Protection

It was surprizingly warm at Port Royal School field this afternoon. Jojo brought out Gunner and Star. Ann had Basco and Duane brought out his young puppy for some socialization.

I continued to work on Madison's stick aversion. Post work, switching drives from prey to defense and back, and holding the stick either against the sleeve or threateningly. She worked through it and bit fairly well for her. The best bites were early on, in defense, without the stick being too close. Progress was made and she became more comfortable with the stick being around as we went on.

I need to remember to warm Aron up before doing protection work. I walked around a bit when we first arrived but forgot to walk for a minute before taking him on the field. I am still a little wary of hurting his rear ligaments again. Started by running 3 and then 2 blinds, the helper agitated as we approaoched the first blind. He is switching from a fast prey gallop to the blind immediately into a solid bark when he finds the helper. The step to agitation as we start is new for him and some restraint was required for him to calm a little and run the blinds in sequence. We ended up with a drag bite courage test.