Latest BC Forum Posts

Getting Puppy's Attention

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:21:53 +0000

Hi everyone, I'm new here -- but have been reading for a few weeks. There is such a wealth of information in these archives.

I just recently brought home a 9 week-old Border Collie puppy. He's a wonderful pup, adjusted well, seems to be learning quickly. Obviously, he's just a baby so some lapse is going to be permissible at this point, but I've noticed a trend with him and would like to nip it in the bud sooner, rather than later if possible. He listens well... when I have his attention, but he tends to hyper-focus on other things at times and getting his attention then is darn near impossible. I've tried all the old standbys -- clapping my hands, whistling, snapping, smooching, shouting, tossing something in his direction -- all to no avail. I'm just wondering if you all have any tips that work particularly well with Collies?

Thus far I'm just going to him and physically removing him or redirecting him, and I'm happy to do that -- some of that is expected with any pup, of course -- but I guess I'm just kind of seeing this as perhaps a personality trait and if he's going to be useful I need to be able get his attention from a distance. I don't want it to become a habit of his to ignore me until I come physically remove him from the situation when he finds something interesting.

Or maybe I'm off base entirely and it's just a Collie puppy thing? Or he's still just a little too young to worry about it? It has, admittedly, been a good several years since we've had a pup in the family and this is our first collie. I just don't ever remember the attention issue to this extent with any other dog... I could be forgetting though.

Any tips or advice appreciated.

Old Dog: New Tricks

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:36:21 +0000

Sorry for the story/babble. I've been trying to write about this coherently without much success.

I bought my dog, Rocket, when she was 8 weeks old from a rancher in the middle of nowhere central Idaho. She cost 25 bucks, and has no pedigree. I enjoyed dog training, and my mother gave me permission to get another border collie (the family already had an aussie mix) if we named her Rocket. This was in 2004, my senior year of high school. We had family dogs, but Rocket is really my first dog. I bought her and paid all her bills. At the time, I was looking for a healthy hiking buddy that I could teach some cool tricks on the side. A tough little ranch dog seemed to fit the bill.

This year, Rocket is 8 years old and I'm 25- I feel like we're getting old. Now that I have a little extra income I wanted to do something for her. I found a local stock dog club online, and noticed that had training days. I packed up Rocket, and 35 dollars worth of club dues, and went to my first training day. I had no idea if she would even be interested in sheep, and I was really nervous. One thing that makes a dog a good hiking buddy is listening off leash and NOT chasing things with hooves. Rocket is a great hiking buddy. The club president cautiously took my money. I think, while he wanted to see what an old dog would do, he was a little concerned I was throwing my money away.
After a few of the others ran their dogs, they put 3 young sheep in a small round-pen. I took Rocket in, with the club president, and she proceeded to take a massive shit in the middle of the roundpen. Apparently, this whole thing was just as hard or her nerves as mine. I shoveled away her panicked mess. "If she doesn't do anything don't get discouraged. Keeping bringing her back" I didn't think too much about it. It didn't seem fair to have any expectations on the dog. He got the sheep moving and started making a quiet shhhhhhhhushing sound. Rocket's ears perked and she moved toward the sheep. "Good Girl!" I said, and she came and sat in from of my feet. It would have made any obedience judge proud. We tried ."again with the same results. "She stops, when I talk to her. I'm going to stay quiet" We started again; things were not looking promising. Finally, her ears perked up again. "Don't say a thing!" he said, intensely staring at the dog. She went for it, circling behind the sheep quietly pushing them towards Keith. She was happy to go between the sheep and the fence, and he started to push her to circle in the opposite direction.

Since then we have been working a few times a month. Every session she improves. We are working on keeping her farther off stock and getting her confidence up. Both our inexperience leads to stupid mistakes and grips. But we're both learning.

At the end of the day, there's no point to us learning to herd sheep. I have no farm of my own, even though I'd like one. She doesn't get enough practice for us to trial, and she's spayed. The only reasons I can think of to keep doing this, is to give her a chance to do what she was meant to. It seems unfair, like clipping a pet bird's wings, to never let her work stock. As much obedience and agility as we do; its just not the same. I grew up in rural areas, and I feel like traditional farm work, and the people who know how to do it, are on the decline. Learning to work stock with a working dog, is also an act of cultural preservation. Who knows, in 100 years there might not be very many people who know how to do this kind of thing.

What to do with the world's laziest Border Collie?

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:58:36 +0000

I made a topic earlier about my merle border collie and how I was having issue with her. Well, now I'm updating on her condition and asking for anyone who has dealt with lazy border collies before, for I am new to owning such a lazy dog.

I took her to the vet to check for hip dysplasia, as I said I would earlier. It is a miracle. Her hips have like repaired themselves. The hip sockets are so much better now. Anyways, the bad part about that is now she has no excuse to her behavior.

What usually happens is she comes running up to me like a wild woman, begging me to go out and train with her to the point where she is digging up my spleen. So, I end up going out with her while she really wants to work. Three weaves or obedience exercises later, she is asleep and acting like she has ran two miles in the desert. It is a cool day out as well, so it isn't like she is having a heat stroke. My seven-year-old, puppy mill dachshund with back deformities was outperforming her, ha ha.

It isn't even like she doesn't want to do it, because she sincerely loves training, and she isn't getting bored. She just suddenly passes out in a few minutes. I've never had such a low energy dog before, especially with a breed like border collies. Any ideas on if there are new foods I should switch her to, or any one who has been able to work around this?

I guess I can deal with her behavior for now, but I'd figure I would ask you guys to see if you had a secret miracle cure bottled up somewhere

Herding Trainer in Knoxville, Tennessee?

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:17:53 +0000

Hello-

I am considering moving to Knoxville area and would be looking for someone to continue training with. I have an excellent trainer right now in Arizona and am hoping to get some good leads on some trainers in the Knoxville area if I did decide to move out there. Thanks in advance for any tips or suggestions.

Alicia

Pain Tolerance

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:39:50 +0000

Just from the recent experience with a more serious injury than a shallow scratch, I've become absolutely amazed at the level of pain my dog can tolerate. I know it's been mentioned repeatedly on these boards about how tough collies are, and have to be, but I've never actually experienced this in a dog before. Ever. All the other doggy companions I've had in my life have had either a low or average threshold to pain. They yelped, limped, or growled when in pain and brought attention to the issue. But Brady? I've almost started to believe that he doesn't even feel pain (although, I know he MUST...right?). After puncturing his joint on a rock, despite the fact that he was bleeding EVERYWHERE, all he wanted was for us to throw the toy. Completely ignored the fact that he had to have been hurting, and I know he was because he initially favored the limb the few seconds after it happened, and even walked on it all the way back to the car which was a good fourth of a mile away (which I feel intensely guilty about, but he wouldn't let me pick him up).

And lately, I've been finding scratches and scabs on him from smaller, shallower injuries that must have happened during our romps outside but I never noticed because of this sudden bout of thick man-hair he's grown on his chest. Never showed a single symptom of pain. Ever.

And now I don't know whether to be in awe of this dog who is apparently part superhero or if I should be disconcerted. What else is he not showing? Do I have to go on hyper-alert now every time we do something? I know bumps and bruises are going to happen, that's just part of living, but I don't want him to develop something serious and have it go undetected because he just simply...swallows pain like a champ.

How do you guys cope? I know a bunch of you work your dogs daily on livestock or other physical situations, so what do you do knowing that these tough, tough dogs are literally just going to suck it up until the job is done?

I know this may be a completely out there and juvenile question (and probably one you guys have addressed before) but I'm just concerned that maybe I haven't been doing it right and that I need to be doing something...more.

Plus, I value your guys' opinions quite a bit. You all are like the border collie jedi masters.