Ramona Romp

My city dogs rarely get to stretch their legs and run off leash in a big area. There are not a lot of legal places dogs can be off leash. We have dog parks, but most in my area are pretty small and can be very busy. I don't trust most people to bring dogs who are well mannered. Plus, Indi can't go to dog parks since *she's* not well mannered. I also stress about taking Porter in a remote area off leash because what if he runs off! I know, not likely with my momma's boy, but it's still possible.

One of my clients was nice enough to offer the use of her fully fenced in 2 acre property so my dogs can have some fun. She lives about 30 minutes away which is about how far Fiesta Island is (the off leash dog park island near SeaWorld). It's not a bad drive at all and her property is great. It's covered in oak tress so most is nice and shady and it's mostly flat.

After Porter's agility class today we picked up Indi from home and headed on out. There were a couple of spots Indi could have squeezed out of the yard if she really wanted to, so I just made sure to keep a close eye on her and called her back if she got to close. I also kept them away from one corner since I noticed poison oak.

It was a great day and the dogs really enjoyed themselves. I found some dog toys so Porter chased a ball for a bit. Indi was more concerned with marking everywhere and sniffing the plentiful holes in the ground made by who knows what. Some were tiny and others big enough for a fox. I'm sure most were from squirrels or rabbits.

Anyone home?

We were very fortunate to have access to this property. It was nice to just let the dogs explore and be dogs and not be stuck on a 6 foot leash. It might not seem like much, but if you live in San Diego, this size of property is rare (or several million), so my pups have to make due with our tiny suburban yard.

Indi and Daisy

Daisy, the Dalamatian, came over today for a play date with Porter and so we could work on Indi getting to know her and hopefully like her one day.

We did this maybe a year ago and it went well but not perfect. I think I pushed it too fast so today I too it very slowly.

I had Indi locked in the bedroom upstairs so Porter and Daisy (mostly Porter) could get his crazies out first. Indi is much more hyped up and likely to be reactive if the other dogs are worked up. Poor Daisy though...she likes Porter, and will play with him, but usually he's watered down a bit since Kylie is there, too. But today Porter's full focus was on Daisy...and she really just wanted some peace and quiet to sniff the new to her yard.

Once Porter chilled out a bit I put an ex pen around the doggie door so Indi could come outside a little but not make contact with Daisy. When I let her out of the bedroom she came tearing down the stairs and to the back door. The doggie door was closed at this time since I wanted her to see Daisy through the sliding glass door first to gauge her reaction. Indi was yiping, but in an excited, not reactive way.

We spend part of the time tossing Indi treats, especially when we brought Daisy closer and the other part just hanging out with the dogs in the grass. Indi was mostly concerned with where her next treat was coming from. The only time I saw her the smallest bit upset when she was in the ex-pen was when she was getting treats and Daisy was really close. But she's like this sometimes even with her friends.

In the end we put both girls on leash and walked them around the yard. Daisy eventually came off leash since she wasn't interested in Indi at all. Indi stole a few butt sniffs while walking behind Daisy. She did react once...the girls were close and I was getting Indi's legs untangled from her legs. Porter stepped between the girls and Indi freaked out, but it was over in a split second.

I think if we do this more often Indi will be fine around Daisy. Not sure about Kylie though. Daisy is like Porter and things roll off her back. Kylie is more like Indi and likely to get all riled up, so the two might not make a good combo. On leash with some space they are fine...so we'll see if we get to the point we want to work on them being friends.

Julian

In February we packed up the kid and two dogs into our SUV and headed into the small town of Julian for a few days. I was shocked that we just barely fit everything in my car which again brings me to day dream about a larger vehicle. My goal for this trip was to find a dog friendly property with a large fenced in yard in a town likely to get some snow.

The placed I selected was a nice sized Victorian home (3 bedrooms, 2.5 bath) with 2 fulled fenced in acres. They also had a barn/garage with a foosball table, basketball hoop and a teen room.

When we arrived it was a beautiful, brisk day and we were happy to find a small patch of snow still on the meadow. Porter was in heaven and started rolling around and rubbing his face in the snow.

Our friend and her dog, Theo, joined us and the two boys exhausted each other in battle.

Tulips were starting to emerge near this old wagon so I gathered the pups for a photo op.

Indi likes to run with the big dogs but since Porter is faster than her now she is often at his flank trying to take him down like a bison.

Snuggling with the snow.

Porter adores Theo.

The property was filled with Manzanita trees, my favorite!!

Porter barely moved all night after his first day of romping with Theo.

It was really fabulous to see the dogs have such a great time in on the large property. There were tons of oak and manzanita trees, flat meadows and small hills, a huge area of land to explore. The dogs were in heaven. I longed for a property like this so the dogs could have this much fun everyday!!

The last might of our trip we were lucky enough to have snow fall! By morning the snow was over a foot deep and so soft it felt like fluff. It was too dry to pack into snowballs, but that also meant I could wear sneakers and my socks didn't get wet! And it was too light and fluffy to sled in it. But the kid and dogs had a blast.

Porter and I practiced our nose work hides several times and the snow didn't slow him down one bit. It actually helps I've been told.

Ok, well Indi has a blast for about an hour and then she was over it.

Porter digging for gold. Black dog on a field of snow equals an impossible shot to expose properly! Ugh.

I better get a cookie for standing in this.

Derp, derp, look at me, a cute little snow bunny.

Typical Falt Coat pose after a long day.

It was such a great trip I know we'll be back.

Ultrasound

Indi had an ultrasound today and it revealed...nothing. They couldn't see anything wrong going on at all. I was sure they would see something wrong with her pancreas. I was worried there might be a mass somewhere. But everything looked fine.

She was given an antiemetic and it's definitely helped. So far she's held down her early dinner. It's the first meal she's kept since Saturday.

Next step is to see the specialist. They might need to do an endoscope on her which worries me. But we really need to find out what's going on.

Indi Illness

Indigo hasn't been feeling well lately. She's always had the on and off again problem of vomiting bile late at night if her stomach was empty. We sovled the issue when she was younger by giving her some treats before bedtime. Occasionally with her raw diet she will vomit up a few chunks of bone her stomach was not digesting well. We adjusted which kinds of bones she ate and that mostly solved the issue. Certain ones were more likely to upset her stomach.

Over the last few years she will randomly look sick. She tucks up her tummy, rushes to a corner, sometimes tries to vomit, other times just huddles there miserable. A few minutes later she's back to normal. Over the last couple of months this has increased and now on some days she will refuse to eat. If you know Indi, you know this is far from normal.

We had a complete blood work done, including a special pancreatitis test we sent off to Texas. Her numbers for the pancreas were only slightly elevated, but we did find out that she was B-12 deficient. It seems her intestines can no long absorb this vitamin so she has been getting weekly shots for just over a month now.

Indi started doing better after the shots began, so I was hoping that was going to solve our problem, but this weekend she had another spell. This time it's a little worse. She's vomiting up the little food she eats (normally it's just bile or bile and grass) and she's having very loose stools.

This morning she was very eager to eat breakfast but barely touched it. I managed to get her to eat some bread, which came up an hour later. Yesterday she happily ate hotdogs, but let me tell you that was a mistake. it's not fun waking up at 1am to clean up hotdogs mixed with canned dog food. At least Indi is smart and tries to vomit in the bathroom or a corner.

I have a call into my vet and I asked my friend (a former client) who is a vet, but not practicing. She suggested I see an internal medicine specialist, so I'll discuss that with my vet and hopefully we can get to the bottom of this.

Agility Update

With summer in full swing our 10am agility class is heating up. I purchased a Chilly Buddy Cooling Coat a month ago and it finally just arrived. It seems to fit Porter well and is really light weight. He didn't seem to tire out as quickly at yesterday's class but it's hard to tell if it was due to the coat or not. We had a private lesson this afternoon at 4pm and he was dragging even with the coat, but it was quite a bit warmer than yesterday.

Porter's contacts are coming along. I've decided to do a down after the A-Frame (Four on the Floor; Modified Running Contact). Down is his default position so it comes so naturally to him. When Indi took lessons with Ann Croft and she taught us this method I didn't think it would be a good choice for her, since Indi hates to down in a lot of situations. But for Porter, this is perfect. I was considering doing Rachel Sander's Box Method but I don't have the DVD yet and my instructor doesn't teach this method as a regular part of her classes. I'd still like to learn about it, but for now the down is going well. We are doing 2 on 2 off for the dog walk and teeter and things are progressing nicely with that, too. I can walk quickly past his target or hang back and he still hits his spot. I need to vary my speed and lateral distance even more, but we'll get there.

Porter's flatwork needs work!! He's a bit distracted so I need to just take a long line out to a park and really work on it. I'll probably toss in some of Leslie McDevitt's ideas in there to help him along.

In our private lessons I've been working on Porter following his line. He tends to skip the last jump in a short sequence to get into heel position. Even more so if it's a wing jump. When we can practice several in a row he does better, so we'll just need to stay on top of it.

I finally found a toy that looks like it's working and it's really helping with this issue. This Rip and Tug toy can hold treats inside and the dog can break into it to self reward. Porter will follow a normal toy and chase it but then either 1) ignores it once it's "dead" or 2) grabs it and runs victory laps while playing keep away. Neither is good for his training. But with this toy he gets the thrill of the chase and then when the toy is dead he stops and lies down and self rewards. No running off with it or getting bored and walking off to sniff. It also keeps him mostly pointed in the original direction if there are more obstacles for us to do once I've rewarded him for the first part. And so far, the food hasn't flung out and all over the field on accident as it can do with some other stuffable toys.

He's doing ok with his 2x2 weave poles, but would be much farther along if I practiced at home more. This new toy will help with that practice as well.

Porter's sense of timing is amazing. In the last ten minutes of class yesterday Porter started to get antsy and became pulling like mad in the direction of the pool (which he cannot see from the agility field). He knew his swim lesson was about to start. He never does this on Wednesdays after our private lessons since swim is only on Tuesdays.

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?

Toy Drive

Porter's private agility session went well today. We discussed and practiced building his tug so we can use that as a reward system. I've never had a dog motivated enough by toys to use it as a reward. Food has always been at the top of the list with toys way at the bottom. My dogs enjoy toys in their free time but are not interested in working for them.

One of things I wanted in this new pup was a dog who was thrilled with toys all the time. Porter (and most of his siblings) showed interest in tugging when they were evaluated at 7 weeks. He happily plays in the house and really gets going when Indi tugs with him. He'll now tug nicely in the backyard most of the time and he's slowly starting to tug in class, but not with as much enthusiasm as he does at home.

The flirt pole is another story. If Porter gets a hold of the bag he turns into a Schutzhund dog and clamps down with all his tight and tugs so hard I can't always hold my ground. I have tried transferring this drive to his normal tug toys by putting a plastic bag on the end of them. It's not exactly the same, but it greatly increased his tug drive from what it was with those toys.

So at our lesson today, the instructor went over how she builds this drive. Some ideas I have heard before but some other parts were new to me and I'm excited to put them into action and see how Porter does.

In our other agility class we toss the reward after the obstacle, but this instructor doesn't do that (I'm not sure if she doesn't toss toys at all or just for certain things). She trains the dogs to be highly motivated to go after the still toy on the ground and not just a toy in motion. She showed me how to build up to that. First we build his tug, then we work on his out. Next we drop the toy right at our feet and release him to get it. Then we drop it at our feet and we back away from the toy slightly and I release him to rush over and get it. I run with him, too, not to beat him, but to keep up and to tug with him right at the reward spot so he doesn't want to turn and run back to me to play.

What I need to do is schedule times to practice this in the backyard first and then in the front yard. If I schedule it like it's a class I'm taking I might be more likely to do it instead of getting busy with other things.

She also told me that NADAC is doing virtual trials! So a dog like Indi, who is too reactive and stressed to be at a normal trial, will have an opportunity to earn (virtual) titles. That is really awesome! I need to look into it more and see if someone is doing them around here. Indi love agility so much (except for the teeter) so this would be perfect for her.

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.

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.