Vickie

I would answer that most Border Collies bred with the traits I look for in a BC, and raised responsibly, should be great with children. My 4 are high drive & working bred, I couldn't ask for a better attitude to my, and other, children.I observe similar behaviour in others from their litters who haven't been raised with children.

Great work!

Oh, we'll that sounds like exactly what I do then. Except that rather than putting mine away, after i take the collar, I let go & try again as I want them to choose to make the right choice there & then.

agreed, although it would be interesting if it were possible. Here's one of my favourite articles on the subject. It's about BCs, but would be the same for kelpies http://stilhope.com/writings/heritability.html

Out of curiosity, why do you think there would be a difference?

This may sound harsh, but I really think that, at this point, you need to decide whether it's more important for him to have fun with other dogs or to recall reliably. The reality is that so long as he's regularly in situations where he can ignore your recall, it won't become reliable. Personally I would stop letting him run with other dogs until you have an instant recall every single time. He is only young, so there is plenty of time for him to play later with lots of other dogs. I like to train mine to recall on whistle. What I want is an automatic response to that whistle that becomes such an instinctive habit that they are not evaluating their choices. Like Dasha & Piper, I believe it's important that they still recall without the promise of a reward. After lots of rewarding for recall, I use a similar method in a small area. I set up a distraction, call them. If they do not recall, I walk over, take their collar and lead them for a few steps with me. Then I let go & call them. They have to choose to come with me & are then rewarded with praise for doing so. If they do not recall, I approach them again, take their collar and repeat the process. If this takes 4 hours, I am prepared to spend 4 hours and my experience has been that its well worth it. The other thing that I think is important is to be aware of your dogs body language. most dogs will see a distraction and there is a period where they usually evaluate that distraction before running off. Once they have started to run, your recall is less effective in the early stages. A recall given during that evaluation period is much more likely to be successful. Make sure your recall word is not a word you use all the time. Make sure that you don't use that precious word, if you don't think your dog will come back.

What an awful thing for you, your family & Bailey to be going through. Hugs & best wishes

Don't be too hard on yourself, it is difficult, especially with limited help available. The best advice I can give is to train all the little steps with as much motivation from Hudson as you can get. Keep it fun all the time. Don't be afraid to practice things he is already good at as you will both benefit from enjoying these things together. My pups are about the same age as Hudson. The only thing I am really asking from them is that they enjoy what we are doing. The rest will come and lately they are proving to me that all the fun games that we have played have been really worthwhile.

Unlike many others, I very rarely use targets of any kind in agility & pretty much all rewards are delivered by me from my hands, including for distance work Are you sure you're not just asking for too much at this point? I would consider cutting in on a pinwheel can happen for a few reasons. How much value does he have for taking one jump? two jumps? Are you looking at Hudson rather than focussing on the line you want him to take? Are you overrotating after the first jump? Are you starting him square or at an angle on the first jump? How far away from the jumps are you running? Are you moving constantly or standing still in the middle? Hopefully the above will give you some ideas...it may not be about distance at all, after all you can run a pinwheel with no distance...

Yes, did you want to contact her? If so pm me & I will send you her email address Cheers Vickie

Yes, I would agree, it is often not cut & dried. However I consider there was nothing mild about that woman beating the crap out of her GSD and I cannot think of any reasonable excuse for such actions.

I wish I had not mentioned the dog to dog issue. This post was really supposed to be about people mistreating dogs. I think for the most part, people are aware of how to deal with dog to dog aggression and know their rights to either report, or not report it. And I agree with CFS, it is sometimes difficult to decide whether aggression occurs or not. I don't feel this is the case with people mistreating their dogs. Someone hitting their dog is not difficult to justify. It is just wrong! I have no idea whether I could or should have reported that lady belting the crap out of her GSD on dogs NSW grounds.

Great news! He's so, so cute!!!!

Any ideas on why people don't report it? In a public area, it is difficult to report, but at a sanctioned show or trial, aren't we bound by rules to report it as members?

I had to attend a meeting at Dogs NSW yesterday as I was called as a witness to an incident at a trial. The incident was regarding mistreatment of a dog. IMO, the discipline decided on, a warning, was appropriate for the out of character And relatively mild incident. Afterwards I took my pup for a walk & ran into a friend. We witnessed something else. There were about 5 GSD's on the ground in a group. There was a bit of a commotion and one dog put another on the ground. No real aggression, just some noise. The owners ran in to stop it. The owner of the dog who was on top, grabbed it, pulled it away and repeatedly belted it across the back & side while yelling at it. I just can't believe that I spent half my day testifying about something that was 100 times milder than what I witnessed with the GSD owner. How often does this happen? I can't stop thinking about that poor GSD and how many other dogs are treated like this with no consequences. Do you see this in your chosen sport/breed community? Would you report it? If not, why not? What about dog aggression at a trial show? Would you/have you reported that? I reported a dog that bit me a few years ago at a trial. I don't regret it for a second. The dog bit others before me and the owner is currently on suspension, again, for his other dog being aggressive. I have seen others bullied out of reporting things that really should be reported. I wonder how many others end up suffering for this bullying...

I really like it! Like concept & like the colours. One question. Why did you choose for the bud & dead to be out of focus? Not a criticism, just curious. The bud looks more oof than the dead one.

Does AWDRI accept foster carers that work full time?

If you are set up well & familiar with the breed, as you obviously are, fostering can be a great experience. There are lots of rescue groups and it's also possible if you are experienced to foster without a rescue group. A warning..l, Some rescue groups have some pretty odd ideas about who is suitable as a foster carer or a potential home. As far as advertising, most rescue groups will do it for you. I have mostly rehomed fosters I have had to people I know in the dog trialling community. The added bonus is that you get to see them regularly

As others have said, a handling system is a set of rules or guidelines to ensure you are providing consistent cues to your dog. Some examples of the system I use say to my dog If I am running beside you, keep taking the obstacles in front If I am running & raise the arm on the opposite side of my dog, collect & prepare for a turn towards me If I turn towards into my dog, I want them to turn towards meEtc As far as how to choose a handling system...there are some top handlers and instructors implementing each of the main systems.QLD mostly use the Greg Derrett system, so if I were you, that is probably the one I would choose, simply because it will be more accessible to you. The main thing is to pick someone who is successful with their own dogs to learn it from. If you are serious about agility, I would take private lessons to start, rather than club classes. Then when you have a system in place you can train at a club.

Is this open to any herding breed? I can't make it due to Agility Nationals on at the same time, but luckily Greg is doing another clinic in Sydney a few months later so I'm definitely going to that one. Very excited about it too!

What a wonderful ending to come out of such a sad story. Good on you!

Great to hear, sounds like you & Stella are going to be just fine :) Eta, your OH sounds like a real gem

I used to feel exactly like this. Even if a kennel said they didnt mix dogs, I would not trust them as I know how common practice it is. I feel differently now as I trust the person who boards my dogs implicitly. I feel like she knows them almost as well as I do and she is an extremely good dog trainer. I would have no problem with her walking them with any dog she feels suitable. I also know that she would never leave them unattended with other dogs. None of my dogs are reactive which also helps.

what are you doing when she picks it up & starts to return with it? Standing still? Facing her? Encouraging with voice? Silent? I am working through this with one of my pups, who came to me at 9 months, with NO interest in a ball at all, let alone a retrieve. Once I got her interested in the ball, and picking it up, the next step was to turn & run away from her. She is at the point now where she will chase me with the ball in her mouth and instead of running to the other side of my yard, I'm only having to move a few steps. as soon as she catches me, I give her a reward marker & throw the ball again as quick as I can. It seems to be working. I have used this method with a number of dogs who have had no interest in retrieving & it seems to work each time.

Hi BC Crazy, Agree with the others, don't beat yourself up. The main thing is that you are aware of a problem & are taking steps to fix it Regarding her "edginess", I honestly don't think this needs to postpone any goals you have with her. If you want to do agility, find a trainer who is focussed on training with motivation/drive rather than than one focussed on technicalities or a club environment. If you train her right, her edginess need not be a factor. I would view training as a way to help any temperament issues rather than delay training because of them. Re markers, I feel there can be more to markers than what has been suggested in this topic. There is a lot more to training well with markers than saying yes and rewarding. If you train them well, your dog will turn itself inside out to work at the word "ready" and will be quivering in anticipation of the word "yes". Look for possibilities, rather than limitations. Anything is possible Hope this makes sense