Lewis Moon

Cerbie is starting to play really aggressively. The really bad part is nearly everyone at the dog park has "toy" breeds and Cerb seems to like to "bully" the smallest ones. Thanks a lot to all that responded to his thread....looks like I need to do some work! I think the first thing I'll do is try to split off with dogs that are/will be more his size.

Cerbie does it in my daughter's beanbag chair....way cute.

The modeling suggestion really makes me think: how am I acting when he is scared? I think I did the "Awww, are you scared, buddy?" rather than the "hey, it's a sweet day, let's get to the park and have some fun!". I'll have to remind myself to do the latter!

I used the leash pop once before reaching the same conclusion. I also noticed that the toy I had hanging from my belt really caught his interest when he saw it. Perhaps I'll try using that, and a lot of verbal encouragment, to get him through the rough spots. Thanks!

Cerbie is going on 13 weeks and is starting to walk really well on the leash. Twice daily we walk to the park for a bit of obedience work and lots of play. Sometimes, for no apparent (or barely apparent) reason, he just sits down, lays his ears back a bit, looks frightened and refuses to walk, even with a fairly stern leash pop. The only way I can get him to move, other than dragging him (I don't!), is to pick him up. I'm worried that with the wrong stimulus on my part this could snowball. I really don't know what is frightening him, although it could be a dog barking inside a house on the route. Sometimes he acts a bit agoraphobic when first out of the house but it usually passes. When he gets to the park he's great, although he's starting to act like a teenager and ignoring me sometimes. When he knows he's going home he pulls on the leash (gotta stop). Is this just new puppy, new cercumstances anxiety?

I wanted to be able to get Cerbie's attention from across the park so I purchased a couple of the plastic shepherd's whistles. I have been trying to learn how to use them and have spent good bit of frustrating time blowing and slobbering but all I can get is some inconsistant, low volume and barely controllable toots. Let me say from the outset I; A.) know how to whistle and B.) looked up every diagram/set of instructions I could find on how to place the whistle in my mouth and use it. I have played wind instruments all my life, from the clarinet to the baritone sax, from the trumpet to the tuba and this little sucker is frustrating! Could it be a size issue? I'm a big guy (6'5" and ~220lbs) and the little whistle seems like it is way too small for my mouth. I can barely fit my lips in front of the holes without covering either them or the front of the whistle and moving my tongue to change pitch just screws that up. Am I doing something wrong?

The more Cerbie grows and the more I read, the more he looks like a smooth BC rather than a mix. I assumed, at first, that the smooth coat was inherited from another breed, but all his other physical traits are very BC. His fur is REALLY dense with a bit of rough behind his ears. Black mask, white muzzle, white around the neck and a white tipped tail. He's still a growing boy so he may erupt into something else, but at this time, he's looking like a real smoothie. More importantly than that....he's a member of the family.

Thanks a lot, everyone. Yes....I'm a worrier. I got home today and Cerbie did 10 minutes of command work then promptly turned into Ricochet Puppy. Now he's sacked. Such is the puppy life.

We adopted Cerbie, a 10 week old BC mix a week ago and all seems well; he’s learning to sit, come and stay and is crate trained and well on his way to being house broken. My worry is that he is very laid back and seems to sleep a lot and only becomes the “Ricochet Puppy” a couple times a day. What is the normal sleep/play ratio for a 10w/o? What distance would constitute a “long walk” for him? He walks our daughter to school in the morning and walks her home at night (probably about 1/3 mile round trip each) at “puppy speed” and does some indoor command work in between. Is that too much? We are always really careful to let him dictate when to stop. He is a growing puppy. I have a pic of him from the first night we got him and he really looks like a different, older, bigger dog, in just one week! Do pups tend to sleep a lot during growth spurts like kids? OK, I’m a worrier but I’ve become very attached to this little wiggler.

Great! There is a lot of hiking this way. As soon as Cerbie is really ready to hit the trail we'll have him out. I'd also love to talk to other owner/trainers and watch them at work.

Thanks! I tried shutterfly but for some reason my pics wouldn't work. Here's a pic taken a few days back:

Cerbie is, by consensus, around 9-10 weeks. I'm going to need to learn how to wrangle a photo upload site....I've been posting his photos on facebook and folks are starting to wonder...

While I have zero expertise in this area (I'm just a country aquatic ecologist, Jim!) I will give a hearty round of applause to this suggestion. I too was operating under the notion that LOTS of strenuous exercise was the ticket for my new pup. Thank you to the poster who gently but firmly informed me otherwise. I'd be more than willing to edit if needed.

Well it will be a week ago tomorrow that we adopted Cerberus from a local shelter group. What a sweetie! My wife has observed that I am totally smitten. House training is going apace. He still has accidents but that is more due to our lapses of attention than anything. I took him to the park yesterday for some leash and return training and he did super! We started out with me just following him around keeping the leash from being a bother, then I took the leash off and walked around and he followed right on my heels. I took advantage of him sniffing marks on trees to put some distance between us then called "come" and he got the hang pretty quick! On our walk home, he was a champ on the leash. The cat and he now have a truce, he's putting on a bit of needed weight (he was way skinny) and he's learning to play nice. I'm learning a lot too. Most of all, to think about how the pooch sees and feels about the training. We're being slow, deliberate and consistent and trying to make it fun for him. A huge payoff is when he turns into Mr Wigglebutt when I praise him. Puppies rule.

We're in extreme east Phoenix....Gold Canyon. I'll be sure to check that out. Thanks!

Here is a pic of Cerberus. Not bad for being named for the three headed pooch that guards the gates of the underworld! My daughter is a Percy Jackson fan....

Thanks for the suggestions! My wife is a developmental psychologist so she is always drilling home "developmentally appropriate" learning/activities. I figured I'd leave the frisbee untill he got a lot stronger and grew into his "big boy" body. As for the suggestion for setting him up Re: stimulation/activity...great advice! That one is a big keeper!

Thanks everyone! Our goal is to first train him to be a good family member, then a good citizen (works and plays well with others....no matter the species). I'd also like to give him enough stimulation so that he doesn't get bored so I'm going to try frisbee....a pastime fom college. I'll post some pics as soon as I get to my home computer, but so far...he won't stand still for the camera! I have lots where he is looking away or only half in the frame. As for the cat....she is taking it well and occupying the high ground.

First off, hello from Arizona! We just adopted an eight + week old male BC mix. He is from a sheep grazing area in AZ and looks every bit like a smooth BC, but as he is still a puppy and an adopted stray. He is bright, energetic, already herding the cat and is learning his "Pee(s) and Q's" very well. While he may not totally be a BC, I prefer to assume he is, concerning his training. That way, if he turns out to be the intelligent, trainable, high energy boy that he looks to be, we have him trained (hopefully) right. While my wife's family used to train and show dogs (obedience), I still would like to find a good book on training Border Collies, can someone suggest one?