CptJack

I am posting this here again so soon SOLEY because I cannot believe we managed to pull off a tunnel to get a weave entry. Miracles happen.

Yeah. No, no I would not/cannot get there in time for the front Also just pressure sensitivity. Trying to run into Molly's space/get ahead of her isn't going to work anyway. She has a bubble and if I'm pushing too hard at it she's going out ANYWAY and there will be layering whether I like it or not (sometimes).

thanks. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) that's less intentional use of distance for the sake of distance just... what's required of me to handle her at all. Buys me time.

So, another year later-- It's definitely been a journey, but I am very proud of us both.

Thank you. Having Andrea tell me Molly's actually really difficult because of her wildly varied commitment point toned down my level of frustration at myself a LOT.

It's been over a year, but I'm popping in because touch and go with Molly has been our 'dragon' of a game and this year, while we haven't done much - We've slain that particular dragon.

...I own both the dog who will stop dead or dodge obstacles if I don't use a verbal early enough and a dog who will, if I don't get the command out fast enough. it isn't a training issue in our case, it's a handling one. The timing each requires is very, very different. Molly needs to know what the next obstacle is, as soon as she's committed to the one before it. This means handling lines, not obstacles, and cuing turns almost a full obstacle early. Kiran's commitment point to the obstacle is MUCH later/somewhat lacking (we're working on this) and so his timing is very different - ie: later than Molly's. If you'd asked me a year or so ago I would have said she just was taking what was in front of her, but reality is VERY rarely. Mostly I'm just too damn late in telling her what to do. those rare times it really is just her going "WHOOHOO GO" I basically stand there and wait for her to come back, sit her butt down and leave the course or try again. but 98% of the time it's me. I'm late. she's committed much earlier than I realized and by the time I ask for a thing it's just too late. Kylie's fine. Kylie's also who taught me my timing to begin with.

I am not. I like them and I enjoy the one I have enormously but overall I just like dogs in general and herding/working dogs in general, most of my dogs are mutts and I'm fine with that. I will probably always own at least one BC - at least as long as I am able to meet their needs - but for me the hobby and lifestyle is 'has high energy intelligent dogs' as the obsession, not any specific breed. Not even border collies.

As with everyone else, certainly 6 months is almost the WORST period. As for it evening out, again with the others. One of my dog was very good by 2. The other one is just coming into being a super solid dog... at 6 years old. I have always enjoyed her but she's taken a while to mature.

Thanks. A whole lot of people learned a whole lot of things from Donald. My big one was 'there is no training that will make a puppy an old dog'. Words to raise dogs by and never forget, those.

I have a nearly 9 week old pup (BC X, not BC) who has been here for... longer than she should have been (ie: Longer than a week). Thus far she knows how to follow a food lure, people are good, life is food, and her crate is a happy place. She also recalls to happy puppy noises and gets a treat (she's a fan of yogurt - experiment to find what your guy likes). This is all she knows. She is also by far the sharkiest creature I have ever seen in my life (and I raised FOUR young GSD pups over the course of this year, a few months per pup)- but has learned well via me replacing my skin with a toy when she goes for hands to play, and that she lands in a crate for some down time if she persists on attaching to me. *I* have learned that her getting frantically bitey means she has to poop. Seriously, though? Your guy's a puppy. You can't train a baby dog to be an adult dog. He's going to be bitey, he's going to get overwhelmed and overstimulated, he's going to get distracted, he's going to have the attention span of a gnat. The best thing you can do for him at this age is be consistent in prevention of behaviors you don't enjoy and let him learn about the world - while you learn about what makes him tick, what motives him, what he loves and what worries him. Let him grow up some The rest will come..

This. Kylie's toy drive is built on food drive. She didn't even have chase/prey drive. The progression was this: Put food in a sealed container she could pick up but not open. When she mouthed it, mark and reward for container. Progress to food in sealed container but asking her to actually pick it up. Mark and reward from container. Progressing to food in sealed container CARRY IT a step, mark and reward from container. From that we added distance to her carrying it to me, then small tosses and a verbal 'get it!' After THAT it became a verbal get it with the food still in the container and the container as the toy but rewarding from another source - (ie: My pocket) I repeat, the toy was still a container with food. THEN we started using actual toys like balls or stuffies and still with the verbal 'get it' and food reward. THEN we started fading the food rewards. And somewhere along there she turned onto the game. Because she understood it. And she started having fun. ANd value from food transferred to the game/toys. She still won't tug often, but she plays a decent game of fetch or disc and loves every second of it. The toys themselves are even rewards. Yes, yes it DID take a long time but so worth it. Why build it when it wasn't there? Because I knew she would enjoy the game - and she does - but she had to be taught what the game was. Just because it wasn't hardwired into her brain didn't mean she doesn't love it NOW.

What a gorgeous crew!

It's been a while but results were just made official. Kylie was the #1, 8" mix in nadac in touch and go for 2019

Could also be a straight up mix. I mean, Kiran was selectively bred for useful work on stock. He's a mix. Not of two purebreds but of generations of mixes of a couple of breeds. Neither his siblings nor his parents looked like anything but they can sure get the job done. His people just call them 'stock dogs'.

Chances. It's NADAC's disance class. (Thank you!)

A thing you can do if you can't do a harness and don't want all the pressure on his neck, is loop the leash around his waist in a kind of slip knot: It is not ideal. It is aversive/makes pulling aversive.. I still used it with Kiran when he was killing himself on a collar (wheezing, gagging, digging in nonsense) and would shut down in a harness (so, 2 years ago or so). He no longer pulls and after some work is cool in a harness, but that get up probably saved his throat and my arms and got us past him turning into a road kill impersonator in a harness (and prevented worse negative associations). https://images.plurk.com/21g6h8b7RahIUw1yZ3ituA.jpg

An 'easy' dog is, ultimately, a dog who meets the owner's expectations . A difficult dog is one who does not. If you go in expecting and even WANTING those traits, they're not difficult. If you're surprised by things you don't want, didn't expect? Difficult. I think in this, and in most your issues, your biggest problem is expecting your dog to be something that he's not, and being frustrated by that. Work on what needs worked on, yes, but try to stop comparing him to some ideal in your head and meet your dog where he's at, and accept WHO HE IS. All the training in the world isn't going to change his personality- just some annoying behaviors.

In pursuit of the Gold Achievement Cup 4 of 13 Open Chances.

Oh yeah, for sure you can go back to playing indoors. I've opted not to, but that's because I have good outside space to play in and inside's kind of a pain. And, well, it's such an easy, clear, delineation for the dogs to understand- so me taking the lazy way out..

Yes. Stop playing inside. Remove the toys entirely. Prepared to be non-stop pestered for a while. I had to remove all toys not chews or food dispensing with Molly when she was a puppy, and they stayed there. First time she bugged me, she was redirected onto a bed with a chew toy. Second time,same. Third? Time out in a crate. :Lather, rinse, repeat until she got it (which was maybe a week but it was an annoying week- hope springs eternal).

Either/or. I started with a gesture - flat hand stay signal she already knew - then added a verbal 'stop' (because my 'stay' is kind of different and somewhat lazy). I use the verbal most these days, but the gesture still works. Go is always verbal. I also started this super close to me and built from there. It's actually super useful in both agility and life - but she legitimately finds it super fun, too.

We played red-light/green light at our agility trial today.She's a fan.

Kylie got her silver achievement cup today. That means 130 elite jumpers, 230 elite regular, and 130 NOVICE chances. Next we'll try for the gold which is the same except 130 OPEN chances. If we get past that, it's NATCh for the 130 elite chances. Not sure we're going to get that, but I'm pretty danged proud of this.

All your fleas must have come here. This year was REALLY bad for us with fleas, ticks, and mosquitos.