A beginners experience

[ourwully]

Juno, a 9 month female, is my first border collie and only my second dog. My husky Seth was a wonderful dog but my biggest regret was that I was never able to train him well enough to trust him off leash. With this in mind I decided to get a border collie because they seemed to be so trainable. I read all the warnings that they were a lot of work and needed a lot of attention and exercise. What I didn't realize was how difficult the whole process would be. Anyway, I have been to two puppy sessions, I have read several books, and I have used this forum a great deal. Only lately have I been asking questions on the forum. I should have done this earlier as I have had some great suggestions that have really helped me along. I am a complete beginner but I have learned a few things that may help other beginners.

 

Anyway, I would like to describe my walk this morning with Juno to emphasize some of the thngs I have learned and some of the things I have yet to master. The first thing I did was put on her leash and make her sit before entering the garage from the back door. As soon as we went through the doorway I called her (whiplash turn) and made her sit again (entering and leaving protocol). We walked through the garage to the front where I made her sit again before leaving the garage. And once again I made her sit once we left the garage. Half way down the driveway I had her dio a sit, a down, and a give a paw, then we proceeded on a loose leash. Right away I noticed that she wasn't walking great so I gave her a few short pulls to get her going. It wasn't going smoothly so I stopped and had her do a few more sits and downs and touch my hand (targetting). This helped a bit but I could see that this was going to be one of those mornings. Many days Juno walks very well on the loose leash but today it just wasn't working so I held the leash at my waist and started walking down the sidewalk. Every time I felt the slightest pull I reversed and walked the other way for four steps. I didn't talk to Juno or recognize her in any way. I became completely neutral. After about 10 of these she started to self correct and walk well on the loose leash (I find that I am too lenient with Juno so by being completely robotic in this way I am able to let her self correct herself) so I reverted to normal walking and she was much better. Soon we met a neighbour and she wanted to jump all over him so I had her sit well before he got near us. As he approached I said to her " look at Bob" ( Look at That game) but this wasn't too effective so I had her go to a down and stepped on the leash close to her collar. She struggled a bit but soon realized that there would be no interaction unless she calmed down. When she seemed calm I let Bob pet her but she lost it again so I had to put her in the down again. The second time she completely calmed down and eventually just ignored Bob. Meeting people and other dogs is an area I am working on. We started walking again but with the excitement of meeting Bob she seemed to have lost focus so I put my leash at my waist again. Fortunately it only took a couple of times to get her focussed this time. As we turned onto a busier street a lot of cars started coming by. This has been a big problem for us so I have been working hard to get her to get used to the cars. When the first one approached I said "Juno look at the car". To my amazement she looked at the car and then back to me for a treat. We did this throughout the walk and she looked at the cars or trucks everytime instead of jolting towards them. It isn't perfect yet but I am very happy with this development. I also used this technique with a bicycle that went by. The first time she was a bit iffy but a second bike went by and she looked at it and then back at me for the treat so she is starting to generalize the look at that behaviour. I should mention that all this was happening on a new route as I am trying to vary her environments so sniffing was a high priority for her throughout the walk as opposed to walking nicely. To try get her more focussed I would let her sniff every once and a while after she had walked well. I would say, "Okay Juno have a sniff" as okay is her release word. We then got to an empty tennis court so we went in and I put on her 15 foot training lead I got at the dollar store. I let her go and practiced recalls, stays, and waits. She was really good with these. On the way home she had a pee so I said "hurry, hurry" then rewarded her. I did the same when she had to do her business except I said. "busy busy". By using these words I can get her to relieve herself when I am in a hurry. It isn't perfect but it works sometimes. On the way home she walked much better but when we did a bit of heeling separately this didn't go as well at first so I persisted with small corrections until she was heeling well. Because it was a new area I only had her heel for a short while (better to heel well for a short time). When we reached our house we went stopped at the garage door and then walked in to the backdoor. Once again I had her sit before exiting into the backyard. She does this automatically now and then once she is in the yard she looks back and gets another treat.

 

I know I have a long way to go but I am making steady progress.

I have complete confidence that I will have an off leash dog pretty soon!

 

Hope this gives other beginners some help

Bill

[Cass C]

In the past 8 years I have trained/ helped train 3 Toy Poodles, 1 wiener dog, 1 Beagle/Bassett, 2 German Shepards, and now my two border collies. After all of those dogs I actually think that my border collies have been the hardest, because sometimes I would move my hand differently or say the command with a different tone of voice and they would think it was a totally new command.

 

It could just be my experience, but sometimes having a smart dog makes training harder. I read somewhere that some border collies have a harder time following sloppy commands and training, because they think that everything could be a brand new command.

[gcv-border]

I am glad your training is working well for you, but reading it exhausted me. I believe Juno has amazing stamina to be able to focus as well as she did.

[CurlyQ]

In the past 8 years I have trained/ helped train 3 Toy Poodles, 1 wiener dog, 1 Beagle/Bassett, 2 German Shepards, and now my two border collies. After all of those dogs I actually think that my border collies have been the hardest, because sometimes I would move my hand differently or say the command with a different tone of voice and they would think it was a totally new command.

 

It could just be my experience, but sometimes having a smart dog makes training harder. I read somewhere that some border collies have a harder time following sloppy commands and training, because they think that everything could be a brand new command.

 

Yes. I, too, heard that border collies have a hard time generalizing.

 

Can I ask how one goes about playing the "look at that" game? I think it'd be something very interesting to try out with Maple.

[GentleLake]

LAT (Look at That) is in both of Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed books and all over the internet if you're willing to do a search.

[Camden's Mom]

I'm glad to hear that things are going well with Juno. It really sounds like, above all else, the consistency with which you are handling her training is giving you great results.

[ourwully]

The Look at That Game basically asks the dog to look at something rather than react to it. When Juno and I started walking she would jump at every car that went by. Now when I see a car coming, I say "look at the car" and she looks at the car and then looks back to me for a treat (kibble usually). As long as I see the car or truck first this works great. Lately, when I have missed seeing the car first she has ignored the car. I am very happy with this for obvious reasons. I am not an expert but here is what I did.

 

1. Held a neutral object in my hand and showed it to her.

2. When she made eye contact with the object (almost anything she won't be touching) I clicked the clicker.

3. I then waited for her to make eye contact with me and I gave her a treat.

4. I repeated this many times but moving the object in my hand all over the place.

The first four steps I did for at least a week

5. Then I started putting the object somewhere close so I could get it if she went for it.

6. When she looked I'd click, and so on.

These two steps also took a week and I would also do the first four steps at times.

7. I had my wife stand near and make a noise

8. I;d say look at Laurel

9. When Juno looked I'd click and so on

10. Eventually my wife wouldn't have to make a noise, I'd just say look at Laurel and Juno would look at her.

These two steps took a week or so

11. I started pointing to cars and saying look at the car

Results from this were almost immediate and now she seems to be able to generalize to looking at anything. In her book Leslie says that this is another 'leave it' exercise. Look but don't touch.

Besides being very usefull, Juno really enjoys this game

Hope this helps

Bill

[red russel]

Hi Bill,

 

have you spent any time with a trainer?

 

dave

[madrose124]

Sounds like things are going well. As I'm sure you know, make sure your recall is 100% proof before you off leash around distractions. Best of luck!

 

The teenage age is harder too I find. Reliability comes with maturity.

[ourwully]

So far I haven't spent any time with a trainer except for puppy school but that was a few months ago now. Thanks for the comment on maturity. As I understand it Border Collies can take up to two years to mature so I should be able to look for steady improvement for a while.

Bill