I haven't updated in forever but I will keep this update to just Swyatt's progress.

My boy is 50lbs of lab puppy. He is approximately 3 years old and still very much a spastic puppy. He is very loveable and funny but oh my can he be frustrating.

We have some great days, when it all seems to come together in his head. Then we have days where I am pretty sure his goal in life is to drive me crazy. LOL

Agility: Some days are great, we can do numerous obstacles in a row and he reads my body language perfectly. Then we have days, like last night, where he is so fixated on my hands (hoping there are treats) that he skips all jumps. He also had a hard time working off leash without wanting to do zoomies which in a class with 5 other dogs is a no no.

Working with our instructor, we decided to move to a beginner class so we could work on his focus without the pressure of learning new handling and obstacles. Two classes in and he has worked off leash with 5 other dogs and been engaged with me. So far the change to the beginner class seems to be going very well!


Flyball: down and backs over four jumps with a dead ball retrieve are going really well. We have transitioned to a compression ball instead of the chuck it rubber ball (I was envisioning having to buy about 20 of those for racing purposes and cringing at the price).

We have decent wall work going (again when he chooses to focus...otherwise he just slams into me to say hi). Now its time to transition to the box. We need to start adding a dog in the other lane which is a bit of a challenge. Most of our dogs are either older and not going to take kindly to a youngster chasing them or skittish and going to be traumatized at being chased (exaggerating a little but you get the point). We have a demo coming up and will be testing his ability to focus in a new setting. Fingers crossed!

Barn Hunt: He understands what he is supposed to find, but doesn't indicate very clearly. He will slightly nose and then move on (or try to pee on it). It is too easy to miss his indication, so we are trying to engage him and make the indication even clearer.

He is a work in progress for sure. These last few weeks have been good to us and I have seen some great progress from him. I have always said and stand by this, that we will keep working on all these classes and skills but that if he seems stressed or unhappy then I won't push him to compete. We will just have fun taking classes and building our bond.

 

Photos courtesy of Smilin Dog. Both labs go off leash hiking with this awesome daycare. They have helped build his recall and learning doggy manners :)