With summer in full swing our 10am agility class is heating up. I purchased a Chilly Buddy Cooling Coat a month ago and it finally just arrived. It seems to fit Porter well and is really light weight. He didn't seem to tire out as quickly at yesterday's class but it's hard to tell if it was due to the coat or not. We had a private lesson this afternoon at 4pm and he was dragging even with the coat, but it was quite a bit warmer than yesterday.
Porter's contacts are coming along. I've decided to do a down after the A-Frame (Four on the Floor; Modified Running Contact). Down is his default position so it comes so naturally to him. When Indi took lessons with Ann Croft and she taught us this method I didn't think it would be a good choice for her, since Indi hates to down in a lot of situations. But for Porter, this is perfect. I was considering doing Rachel Sander's Box Method but I don't have the DVD yet and my instructor doesn't teach this method as a regular part of her classes. I'd still like to learn about it, but for now the down is going well. We are doing 2 on 2 off for the dog walk and teeter and things are progressing nicely with that, too. I can walk quickly past his target or hang back and he still hits his spot. I need to vary my speed and lateral distance even more, but we'll get there.
Porter's flatwork needs work!! He's a bit distracted so I need to just take a long line out to a park and really work on it. I'll probably toss in some of Leslie McDevitt's ideas in there to help him along.
In our private lessons I've been working on Porter following his line. He tends to skip the last jump in a short sequence to get into heel position. Even more so if it's a wing jump. When we can practice several in a row he does better, so we'll just need to stay on top of it.
I finally found a toy that looks like it's working and it's really helping with this issue. This Rip and Tug toy can hold treats inside and the dog can break into it to self reward. Porter will follow a normal toy and chase it but then either 1) ignores it once it's "dead" or 2) grabs it and runs victory laps while playing keep away. Neither is good for his training. But with this toy he gets the thrill of the chase and then when the toy is dead he stops and lies down and self rewards. No running off with it or getting bored and walking off to sniff. It also keeps him mostly pointed in the original direction if there are more obstacles for us to do once I've rewarded him for the first part. And so far, the food hasn't flung out and all over the field on accident as it can do with some other stuffable toys.
He's doing ok with his 2x2 weave poles, but would be much farther along if I practiced at home more. This new toy will help with that practice as well.
Porter's sense of timing is amazing. In the last ten minutes of class yesterday Porter started to get antsy and became pulling like mad in the direction of the pool (which he cannot see from the agility field). He knew his swim lesson was about to start. He never does this on Wednesdays after our private lessons since swim is only on Tuesdays.
