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!!!