dogsofmenace

I swear, Louisville is great at coming up with the most mind boggling unnecessary animal laws....Its pretty ridiculous. I'd love to try help get the word out somehow.

Yup, I think this is a great idea as well. You mentioned that you are going to start fostering, which is great! We have fostered 40 dogs, several of them BCs and I'm really glad I had the experience before we decided to keep Panic.

Interesting! Just shows how different dogs of the same breed can be.

I second getting an adult rescue dog with a known temperament. Puppies are so unpredictable and stressful on other dogs, not to mention dogs that have stress issues already. Plus raising a puppy is a lot more responsibility than an adult. They pretty much need five times the work! As a high school student myself I can tell you it is very possible. Now, I will also tell you that I do not have much of a social life, besides going to agility class or trials! That I honestly don't mind because I really enjoy the company of dog people more so than my peers. XD Having willing parents is a huge plus and it seems like the burden of this dog won't fall completely on your shoulders. Whether or not you get a rescue adult or a puppy, I would plan on getting the addition when you have a lot of time to spend with him/her, like over summer or winter break. That way you have the initial time to get the dog situated, do some basic training etc. without having to be gone for the majority of the day at school. My BC Panic does not need excess amounts of energy. I have down days where he hardly gets any exercise and he's fine just laying around the house. Of course this can't happen every day, but if there happens to be a time when you simply can't manage to exercise your dog it won't be a huge problem (unless its a puppy!) This is the great thing about border collies; they fine lounging around all day but are ready to jump up and work the moment you say so. (Of course this isn't true for EVERY BC) More important than exercise is mental stimulation. I spend a lot of time teaching Panic every trick I can think of. Its a lot of fun and it often wears him out. Sometimes you can completely run a BC into the ground and they won't be tired unless they got some mental stimulation. Owning a border collie has been the most frustrating, unnerving, difficult thing I've ever had to do; they are certainly not easy. But its also been the most exciting, fun and rewarding things I've ever done as well! Good luck in your search.

It looks to me like she just doesn't really understand what her job is yet. Her success rate doesn't seem very high right now. I second my suggestion to start out recalling her to the 2o/2o position while you are standing right next to the end of the board. Doing that, I think her success rate would be a lot higher. Once it is, I would very slowly move to more difficult positions. If you ever see her being less successful, I would move to an easier position for her. I would strive to get and 80% success rate before making it more difficult.

I would start with a board at home about the same side as the downside on the dogwalk on the ground. I would put her in a stay a few feet away from the end of the board, lead out to the other end and then ask her to drive into her 2o/2o. Gradually you can move your position further back/lateral to the board to build the distance you are from the end. I think that's a pretty simple way to do it and you don't need a full dogwalk either. You can also practice running with her to the board, running past the board while having her keep drive to the 2o/2o position, etc. There are endless ways to proof contacts with a board!

I liked Crate Games a lot..... I like to pick and choose stuff from many different sources.

Do you know why he is biting? Since he is that young I would guess that he's playing, and just doesn't know any bite inhibition. Instead of punishing him like that, try squealing loudly (like a dog would) whenever he nips at you, and then turn around, cross your arms and ignore him. When he calms down you can resume whatever you were doing before, but be sure do this every time he tries to bite. This usually works with young puppies like that. Good luck with him!

Agreed! This was a phenomenal book. Along the sames lines is "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson. They both really help explain the differences between dogs and people, something I think a lot of us tend to have trouble with!

I was going to recommend that as well. There was also a recent article by Leslie McDevitt about a dog afraid of the teeter. She actually used getting off the teeter and running away from it as a reward for the dog interacting with the teeter, since he was so afraid of it. That was in the June '08 issue. If you haven't done stuff with a wobble board, I would do that first. Also, if you can prop up your teeter on its lowest height so that it doesn't move at all, that would be good too. Then you can have her interact with it and slowly add movement to it.

I mean amp up before a run and reward after a run. Some dogs find agility rewarding by itself. Some dogs don't. Its about individual dogs. You can use the tug, toys and treats to transfer value from one behavior to another, so eventually agility is rewarding for them. Some dogs can be stressed out or just not very excited about the whole agility experience. Tugging and playing before and after a run can make the experience more positive and enjoyable for them.

Tugging is a reward for many dogs because they find it fun. Anything enjoyable to a particular dog is a reward. If you're dogs find hugs and verbal praise very rewarding, then by all means its good enough. Most dogs won't work for a pat on the back unless they find the activity rewarding in itself. To increase the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated or done enthusiastically, you have to give a high-value reward after it's performed. Going over a jump is not inherently rewarding for most dogs. But if, every time they jump, they get a high-value reward (like food or a tug toy) they will eventually find the jump by itself rewarding. I just want my dogs to have as much fun doing dog sports as I do!

I don't think tugging is as amazing as people make it out to be. I do think its a good exercise for dogs, though. Mainly its just fun for you and the dog. It also creates a stronger bond because its interactive, more so than a game of fetch. Tugging can be a great motivator for dogs that need it, and can actually be a sort of pacifier-like for very high dogs who may otherwise bark or lunge. Its sort of understood (though not really proven) that giving dogs treats can calm them down, while playing with toys makes them more excited. So if you have an unmotivated dog, it would be harder to motivate it with food than it would be with a game of tug. Its also a great game for you to work on impulse control, i.e. only tug when I say tug, release the tug when I say to, etc. Another great thing about it is that you can teach a dog to tug on a leash, so can reward/amp your dog up before and after an agility run, where toys and treats are not allowed. If your dog doesn't tug then you don't have a reward to give them right then and there. Nope, you don't have to tug, its not the Jesus of dog training rewards or anything, but its fun and convenient, so why not?

This is true. Hence, I did not continue to allow him to play, because I know dogs (especially BCs with their gogogo attitudes) often don't show pain. We went home after this and I kept an eye on him for the rest of the night. He isn't limping in the slightest and is behaving normally.

Poor ol' Sport! Glad to here he's okay. Panic, appropriately, makes me panic ALL the time. He rarely thinks before he acts....Yesterday I had an awful scare! I threw the frisbee for him, but the wind caught it and it went really far up. Panic leaped at least 5 feet into the air (missing the frisbee altogether) did a crazy twisting backflip in the air and landed hard on his back. Afterwards he was limping so I made him lay down so I could look at his leg, but five seconds later he springs up, limp gone, and runs to get the frisbee again. He's also gone after a ball and fallen upside down into a creek, slammed into the porch trying to catch a frisbee, and on more than one occasion leaped sideways at the tire jump and slammed into it, when I never even told him to take it.