Just a few more questions.

[AnyaDogz]

Sorry to bug you good folks with some more BC questions...if you weren't so helpful I'd stop. Are you buttered up enough? I can do more buttering if needed.

 

I was reading on another thread about taking a baby pool, filling it with dirt and teaching your BC to "find" things. We've noticed that Jack has incredible prey drive...he chases the squirrels like crazy in the backyard and he's been digging at our shed to get the rabbits that live under it. Plus, he chases the birds too. And Orion. Over the weekend we were out in the woods 4 wheeling, Jack was sniffing around and found umm, I won't go into detail but someone left their toilet paper behind. It was buried pretty well, but he found it. GROSS. When I walk him, he "finds" things along the way...nothing as gross as this weekend but things that I can tell have scent value.

 

We discourage the dogs from digging in the yard but all of our labs have dug a lay down spot somewhere. Since they are around the property lines (next to the house or under a huge tree) we let them do it. However, we don't need Jack digging around the shed, so we'd like to give him an outlet to dig. I like the idea of hiding things in the dirt for him to find but I'm not real sure how to go about doing that. He is food motivated and we have one red Kong. If this has the side benefit of engaging him in play with us, that would be the bonus plan. What do we need to do, other than get a baby pool and dirt? Is there a size of pool we should buy?

 

And puzzle toys. I did a search on Amazon for dog puzzle toys and was overwhelmed by the choices. What should we look for in a puzzle toy?

 

Thanks again you wonderful, beautiful, lovely, talented, kind, generous folks!!

[gcv-border]

I don't have any advice re: digging area for dogs. I have heard of it before and think it is a neat idea. I am sure others here will have good advice.

 

Dog puzzle toys: I have one of the Nina Otteson toys. I forget the specific model, but it is an intermediate level. It didn't take long for my dog to figure it out (maybe 5 minutes), but he still loves it because I bait it with kibble. He can 'solve' it in less than 60 seconds. I pull it out about once a month for his enjoyment. It is almost like a new toy after such a long time. IME, most of the dog puzzle toys I have seen on-line MUST be supervised (at least if you have a habitual chewer like my dog). So if you are counting on the puzzle toy keeping the dog entertained without supervision, you may come back to a chewed up toy - depends on the dog.

 

Since Jack likes to use his nose so much, have you considered tracking classes? Also, nosework classes seem to be all the rage now. I like tracking better because, IMHO, it is more 'real' - at least for the tracking class I took. BCs can do very well in a tracking capacity. It is a real 'wow' moment to watch them really use their nose tracking down human scent.

[urge to herd]

I was thinking nosework or tracking, too. Gibbs loves using his nose. When we go somewhere new to him, his nose is to the ground for the whole walk. And he tracked a raccoon once - I saw a young one come out from under my car once, very early in the morning. A half hour later, I had him outside on leash and his nose hit the spot where the raccoon came out and didn't come up until we hit a fence in the next yard.

 

Tracking is more real world, but you can carry every thing you need for nosework in a Rubbermaid container and set up anywhere that you can take your dog. I do scent set-ups in parking lots, at the park, in my back yard. Gibbs loves it, and my departed Shoshone loved it too.

 

Puzzles - save your money. I feed Gibbs in a few different alternating containers - an old ice cube tray, a muffin tin turned upside down, and a variety of cardboard boxes that he has to open to get to the food. I toss the boxes after a while. He also gets kongs stuffed with soaked kibble then frozen.

 

If you can have one of those under the bed plastic storage bins, you could fill it with earth and start to teach him how to find a favorite toy or chew. I'd be hesitant to put food in earth or sand, particularly if Jack is a gulper.

 

Have fun!

 

Ruth and Agent Gibbs

[juliepoudrier]

I've been thinking about trying to set up a digging area for my dogs because I'm tired of filling holes. Might have to go look for ideas online.

 

I agree with the idea of tracking. I think I'd also discourage the prey drive--chasing squirrels, birds, etc. can turn into an obsession, not to mention he might turn that prey drive on something you don't want him to, with disastrous consequences.

 

J.

[AnyaDogz]

Sorry for the delayed response, life gets in the way sometimes.

 

We wouldn't use a puzzle toy without supervision, Jack isn't a huge chewer but I get the point. We have I think six different chew toys for two dogs laying around for their enjoyment. Labs taught us the value of always having something around for them to chew on, rather than the couch or our shoes!

 

What exactly are scent set-ups? Pardon my ignorance on the subject but we've never trained a lab for scent tracking, they seem to do it naturally. I'm assuming it's just taking a scent of some sort, making a trail with the scent, have the dog smell the marker, then give a "find" or "follow" command of some sort and then a treat or something at the end of the trail. Right now we have duck scent for Orion, so I guess a rag soaked with that would work.

 

We are going to do the frozen Kong thing. That's such a wonderful idea. We have a very structured feeding routine, so I don't want to add anything that would create excitement during feeding time. It's all about being calm and quiet before, during and after eating. I was just thinking a puzzle ball, might engage Jack with us doing something fun and we could be the source of the fun.

 

I'll do some digging (pun intended) around on the net to see what I come up with for a digging area.

 

Thanks for the responses!

[urge to herd]

Anyadogz, if you google 'canine nosework' you'll come up with more explanations. I can't for some reason copy/paste web site addresses here, so I can't offer you any.

 

Nosework is simpler than tracking, but both rely on the dog's nose. You take a strong scent, that the dog isn't usually exposed to in a normal environment. Classes routinely use oil of clove, sweet birch, or anise scent. The scent is placed in a small container with holes in it so the scent can move around.

 

For the beginning classes, the scent holder is placed in a open box, which also contains a treat that the dog really likes. For most dogs it's a food treat, a few dogs may prefer a toy like a ball or tug. The dog starts to 'predict' that the scent means there's a treat/toy available.

 

After a few rounds of this, the scent holder is placed by itself in a container or somewhere the dog can reach it. When the dog 'alerts' that it has found the scent, the handler rewards with food/toy. The dog learns to follow that one scent to the container, wherever it is, and is rewarded when it finds the container. Your dog's skills can be developed so that it ignores other food/toys, other people, finds the scent container wherever it is placed. It's a lot of fun for dog and human, and very easy physically on both. My Shoshone did her last nosework class a week or two before we had her euthanized at age 15. She also did nosework after a couple bouts of vestibular disorder, it just took her a little longer.

 

So the set-ups are small containers, metal or plastic usually, with a cotton swab inside them with either birch, anise, or clove on them. The essential oils can be bought at any health food store. You train one scent first for several lessons, then you add a scent. The scents are never mixed in the same container in formal nosework classes. You could certainly use the duck scent, but you don't need a rag, just a cotton swab, and you don't make a trail, the dog finds the scent by checking things out and repeatedly air scenting. If you do this on your own, make sure you pair the scent w/the treat by feeding the treat right at the source, putting your hand with the treat in it next to the scent source.

 

With tracking, the dog is trained, (and I don't have any experience, maybe Maralyn will chime in) to get a specific scent off clothing, or some other article that someone has handled, and to follow the trail to that someone. This might involve air scenting at times, or it might be a track on the ground.

 

Let me know if you want more details.

 

Ruth and Agent Gibbs

[AnyaDogz]

Thank you Ruth and Agent Gibbs! Got what you're saying and I'll do some more research. We've just have to find Jack a job. The walks just aren't cutting for him, he needs something else to do. Even after a nice long walk yesterday, he decided to trash the house. (Our fault for leaving him out of his crate too long.) We're struggling to find his "trigger" and it's getting frustrating. We're not frustrated with him, just frustrated we haven't found his thing yet. I don't think the city would much like us having a herd of sheep in the backyard. We'd love it because they'd keep the grass mowed but I think they would frown up it.

 

Thanks again!

[Camden's Mom]

AnyaDogz have you tried any silly trick training? My boy lives for a game of fetch but what really tires him out is working that not so little brain of his as much as possible. It's even gotten to the point that we will ask for "tricks" (sit, stand, speak, spin, etc.) before we even throw a ball at him, just to keep his mind engaged with the game.

 

There's so much fun stuff you can teach these dogs and if he's really into training you can get pretty advanced. A few months ago I taught my dog to retrieve a tissue from the tissue box, bring it to me and place it in my hand ("give") when I said the word "ACHOO!". There were a lot of steps to that trick, so it kept us busy for a couple of weeks before he really had it down.

 

I teach my dog "silly pet tricks" because it keeps us engaged and learning together. Sure, its cute to show them off to strangers, but more then anything I feel like it strengthens our working partnership. There is a trainer who has a lot of video's on YouTube and I love her training style. If you find that Jack's "trigger" is trick training check out her sight for some great, fun ideas! Her name is kikopup and here's a link to some of her videos! http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kikopup+trick+training

 

Happy training, if that's Jack's thang!

[Maralynn]

I do airscent SAR with my dogs where they are searching for any live human scent. I've also done footstep tracking but for fun and have trained Kenzi to find my keys for fun. Any sort of nose games are great mental exercise and easy to train with a food motivated dog. Clicker training is also simple and loads of fun. I took a online shaping class with Fenzi Dogsports Academy and loved it! They also have online nosework classes if you're interested and can't find something locally.

[alligande]

I'll second that learning stupid pet tricks can exhaust a border collie. My late Brody could go all day on a hike, and be ready for a game of frisbee at the end, but try and teach him a stupid pet trick and he was exhausted in 10 minutes. On the flip side my current dog will work with me forever, but can exhaust himself on a hike or during a fetch game, but interacting with me he will push himself till he can't think straight anymore.