Tired Pup

This week in agility we introduced the pups to the tire.

I had my instructor hold Porter since he doesn't have a wait in that context. He'll wait, and drool, to be released to go to his food bowl, but we've never tried it elsewhere. I like to torture him, I mean proof the behavior, by jumping around, singing, making sudden movements towards his bowl, and saying other words besides his release, which is "break". He does pretty well with most words, even if I use the same tone of voice, but other "b" words trick him sometimes . If I quick body block or make any sort of sound he will back off.

So my trainer was holding him, and he was struggling to get to me. This is great for restrained recalls but not so much for most other things. He was pushing forward right when she let him go and he stumbled and fell into the tire then shoved through the side to get to me. If this were Indi, she would write the tire off as her mortal enemy for attacking her unprovoked. But Porter didn't even notice and happily went through it properly right away. I love this goofy gun dog. Nothing phases him.

Case in point...my neighbor's are having their driveway ripped out and replaced. A small bobcat was tooling around the yard making a ton of racket while we were on a walk. Porter stopped to watch for for a few seconds but without any tension or nervousness and then he moved on and continued his walk. Again, Indi would have assumed the tractor was a hitman for hire to take her out and would have responded by launching a deadly counterattack.

Since he did so well with the tire I decided to try out hand at home. At first he went around it, but I set him up too far back. Within a few reps I was able to stand in a few different spots (right next to the tire, 2 feet in front, 5 feet in front) and change my speed (standing still or running forward with him). He also did amazing with his wait. A couple of time he broke his wait, so I just happily replaced him even if he did the tire beautifully. I do not want a horrible start line stay.

In class we also worked on walking the dogs down a length of plank. Porter only messed up when I dropped his treat and it rolled off the plank. To eat it out of the grass he turned his body and came off the plank. Otherwise he was in great control of his rear end. I have a 6 foot plank at home we'll start working on, in addition to his contact behavior.

This week he wasn't as focused as normal. For some reason at this new location he is obsessed with foraging on the ground. When it's time to work he does fine, but in the down times he's trying to yank me this way and that, and man, is he getting strong!!

I decided to try a new technique (taken from Denise Fenzi) and not let Porter interact with any dogs while in class. Denise doesn't let her pup meet or interact with other dogs while in a working environment so she will know it's times to focus on Denise. I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to hold to this, but I am going to give it a try. It makes a lot of sense. I want Porter to know that when we are at an agility trial it's about me and him. I don't want him searching for his BFFs and running out of the ring to play. I did let him play in the parking lot with two dogs though...that's probably a slippery slope.

Speaking of play, here are some goofy shots of the siblings.