NW1!

Yesterday was Porter's first K9 Nose Work® trial.

Here are his results:
Container Search: 16.94 seconds - 5th place
Vehicle Search: 14.78 - 4th place
Exterior Search: 9.45 seconds - 2nd place
Interior Search: 9.52 seconds - 2nd place

He placed 2nd overall for the whole trial! I am very proud of my hard working boy. :) I was just hoping we would title, but would understand if we didn't since it was our first try, but to place! Sooo excited about that.

The strategy I had for the exterior hide worked well and helped him find it so quickly. But it was luck of the draw it was that close and along the wall I wanted him to search first.

For the majority of the trial I was very calm, which really surprised me. I thought I would be a nervous wreck. I slept well the night before when usually I am tossing and turning with my brain thinking about a million things in preparation the night before anything new and exciting. I didn't second guess Porter and delay in calling out an alert but just went with what he was showing me.

I had tunnel vision anytime it was our turn. I couldn't tell you how many people were at each element or even what the other side of the room looked like in the interior search. I was completely focus on only Porter.

He did have a snafu which stressed me out and made me worry we would be disqualified completely. He somehow managed to grab one of the hides and pull it out of it's hiding spot :/ And it wasn't like I was just standing there staring off while he was working on it for a long time. It was pretty instantaneous and even shocked the judge when I told her. I wonder if that's a first. Yikes.

Then, at the end of the day at the awards ceremony, they started calling people up who earned their title and half way through I realized they were going on alphabetical order and were well past my last name.  So I thought we blew it and that situation had kicked us out of the running. I didn't know they save the teams who placed for the end so imagine my surprise when they called us for 2nd place!!

Overall it was a really nice trial. The atmosphere was very calm and relaxed in the parking area where everyone stays. All the competitors were very aware of keeping the dogs an appropriate distance apart from each other. The volunteers were super nice and a calming influence when you approached an element. The judges were great and a couple of times even praised us when we finished an element.

We had 6 of us from San Diego entered in this trial. Five ran yesterday and one ran today (she volunteered yesterday so she was with us). We set up a nice little camp with tables and chairs and everyone brought food to share. It was wonderful being with people you knew and trained with. Unfortunately, two of our group missed one element and will need to try for their NW1 again, but I am confident they will succeed. Another member of our San Diego group was the one to bring home the blue ribbon! So look out Nose Work community, San Diego is bringing some heat!

I also saw a couple of people who were in my Las Vegas nose work instructor course. I met some friend's of Sue (who has Porter's brother), saw a lady I recently met at a clinic I took from Kim Buchanan, and met a founding CNWI who has a FCR! Porter was more than happy to try to put the moves on her female, Turner. I even got to snuggle a 3 month old FCR who's big sister was trialing. Their household dynamics were amazing similar to mine (reactive older dog...wanted a chill go with the flow second dog).

I had a lot of fun and can't wait to begin training for our next set of challenges. I really hope I can give back soon and volunteer at a trial. There's no way we could do this without a good volunteer base.

Pictures will be posted a little later!!

To Add Insult to Injury...

On top of feeling down in the dumps yesterday, Porter is having an allergic reaction to something this morning. We don't know if he keeps getting stung by bees, bit by spiders, or is allergic to a plant in the yard, but this is the third time his face has swollen up.

Poor guy was miserable pawing at his face and rubbing it on the ground. Benadryl did the trick for a few hours but then it started getting worse again so we headed to the vet. Now he's on prednisone to make him more comfortable.

The good news is he was ready for breakfast this morning, so his stomach is feeling much better! I still kept him hom from our FCR Fun Day just in case he caught something he could pass on to the other dogs.

Sick Pup

Poor Porter isn't feeling well today. He refused to eat breakfast, which is rare, but I thought it was because I offered him ground chicken hearts and veggies. He ate a small amount fine last night so I figured he was just being picky and didn't want that much of it this morning.

That's not the case. He's turning his nose up at treats and deli meat. He actually puts his ears down and backs away like I'm trying to poison him when I hold out something to eat.

Tomorrow is our big Flat-Coated Retriever Fun Day were we get to hang out, do agility, and swim all day long. I hope he's feeling up to going.

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.

Agility Update

Porter's progress in agility has been up and down. Some things he does amazing, especially considering how little we have been doing this, and other things he struggles with even though the other dogs are doing well. I can't lie, it's hard having the one dog who didn't do an exercise correctly and looks remedial. I guess I'm pretty competitive. I'm also used to Indi, who did very well in agility classes. Except for the whole the teeter is evil thing. She was older when we started so she already had more obedience training and I think that helped a lot.

I'm very regal looking...

Porter is doing amazing with his 2x2 weave pole training. I'm taking it slow, so we are only on one set of poles still, but they are angled slightly and we are working the clock for his entrances. He has great drive for the poles and is doing well hitting his entrance...but he will try to go backward through the poles if I am not careful. I need to practice more, but since he's still young there's no rush and even more reasons to wait and go slowly so he's not twisting and turning too much.

...when I'm not looking like a doof.

His start line stays are fantastic. Thank goodness, since this is important to me and kind of a pet peeve. Does he still need practice with them? Of course. But I can lead out to the second obstacle and he'll wait for his release. Sometimes he looks like he almost self released, but he's only broken his stay once. I can see him flinching in anticipation though.

 

I've been searching for a toy to throw for his reward but can't find anything perfect. He'll chase anything I throw, but most of the time isn't interested in it when he catches up to it. If there's food shoved inside it works, but I can't find something that throws nicely, doesn't bouncy wonky, food doesn't spray out all over the place, he can self reward a little, and then I can easily pull more out once I get there. Ugh. I wish he just loved to tug his little heart out and that's all I would need. We're working on it. His tug is getting better and he's playing more and more in class.

Today I used a velcro food pouch with a strap and that worked well. He tugged it a bit, he chased it a bit...if I keep practicing it might work ok. I also bought a rip and tug ball from Clean Run (in addition to 50,000 other things). It's shaped like a ball on a string but the ball can be ripped into two pieces and inside is a velcro pouch you can put food in. Indi will love it. Hopefully Porter will, too.

Yesterday Porter did much better about taking two obstacles without trying to cling by my side, thereby squeezing past the second obstacle. It did help that I did a lead out half way to the second obstacle. I also threw a toy (a new orbee ball on a string) so he was looking forward for his reward and not coming to me for it. We need a lot more practice with this and without me leading out so he learns to take his line and not cut over to heel position.

Next we did the same two obstacles (hoops, if you want to know), but after the second we did a 180, bypassed the closest hoop and run back and took the first one again. The first time I didn't turn soon enough and he kept running out ahead, but I called him and got him back to me and on track. The second time (other side) he did great! I was happy that both times he took the last hoop fine and didn't cling to my side.

Picture Taking is Serious Business

We worked on a lower dog walk as well. Whenever we approach any obstacle, Porter is raring to go. He sees an obstacle and just wants to take it, so I have to be mindful of that as we wait our turn. But then of course when I released him he kept just walking past it instead! I don't know what was going through his head. Finally he got on...he's not scared luckily and he kept his hind end perfectly on the board.

So serious we can't even look at you.

Despite being fine with the dogwalk Porter has issues with the car ramp I got. I think in part it's the steep incline, the carpet which is has less traction than the sandpaper ramps, and the fact that there's a little give and wobble when he climbs up. If I don't have good enough treats he refuses to go up. Sometimes even with great treats he's hesitant. When he's hungry and I let him call the shots he's so much better and was dashing up the ramp repeatedly.

Tomorrow we have a private session with another trainer who Indi and I have taken classes with in the past. Porter and I need more practice time and more instruction and I think it can be good to try out different trainers. Plus it will get us out to a new location.

This is Porter sleeping. Yes, with his eyes open! Creepy.

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.

Big Bear Trip

I was hoping that Porter would have his first romp in the snow this last weekend, but the weather was not cooperating. He did get to play in some slush and ice though.

The new car crate worked out well. He has a lot more room, but or cargo space is suffering. The towel on top so I can have the crate as far to the left as possible but not scratch up the door frame when I close it. If this crate were an inch longer it wouldn't have fit front to back.

Indi had her usual spot and was actually settling in and looking comfortable...until we hit the winding mountain roads.

Both dogs were great at the cabin. It was mostly carpeted (and no doggie door of course) so I wasn't sure if Porter's house training would have a hiccup. I took him out frequently at first just in case, but after a day didn't need to stress about it.

Indi loved having an infant in the house again and Baby Devon was equally thrilled with Indi. I don't know who was more pleased when Devon would toss bits of her toast at Indi but both thought the arrangement was perfect.

Porter was not as obsessed with the infant or toddler as I thought he would be and I am thankful for that since it would have made for a very long weekend trying to keep him tied up and away from the kids. Unfortunately, because of his size I think, anytime Porter sniffed or even walked by the toddler, Jason would have a melt down.

I kept the doors to the bedrooms closed as much as I could and the kids kept their toys in their rooms. But even when a door was left open or socks and shoes were in the hallway, Porter didn't rush to grab at things that were not his.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the cabin has a fully fenced backyard. I was fully expecting to have to keep both dogs on leash for all potty breaks, so it was great to let them sniff and explore and chase balls and pine cones off leash. This really helped to tire Porter out.

One afternoon we walked a block to the lake with the kids and Porter. I thought there would be snow everywhere and a walk would be out of the question so I didn't bring his harness. With all the amazing mountain smells and the slush and ice along the side of the road, Porter was bound and determined to get here and there and nowhere as fast as he could. He was obsessed with the ice and I had to be careful to make sure I was standing on very dry land or he would cause me to slide and slip on the ice and mud.


At one point Porter was pulling like a sled dog and I stood my ground holding him back with all my strength. He suddenly stopped pulling and sat straight up. He has the odd sit where he's almost leaning back with his head and neck. I look to see why he was so still but also alert and I see that several ducks had come out of the lake and on to the land. He was doing a great job keeping an eye on them but not rushing over and scaring them away. Although I'm sure if he was off leash that's what he would have done. Normally he's not that interested in birds...maybe his instincts are starting to kick in.

Crates from Heaven

A couple of months ago, just as I was thinking I needed to buy larger crates for Porter (he is using Indi's 30 in. crates in the car and bedroom) I was given a free 42 inch crate. It's perfect for the bedroom. There's a ton of room for him to sprawl out at night.

I still needed to upgrade the car crate and have been hemming and hawing about which size to get. I finally decided on a 36 in. crate and was waiting for a good coupon through Pet Edge. I kept procrastinating and missing the 10% off sales, and luckily, too, since this afternoon my neighbor gave me a free 36 in. crate! As luck would have it, it fits in the car just barely front to back like I was hoping.

It was a fluke we were outside speaking with the neighbor in the first place.  Porter and I were on the couch watching tv when he looked out the window and spied the neighbor working in his garage. For some reason this upset Porter and he sat up, growled and began alarm barking while staring outside. I quickly gathered him up, grabbed some cheese, and headed outside to counter condition him to whatever he saw that upset him.

Once outside he was fine, but I still stood in front of my neighbor's driveway and fed Porter cheese. Which led to chatting with the neighbor and then being given the crate they were going to put in their garage sale.

I still don't know what alarmed Porter. Normally he can't see out that window since I keep it covered so Indi doesn't bark at things going by. So maybe he just wasn't used to seeing people out front while he's inside. It's something I need to work on since one small dog barking her fool head off at the window is plenty! I don't need a huge dog adding to the noise.

Training with Distraction & K9 Nose Work

This weekend Porter and I meet up with two other dog friends to do some training together. I used Google maps to pick a grassy location between our homes. Little did I know that this spot is an unofficial off-leash dog park for the neighborhood. Thankfully I had Porter with me and not my reactive terrier. Our plan was to work on a rally course and some obedience exercises. I was hoping to also do some CGC work.

I previously mentioned how I was trying to keep play and training areas separate to help with Porter's focus. Well this had to be thrown out the window on Sunday since the off leash dogs were not going to leave us alone. So I let Porter go run amok off leash and much to my surprise he still very much wanted to work!! He did play, but quickly came back when I called and did pretty well on his heeling and some rally moves. Very impressive for a 6 month old pup to be able to focus like that when there are young off leash dogs frolicking next to us.

Once the park settled down and we were mostly alone I set up a rally course to work on. By the time it was ready Porter was pooped. I still took him through it and he did ok, but he lagged quite a bit. Bad trainer! I should have just scrapped the idea or only done one or two signs with enthusiasm and end it on a good note. I don't think it will slow his training down but I should know better and no matter what I had planned or how much work setting the course is I need to respect what I am reading form Porter. He still had fun, but I don't want to encourage slow responses or make him think rally is tiring.

This was also his first time off leash in an area that is not fenced in. The Fiesta Island dog park is mostly fenced. There are a two gaps where the surf meets the turf but those can easily be avoided. At first I wasn't sure about letting Porter off leash at this new park, but it's pretty isolated and I felt he would stick near his friend, Mira. He never went far at all, so I had nothing to worry about (this time?). I will keep working on his recall so he can enjoy more experiences like this but I won't just willy nilly let him off leash. Having one reactive dog I fully understand the damage a "friendly" off leash dog can do when he comes galloping up to a reactive dog on leash.

Today I taught another session of Nose Work and I almost left Porter at home. As I mentioned before, while being crated in the lobby with the other two dogs he's been whining and barking. I think it is in part due to the fact that the other dogs make a fuss, but also because he can hear me talking and praising the working dog but he can't see me. Instead of leaving him behind I decided to crate him in another room we sometimes have access to. This set up worked much better! He did bark a few times but over all he was pretty quiet.

He was able to do a few searches during class and when my clients left he did a couple more. I have to say he really has a nose on him.

One hide was on a couch but behind a throw pillow. He instantly narrowed down the search area to that corner of the room but he couldn't quite find it. I think the scent was moving up over the pillow and couch since as he would get closer he would lift his head and nose as high into the air as he could. He continued to search back and forth, going a little farther away and quickly u-turning when he realized he was getting farther away from the source. You could see his brain and nose working. In the end he found it and it was fascinating to watch. I wish I had this search on video.

The rest of the searches went well, too. He's not just sticking his head in boxes or other items anymore but really scenting the area and honing in on the source. As our training went on you could see how tiring this sport is. ow at home, Porter is completely wiped out.

It's really fun to watch him hunt and you can tell he loves it! He prances and darts around the room. Today he even began drooling during this first search!

I think it's time to make things harder with him, either add exterior searches or begin odor indoors. I can't decide which to do first and either way is acceptable from what I understand.

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.

Christmas and Agility

For Christmas we traveled to my in-laws for a few days with Porter in tow. Indi stayed at doggie Disneyland (her BFF Theo's house) because my two brother-in-laws were bringing their young bouncy dogs and I knew it would be too stressful for me and Indi.

Look how much he's grown!

Unfortunately I came down with the flu shortly after we arrived so my husband was in charge of Porter almost the entire time. As you know, he's a pretty easy pup, but due to his size and my in-laws not being dog people, he had to be tethered and watched closely every moment.

Here he is getting settled in his spot.

 
His cousin dog, Guinness, the Boston Terrier/Pug, had free reign (with a drag leash) and used it to his advantage. Guinness loved taunting Porter by grabbing a toy and zooming past Porter. When they played bitey face, Guinness camped himself under the coffee table for protection and surged forward to attack only to retreat out of Porter's reach. He looked like a Moray Eel. Porter adapted to Guinness's sneaky tactics of staying out of reach by grabbing the leash Guinness was dragging and yanking him back into the fray.

There's no escape for Guinness

On Christmas, his other cousin arrived, Zeus, the Pug/Beagle. The three dogs got along well and did a great job tiring each other out.

Despite being tethered a majority of the time, Porter was very well behaved and pretty calm. He got frequent walks to the park where he played with a Great Dane in addition to all the wrestling he did wit his cousins.

We barely got everything to fit in our car with Porter's crate in the back and he's ready to move up to the next size. I love my SUV but I'm surprised how little cargo room I have. It's fine if there's no crate, but that's not an option.

Porter's snuggle techniques are being fine tuned every week. He is now using QM as a pillow, which she adores.

 

If Porter hears me running a bath for QM he now darts upstairs and bobs for her bath toys. He'd happily jump in but I'd rather not have a wet sopping dog running through the house.

At bedtime, Porter is learning to snuggle on her bed while we read bedtime stories. Sometimes he still gets stir crazy and wants to play or chew something but he's getting better about it every day. On those days he's just too amped up I close him out of the room and he lies down outside the door and waits for me to finish. Any time I'm in a room and he can't come in he sets up a vigil just outside. He'll lie there for hours waiting for me to emerge even though the rest of the family is downstairs and more than happy to keep him company.

Coveting Kylie's wood plank.

 Due to some appointments Porter is missing two agility classes. I worked on his issue of sticking to my left side like glue and missing the jump, but of course he didn't do it in the backyard at all. We are making progress with his contact behavior. It's still not even close to being done, but we have worked out the issue of Porter twisting towards me and bringing his back end off the ramp. I found that he was so focused on getting to the target plate that he came off the board. He wasn't paying any attention to his body. So instead of using a target I just did some free shaping. He's more focused this way instead of flailing all over the place. I think part of the problem is he can smell all the treats on the ground others have used so he's obsessed with sniffing all over the place to get a free morsel.  Apparently I'm starving him even though I have a huge bait bag full of amazing treats that I provide in ample supply.

Last class I tried something new. Because Porter was so obsessed with sniffing the ground any chance he got I decided to try a technique by Swedish agility trainers Eva Bertilsson and Emelie Johnson Vegh. While you are training the dog is either actively working or put away and on a break. To get from one spot to another you use a transport, which can be tugging with the dog and moving to your spot, carrying your dog, a cookie magnet, or holding the collar. But you are controlling the situation and keeping the dog from getting distracted or doing his own thing. He knows it's time to work and not just wander around.

Not quite swimming, but getting closer!

So in class Porter was either in his soft crate (door flap still open and lots of treats), actively working with me, or on his mat. This was a challenge to keep up in class since we are constantly moving to another part of the field to work and while there need to listen to the instruction and then wait our turn. I can't be that far away from Porter while he's in the soft crate yet, since I don't want him to learn he could rip out of it if he really wanted to. So I carried his mat everywhere and worked on him relaxing until it was his turn, then right after it was either back on his mat or into the crate.

Comfort is highly valued on our household

I found this to be exhausted for both of us. I think it will be better when his mat and soft crate behavior are more solid, but right now he still needs treats every now and then so he's not truly relaxing but still anticipating being rewarded. 45 minutes into class I could tell his brain just wanted to turn off and we were unable to do one of the exercised.

On the plus side, I found this method did prevent a lot of his sniffing behavior and while his brain was still fresh he was a lot more focused on each exercise.

I will continue trying this method and see what come of it. I also am not allowing him to greet or play with any dogs when at a training facility. I noticed last week that he seemed less amped up and trying to play  because of this.

Apparently this is comfortable for him. I call it his "Broken Puppy" position.

Uncrating Training in Progress

From the first week I brought Porter home he has gone to my dog training classes with me and stayed in an ex-pen. Right off the bat he was great at relaxing in there and not being upset there were other puppies nearby who were being played with and fed yummy treats. He did the same at an agility trial we went to.

Then I changed jobs and stopped teaching those puppy classes. For two months Porter was required to be in an ex-pen near other dogs. Somewhere around this time I also began training him for K9 Nose Work. And for the first time, Porter started making a fuss in his ex-pen. Ugh. He was enjoying the hunt so much he was not happy to be put away again while other dogs ran.

When I started teaching Nose Work classes last week I brought Porter along. Unfortunately the other dogs are a bit vocal while waiting their turn as well (one is a scent hound with a mournful bay) and now Porter is making a huge fuss while it's not his turn. The sad part of this for me is that means I won't be bringing him to class anymore. I don't want him continuing that behavior and I can't work on it while I'm busy teaching class. Instead I'll need to find time to bring him to the training center outside of class and just work on him remaining happy and quiet in his crate.

Thankfully it has not disrupted his crate behavior at home or in the car. I think if I didn't do something to address it and just let him continue this behavior that it would bleed over to his other crate times and I would kick myself.

Found Another Lop in his Side

I've lamented a few times on Porter's lopsidedness. He heels much better on my left than my right due to the fact that I work that side a lot more often.

Today I discovered that in one situation his success flip flops and he's much better on the right than left.

This week in agility I noticed (again) that sometimes Porter will do everything he can to be glued to my side. This means that when we approach a jump standard he will squeeze his big gangly body between me and the standard instead of just running through the jump. He has to slow himself down and almost cut behind me (ack, no side changes behind my back!) in order to make it.

So today I brought out my jump and worked him at home. Hmmm, he was doing just fine and had no problem running right though the middle of the jump, not even hugging the standard closest to me. Maybe it's the change in location?

But then he finally did it again and glued himself to my side. I realized that when he's on my left he's trying to heel like we practice for rally and therefore he stays very close. On the right he feels more comfortable being a slight distance away if necessary. Any time we approached the jump with him on my right he was fine. On the left he crammed in next to me.

Now that I know more specifically what the issue is I can work on fixing it.

I'm wondering if I should refrain from rally practice until he understands the difference. I know that dogs can learn to discriminate and know when they are at agility, or rally, or obedience and change their behavior accordingly. I have no doubt that Porter will eventually be able to do this. But that's going to take some time and in the meantime it's slowly down our agility progress. Since agility is my priority I'd rather not hamper our efforts with the work I'm doing for other sports.

I'll need to think about this some more. In the meantime, I am going to get different collars and leads for each sport to help him discrimination the required tasks more easily.

What Puppy?

I have to confess that Porter is such a good puppy (most of the time) that on occasion I'll sit down at the computer to do something and suddenly 20 minutes have gone by and I realize that the thought of having a puppy completely skipped my mind. I look around only to find him either napping contently near me or else just chilling outside in the backyard. I am very spoiled by his awesomeness.

I love my pup.

Tired Pup

This week in agility we introduced the pups to the tire.

I had my instructor hold Porter since he doesn't have a wait in that context. He'll wait, and drool, to be released to go to his food bowl, but we've never tried it elsewhere. I like to torture him, I mean proof the behavior, by jumping around, singing, making sudden movements towards his bowl, and saying other words besides his release, which is "break". He does pretty well with most words, even if I use the same tone of voice, but other "b" words trick him sometimes . If I quick body block or make any sort of sound he will back off.

So my trainer was holding him, and he was struggling to get to me. This is great for restrained recalls but not so much for most other things. He was pushing forward right when she let him go and he stumbled and fell into the tire then shoved through the side to get to me. If this were Indi, she would write the tire off as her mortal enemy for attacking her unprovoked. But Porter didn't even notice and happily went through it properly right away. I love this goofy gun dog. Nothing phases him.

Case in point...my neighbor's are having their driveway ripped out and replaced. A small bobcat was tooling around the yard making a ton of racket while we were on a walk. Porter stopped to watch for for a few seconds but without any tension or nervousness and then he moved on and continued his walk. Again, Indi would have assumed the tractor was a hitman for hire to take her out and would have responded by launching a deadly counterattack.

Since he did so well with the tire I decided to try out hand at home. At first he went around it, but I set him up too far back. Within a few reps I was able to stand in a few different spots (right next to the tire, 2 feet in front, 5 feet in front) and change my speed (standing still or running forward with him). He also did amazing with his wait. A couple of time he broke his wait, so I just happily replaced him even if he did the tire beautifully. I do not want a horrible start line stay.

In class we also worked on walking the dogs down a length of plank. Porter only messed up when I dropped his treat and it rolled off the plank. To eat it out of the grass he turned his body and came off the plank. Otherwise he was in great control of his rear end. I have a 6 foot plank at home we'll start working on, in addition to his contact behavior.

This week he wasn't as focused as normal. For some reason at this new location he is obsessed with foraging on the ground. When it's time to work he does fine, but in the down times he's trying to yank me this way and that, and man, is he getting strong!!

I decided to try a new technique (taken from Denise Fenzi) and not let Porter interact with any dogs while in class. Denise doesn't let her pup meet or interact with other dogs while in a working environment so she will know it's times to focus on Denise. I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to hold to this, but I am going to give it a try. It makes a lot of sense. I want Porter to know that when we are at an agility trial it's about me and him. I don't want him searching for his BFFs and running out of the ring to play. I did let him play in the parking lot with two dogs though...that's probably a slippery slope.

Speaking of play, here are some goofy shots of the siblings.

The Plague

Porter came down with kennel cough, I assume he caught it at the dog park, and like a good sibling he shared it with his sister.

For some reason this reminds me of the American Gothic painting. I think it's Indi's serious expression.

Before the diagnosis I was really worried since I felt two huge lumps under his jaw line and of course thought cancer!! I don't know if puppies this young come down with cancer, but since it's a problem in the breed and swollen lymph nodes can be a sign I wasn't a happy camper. He also had eye discharge but increased so I took him into the vet. No coughing, no lethargy and certainly no loss of appetite. The vet thought it could be his salivary glands and gave us eye drops for conjunctivitis. That very evening Porter comes down with a productive cough. Kennel cough first came to mind but I was also worried about distemper. Since he's still young I took him in the next day and the vet felt it was likely kennel cough and sent us home with antibiotics.

Three vet visits in one week (the first was his well puppy check up and of course he was perfectly healthy on that day). My pocketbook was crying but at least I wasn't freaking out about my baby's health anymore.

Indi started getting the same symptoms, the eye discharge and several days later the cough. Her cough more the typically kennel cough hacking. I refrained from taking her to the vet since she's a very healthy dog and kennel cough just needs to run it's course. If she was elderly or a young pup we would have see the vet.

Both are fine now, but it was a pain not being about to take Porter out anywhere. He missed visiting a few agility trials and romping around with his friends.

I don't vaccinate for kennel cough but this episode made me think twice about that decision. When Porter was at his worst (which was nothing really) I felt bad he was sick and though maybe I should start vaccinating him with Bortadella to spare him this misery. Now that the dogs are better and recovered very quickly I'm in a better frame of mind (not so reactionary) and still will refrain from that shot/spray. If I board Porter I might get it done or if he catches it again soon then I will. But this is Indi's first time being sick and she used to go out and about to dog parks and dog classes all the time. I know it's highly contagious, but I don't feel it's one to worry about with healthy dogs.

Speaking of shots, Porter gets his rabies vaccine tomorrow.

This is the trouble making neighbor's cat in action.