Our first K9 Nose Work trial is in two weeks, so we have really ramped up our training. Tomorrow we are meeting at my friend's house to give the dogs a novel place to search. It won't be a novel location for Porter; his besties, Kylie and Daisy, live there. But it will be a new searching location for him. Next week we are searching at a high school and the following Saturday we are signed up for a 3 hour clinic with Kim Buchanan. A few days later is our mock trial, and then that weekend the real thing!
Last week we had another drive and motivation class with Kellie. We worked on using two similar balls to get Porter used to trading and only being interested in playing with the toy I have, not the boring one just lying on the ground. It worked really well! I ordered some new toys from Clean Run and also picked up some wool balls at the pet store to practice.
I've been able to practice twice already and it's going great and is really tiring for Porter. He doesn't bring the first ball back to me, but he will leave it to come play with the one I have, which is huge. He normally would horde the toy he has and refuse to give it up or even let me come near. He'd rather play keep away and chase. This twist eliminated the conflict and brings me back into the game in a positive way. For Porter, it's critical to have two identical balls. Otherwise he gets bored with one and favors the other and will not trade.
In addition to these toys I purchased a large (and small) boomer ball for him. These are very hard plastic hollow balls that are often used at the San Diego Zoo with the large carnivores for enrichment. Needless to say, they can take a beating. I bought a boomer ball that is too big for Porter to pick up so we can play with it in the backyard. I roll or kick it, he chased it, tries to mouth it, I catch up, and repeat. If he can pick it up he'll carry it off and horde it. This call prevents that and eliminated the possibility of keep away.
The smaller ball is for playing in the house. It's a little bigger than a tennis ball and is holding up well to his mouthing.
After several rounds with the wool balls and then the boomer ball Porter is wiped out. It's great exercise and fun for him. Money well spend!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Christmas Chaos
Porter traveled to my in-laws on Christmas Day with us while Indi stayed home to sleep the day away. I wish she could have come, too, but she would have been miserable. The kind thing to do was to leave her at home. There is no way she would have been happy being accosted by 3 new male dogs with endless energy. Even Porter hit his breaking point a few times.
The first hour after we arrived was spend with Porter standing there and occasionally trying to shake Odin (a 7 month old intact Puggle) off of his shoulder. Odin's grip was amazing and he wasn't about to let Porter get away. You'd think we had sprayed Porter with Chanel #5. Here and there Guinness (the 4 year old altered Boston Terrier mix) would jump in as well. Porter was amazingly tolerant as these two males did their best to mount Porter. It was a bit comical given their sizes. Porter looked like a horse, just standing in the pasture, occasionally swatting away flies lazily.
Finally Porter had enough of Odin and gave a quick and appropriate correction (if I do say so myself). Odin responded perfectly and groveled his apologizes while bathing Porter in kisses. Guinness, however, was not able to handle this and charged over growling at Porter. Porter didn't let this go and responded in turn. We ended it quickly, but the same thing happened much later in the evening. Exact same situation. Only this time Guinness had a harder time letting it go.
I know I'm biased, but I don't feel Porter was in the wrong at all on these occasions. Both times he was just correcting an annoying younger pup. It wasn't over the top, but it was too much for Guinness to handle. Outside of those two situations Guinness and Porter loved each other and got along really well.
I was happy with the way Porter handled himself. I had forgotten that Odin was still intact and I actually didn't think he was going to be there. Despite Porter's previous problems with intact males younger than him, he was fine with Odin! Maybe it was the smaller size?? I don't know. Porter was fine with Teddy until Ted was about 7 month I think. Bigger than Odin, but not as big as Porter.
The first hour after we arrived was spend with Porter standing there and occasionally trying to shake Odin (a 7 month old intact Puggle) off of his shoulder. Odin's grip was amazing and he wasn't about to let Porter get away. You'd think we had sprayed Porter with Chanel #5. Here and there Guinness (the 4 year old altered Boston Terrier mix) would jump in as well. Porter was amazingly tolerant as these two males did their best to mount Porter. It was a bit comical given their sizes. Porter looked like a horse, just standing in the pasture, occasionally swatting away flies lazily.
Finally Porter had enough of Odin and gave a quick and appropriate correction (if I do say so myself). Odin responded perfectly and groveled his apologizes while bathing Porter in kisses. Guinness, however, was not able to handle this and charged over growling at Porter. Porter didn't let this go and responded in turn. We ended it quickly, but the same thing happened much later in the evening. Exact same situation. Only this time Guinness had a harder time letting it go.
I know I'm biased, but I don't feel Porter was in the wrong at all on these occasions. Both times he was just correcting an annoying younger pup. It wasn't over the top, but it was too much for Guinness to handle. Outside of those two situations Guinness and Porter loved each other and got along really well.
I was happy with the way Porter handled himself. I had forgotten that Odin was still intact and I actually didn't think he was going to be there. Despite Porter's previous problems with intact males younger than him, he was fine with Odin! Maybe it was the smaller size?? I don't know. Porter was fine with Teddy until Ted was about 7 month I think. Bigger than Odin, but not as big as Porter.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Rainy Day Activity
Yesterday was not only wet outside but my daughter was home sick from school. So needless to say, Porter was a bit under-stimulated. Nose work to the rescue!! Eight hides later and the edge was taken off.
One hide I did was just so I could observe how he works. I placed it on something hanging from the ceiling fan in the middle of the room, so about 5.5 feet up in the air. Higher than in a trial. It was interesting to see Porter circle the room several times, obviously catching odor but assuming it was from the shelves and items along the walls. Then his circling became tighter and he lifted his head. Quickly he realized it was up and was able to pinpoint the location. He did a great job tell him where it was even though he couldn't touch it. His eyes and nose looked right at it.
One hide I did was just so I could observe how he works. I placed it on something hanging from the ceiling fan in the middle of the room, so about 5.5 feet up in the air. Higher than in a trial. It was interesting to see Porter circle the room several times, obviously catching odor but assuming it was from the shelves and items along the walls. Then his circling became tighter and he lifted his head. Quickly he realized it was up and was able to pinpoint the location. He did a great job tell him where it was even though he couldn't touch it. His eyes and nose looked right at it.
Nose Work Workshop
On Sunday Porter and I attended a small nose work workshop to help us prepare for our NW1 trial in January. Kim Buchanan (CNWI and trial judge) came down from LA to teach us a few things.
We started with a threshold exercise where the hide alternates from side to side each search. We want the dogs to learnt o slow down and search the threshold before moving on into the room. I was surprised that most of the dogs were tricked by lingering odor when the hide was placed on the other side of the doorway. Many even gave false alerts. Porter and I will work a lot of these kinds of hides this months since they are common placements in trial.
Corners were next. It was interesting to see how the dogs approached the corners. Of course Porter marched to his own drum and approached in a totally different way :) but he still found the hide without a problem.
Later we worked an exterior search and several dogs before Porter were distracted by pee spots. The good thing is we are starting to be able to read pee sniffing versus searching more now. With Porter, he lingers and holds his head still, compared to the constant movement when he's in odor. A dog who ran right before us ended up peeing in the search area, very close to the hide, so Porter's run was paired with food. This helped him focus on his search and not read the pee-mail or think of marking. He did great :)
A second exterior search was about 3-4 feet up on a flag pole. Porter dashed into the search area, past the pole, slightly out of bounds, caught odor, and chased it back to the pole. I was very proud.
After hearing so much about the Running Bunny exercise and watching video clips on it, Porter and I got a chance to play the game as well. But it is harder than it looks. I wanted to be quick with the rewards so after finding a hide and moving on I would reach into my bait bag to grab more treats. This focused Porter on me and caused him to pass a couple of hides. I'll need to work on either being sneakier when reloading or holding a lot more treats in my hand so they will last me the whole run. This is a good exercise and I will be adding it to my classes. It really helped one dog who is an aggressive alerter and is starting to scratch up cars.
We all brought a variety of objects from home and practiced our container searches. This is a little more advanced than we need for NW1 but is still great practice.
The first hide was in my daughter's boot laid on it's side with the opening facing the outside of the search area. You could see with this exercise how if the dog does not pass by the boot on the outside he could easily not catch the odor. So we need to be mindful of our dog's movement and be sure they get to all the corners and edges, especially if they have not found odor yet.
The end of our container searches added the additional difficulty of distractions. One box has leashes and dog toys, another dog food in a bag and a fast food wrapper, a third has expo markers, another was an empty dog treat container, and so on. Some dogs were interested in the boxes and even gave weak fasle alerts. Porter didn't seem to notice, even though I guided him past the food distraction a couple of times. I wanted to be sure he knew the box was there but just didn't care, and even though he didn't check it out, I still can't be sure he noticed it and dismissed it. But we won't work on this more until after we get our NW1 title.
The last two searches of the day were blind hides. One was an interior that contained a lot of chairs and corners. Porter and I didn't properly pass the threshold so we had to come back and do it again. In a trial the threshold will be clearly marked, so I shouldn't make that mistake again. But the good side is he dragging me off to the left quickly because that was where the hide was :) He wasn't the fastest dog on that search but I did properly call alert around 15 seconds.
Last was another container search (with the distractions still out). The hide was in the spout of a watering can. It was near the front, but all the dog (but one) blew right past it without noticing it at all. Once Porter came back around he found it but I do want to work on him catching the odor sooner. I do not think I was holding him at the start line as long as I usually do to give him a change to catch his bearings. So in trial, I'll need to remember to relax and count to 10 before releasing him.
Overall it was an awesome workshop and helped get some of my nerves out. Porter did amazing, both with his searches and with chilling during his down time. I think he's ready for competition. If we blow it, it'll be my fault. So I need to relax, take a breath, trust my dog, and above all, have fun!
We started with a threshold exercise where the hide alternates from side to side each search. We want the dogs to learnt o slow down and search the threshold before moving on into the room. I was surprised that most of the dogs were tricked by lingering odor when the hide was placed on the other side of the doorway. Many even gave false alerts. Porter and I will work a lot of these kinds of hides this months since they are common placements in trial.
Corners were next. It was interesting to see how the dogs approached the corners. Of course Porter marched to his own drum and approached in a totally different way :) but he still found the hide without a problem.
Later we worked an exterior search and several dogs before Porter were distracted by pee spots. The good thing is we are starting to be able to read pee sniffing versus searching more now. With Porter, he lingers and holds his head still, compared to the constant movement when he's in odor. A dog who ran right before us ended up peeing in the search area, very close to the hide, so Porter's run was paired with food. This helped him focus on his search and not read the pee-mail or think of marking. He did great :)
A second exterior search was about 3-4 feet up on a flag pole. Porter dashed into the search area, past the pole, slightly out of bounds, caught odor, and chased it back to the pole. I was very proud.
After hearing so much about the Running Bunny exercise and watching video clips on it, Porter and I got a chance to play the game as well. But it is harder than it looks. I wanted to be quick with the rewards so after finding a hide and moving on I would reach into my bait bag to grab more treats. This focused Porter on me and caused him to pass a couple of hides. I'll need to work on either being sneakier when reloading or holding a lot more treats in my hand so they will last me the whole run. This is a good exercise and I will be adding it to my classes. It really helped one dog who is an aggressive alerter and is starting to scratch up cars.
We all brought a variety of objects from home and practiced our container searches. This is a little more advanced than we need for NW1 but is still great practice.
The first hide was in my daughter's boot laid on it's side with the opening facing the outside of the search area. You could see with this exercise how if the dog does not pass by the boot on the outside he could easily not catch the odor. So we need to be mindful of our dog's movement and be sure they get to all the corners and edges, especially if they have not found odor yet.
The end of our container searches added the additional difficulty of distractions. One box has leashes and dog toys, another dog food in a bag and a fast food wrapper, a third has expo markers, another was an empty dog treat container, and so on. Some dogs were interested in the boxes and even gave weak fasle alerts. Porter didn't seem to notice, even though I guided him past the food distraction a couple of times. I wanted to be sure he knew the box was there but just didn't care, and even though he didn't check it out, I still can't be sure he noticed it and dismissed it. But we won't work on this more until after we get our NW1 title.
The last two searches of the day were blind hides. One was an interior that contained a lot of chairs and corners. Porter and I didn't properly pass the threshold so we had to come back and do it again. In a trial the threshold will be clearly marked, so I shouldn't make that mistake again. But the good side is he dragging me off to the left quickly because that was where the hide was :) He wasn't the fastest dog on that search but I did properly call alert around 15 seconds.
Last was another container search (with the distractions still out). The hide was in the spout of a watering can. It was near the front, but all the dog (but one) blew right past it without noticing it at all. Once Porter came back around he found it but I do want to work on him catching the odor sooner. I do not think I was holding him at the start line as long as I usually do to give him a change to catch his bearings. So in trial, I'll need to remember to relax and count to 10 before releasing him.
Overall it was an awesome workshop and helped get some of my nerves out. Porter did amazing, both with his searches and with chilling during his down time. I think he's ready for competition. If we blow it, it'll be my fault. So I need to relax, take a breath, trust my dog, and above all, have fun!
.jpg) |
| Porter after a day of K9 Nose Work (R) |
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Mental and Physical Workout
Today was a big training day for Porter. We started the morning with our normal nose work practice group. We were able to get in 5 different hides in brand new locations. Since last week the other three dogs had issues with peeing on the search we tried to avoid areas that looked like potty spots for other dogs who frequent the park. The locations we found presented some fun and challenging searches.
First was a corridor of sorts. One side was the wall of a building and the other was a low concrete wall with a railing. These walls were separated by 4 feet, half which was sidewalk and half grass. I thought that narrow corridor might do interesting things with the odor depending on how the wind was moving especially since one wall was lower than the other. I placed the hide about 4 feet up on a window frame.
Porter was up first and instantly got to work. He past the hide and on the way back was zigzagging backa and forth along the channel (maybe chasing the odor). It was neat to see him work the area and he found the hide relatively quickly.
Next was a corner and long stretch of wall. Near the corner were some metal boxes (electrical boxes maybe?) but there was a gap of about 3 inches between the box and the wall where odor might get trapped or flow behind. The hide was on the outside edge of the corner with the box next and then the actual corner. It was placed in a metal 90 degree joint on the ground and covered with a leaf. Porter rounded the edge and came to the corner. I thought he might cut it to continue down the long wall but he didn't! He entered that corner well enough to catch the odor ad quickly find the hide. The other dogs after him found it even sooner which I was surprised since I thought that hide would be trickier the longer the odor has to pool in the corner and behind the box.
Then we used a small alcove where the entrance to the building was located. One corner had a rain barrel, another a trashcan and two recycle bins, then the doors, the third corner, and a bench and planter along that last wall. The hide was placed in the door jam about 2.5 feet off the ground.
We think the odor was swirling in the third corner, lifting up the wall, as well as pooling at the bench based on the way some of the dogs were moving. For Porter, I think it was traveling up the doors since when he was in odor he first stood on his hind feet on the doors sniffing up and then slowly made his way down to the source.
The fourth hide was a walkway between the building and some low bushes. Along the wall were four huge concrete planters 4 feet high. The hide was placed on top of the 3rd planter in the back.
Porter instantly beeline for the first bush on the right and looked like he was reading pee-mail not hunting. So I nicely told him if he peed I would kill him :) He moved on but still did not look like he was searching. Suddenly he shoved his head into a bush and I thought he might be scavenging food the way he was acting. He pops his head out and has retrieved a hidden tennis ball. lol NW2 we are so not ready for you!!
I stow the ball and Porter gets right to work sourcing the hide with no problem.
Since he seemed interested in the ball I decided to try and use it for the last hide as his reward. This search had two hides so the first I would use food and the second I would throw the ball.
The search area included a chain link fence which rounded a corner. In that corner was some debris (wood pallet, large metal pieces, etc, but nothing dangerous) and it ended with a metal storage container. The first hide was in the joint at the corner of the chain link fence, nearby is a cinder block. The second was in the back corner tucked into a metal channel.
Porter passed the first hide but doubled back. He looked interest in the cinder block at first, so I made a mental note but then he moved on. This was the only search that was blind to me. When he alerted on the joint I was taken by surprise since in my head I was thinking it would be back in the cinder block and I assumed I would be able to see it if it were on the fence. It's hard to hide the odor on something like that without us seeing it. But I trusted him and called alert and as I was feeding I noticed the tin which was tucked right into the perfect spot where I couldn't see.
The next hide went well for Porter, but I blew it. I was so slow with the ball that I missed my chance to reward and then waited for him to alert again. Which he did, not not as strongly. I threw the ball but he had lost some of his interest in it. Note to self: stick to food rewards for this unless I practice throwing with better timing and speed.
After all this searching Porter and I headed to his drive and motivation lesson. He recognized the field and was eager to pull me to the gate to get in. Another person showed up to use some of the agility jumps and set themselves up away from us. Even though they were not close I was happy that Porter had no interest in what they were doing or to go over there and say hi.
Right away I could tell that Porter was tired out a bit. We worked him pretty hard in the beginning. I was exhausted as well!! He began slowing down a little. While he would drive for the flirt pole he wouldn't hang on and tug like he does at home.
He was reawakened when the instructor brought out her toy. That's my ADHD boy; he gets bored with the same toy. At the end we tried to use both flirt poles to switch off but Porter was only into hers and gave me lack luster behavior for mine. To solve this I'll get a second flirt pole and use it enough to brand the newness and then I'll be able to do the exercise with trading two toys. The dead toy is bring, come to mom with the live toy and fun, then switch and now grab the dead ty and bring it to life and get Porter to leave the toy he has and come play with me and the other toy. Repeat.
One awesome thing Porter was doing is he was driving for his crate. Maybe because he was super tired and hot?? But I'd like to think I've been building his love for his soft crate in agility :) At one point he even started dragging the flirt pole back with him :) But the highlight was when I sent him to his crate from 30 feet away while the other dog was 5-8 feet past his crate about to leave. I of course waited until I saw the owner pick the dog up, just in case :) But Porter made no move to go visit and when straight to his home.
I do think we worked him a bit much in that lesson but we won't need to as much next time. Porter is progressing well so the next step is to decrease the amount of time chasing the toy and increase the amount of tugging. We want the tugging to be the best part not the chase.
We also came up with a solution to his run off with the toy. I was having to run with him to keep the line slack. This is after you tug and he wins and now the toy is dead. You don't want tension. You want him to drop the toy since it's boring now. But Porter hangs on and runs around so I run after and we both tire out. But with him on a long line I can step on the line and he can't run and the flirt pole remains loose. It was great. He instantly just dropped the toy. The conflict is gone. Oh, yeah, and he was exhausted :)
I can't wait to try out these new things this week with him.
And on Sunday we have a special seminar to prepare us for our first K9 Nose Work trial in January!!!
First was a corridor of sorts. One side was the wall of a building and the other was a low concrete wall with a railing. These walls were separated by 4 feet, half which was sidewalk and half grass. I thought that narrow corridor might do interesting things with the odor depending on how the wind was moving especially since one wall was lower than the other. I placed the hide about 4 feet up on a window frame.
Porter was up first and instantly got to work. He past the hide and on the way back was zigzagging backa and forth along the channel (maybe chasing the odor). It was neat to see him work the area and he found the hide relatively quickly.
Next was a corner and long stretch of wall. Near the corner were some metal boxes (electrical boxes maybe?) but there was a gap of about 3 inches between the box and the wall where odor might get trapped or flow behind. The hide was on the outside edge of the corner with the box next and then the actual corner. It was placed in a metal 90 degree joint on the ground and covered with a leaf. Porter rounded the edge and came to the corner. I thought he might cut it to continue down the long wall but he didn't! He entered that corner well enough to catch the odor ad quickly find the hide. The other dogs after him found it even sooner which I was surprised since I thought that hide would be trickier the longer the odor has to pool in the corner and behind the box.
Then we used a small alcove where the entrance to the building was located. One corner had a rain barrel, another a trashcan and two recycle bins, then the doors, the third corner, and a bench and planter along that last wall. The hide was placed in the door jam about 2.5 feet off the ground.
We think the odor was swirling in the third corner, lifting up the wall, as well as pooling at the bench based on the way some of the dogs were moving. For Porter, I think it was traveling up the doors since when he was in odor he first stood on his hind feet on the doors sniffing up and then slowly made his way down to the source.
The fourth hide was a walkway between the building and some low bushes. Along the wall were four huge concrete planters 4 feet high. The hide was placed on top of the 3rd planter in the back.
Porter instantly beeline for the first bush on the right and looked like he was reading pee-mail not hunting. So I nicely told him if he peed I would kill him :) He moved on but still did not look like he was searching. Suddenly he shoved his head into a bush and I thought he might be scavenging food the way he was acting. He pops his head out and has retrieved a hidden tennis ball. lol NW2 we are so not ready for you!!
I stow the ball and Porter gets right to work sourcing the hide with no problem.
Since he seemed interested in the ball I decided to try and use it for the last hide as his reward. This search had two hides so the first I would use food and the second I would throw the ball.
The search area included a chain link fence which rounded a corner. In that corner was some debris (wood pallet, large metal pieces, etc, but nothing dangerous) and it ended with a metal storage container. The first hide was in the joint at the corner of the chain link fence, nearby is a cinder block. The second was in the back corner tucked into a metal channel.
Porter passed the first hide but doubled back. He looked interest in the cinder block at first, so I made a mental note but then he moved on. This was the only search that was blind to me. When he alerted on the joint I was taken by surprise since in my head I was thinking it would be back in the cinder block and I assumed I would be able to see it if it were on the fence. It's hard to hide the odor on something like that without us seeing it. But I trusted him and called alert and as I was feeding I noticed the tin which was tucked right into the perfect spot where I couldn't see.
The next hide went well for Porter, but I blew it. I was so slow with the ball that I missed my chance to reward and then waited for him to alert again. Which he did, not not as strongly. I threw the ball but he had lost some of his interest in it. Note to self: stick to food rewards for this unless I practice throwing with better timing and speed.
After all this searching Porter and I headed to his drive and motivation lesson. He recognized the field and was eager to pull me to the gate to get in. Another person showed up to use some of the agility jumps and set themselves up away from us. Even though they were not close I was happy that Porter had no interest in what they were doing or to go over there and say hi.
Right away I could tell that Porter was tired out a bit. We worked him pretty hard in the beginning. I was exhausted as well!! He began slowing down a little. While he would drive for the flirt pole he wouldn't hang on and tug like he does at home.
He was reawakened when the instructor brought out her toy. That's my ADHD boy; he gets bored with the same toy. At the end we tried to use both flirt poles to switch off but Porter was only into hers and gave me lack luster behavior for mine. To solve this I'll get a second flirt pole and use it enough to brand the newness and then I'll be able to do the exercise with trading two toys. The dead toy is bring, come to mom with the live toy and fun, then switch and now grab the dead ty and bring it to life and get Porter to leave the toy he has and come play with me and the other toy. Repeat.
One awesome thing Porter was doing is he was driving for his crate. Maybe because he was super tired and hot?? But I'd like to think I've been building his love for his soft crate in agility :) At one point he even started dragging the flirt pole back with him :) But the highlight was when I sent him to his crate from 30 feet away while the other dog was 5-8 feet past his crate about to leave. I of course waited until I saw the owner pick the dog up, just in case :) But Porter made no move to go visit and when straight to his home.
I do think we worked him a bit much in that lesson but we won't need to as much next time. Porter is progressing well so the next step is to decrease the amount of time chasing the toy and increase the amount of tugging. We want the tugging to be the best part not the chase.
We also came up with a solution to his run off with the toy. I was having to run with him to keep the line slack. This is after you tug and he wins and now the toy is dead. You don't want tension. You want him to drop the toy since it's boring now. But Porter hangs on and runs around so I run after and we both tire out. But with him on a long line I can step on the line and he can't run and the flirt pole remains loose. It was great. He instantly just dropped the toy. The conflict is gone. Oh, yeah, and he was exhausted :)
I can't wait to try out these new things this week with him.
And on Sunday we have a special seminar to prepare us for our first K9 Nose Work trial in January!!!
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