Happy Birthday!

Porter turns one year old today. Sometimes it's amazing how fast it went and other times it seems like he's been a part of our family forever.

Some of my lofty training goals for him have not been met or even touched on. I have balance discs that have only seen the light of day twice. There's a chuck it since in the packaging. And Porter is no where near ready for a rally trial.

His daily life in the house is wonderful. He doesn't chew on inappropriate things; he doesn't counter surf; he doesn't maul us when we have food at the coffee table. That last one is pretty important in our household since we do a lot of eating on the couch. Porter still needs to be watched a bit; he's not like Indi where you can have food on the coffee table and leave the house for hours without it being touched. But he's doing amazing considering his age. If left for short time periods (a quick trip to the kitchen) our food has remained as we left it. He's a great couch potato and doesn't need miles of hikes daily to remain sane. I love having a dog who is always ready to work but also has an off switch in the house.

Porter is still crated at night and when we leave during the day. This is completely for Indi's wellbeing and not because I think Porter would get into trouble. With the size difference and Porter's bull in a China shop attitude it's just not safe for Indi to be curled up under the covers if Porter decided to leap on the bed in the middle of the night. One night we were too tired to crate him and he did fine. He slept on the floor until his normal wake up time and only then came up on the bed to wake us up. One of his new spots to hang out when I'm in bed is right by my nightstand, as close to me as he can get without being in the bed.

He still sleep on the bathroom floor right outside the shower when I'm in there and waits patiently by any door I've gone through until I return. He's a momma's boy and I find it adorable. Sometimes it's trying...he isn't happy being locked outside if I'm inside even if there's several other people outside (including my husband) to keep him company. He is very well mannered in the crate it the car unless he can see or hear me and then he demand barks.

Porter's grown has stagnated and he's now right about 62 pounds, which is right at his parent's adult weights. His feathering is minimal and just perfect for me. It's long enough to run your fingers through and to look beautiful but not so long and fluffy it mats or catches burs. Foxtails seem to slip right out and he dries off in no time.

I've been neglecting his recall so we'll be starting his whistle recall training this week. He's not ready for a rally trial but he has the moves mostly down. What we need to focus on is working in new locations so he can work well with all the distractions.


All in all it's been a great year. Porter has been a wonderful addition to our family. Sure, sometimes I want to strangle him, but I think that can often be said of teenaged boys.

All Indigo, All the Time

Throw the ball wouldya!

Der's somfin in ma mouf

Right here, somewhere

Blah, darn grass

That's better

I haz cookie now?

8 Months Old

My puppy is now 8 months old. I cannot believe how fast the time goes.

Porter has come a long way in the 6 months he has lived with us.

I never worry about him having an accident in the house (and haven't for a couple of months or more). Although I do need to carefully supervise Indi when she poops outside since he's still obsessed with eating it. Luckily he doesn't care about his own anymore. I wonder if it has to do with his hormones since he also stalks her when she pees and does the male thing of licking it up. Ewwww.

He no longer trying to eat my hands when I just want to pet and snuggle. That first month he was such an alligator and all I wanted to do was pet him. The mouthing has mostly stopped. If he's super excited it will start up and for some reason, when I'm on the phone, he bites my arms and clothes pretty hard. Thankfully I have bags of treats easily accessible, so while I'm talking, Porter and Indi get tossed treats every few seconds.

He does amazing in his crate despite having the worst time the first week and a half. He does so well that he will run to his crate from half way across the agility field. He's happy crated in the car unless he can hear me playing/training other dogs and desperately wants a turn. He hasn't learned to sleep in yet, but I'm still holding out it will happen. I also realized that other day that he's only a month away from being the same age Indi was when we stopped crating her at night. Porter will not get that freedom at 9 months. Not because I don't trust him but since he's so big and clumsy he'll smash Indi if he tries to sleep on the bed with us all.

He's coming along in his agility training. We had a great class this week. He had no problems driving through two obstacles and towards the throw toy reward. He wasn't clingy at all :) He also did great on the dog walk. We need to work the contact more, but he did very well considering we haven't worked on it in months. He's building a lot of motivation for the obstacles. He knows that if one is near it's very rewarding to take it. Which means I need to be careful when listening to instructions in class while he's on leash with me. Sometimes he'll decide he should get himself over to the tunnel nearby. I also need to pay attention when walking to a new part of the field so he doesn't try to take the obstacles we pass.

We're going over some of the behaviors needed for the NADAC Beginner Agility Test. Porter cannot take it until he's a year old, so there's plenty of time, but so far he's right on track. It'll be great to have a small title soon and get those ring nerves over and done with before getting on a full course. I think it's smart of NADAC, too, since it will draw more people in and early and then hook them to these venue.

We have made a break through with his flirt pole tugging. It was impossible to get it from him once he caught the bag but I discovered a way to do it and it's working well. Treats were not working at first and I couldn't bring them close to him to let him see how awesome they were since he would just start playing keep away and would run off. So now I toss hunks of string cheese right near his nose when he's looking down. At first this did nothing. Then he started letting the bag go, gobbling the cheese, and quickly grabbing the bag again. So I was patient. I just threw more and never made a move for the bag. Then I started tossing some farther away and so on. Now after the initial toss he'll drop the bag and sit and wait for his treat. He's not afraid I'll steal the bag anymore. He'll even sit and stare at the bag in anticipation of me making it move again. It's like when the dogs wait by the hunter to be told to go get the ducks they just watched fall. He's waiting...tense...but controlling himself. I think he really likes this part since sometimes he wags his tail. It's great for his impulse control.

He doesn't counter surf, but he has tried to put his paws up there a few times, not so much in the recent past. My counters are not free and clear of things like they should be, but I do keep tempting food items pushed farther back.

His stays are looking great, especially his start line stay for agility. We are adding a hand signal for down. I have not worked his drop it and leave it has only been situational default work (like food on the coffee table or his dinner being set down). I haven't taught him any "tricks". So much to do!!

He will now retrieve the toy, kind of. I finally did what I do for Indi. Every time he brings the toy back I reward him with a treat. I didn't think I'd need to for a retriever but I must have messed something up, probably playing chase with him. But now he'll happily bring it back most if not all of the way when we play in the backyard.

His coat is fluffier but not too crazy at all. Only a tiny bit of feathering. Most of the lays nice and flat with only his neck being a bit plumped out. I really like this length and would love for it to stay this way, but we'll see what happens as he matures.

One lone canine has still refused to move into the proper position. It doesn't affect his eating or tugging, but it does hit the roof of his mouth. The rest of the teeth look great and where they should be so I'm thinking this might be it. If so, it would keep him out of the show ring. While I'm not really a conformation person, he's such a lovely dog, both in his attitude and personality and in looks that it would be a shame not to title him. I will still be working on getting him ready for the ring just in case his jaw keeps growing, which I heard it can do up to about a year. His brother, Tatum, is like his twin in every way (except he has perfect teeth), so at least he can pass on these great genes for the litter one day.

On two occasions Porter seemed to have an issue with another unaltered male pup just about his age. The first time was with his Vizsla  friend, Harley. They haven't played together in a few months and after class I lete them interact (which I normally do not do). They were wrestling a bit and I'm not sure what went down. Maybe Porter felt tangled or got stepped on, but he took offense to something and let Harley know. Only he didn't back off. Once the growl came out I stepped in and separated them and had Porter's collar but he was still growling and pulling to get to Harley. I'm not happy that he held on to the grudge after it was all over. They've seen each other since but have not played and wrestled so I don't know what to make of it. The second time was a week later. He wanted to play really bad with Finnly (a golden). Way back in my puppy kindergarten class when they pups were 3 or so months old, they had some play time. Porter would posture and make this growling sound while trying to stand tall over Finnly. I would quickly redirect Porter  and then move him elsewhere. He hasn't interacted with Finnly in ages until last week. He saw Finnly wrestling with another dog so I let Porter say hi when he suddenly growled. Things I did wrong...they were all on leash. Porter was excited to greet and probably frustrated since I was holding him back. When I did bring him over the leash was still tight since he was was straining to make contact.

So now I need to figure out...does he has issues with other intact males, does he have issues greeting on leash, is be becoming dog selective? He hasn't been to a dog park in a month or so. All the dogs he's been interacting with the last month have been the same ones and most of those are females (one being an altered male). Does he just have an issue with Finnly, since he seemed to have problems with him from the start and maybe the deal with Harley was a fluke?? Ugh.

Flirt Pole

I thought that Porter would be a wild child. I envisioned never being able to sit on the couch and peacefully watch tv but instead playing fetch and going on walks at all hours of the day and night. Thankfully this is not the case! But there are times Porter gets his panties in a bunch and I need an outlet for his energy. I can't always rush him outside for a walk and despite being a retriever he prefers to play keep away with the ball (we're working on this).

The good thing about having a terrier for a big sister is that Indigo has taught Porter how awesome the flirt pole is. In the beginning she would play with the flirt pole and he would attempt to chase her. This usually resulted in him just lying in the middle of the grass watching her and occasionally darting toward her when she came near. As he grew and gained speed and coordination he was able to keep up with Indi and she decided to let him have his fun (lest she get trampled).

So now she watches on the sidelines and occasionally darts in for the chase. But for the most part, it's all Porter's game now. I have to watch the sharp turns since I don't want any injuries to his growing body and if I snap the end too high he'll leap up into the air, which looks awesome, but could easily result in injury on impact with the ground.

I keep forgetting to get a video so after a very tiring flirt pole session today I remembered to grab the gear and have a second round. Porter is already tuckered out here so you can multiply his efforts times 10 or more and you'll get the normal picture.

We are still working on how to end the game. If he's still wired and ready to go he'll leap at the end I am holding. It seems to help if I keep my body between him and the prize but sometimes I become the punching bag. Our starts are much better. I can usually get him to sit and wait and not attack until I am all ready. Walking from the shed to the grass was tricky at first but it's coming along.

Another point of weakness is what happens when he actually gets ahold of the bag. This is his crowning moment of glory and he milks it for all he's worth. He trots along the yard looking as happy as a clam. His favorite part is the tug but as he's grown it's been much harder for me to hold my ground and not hurt my hands. I have not found a reliable treat for him to release the bag consistently. He'd rather play keep away and tug and clamp his mouth shut with all his might. When there's time, I let him play this game and we might be at it for 10-15 minutes. He eventually gets sloppy and tries to readjust his bite too much and I can whip the end out of his reach and start a new game.

Here's the video I took today. I didn't realize how far away it was but you'll get the picture. I try to reverse directions often or I get dizzy. You can see him anticipate it, sometimes incorrectly.

6 Months Old!

Porter turned 6 months old right before Christmas. I'm amazed how much he has grown and how fast the time as flown. It seemed like ages when I was waiting for him to be born and then old enough to come home. My husband remarked the other day how Porter is exactly what we were expecting and hoping for, based on the things we heard about the breed.

I also realized that he is now old enough to compete in Rally (or traditional obedience) but he's no where ready! This gave me a wake up call. I should have been working him more on rally. Not that I expected us to enter a ring this early, but he should be closer to being ready than he is. My main focus is on agility, but dogs cannot compete until 18 months, so I shouldn't put rally on hold in the meantime. Plus I can easily throw in a few rally moves here and there in the house whenever I want and it won't get in the way of his agility training time.

I started working with more of a purpose on his rally moves and was pleasantly surprised at how well he did. He's still in the very early stages and I am rewarding him quite a bit, but he readily completely the moves and stays focused on me. I think all my heeling work as paid off.

So my goal this year for Porter is to get him ready to trial in rally. We will also be working on Nose Work and working towards getting him on birch so we can do his ORT. He needs to be a year old at least, IRRC, so we have some time.

I love the shadow of his tail here with all the feathering

Another goal that has recently come up is to get Porter in the show ring. His overshot is almost gone and I am hoping that by the end of February his teeth will be perfect and he can compete in the Silver Bay Kennel Club show here in San Diego. I don't feel comfortable handling him myself. Who really wants both parts of the team green? Yikes! Right now the plan that we are working on is for his breeder to handle him on Saturday and another local breeder/handler to show him on Sunday. We'll be practicing with his breeder next week since I really haven't worked with him on her stacking or gaiting.

Since the weather has really warmed up in San Diego this week we hit the beach a few times. During our first trip Porter finally swam! He didn't mean to but ended up a little farther than expected while retrieving a stick. He turned around and realized he could touch so he swam back to shore. After that he was smart/stubborn and refused to go past a certain spot and would just level the stick out in the water. Some retriever! :) In this picture he is turning back and was about 2 feet shy of the stick. You can see the tiny ripple the stick is making just past him but he wasn't having any of it. He still happily ran in the water the rest of the trip...just not too deep.

 
On a fun note, Ian surprised me with  a Gopro Hero HD camera which is used to take videos of sports from the first person perspective. You can mount the camera on a helmet, your chest, your surfboard, etc. I *love* gadgets. I love dogs even more and when the two collide I'm in hog heaven. Yesterday I mounted the camera to Porter's collar and we headed to Fiesta Island Dog Beach. Here are two quick clips of his day.


This first video just shows him fetching a stick we found.






This clip show off his recall. It's still in the works, but I was very happy that he left the large group of new dogs and came to be from so far away.






Be prepared for many more videos! My vision is to video tape him doing agility :) I need to monkey with the mount a little since parts of the video (like when he was running full force) are too bouncy and hard to watch. I'd like the camera to be more steady so we'll see what I can come up with.