BC Love

Put my order in for the dvd's and book last night

Oh BC Crazy - what a terrible experience for you and you dog!! I would be horrified!! SecretKei - thanks for the advice He will be first and foremost a special family pet, and I hope in the future to do some agility, maybe flyball ect. My main aim with his walking is to be able to walk him comfortably so he is a pleasure to take where ever we may be going - we have 4 kids so not many hands left for a dog pulling like crazy on a walk :D

Oh wow - thanks for all the great replies!!!!! Will look at those book/dvds Sheena Thats exactly the info I was after - though my boy can do many "fun" tricks, I was starting to think there may be more important things I should be working on. Thanks again

Thanks for the quick replies Does anyone have any recommendations of a book/dvd on foundation work? (Im a newbie to agiility and training).

....that you intend to in the future do agility, maybe flyball too, what would you be putting loads of effort and training into now? My pup is 15 weeks (border collie) and we do walks and lots of fun tricks, puppy obedience ect - but Im wondering if I should be practicing more on his focus ect or other important things. If you could go back in time, what would you concentrate on?

Thank you everyone for the advice and ideas Will definitely stick with my loose leash walking - and add heel as a totally seperate command and teach him with lots of postitive reinforcement and treats

Thankyou Staranais. I guess I feel the two methods are so different - when he is by my side pulling so there is constant tension - the exact opposite of what I have taught him with the loose leash walking

Hi Sorry in advance - this is a little long!! I have a 15 week old Border Collie (Roy) who since we have had him have started our own training/socialization ect. We have lots of people of many ages around, and take him with us when we can ect. We have clicker trained him from the first week and he knows lots of commands and tricks. We also have been training him to "loose leash" walk - all positive ect and Ive been happy with how he has been going. Any way, I went to a formal puppy training class yesterday for the first time at our local dog club, and he did pretty well. Im a bit concerned though that their methods and mine are a little conflicting (I know Im not a professional lol - but I think he has been responding well to the positive reinforcement training we have been doing with him). To give you the main example - part of the deal to start the class is you get a collar for your pup - its one of those ones that are leather most of the way and have a small section of like a check chain. So now we go from me letting him have a little lead out in front of me (a step or 2 - the lead is not very long) as long as the leash stays loose Im happy, to now keeping him right at my side where he pulls like a crazy boy and I have to correct him with the chain - Im getting confused and he is too lol!! I guess Im trying to work out which is the best way? I guess even though the loose leash was a bit of work (a lot of stopping if he is in a silly mood!!) but the walk it self seemed alot more relaxed and happy. This morning when I took him out (for about 10 minutes) he was straining against the lead the whole time and it wasnt very comfortable - will he get used to this method or do I go back to my way???? Argh - so confused!!

Ok - thats the plan then Will give the office K9 pro a call in the morning and see if I can get a phone consult. Will let you guys know how it all goes - thanks again for the replies

Thanks for the replies - will check out the mentioned trainers. Does anyone have an idea of what I can try in the meantime? Im wondering if I walk away, sidetrack them with something different to do, rather than getting involved (as I mentioned in the first post my interference seems to escalate the problem).

This is my first ever post, though I check in here often for info I have a 10 year old JR x (female desexed) and we also have a new dog, 13 week old Border Collie (male)- which we have had since he was 8 weeks old.. So the main concern I have is this - since the pup has gotten taller than the JR, he has been displaying increasing dominance over her. If she is standing around he will go to her and rest his head on her back and kind of lean into/guard her (sounds cute but the JR doesnt look very happy about it!!). It seems the more I try and intervene the worse things get - if I push him off he growls at her (not me) and gets very aggressive at her. Another example is this afternoon I had taken him on a walk and was coming through our back gate - JR walked up to us, and as soon as I let pup off lead he launched at her back, grabbed a mouth full of her skin and started growling and shaking her (was aggresive - not play). I guess Im looking for some direction on how to behave in these situations - from what I have read it may be that he will be more dominant than our older dog - but I dont think his behaviour is very acceptable. We are putting in alot of effort with him - training and behaviour wise, as we want him to be a happy part of our family (2 adults, 4 kids and of course the pooches!). Any help will be appreciated