoyed at. So much better than a dog who hates the crate.
There are a few things we really need to work on though. I guess Porter can't be the star all the time. For one, he's lopsided, but I already knew this. I have worked him mostly on my left in preparation for rally and I knew this would make him being on the right weaker. There's a big difference in sides when we do our flatwork. It's nothing that cannot be overcome with just a tiny bit of work though.
His other issue is swinging his hips so his back feet come off the contact. This is my fault as well. I need to learn how to help position him better, with my own body stance and with the treat delivery and I can help him keep those back legs up there. He has no problem walking down the plank at least. All feet stay on, it's just when he's doing his 2 on 2 off and eating from the target plate that he rotates his head towards me and off come those gangly legs. We have a plank at home to wok with. I just need to lock Indi away so we can work without a distracting terrier.
I finally found a toy he will play with at agility. It's a glow in the dark whistle ball. A tad smaller than a tennis ball and a bit smushy. Maybe he loves it since it's not out with his other toys and he rarely sees it, but I'm just glad I have something that works besides food. He'll happily chase after it when he exits the tunnel or goes through the tire.
I don't know what it is about this field but Porter forages like nobody's business while we are there. I've decided that this behavior is probably made worse by the ladder and how we drop treats on the ground between the rungs as they walk through. This makes that whole area of the grass smell amazing and I think he often finds leftover treats from other dogs. So I've decided that instead of rewarding this way I will click him for what I want but feed out of my hand. I might even go last and move the ladder to a new area of the grass or go first to avoid leftovers distracting him.
4 comments:
I hate how dogs learn to hunt for dropped food in class. I've finally learned to put Dragon away when I'm setting up for our practice sessions at work, because if I don't he runs around picking up crumbs and then has to check out every piece of lint instead of being completely focused on our training. In our agility class, in an outdoor field, I don't let him sniff at all. I either carry him between exercises or I cue him to walk with me and reward him for attention and interrupt sniffing. We've only been to class twice so far but the second time he tried to sniff less often than usual, so clearly he remembered that there was a different set of expectations.
It would be nice if I could transport Porter like that when it's time to work. I think I might try using Eva Bertilsson and Emelie Johnson Vegh's methods of transport. I just have to figure out which one will work best for Porter.
I have to say that I am totally jealous of the people who can use a tug transport all the time.
Me, too! Porter is not able to do that one, but the treat magnet will work just fine and I'd like to condition him to the collar one since he'll be tall enough :) Maybe we can work his tug up to a transport one day. I'd love it...although at his adult size it might backfire on me.
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