airbear

What Leslie demo'ed with her dogs was having them back up to a pylon (quite a tall pylon) and shaping a back foot motion. With something tall, they can't offer a contact behaviour or try to do a handstand. Rex would have a FIT if I touched his back legs (he has a thing about his back legs) so I had no choice but to shape.

I looked for video of shaping a rear foot lift on a pod and couldn't find it. I did find this, which we were doing to shape a higher leg lift. This was the beginning of our ipsilateral stand. I really need to buy that stabilizer thing for the yoga ball.

I shaped it by placing a FitPaw Pod thing behind one of his hind feet (dog is standing) and clicking any rear foot movement. It didn't take long for him to lift his foot onto the pod. Once he was doing that fairly reliably, I only clicked a high leg lift, then removed the pod and gave the behaviour a name ("Lift"). It's really quite a funny behaviour, and he will travel backwards with his rear leg in the air, which is not at all what the exercise is, but is super cute. If I want him to not do that, I put a Manners Minder in front of him, and reward a stationary leg lift.

I haven't any connections on the east coast, but wanted to say that any dog that ends up with you is a very lucky dog indeed. Good luck and I hope to see an introduction post soon!

Ok, let's do this. I think it's a bit disingenuous to say there are only "a few rules" in our intensely democratic culture. Off the top of my head, there are very specific rules about how the draw is done, about how you break ties, how you file a complaint, how the courses must be set up for finals, how many days in advance you need to apply for sanctioning (sanctioning? Is that democratic?). In fact, there is a RULE that any trial co-sanctioned with, amongst others, the AKC, will lose its USBCHA sanctioning. So yes, the actual judging may be presented as guidelines, but the organization of sheepdog trials (I don't compete in cowdog trials so cannot comment), at least HA trials, most definitely has rules. Further, there are regional stockdog associations that sanction trials (usually co-sanctioned with the USBCHA for open and nursery) and they have their own rules (ex. what classes are offered aside from open and nursery, who can run in these classes, membership requirements). Not as rules-based as kennel club stuff, certainly, but also not completely lawless either.

There you go again, ruining a perfectly good story with facts.

I'm taking an online conditioning course with Dr Eide. She's really thorough, and I'm glad for the structure (pun intended) that the course has given us. Rex now has a little work out routine that we do three times a week. Dogs with iffy structure need a strong core even more than well-built specimens, and Rex wants to stay fit for the busy 2015 that he has planned.

His name is Ben. Nick is his dog. I'll be there, running Rex in the Open and Bar in Nursery and Open Ranch. Ben, looking forward to the baked goods! Please come find us!!

I think this is the one being referenced It refers to a study on GSDs. Edit: This is the article that I saw on FB that references the above study. It seems that they've identified genes in GSDs and Bernese Mountain Dogs, and the institute is looking at extending the research.

Not a litter registration, but I sent a transfer of ownership to the ABCA two weeks ago and I received the papers today. Also, I'm in Canada, and our postal service is not always speedy. Excellent turnaround from the ABCA!

RIP, Buddy. I always enjoyed reading about your (grumpy) adventures, and looked forward to the winter photos of your snow tunnels. This place won't be the same without you.

I have purchased 3 dogs that roughly meet this description. Lou, my first sheepdog, I purchased as a 3 year old, and he was fully trained to an Open level. Rex, my second sheepdog, I purchased as a yearling, and sent to my trainer for a year to be trained and trialled as a nursery dog. Bar, my third sheepdog, I purchased as an almost two year old, fully trained and qualified for Nursery finals. I wasn't looking for a herding washout in any of these purchases, but dogs with whom I could be reasonably competitive at an Open level. I was very specific about my needs for a dog with a good temperament. I explained that my dogs would be living in an urban situation with lots of people, different breeds of dogs, and that my dogs travel extensively to trials, where they stay in hotels, etc. I wanted males that were not "studdy" with other dogs, that were clean, and quiet. With Lou, I met him several times before I bought him, so I had a chance to see how he was around other dogs. Rex, I was friends with his breeder, and I DRILLED the poor man about Rex's personality during our long sales cycle. For Bar, I went a little bit on faith, though I spent a week with him and I had Rex with me, so I could see how he interacted with the other dogs, as well as with one of my incumbents. I could see that he was sweet, respectful, and clean (although he likes to pee on everything outdoors). I didn't pursue agility with Lou beyond running him in some Starters Jumpers classes. I think he might have a title in ASCA in Jumpers. He is a large dog with massive bone, and I wasn't sure that agility was something that would be fun for him. He does like doing tunnels. He was my Open sheepdog for 8 years, and he is the best dog I'll ever have. Rex is active in agility as well as herding. I started training him in agility at about 3, and he has accomplished quite a bit (whole bunch of titles, multiple appearances at national events, etc.). He will be horrified that I am sharing his alphabet soup, but his name with most of the titles is ATChC Rex MAD SM RM TM-Bronze ExS-Bronze ExSc-Bronze (and a few others I can't remember). He competes in sheepdog trials at an Open level. Bar is new to the clan, and so far, he has been easy to train. The housebreaking took about 2 weeks, and he is loose in the house all the time now. He went on his first road trip about 3 weeks after I brought him home, and he reports that he really enjoys hotel life. I have started some foundation agility work with him, but I'm in no rush, and this year will be spent becoming a team on the sheepherding front first. The only thing that gives me pause, and this might sound weird, is that you have very small dogs that, to some border collies, might appear to a bit like rabbits. By this, I mean none of my three border collies had much exposure to anything but border collies and guardian dogs before coming to live with me, and two of them find small dogs VERY exciting. I do not trust Rex especially around small dogs. He might not mean them harm, he might just want to chase them and then lick their eyeballs, but a 40 lb dog chasing a 7 lb dog just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me, so I make sure he is on leash when we're around small dogs. He can be in agility class with small dogs, and we've even run relay and such with small dogs, but I thought I should mention that. For me, the key was being very honest and explicit about what I wanted, and to work with people I knew and trusted. Make sure that they understand your terms of reference, so when you say something like, for example, "must be good with dogs", you explain exactly what your expectations are by that (for me, it means, no hard eyeing, no posturing, no humping, no hunting/stalking, no popping on shoulder to make the other dogs run, being able to accept being in close proximity with lots of dogs of various breeds). I know some might roll their eyes and say "look, my dogs don't fight", but for me, not getting on well with dogs would be an absolute deal-breaker, much more than not being a talented herding dog, so I was very firm in this requirement. The TL;DR is no, it's not pie in the sky at all! Source: been there, done that, have the photographs! Good luck, and I hope you find exactly what you're looking for!

Oh Buddy, I hope you are feeling better by the time your person reads this!

But how will you know which airlines are good? I flew American a few times, and they were very nice to my dog, they loaded him in a timely manner, but not too early, and notified me immediately when he was on board. I did announce that to my 500 followers on FB, but I suspect it is a lot less interesting than SG's post. My preference is to fly Alaska in the United States, and West Jet in Canada. Sometimes, though, that is not possible, and other airlines have been used with very good results.

Not for nothing, but the FB post referenced actually is from about 2 years ago. Anyway, I think that there are ways to address concerns around how your pets are handled that are more constructive. I agreed with her points right up to: I flew my dog 6 times last year. Every time, I thanked the airline check-in agents for taking the time to fill out all the extra paperwork involved in flying a dog. Yes, they charge for the kennel, but it's no more than they charge for flying an oversize piece of luggage, and it's a whole lot more involved. I thanked the baggage handlers who transported my dogs to the staging area, the flight attendants who made sure my dogs were on board, and when my trip was completed, I made sure to send a tweet thanking the airline, usually accompanied by a pic of my dog and one of the airline personnel. It seems that a negative experience shared on social media spreads like wildfire, while the 99+% of uneventful positive experiences go unacknowledged. I, for one, am glad that some airlines do transport pets, and do so with great care and compassion. I fear that, in these days of cost-cutting, airlines may decide it's not worth it, especially given the social media backlash. Believe me, if it were all about the money, I guarantee you, not one airline would agree to fly pets in cargo.

Since I really wasn't sure what position Rex takes at the start line, l looked at video from the last 6 or so trials. I guess I only care that he stays, since that's all I tell him when I leave him on the start line. Most of the time, he chooses to sit, but the odd time, he stands, and more than a few times, he changes position from a sit to a stand. I'm sure the really fastidious trainer would be tearing her hair out at the lack of clarity LOL! Still, he broke one start line in 2014, and ripped one start line bar, so I'm going to go with it.

Yes, I still use the stop, if it's a sliced flank. And to be honest, it shouldn't matter how fast the sheep situation is changing, if you think a sliced flank needs to be corrected. For me, anyway, that correction isn't contingent on whether the sheep are going to miss a panel, or pylon, or turn around the post. Also, it really shouldn't take that long. You blow a stop (which your dog should take with minimum delay), issue a verbal correction, and then the flank. My dog knows his corrections, and by the time I have said "Do you ...", he is bending out on a better away to me flank. It sounds complicated, but it's really not, once you get used to it.

All of my corrections are verbals, but I can holler them at quite the distance, believe you me! Of course, the dog learns what the corrections mean close at hand. I can shame my dog at distance of about 200 yards, if required. What my mentors have drilled in me, though, is that if the dog sliced on a flank WHISTLE, then verbally correct and give the whistle again. That is, if I blew an Away and the dog sliced, I will blow a lie down, verbally correct ("do you hear me?") then blow the flank again. Similarly, if the dog gives me a naughty shape on a verbal flank, then I lie him down, verbally correct, then verbally ask for the flank again. I don't have whistle corrections. Does that help?

I have very complex mentors who make me remember all kinds of words. :-)

I have different corrections on my current trial dogs. The rationale is that the dog should be given some clue as to what he is being corrected for. For example, if the dog takes the wrong flank, I growl "Listen ...". If the dog walks through a stop, I might bark out a "Hey!". If the dog slices his away to me flank, I will correct with "Do you hear me?" If he slices his come bye flank, I will correct with "What are you doing there?" And then there are the mild reminders of "keep" and "out", which I use at the pen when I want the dog to maintain distance on his flanks. While this seems complex, once the dog learns what each correction addresses, they seem to enjoy the clarity. With my first trial dog, I would give him a fast lie him down for taking the wrong flank. The problem is that he began anticipating that a fast lie down meant that he was taking the wrong flank, so he would flip over to the other flank. This was not awesome at the pen, or in an arena trial, where I actually just wanted a fast stop.

Yes. This. How can one look with scorn at dogs doing handstands and sit pretties and the like, in the name of fitness, while admitting to asking her dogs to contort between poles spaced 24" apart, jump hurdles, and ride a see-saw? For reals? I will admit that I have enrolled my Rex dog in an online canine conditioning class, taught by a rehab vet. We are learning exercises to help him strengthen his core, to work his psoas, and to increase flexibility of the front end. My fancy equipment consists of a few boxes from the Dollar Store, my exercise ball which had been languishing in storage for years, and a Fit Paws balance pad that we won in a raffle. I signed up for the class because my dog will be turning 8 this year, he is quite active in both herding and agility, and I want to keep him as fit as possible. He has not, knock on wood, sustained any injuries either through competition, or through being a dog. Why do exercises? Why not just say he's athletic enough without this silliness? I don't know. Why did all of the organizations rubberize contact equipment? A truly agile dog shouldn't need extra traction. Why have the jumps changed in design to safer jump cups and no fixed bar? A scopey dog should learn to close the eye nearest the jump cup. We don't need the wider tunnel bag holders. Use the kind that distort the shape of the tunnel, and hope that athletic large dogs know how to duck whilst travelling at 7 yards per second. Now you kids get off my lawn! <shakes fist in anger>

I'm starting my 4th (!) agility dog in young Bar. We're doing the Developing Jumping Skills stuff, and starting his running contact training (yikes!). While I sometimes whine about how boring foundation work is, I will never skip it, as I think every dog needs a good foundation in order to be successful. Given that he's also trialling in Nursery this year, and we plan to run at finals, the formal agility stuff likely will take a back seat til the fall. No worries, there's lots of time!

Try Julie Carter. She is in Saanich. http://westcoastcanineacademy.com/herding-3/ She has a nice facility for starting young dogs. I don't know if Martha is still doing lessons, and I think she's living near Duncan now.

Just released, The MacRae Way - The Shed. "Our most complete shed offering! Through nearly 90 minutes of video we explore the training of 9 dogs at every level. In this course we cover all aspects of the shed including: Judging, Theory, and Mechanics. In addition to detailing our training method, Alasdair judges a series of sheds and speaks to his system of balance in an armchair conversation on the importance of the test." For more information, you can visit The MacRae Way.

What does this bit mean? You can't have a puppy at a KC show unless he is in the process of being registered with the KC? That seems a bit odd, since I thought that mixed breeds could compete at UK KC shows in performance events like agility, but maybe I got that bit wrong.