Carlasl

You are probably right, I am an impatient trainer, especially with a dog that normally seems to pick new behaviors up very quickly. If I want to back chain that behavior I am going to have to take baby steps (ugh, makes me cringe thinking about it lol).

Every dogs speed is different... that was the answer you wanted right... I am getting ready to train our new pup for running contacts and I have decided to retrain my border collie for them as well. I have never ever liked her contacts and she is not one of those super fast border collies. She has good speed and is very accurate so I would like to do something to increase our times and her motivation and I think running contacts would do that for us. Your dog looks great! I am always impressed with running contacts and big dogs, they really have to think about their stride.

He actually focus's really well when food is involved. He just doesn't want to play with toys when they are out. He will switch to toy play but it takes a few try's for him to realize food is really gone and we are playing with toys now. I would love to back chain the "put in hand part" of the retrieve (that is what my original plan was), but my problem is when the "click treat" part happens, he doesn't want any part of the toy anymore. He will interact with the toy for a treat (nosing it and pouncing on it) but his normally good retrieve (except the part where he brings it all the way back). Goes away completely. I was playing fetch with him in the hallway last night and that was going pretty well, he would run all the way to me for a game of tug he didn't have as much room to avoid bringing it in. I may just do that for a while and see if we can break the mental part of him not bringing it in.

Hey all, I hope you don't mind if I ask for advice on a non-border collie. I have a 10month old Chihuahua terrier mix, that my 9yr old daughter and I are training for agility. He is super smart and has been clicker trained from the beginning. I have had no trouble shaping behaviors and tricks with him. He is over the top food motivated. If there is no food in the picture he will play with toys as well, he loves to tug. My issue is getting him to retrieve. He will bring something back but stops just a few feet short of bringing it all the way to me. He loves to tug so I was hoping by having him retrieve things he could tug it would be reward enough. Treats just stop all toy play (even boring old kibble). Right now I am just working small distance and reinforcing when he does bring it close enough for us to tug (seems to happen more on accident than on purpose). This dog has caught on to EVERYTHING I have taught him so quickly I just don't think it is a matter of him not understanding the criteria, it seems it is more an issue of it being more fun to play with the toy on his own, or make me come get it (or tug it in on a short line). Any suggestions?

You cannot know how your dogs are going to react to your future children by this one act that sounds like it wasn't even a bite on purpose. I had a shepherd mix that was 7yrs old when I was surprised to find out I was pregnant, I was even more shocked 8wks later to find out I was having twins. I was worried about what my dog might do around kids. She was a terrible resource guarder to other dogs (she caused some bad fights over toys and goodies). I did not get rid of her though I did talk to a good friend who said if things did not work out she would take my pup. But we were going to give it every effort first. This dog was the best dog EVER with children, from the day we brought them home from the hospital she was their guardian and best friend. They could do anything and take anything from her (obviously she was closely watched for a very long time. Give your dogs a chance. Don't be one of those people who discards their family members because of having children. At least see how your dog is. Resource guarding is something that can be changed. There are a lot of resources to change this behavior.

I think there are just some dogs that cannot be trusted home alone no matter how much you have proofed and trained them. My 5yr old Aussie hasn't been in a crate for several years. She doesn't do anything wrong. My 3yr old border collie is put in a crate when we leave even if for 5min....because for some crazy reason she pee's on the furniture or on one of the beds even if we leave for a short amount of time. I have no idea why she does it, she never has accidents in the house when we are there. And I have no idea at this point how to train her not to do it. I am thinking it is a behavioral issue. So in the crate she goes.

Most clubs do not have the pool and dock, they rent them for each event. If I remember correctly (I looked into hosting a dock diving event for our city) It was $10,000 to rent the setup for a weekend (dock diving events are two day events). So the costs are to defray that expense and then to pay for everything else hosting an event costs and then hopefully pocketing some money for your club.

For those asking about if Emergency personnel would take dogs to a Kennel instead of a Shelter, unless you lived in the town and had previous arrangements with either a Vet clinic or boarding facility I would say it is unlikely. I am an Animal Control Officer in a small upscale city in my town and in cases of accidents where the owner is transported to the hospital we generally take them to our sheltering facility (which happens to be a nice Veterinary clinic that boards dogs, so our shelter is a Veterinary boarding facility). I have taken dogs to their home in our city (at their request even though I have told them they may want their canine examined by a veterinarian) or I would be more than happy to take them to their Veterinarian if it were relatively close. If the accident is severe, my preference is to transport them to our Veterinarian for an exam. I absolutely contact anyone the owner wants me to as soon as possible. It is amazing that accidents that have totaled cars and sent owners to the hospital, don't seem to injure the dogs (who are mostly unsecured in the vehicle)

OMG, I just saw these at petco and HAD to take a picture so I could show it to people and snicker like a teenager....lol WHAT were they thinking......

Well my foot is in a boot right now with a torn tendon (posterior tibal tendon) and I am more than likely facing surgery. Then injury wasbecause of the uneven dirt floor of the last trial I went to. It is a place I trial at on a regular basis and I remember thinking the dirt was especially clumpy and loose on the first night (by the third day of a trial it is all nice and packed down normally). I am youngish (mid thirties) and in pretty good shape (I jog, bike, play sand volleyball etc...). So I wouldn't say conditioning was a role, I think it was just one bad step the wrong way. A freak accident I guess. I can say it really sucks.....

haha!!

Attitudes like the ones I have seen on this thread are exactly why I wouldn't want to do competitive obedience. Why would I want to train in something that is suppose to be fun that "requires" I correct my dog.....blech leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't have a problem with corrections I use them in daily life (for important things) and if I was to work stock I totally understand why one needs to use them and to a have a dog that accepts them and uses them. But to use corrections for something this is suppose to be a GAME and fun for the dog and owner is just so distasteful to me, and then to have people who want to have fun with their dogs and not want to use corrections get talked down to about their methods. Yuck.....

what a cutie! love the ticking

Sorry to single this out as honestly I am not against a collar pop or a prong collar if needed. Although I prefer reinforcement based training in most things BUT you can teach an AMAZING get in by doing brick work, no prong collar need, I did this with my dog and she learned it super quick.

I found it! http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...;Product_ID=221