ziggzmom

I agree. Repetition will bore any dog(and handler=)! I know I'm in the minority here, but I really love obedience (but not mindless repetition-lol)! Finding ways to make the exercises fun and interesting for my dogs as well as get the get the precision you need is so exciting!!!

I do mainly obedience and a little agility. As much as I love obedience, most dogs find agility more interesting. All the running and jumping is fun! Obedience can be lots of fun too but the trainer has to be creative to keep things interesting for the dog. Border collies are well suited to either sport.

What I've noticed when I read peoples posts about dogs that won't fetch is that most of the time the dog will happily chase after the ball. Many will pick up the ball and some will even bring the ball part or most of the way back to the person throwing the ball. What, to me, is the missing piece is the dog doesn't understand the hold. I show in obedience and there's lots of retrieving . We teach hold as a seperate piece of the exercise. Once the dog understands that hold is part of fetch you have a way to communicate that chase, fetch and hold is what you want. There are different ways to teach the hold so you shoud be able to find a method that works for you and you dogs. Happy Fetching! Janet

Mr. McCaig, Thank you for the link, it was interesting. Ms. Woods has been very successful as have been her students! I was able to find mention of one of her chows that had earned a UD (no small feat to be sure)! I was however unable to find any mention of any of her dogs with an obedience trial championship (OTCh). I would love to read about her journey to the OTCh with her dogs. Do you know if she has written about her experiencs? Hoping to join the OTCh title earners some day=) Janet

Earned an OTCh on multiple chows?!!! That is an incredible accomplishment!!! Who is the trainer?

I've been showing in obedience for more than 25 years in CA and haven't found this to be true. Maybe in other parts of the country?

Hi Marley Girl, I use 'ready' as my watch command and any time my puppy gives me eye contact I tell him 'good ready' and give him a treat. If you use the clicker use that when he offers eye contact. I try to praise my dog any time he offers eye contact, even when we aren't training. A fun game to play is to have him sitting in front of you and hold a treat in each hand. Hold your arms raised(think airplane wings=). The pup will want to stare at your hands because that's where the cookies are but you wait until the pup looks up at your face then click or praise and feed one of the treats you are holding. It may take a while for him to look at your face initally but eventually the pup gets really good about focusing on your face. Also, if you can find a good trainer to work with that would be great! It's good to have some watch what you are doing and give you feedback. Happy Training~ Janet

You can use any word and/or signal that makes sense to you and the dog. They learn what we teach them=) Have fun with your puppy!

Finding a person or group to track with would be the best way to go. If you look on line you might be able to find tracking clubs or dog training clubs in your area that might be able to help you out. Just like any other venue, you will hear different ways to train your dog to track. They have all been used successfully, so use the method that works best for your individual dog. The important thing is to have fun tracking your dog, it's a wonderful way to spend time with your best buddy:) Happy Tracking~ Janet

Tracking is the one activity that my soft dogs have really been able to forget how scary the world is. They confidently take charge and dig into the harness and will just about pull me off my feet to get me to follow them down the track. Tracking has been such a wonderful activity for all my dogs, but especially for the scardy dogs:) Happy Tracking~ Janet

I have a vibration only electronic collar. It's made by PetSafe and cost aprox $150. It has several intensity settings which feel pretty much like your phone set on vibrate. Even my very sensitive boy had no problem with the vibration. Janet

LOL! Unable to figure out how I got all 4 of my dogs to pose together in a picture, a co-worker asked me how I got them to do that? 'I told them to stay' was my answer. I like the look on non dog show folks faces at an obedience trial watching the handlers walking out of the ring on the out of sight sits and downs. They are very impressed=) Janet

Ditto what njnovice said! I also have a pit bull and border collies and was going to suggest a Pit Bull or Stafforshire Bull Terrier(the nanny dog). The bully breeds can make amazing companions for children! Janet

Hi Pam, Coming in late on this....This is exactly what I do with my dogs! I like to go out to the agility area and(for example) send my dog through a tunnel then immediately call him to heel. If I get good focused heeling attention I will release him to take a couple jumps, then call him back to heel. I also have set out my scent articles on one end of the tunnel and taken my dog to the other end. I send him through the tunnel to find his article and he returns back through the tunnel. This is really fun for my dogs and it teaches them to listen to me. They never knows what I might tell them to do=) My oldest dog is 10 yrs old and still loves to do his obedience! My prefered method of training is whatever works=) Happy Training~ Janet

Hi, This probably isn't his problem, but have you had his vision checked by a specialist(just to rule out this posibility)? Janet