JulesP

Jump up and down like a nutter calling her name. If she looks like getting up use your marker word very excitedly!! My training question :D Am playing with positions in motion. I can do drop and stand fairly smoothly but have trouble with my feet in the sit. I can't work out how not to come to a stop?? Ok 2 questions Does anyone else teach sending to the box with a target? If you do how do you go from the nose touch to the sit. It feels messy.

Yes, but when I say "good dog" she's always here... and yet if I offer her a treat she won't take it when sheep are there. I really need to take her back up the hill and try again. Does anyone know how you find out if your dog eats ducks without losing a duck? I know she likes chasing them. Just not sure what happens if she actually catches up. Not really sure what you are talking about with the sheep bit? I have actually used food in my herding, mainly to get the heel in off lead. My dog really prefers praise anyhow and she certainly is listening to that praise even when on sheep. I guess we are using a NRM in that if the dog isn't cooperating they don't get to have the sheep. With ducks you go in on lead the first couple of times. Some rolled up newspapers might be handy and a good aim.

I don't think it would be fair to say that BB were good or bad seeing as they are a franchise. I am sure some are good and some are bad

GSD is the breed Poppy is really scared of. Don't really know why unless she is picking it up from me as it was Brock that a GSD tried to kill. I think I would just walk out of the line if I found one on either side.

Did you sit next to the Weim?

Same problem Seita. Would like a dollar for every time an instructor has explained how to fix this! It is just a lack of consistency regardless on how much I work on it. Does your girl rock back as she sits?

Lots of different dog foods are made at the same factory so I would say that something else has snuck in. I had a green kibble the other day in the Holistic Lamb & Rice.

Congrats guys sounds like you are all having heaps of fun!

I have border collies because I like border collies I could not give a rats about competing or winning. I've wanted a border collie since I was a little girl watching the sheep dog trials in the UK. I definitely think any person should get the dog that they want to live with. If you do that then I don't think you can go far wrong. Does it matter if you don't get titles or win? Nope. I bet you still had a good day out with your dog and chatting to other dog nutcases. The time in the ring is so, so short compared to the time just enjoying your pooch. Looks down at the 3 border collies snoozing on the veranda with me and thinks that is shit loads better then any comp win.

Well unless you are willing to wait for the right tri then I think you need to open up the colour choice.

Not normal price. A friend just paid $800 for a black & white puppy from one of the best Victorian kennels. Have you considered buying a Australian Shepherd if you have your heart set on tri colour? Very easy to get a quality tri in that breed.

I don't think the original poster was thinking about competing in Schutzhund. She stated obedience and she probably meant agility etc. The most scary combination I have seen at dog club was the novice owners with a Malinos. That was just a time bomb waiting to go off. The dog was biting its owners leg as a puppy. There is simply no point in getting a high drive dog if you can't train it and you not going to have success if you can't train the dog. Top handler + high drive dog = no problems Low drive dog + anyone = various levels of frustration. Usually a super pet though. Medium drive dog + average handler = lots of fun, titles & some wins If you want to be competitive then I would also get a suitable breed. If you want to prove something with a different breed then fine, no worries but own it and don't whinge about the easy to train border collies beating you (sorry major annoyance of mine ).

I would need to see Daisy doing what she was actually bred to do before I classed her as low drive

I bred my first litter around 13 years ago. Why did I do it? Mainly for the experience. I had mentors helping me and had orders for puppies before they were born. I found the whole thing quite traumatic. My girl had to have an emergency c-section after the idiot vet didn't believe me that something was wrong. Dealing with the potential owners was interesting. The puppies were gorgeous though. A great experience. I am proud of my litter. 2 of the pups went on to be great pets and 1 went on to be the start of someone else's stud. I had a call when one of the pet pups died at 11yo asking if I still bred as they wanted another dog from me. One of my mentors considered that the mark of a successful breeder. Would I breed a litter again. Yes under the right circumstances. Would I become a breeder? No. Mainly because I simply could not re-home dogs that didn't turn out good enough to breed from.

Just had a go at the return. Amber didn't focus totally on the food but I didn't expect her too as her triangle of temptation training asks for focus on me when food is around. Also the its your choice game asks for focus off the food. But she had a bit of an eye on it and we had no paw movement. I had to teach her to go to the food too! When I released her the first time she just stayed with me. That turned into a game of sending to the food and she ended up going a distance of about 8 meters so that was pretty cool. I'll practice during the rest of the week and see if it works at training next Wednesday. Amber thought it was a pretty good game too!

I have been a heaps happier handler since I decided that my dogs didn't have to tolerate fluffy pouncing on them. If people whinge now if Poppy snaps at their dog I just say 'well your dog was being rude'. Nekhbet I actually only took Amber out to socialize with my tolerant dog (Brock) rather than with miss bossy boots Poppy to make sure that Poppy didn't teach Amber to be bossy. Amber so far will only tell really rude dogs off.

Not sure a dog would naturally have a desire to be precise unless that was trained into them. ie if you don't sit straight you can't have your reward. Nerves factor into precision a lot I reckon. For me work ethic is about duration or working in crappy conditions. It is about the dog always saying 'yes what can I do for you'.

Lol have changed it to a real reply now so you didn't feel ripped off!

Being accurate and precise I don't see as work ethic. I see them as being up to the trainer to get right. Work ethic to me is the desire to keep doing the job for however long they are asked to do it. To continue to work through distractions.

I think it is nature. I have raised all my border collies the same pretty much. Croydon's pre-puppy at 8 weeks, Croydon's obedience program from then on. The dogs have had various tolerance levels. Both boys have been pretty tolerant. Brock is super tolerant, a dog can bite him and he just looks sad. Fern was in the middle. Poppy is super sharp and tolerates no crap, nothing happened to her nuture wise to make her like this. Amber will tell some dogs off.

Work ethic is super important but is work ethic actually drive??

I dunno Aidan2 maybe we need to define high drive etc. I feel clear about 'working in drive' as I can see the switch thanks to having attended a K9 Pro clinic. But feel fuzzy on defining low, medium, high drive. Even Brock who I call low drive might come in at high pack drive by your definition. The little dude did sit out with me whilst I was gardening in a thunder storm after all. That is showing pretty good dedication to your pack.

When you are trying to pack up the agility equipment but can't because your dog jumps on it to give you a 2o2o!

You walk out of the back door with your treat container and 3 border collies bolt for the gate and start trying to get out to the training area! When they do the above after being out at herding all day When you are wondering down the drive way to get the mail and look down to find a dog trotting along perfectly at heel offering lovely focus. When after a 2 day herding clinic the dog is still pulling you to get into the sheep paddock and you have to coax it away to take it home. You arrive at dog school and your dog starts squealing with excitement.

mumtoshelley you can only say heel once but you can say it after each drop, stand, sit. You are also changing direction a fair bit. The heel pattern also doesn't go for a mega long time. You get to say heel a fair bit.