TxMom Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 I don't want to hijack the parlor trick thread, but it got me thinking and I wanted to ask a question. We're looking at adopting a Border Collie (adult) in January, and one of the things I'm counting on to keep the dog busy and out of trouble is learning parlor tricks. We'll go for daily walks and do agility or something as well, but I'm counting on the fact that even if it's freezing and pouring rain and I have three sick kids and so on, there will still be something we can do. Are there indicators I should look for that would help make sure we get a dog who will enjoy that sort of thing? I'm not too concerned about the pace of learning, but I do want to be sure it will be engaging and sufficiently challenging. Is that something I should be concerned about, or is it pretty much a given? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cass C Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 It helps to know if the dog is food or play motivated, but all dogs have the ability to learn fun tricks and most enjoy it. If the dog is not play or food motivated it will make training harder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CptJack Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Yep. Food or toy motivation/drive will be your answer, here. I actually find MOST tricks easier to train with food than toys. I love toy drive, but for getting precise behaviors and CALM behaviors food works better for me than toys. Molly's a little OTT with the toys, though, and while that's GREAT for a really enthusiastic recall, diving into and out of tunnels or what have you, it doesn't really work fantastically for us with things like 'sit pretty'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chene Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 I think just the fact of being a border collie makes it pretty likely that it'll want to work with you. Definitely makes it easier if they're food or toy motivated, but I don't think you have much to worry about with a dog that's bred to please and to be your partner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 All of my dogs have enjoyed learning tricks. I have found that each of them tend to end up with favorites that they love to do and then there are some they don't care for. But I have yet to own a dog who didn't enjoy certain tricks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sekah Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Food drive is hugely helpful. Toy drive is good too, but I find that it's more difficult to harness -- especially if you're relatively new to trick training. After that, pretty much everything is gravy. It's best if your dog is physically sound, fit and free of physical limitations, but even if that's not true there are plenty of things you can do with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxMom Posted April 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Ok, that's what I was hoping to hear. For some reason I had a moment of panic that maybe I was expecting something to be universal that just isn't. At the library yesterday, I picked up John Pilley's book on his Border Collie Chaser. It was a fascinating read, especially since my youngest will be 3 next month and that puts her close to the stage of language development as he was trying to demonstrate that Chaser was capable of. I'm also in the process of trying to teach my daughter the alphabet and the method I'm using feels not dissimilar to his for teaching Chaser the names of her toys. I have a set of fridge magnets, and I put just the A on the fridge until she could consistently identify it, then I added B, and so on. While I'm doing kitchen tasks, I ask her to show me the magnets by name. I'm not at all surprised by the things Chaser was able to learn, but it was interesting to read why he did it the way he did and how they had to prove her abilities for the sake of science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RemsMom Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 I loved the book about Chaser, I am amazed at how much my BC can understand. I have been working on loose leash walking and the other day we were in a area without distractions so we were working at walking nicely on a leash when my pup began to pull. Without thinking I said, "Stop pulling, Nattie, look at Mom". My dog stopped in her tracks and turned to look at me. I haven't trained her to understand that my name is "Mom" but she knew! We have a lot of days when we can't get outside so training is all inside the house. I have found that 10 minutes of working Nattie's brain is worth 40 minutes of fetch. Nattie loves to get attention from her people so working on learning new tricks is never a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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