Dogwalk at Location #2

This morning was Porter's class at J's. I mentioned to her the horrible time he had on the dogwalk this week at G's so she asked me to do just the dogwalk so she could see. He was a little slow, and almost stopped at what would have been the pivot point on the teeter, but continued. He wasn't shaky and didn't jump off. She had me do it again but without cookies and he did much better the second time around.

We did a short sequence with the dog walk as the second obstacle and then the reverse and he did fine...except for his contact behavior since I didn't have the target plate out. He still hit the contact, but didn't do 2on2off.

I didn't have his mat for the a-frame so he went really slow going down and did 4on. J didn't like his speed so I made sure to get his mat the next time and he was wonderful.

One thing I loved about Porter today is he was very focused when he was working. A few times his sequence ended with him facing the line of dogs waiting and his ball even rolled within a foot of one young female. Porter rushed over, grabbed his ball and turned back toward me! It's not like him to ignore a cute girl, so I was really happy! Especially since his reward was a toy not a food-filled toy. He knows though that if he gets the toy I'll bring him food, but it's not a lure or an immediate reward like the food-filled toys. He had to make a conscience choice to pick me (food) over playtime with other dogs.

Dogwalk and Teeter Confusion

Up until last week, Porter had been doing great on his contact obstacles. He *loves* the dogwalk and A-Frame and is doing well with his contacts. In G's class we are working on the teeter and are now at the point where we give him treats right at the pivot point and then let him continue down to the end and do his contact. He seemed fine, you could tell he was gripping more with his feet, but he was still very enthusiastic about doing it.

Last Friday in J's class our first sequence was hoop, dogwalk, and so on. Porter ran up the dogwalk about 5 feet then bailed off the side...something he's never done before. I brought him back to do it again and he repeated the behavior. This time I stayed with him, I think I might have even had his collar to help guide him up and about 4 or 5 feet up he slowed down and started walking funny. I was worried maybe he hurt a back leg when he jumped off, but J asked if he had been doing teeters recently.

Apparently what is happening is Porter cannot tell the teeter and dogwalk apart. When facing those obstacles head on they look exactly the same (especially when the dogwalk does not have slats, and J's don't). He isn't the first dog to have this problem I've been told. So when he goes up the dogwalk he is slowing down and trying to find the pivot point.

I guided him all the way up and he was fine and was able to do the dogwalk a few more times.

Then this morning in G's class Porter had problems again. I wasn't expecting it since her dogwalk has slats. Porter was actually worse today than he was on Friday. I had to Hansel and Gretel treats all the way up and across. A few times he still jumped off and from the top as well! So we took it even more slow...treats every few inches, I stayed by his shoulder to prevent him from jumping off. His back legs looked shaky and he missed a few treats here and there. He was really stressed! But of course back ont he ground he was pulling to get back on the dogwalk (thankfully).

After the first try and we noticed he was nervous we backchained the end and he had no problem. G suggested I use the name when we backchain and are at the end but not to label it when we start him from the front and he's going to be scared. She doesn't want to pair his emotion with the obstacle name.

Porter has three turns on the dogwalk and while we made some progress he was still clearly having issues. I'm not used to seeing this dog worried about something. He's always been pretty bombproof.

I made another observation...a week or so ago he stopped taking treats from his Manners Minder in class and I thought it was because he was so exhausted from playing with Theo the night before. He was very slow and unmotivated in class, so I lumped the two. I also thought that the treats inside were not good enough since they were stale and getting hard.

He was very hesitant to go in his soft crate and looked worried about the manners minder so I turn off the beeping sound. It beep when a treat is delivered, like a click, it also does several loud, low beeps when it's jammed. I was concerned this noise was freaking him out.

Now that the sound has been turned off he seems better about the machine but still not 100%. I wonder if he's just bored with it? Or still unsure.

Maybe my dog isn't as resistant to being spooked as I thought? Can they go through a fear period at 22 months?

On a pleasant note, I have been able to use toys as a throwing reward in the last few classes. Int he past I had to use a food filled toy, but have progressed to a normal ty. Porter isn't taking it and running away, but he does expect a treat still and I'm fine with it!

We did some pinwheels in class today and Porter rocked them! I was able to stand pretty much right in the middle and just pivot and he was awesome :)