Friday we pack up and head on to Niagara Falls, Ontario, where Stitch is entered in a Draft Dog clinic on Saturday, and Scuba in a Draft trial on Sunday. Stitch has a good handle on the beginning behaviours, but she needs experience with the shafts on either side of her. I'll duct tape two short pieces of PVC pipe to her harness a few times this winter and get her started in the spring. Still very hot. I'm desperately nervous. I've never seen a Draft Test before, but that's no excuse. Why can't I get my head screwed on? I'm not giving the dogs any support at all for the work I'm asking them to do. Scuba, of course, does just fine. The first Portie with a Draft Dog title! Stitch next year! and Brace Draft after that.

One evening, we go into Lansing to an obedience fun match. It's still very hot. My brain isn't engaged and I'm not thinking about what the dogs need to perform. Scuba goes in and does her usual decent job, but I totally fail to let Stitch know what we're doing there or why. Her Heel On Lead is a superb example of loose leash walking, but as we approach the Stand For Exam, the judge tells me I'm welcome to leave the leash on for the rest of the exercises if I want. "No, thanks, she's not going anywhere, she's just not heeling." And that described the performance. Stand for Exam was excellent. Recall was fast and fairly accurate. Stays were fine. Heel Free was a bit better than Heel On, which isn't saying much.

Another half day and we arrive in the middle of Michigan at Stitch's breeder's new house. Wonderful basement with nothing in it but some agility equipment and a grooming nook. We have four days to play here. Paula, partner of Stitch's aunt, the wonderful Hunter's Hertie Gertie (add billions and billions of titles here), lives next door and has a private POND with no swimmer's itch in it, a lovely beach, and a raft with ladders AND a ramp. The weather is hot, hot, hot (over 30 degrees every day) so we're all eager to use the pond, usually twice a day. The first session, I just let Stitch and Scuba play while I tossed toys. The second session, Scuba stayed in the beach chair while I tried to persuade Stitch to go in. No go. Finally, I waded in and Stitch came after me. We did some quick, happy retrieves just short of swimming depth with me sitting in the water, lots of wieners, and some of Elaine's wonderful venison (a breeder knows the way to a puppy's heart!). Then we swam out to the raft and just played around with it for a while, Stitch climbing up the ramp, climbing down the ramp, doing stays on the ramp, coming off the ramp to me when I called her, etc. She began to get comfortable with swimming.

Stitch is a funny little girl. Bold as brass, tough as nails, soft as a feather. She loves the teeter so much she does it on her own in the yard. She's perfectly comfortable snagging apples from the coffee maker under the upper kitchen cabinets. But she's not entirely sure she can safely make the one step up into the trailer, she complained for two weeks before she got comfortable with the air conditioner on in the car, and it's taken her two dozen times in the water to start feeling confident. By contrast, Elaine has a 12 week old puppy who walked down to the water and, following Elaine, waded right in and swam, not appearing to notice any difference between swimming and walking. The good thing about Stitch is that once she's comfortable, she'll be supremely confident.

By the third day, she's doing consistent 40' retrieves of her bumper, and 30' retrieves of her buoy rope, SOME 50' bumper retrieves, and an occasional 60' retrieve. I was using Scuba to fetch the ones that went to far, until I noticed Stitch take a step toward one, stop, and look at Scuba, like - hey, YOU get this one. After that Stitch and I go out together to get the far ones.

Today Scuba and Stitch go off into the surrounding forest for a second - and come back covered with a wonderful, stinky, liquid cow pat. Fortunately Paula had the foresight to keep a bottle of shampoo at the pond!

The fourth day, she's consistent at 50', and over 50% on 60' retrieves. Her underwater retrieve is about 80%. Swim With Handler is excellent - I've always considered this a loose-leash-walking exercise, only not walking and no leash, and she's translated it nicely. We've been working on the boat platform using Scuba's cart, and we solidify it on Paula's boat.

We go across Lake Michigan on the carferry. It was a holiday weekend, and I didn't call ahead in time to get the day ferry, so we spend eight hours in the parking lot waiting for the midnight sailing. Lots of time for both dogs to wrestle with toys and each other in the trailer. Stitch has a stuffed dog (Leroy) nearly as big as she is that she's had since she was a baby. She flings Leroy around the small space - if she flings him high enough, it's an excuse to get on the table or the counter to rescue him. I don't know why Leroy has lasted for nearly a year when all around him toys are spilling their fluffy guts out on the carpet. Scuba doesn't play with Leroy at all, which might explain it, save that Stitch is a champion toy-disembowler.


When we're tired of being cooped up, we take a walk (lovely to walk two dogs on loose leashes!) and then check out the "beach" - a short stretch of sand covered with seagulls, ducks, and bird droppings. I spend several minutes with Stitch on leash discussing the merits of bird poop - a combination of NO! and clicking her for not eating it - then I let them off leash and start throwing sticks. Again, Stitch swims if she's following Scuba, but not even the ducks can lure her in far enough to swim on her own.

Another nap and a drying-out period, and I take each dog in turn out on the pavement and do a 20-minute training session. Stitch's heeling is remarkably good for being in a parking lot surrounded by semi trucks, RVs, and rowdy college kids, close to the lake and the birds, and with a large boat honking at us from time to time. Stays, recalls, stand for exam, sidesteps, backward heeling all nice. Retrieves are a little distracted.

Time to board. I dress Scuba in her Service Dog cape and, with some trepidation, lock Stitch in the trailer. Will I still have a trailer in the morning? Passengers don't have access to vehicles during the trip. I could put her in the boat's kennel, but I think she'll be happier in her own "house". The crew is very nice, and the girls each get a goody bag with a couple of dog biscuits and a scarf that reads "I got my seapaws on the SS Badger". Cute, considering we're on our way to the Portie National.

No problem. Stitch handled the night like an old pro. Obviously slept on the bed - Leroy, a tennis ball, and a dogbed are on my pillow - but other than that, all is well... except for the two missing apples that I had stuffed in a plastic bag inside a paper bag inside the coffee maker screwed under the upper kitchen cabinet. Well, there's no doubt she's a purebred Portuguese Water Dog.

The second day she starts to get the hang of it again. THIS is the way I want to travel - stopping only to fill up on gas and Diet Coke, water the dogs, 30 seconds for elimination, 60 seconds for a sniff break, and we're back on the road.

When we're safely ensconced in the campground, we discover a few minor things that will have to change if we're to survive a month in such close quarters.

First, she's going to have to understand in her SOUL, not just in her brain, that an open door is not an invitation. She knows this at home, of course, but a trailer door may not be the same thing. To this end, I open the trailer door while standing in the doorway, and trap her several times between my leg and the cupboard, only releasing her when she's backing up. That takes a bit of the stuffing out of her enthusiasm for instant escape. Then I walk out, turn around, and give her a treat for NOT escaping. After this night, she'll only make one other door-mistake the entire trip.

Second, we're going to have to have a discussion about where *I* am going to walk and where SHE is going to stand or lie. This was never a problem with Scuba, who had to be taught to stay so I could walk around her without her leaping aside. I get a bit of a headstart on this unfortunately by stepping on Stitch and tripping over her. After that I make a point of NOT trying to walk around her, but poking her with my toe to make her move if she's in my way.

Finally, she's going to have to give my face a little more respect. At home, I guess, I'm usually sitting up or standing when I'm around her. Now, I'm either driving or walking or lying on the bed in the trailer, giving her freedom to lick my face, walk on my face, lie on my face, and play tug over my face. I start by feeding her her meals from my hand while she's lying calmly on the bed, and progress to the bitch-solution - a snarl, a bark, a lifted lip. Mission accomplished.

We start on our trip. I expect Stitch will whine most of the way and I'll probably strangle her before we get to the border. Scuba of course will be no trouble at all. And she DOES whine, the first four minutes. I'm driving a half-ton truck pulling a fifth wheel trailer, so no room for crates. I've got harnesses for each dog that buckle into the seatbelt slot in the back seat. This is new for her. If she's ever been out of a crate in the car, she's been on the floor in the back seat. She's happy to be able to watch the scenery (more like she's watching the road in case I do something stupid), and alternates between sitting up staring forward between the seats with her ears perked and sleeping in the same place with her butt on the seat, her chin on the console, and her front legs hanging down between.

This first day she has some trouble remembering how to pee on leash and on cue. I was afraid I'd only be able to drive three or four hours a day, but I'm managing sever without difficulty, so I resent having to stop every hour so she can stand in gas-station grass staring at me. Nevertheless, this IS a priority. I can't spend the next month hoping she'll pee, so I DO stop every hour, giving her 2 minutes each stop. Scuba rolls her eyes and gives me three drops of urine at each stop.

I have a folding crate set up in the trailer with a dogbed in it. Because Stitch didn't pee during the day, she has an accident at night - on the dogbed. I have no facilities for washing it, and none for storing it in it's present condition, so I toss it out. The first casualty.

The best-laid plans of mice and dog trainers... in my beautiful dugout with its new slowly-sinking dock for easy ins and outs, Stitch and I both develop Swimmer's Itch, a small parasite that burrows under the skin. That puts a halt to the daily swimming lessons.

And I've decided that I am mentally capable of bumping her with the buckle collar to remind her of heel position without actually giving her a correction, but it isn't how I want to play this game, so I'm not doing it anymore.

So, que sera, sera. Whatever she learns on the trip, she learns, and what she doesn't, she won't. I spend the last week packing and playing silly games with her.

Once in a while (one day a year?) things come together, and today's the day. Everything we've been working on meshes prefectly. We start with Heeling. Yahoo! On - and off-leash she's excellent (not perfect yet, of course, but wow!) In spite of being able to see a cat 'way over THERE, she glues herself to my leg, keeps her head turned in, and only forges a little. She keeps up on the outside corners, and pulls her tail in to stay with me on the inside corners (of everything, this is the worst today, and still pretty darn good). She sits every time I stop. Wahoo!

Then we work on retrieving. I can't find her new purple bumper that she loves, so we use an old orange canvas one. She's bright and eager to get it (blows two SitStays in row, which at this point is great, meaning that I have to work a bit more on Stay and she's starting to love her retrieves!). Finally she settles enough to do a SitStay and I ask her to Look at the bumper before I release her to get it. For the first time, she seems to know what I'm talking about.

I've left the buoy rope on the driveway behind me while we work with the bumper. When we've moved 15' away from rope, I tuck the bumper under my arm, turn around, and ask her to Sit in heel position. I ask her to Look at the rope. Holy cow, she does! Locks right on and raises her butt about an inch off the ground! I tell her to get it, she gallops over to it, picks it up, and brings it back! We've done them cold a couple of times before, but never further away than 4'. I try it a few more times at 20' and she's still eager to get it. A couple of times she steps on the dragging part and drops it, then keeps coming toward me a step or two. Then she stops and looks at me, turns around, picks it up again, and finishes the job. Excellent!

We finish up with some Recalls, Fronts and Finishes. F&F a little sloppy today, but present and accounted for. If she gives me this at the Specialty, I'll be very pleased with her.

Scuba's turn. She's practising for a Draft Test. I harness and hitch her and we do some manoeuvering. Then I need a weight, 30 to 40 pounds would do it. What would be the easiest... or I could start working on teaching Stitch to stay on a boat platform even if it's bobbing up and down a bit...


so that's what we do. I ask Stitch to Go To Mat in the cart. She jumps out a couple of times when it starts moving, but quickly figures out that it's a "mat" like any other and she's supposed to stay on it. And away we go! What a great day! What great dogs!

Five more days. We've been working hard, and things are looking good. She's pulled the heeling together very nicely. She's still wobbling wide, especially on about turns and fasts, and still a bit forward. I put a buckle collar and short lead on her and try bumping the collar lightly to tell her when she's out of position. With my first clicker dog, I could not possibly have trusted myself to do this without turning it into collar corrections. With my second clicker dog, I would not have trusted myself. I'm 12 years down the road, though, and it works a charm. She takes the bump as a clue that she's out of position and immediately hugs in tighter. Just before I click, she looks up at my face to be sure that's what I wanted, so she gets clicked for coming in AND for making contact. Three sessions later, we're up to 15 steps of actual fairly-precise heeling, I'm thrilled, and she's having a super time. She's also figured out the automatic sit, though it isn't QUITE automatic yet. Every time I stop, she stops, stands, startles, and sits. It's very cute.

We've been working more on retrieving. Not emphasizing any part of the retrieve in particular, but trying to run through everything - the sit, stay, go out, pick up, return, sit, hold and deliver - while really increasing her enthusiasm for the job. As we move toward more hot dogs and roast beef, the quality of her nutrition has definitely gone down as her enthusiasm goes up, but that's OK. We're aiming to make the retrieve so much fun that it becomes a very good reward in itself.

Her sidestep, front, sit- and down-stay, recall and stand-stay are all excellent. Her finish is nearly finished. Sometimes she gets it all, she just needs to add another couple of inches ALL the time to make it perfect.

Besides heeling, swimming is our other priority. She not only has to learn to do it, but she has to learn to enjoy it. We've been to the beach 6 times. She likes the water, likes to drink it, likes to wade in it, likes to run in it, and likes to chase Scuba through it. Unfortunately we're still at the stage where the only time she wants to swim is when she's chasing Scuba who's chasing the bumper.

We're having the classic teach-your-dog-to-swim problem. She's comfortable standing on her back feet and pretending she's swimming. This means her butt is always down, and dogs don't swim with their butts down, they sink.


This is my answer. It's a simple swim noodle wrapped around her waist and held together with cable ties (the purple harness is her Water Trial harness that she wears every time she gets near water). I let her run around the yard a bit wearing the noodle (talk about fashion accessories!). If she has nothing better to think about, she feels rooted to the spot, but as soon as she's thinking about where she's going, or where there might be a cat, she forgets all about it, and it stays in place better than I expected it to.

We go off to the beach. I back the car up to the shore, take Scuba out of the crate and leave Stitch to watch while I throw the bumper for Scuba to retrieve. She's not happy about this, it's the first time she's yapped in the crate for months. When Scuba's cooled off, I bring Stitch out and put Scuba back in. I start by tossing her bumper on land a few times to get her in the mood, and she's revved. She wades in to retrieve as well, but won't go further.

I wade out almost to my knees, and lure her around me from shallow to deep and back to shallow. She's reluctant, but finally does it. Better the second and third time since she's realized she doesn't have to actually swim, but unfortunately for her, every time she comes around, I've taken half a step further out and on the fourth circle, she has to swim. She's a little awkward with the noodle, but the fifth time, she's starting to look like she knows what she's doing. At that point, I go out past my waist and she's swimming! She's swimming! Rather than have her head for shore when she gets tired, I let her swim around me four times, giving her a treat away from shore each time around, and then grab her around the ribcage and lift her up a bit out of the water to rest for a moment before putting her back to swim again.

She actually goes up on the beach and then turns around and comes back out to me. Twice! And from the beach later, she ALMOST actually went in and retrieved the bumper from swimming depth. Maybe tomorrow.

And then we practise Scuba's cart work and Stitch's boat platform at the same time!

Well, I guess it's official - 7 weeks until the American National Specialty. Her real official Portuguese Water Dog water harness arrived in the mail today, along with a lovely soft bumper. She glommed onto the bumper immediately, retrieving it with more enthusiasm than I've seen for anything except empty plastic pop bottles. She did so well, in fact, that I tied it to an upside-down kitchen chair and had her retrieve the bumper AND the chair. On the down side, she's been gulping for several days. I thought she had a bit of grass or something in her throat, but Scuba started gulping tonight. I'll talk to the vet about kennel cough in the morning.

We also practised some heeling, and while it isn't wonderful yet by any means, she was pulling it together well enough that I stopped panicking about it. If I actually do some work, we can pull this off. Her attention is wonderful - she even tried to stay heeling when visitors came in the door. She still doesn't know she needs to sit when I stop, but she started thinking about that tonight when I asked her to sit every time. Her worst thing is that she's still drifting forward and off to the left. I'm solving that by starting each session with "doodling" - one step forward and a 90-degree left pivot, sit. One step forward, 90-degree left pivot, sit. This means that every single step we take forward, she has to pull herself to her right to stay with me, and it's starting to make her think about the correct position. I'm working in the kitchen so far. Tomorrow I'll work it outside, starting with the doodles and working up to more than one step forward at a time.