Lizmo

I've never found them to be worth it. A few of our neighbors have tried them and their dog/s always escaped and came down to our fence to bother our dogs. It's annoying. And of course once the dogs got out, they never went back in till the owner came and got them. Luckily for us, all our neighbors have since put up physical fences.

Blaze usually ignores strangers. If we are out walking, he'll look over at them, ears up, but quickly leaves them alone and goes back into 'walking' mode when I tell him to leave it. If we stop and talk to someone, he usually ignores them. Depending on the person he might go up to them, or might not. If we have people over at our house that he has not met or only seen a time or two he's very good with them. He'll say come and see what's up, but then leaves them alone. He's really good about meeting people, not shy. With people he knows, he has the nickname "mr. wiggly butt" for a reason, lol.

Thanks Sue, I might look into that. Is there anything specific or helpful I should know about going to the Finals?

What are the best days to go to the Finals? I'm hoping to be able to go about 3 days. Thanks!

I hope TSC doesn't stop carrying Diamond Naturals - ugh. Seems everytime we get a dog food that is decent and works with *all* our dogs, the store stops carrying it or the food changes.

I don't have any thing to say about the video posted, but does anyone know where CM got his training from? Or is he self-taught?

This sums up my thoughts.

^^ Definitely. I can't imagine letting my dog outside with no supervision AND no fence.

If MrCutiePie disappears after a lesson one day it definitely was NOT me.

BahhhhHumbugggggg right back at ya. Right now I'm dealing with neighbors who think it's fine to let there Chi roam and just a few minutes ago saw a loose pup, no more than 6 weeks, running around with no owner in site (I know where both dogs came from though. Bad neighborhood). I feel like pulling my hair out. And the city says the main problem with stray dogs in this area is they aren't getting fixed. No. It's called owner responsibility!! /end my vent of the day. lol

My deepest sympathies, Kristi. Run free with the squirrels, Bear.

Those are really neat pictures. I've never been asked if Blaze is a mix or *insert breed name* breed. They always ask what kind of dog he is - never any guesses. Though, one little boy asked me if Lizzie was a Rottie.

I'm no expert on Flyball, but to me it seems like it would not be. Flyball, from the little that I've seen, is more like Agility. Run, jump, run, jump, run jump, get ball, repeat.

We do too. Sometimes if he needs to just *run* if we've been cooped up in the house all day, then I'll throw the ball for him. But generally if I have a ball, it's going to be used for training purposes. We mix up ball 'playing/training' alot. We do lots of what Karen talked about, by throwing the ball THEN releasing him. Usually we do alot of calling off before getting to the ball, making him lie down on his way to get the ball, calling back to me, and whatever else I can think of to make it different. I'm finding Blaze has started doing this more. He will just take *OFF* then sliiiiiide. Unless the ball is throw really far, then he has a bit more sense to slow down before he gets to the ball. We've pretty much stopped mindless ball throwing for now since he seemed to have lost his sense of judgement.

^ this.

I looked at this thread a while ago, and didn't realize these books were written/done by board members. Thanks for pointing this out!

Just thought of another place that you could bring a pup. Around here soccor is going on right now, and that is a good way to socialize a pup. If dogs are allowed to soccor/baseball/softball fields in your area, you can bring a pup there. I brought my then puppy to baseball and softball games when he was a pup and most people/kids were pretty level headed in how they acted around him. I'd check with your Parks and Rec. dep. first, though.

Another place you can take dogs is Tractor Supply Co. Around here when I go buy dog food, they always seem interested in how many dogs I have (and no, I wasn't buying lots of bags of food, haha) and what breed they are.

These statements amaze me. I guess we know what 'type' of border collies she trains?

Thanks for sharing, Denise. The one of Christine's Bess at the post is a super shot!

2 cups of Diamond Naturals per day. With the random table scrap or raw bone thown in when avaliable.

I'm younger than all of you (though I don't understand why age has anything to do with it), and it doesn't bother me.

I just pulled out the clicker for the first time with Blaze the other day. I can't believe I waited this long. We did some simple click/treat and touch hand/click/treat. He got so excited by the middle of our short session. So we ended after about 10/15 minutes of doing that. Then a couple days went by and I pulled out the clicker. We worked on a bow command this time. Within about 5 minutes he was succesfully offering a bow! Clicker hooked.

Like others have pointed out, doing what looks like 'herding' moves on a ball in no way correlates to actually working livestock. The only 'pre training' you can do with your pup before stock is teach him/her people manners, recall, and a lie down. Even then, most those commands go in one ear and out the other the first few times they're working stock. I hope your pup turns out to be the sheepdog you want.

I'm sorry to hear this. You'll be in my prayers.