Training Update

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!