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Check out Daisy Peels online classroom http://classroom.daisypeel.com/courses/mjs-foundation-flatwork/ she is a great teacher, another online course is http://www.qme-agility.co.uk/training.php. The best way to start agility is "on the flat" which both these courses would get you started well with. My puppy is almost 11 months and will not see weave poles until I am sure his growth plates are closed, and has not jumped anything higher than 15cm and won't till those growth plates close. The only reason we even have the bar up is so he can start to understand the concepts he is now learning. Learning agility from a book is hard if you have never done it before, but "agility right from the start" is good, it is the book I used for my older dogs foundation. There are no real good YouTube resources that provide a reliable guide for training, most of the videos you see are videos people have shot for online courses! If you can't go to in person class then online classes especially if you audit are really good value for money and will help you understand the concepts involved.

All my border collies have retrieved, two of them (which includes my puppy) would play ball on their own but add another dog and they would rather chase the dog, our other two happily played fetch.

Thanks ladies, I have been unsure about Rachel Sanders DVD as it was published 9 years ago at the start of the running contact craze and there seems to have been so many developments and ideas on how to get the perfect running contact. I don't want a running dog walk as I have ended up with another large border collie and as a short middle aged woman I don't stand a chance without a stop, so Ms Trkman is out. Kristi can you tell me anything more about Dawn Weavers techniques on the frame, does she use stride regulators? It is an expensive book so want to make sure it is a good investment.

I have been giving a lot of thought to my youngsters contacts and decided that I will train a stopped contact on the dog walk and a running Aframe, BUT I can't find any current info on training a running Aframe, Rachel Sanders DVD is the only thing I can find and that was published in 2008 and there has to be a wealth of knowledge about what works now as it has become so much more common place. All the online courses are really about a running dog walk which is a very different set of criteria. So any suggestions? You all helped me find a great foundation course so hopping I might get lucky a second time.

A border collie can live very happily in a city and they can make good pets, what most of them are going to be though is intense dogs who do get bored easily if you do not provide enough stimulation for them. My border collies are pets, they have never worked sheep, my youngster who is now almost 10 months comes from good working lines, he is a great pet but needs a good walk and some training every day to keep him that way. If I don't make the time to work that very sharp mind of is, we pay by him finding his own entertainment. Right now I am supposed to be working and both my border collies are fast asleep on the sofa. We will play in a little bit and then they will happily watch tv with us this evening.

I suspect they were just trying to standardize the rules between the countries, until a couple of years ago each country had its own rules regarding the age of puppies. Most people only run into an issue if they fly as the airlines are really strict on the rules. I have driven to and from Spain a number of times to the UK and the older dog has been to france, spain and italy and the only time his passport has been looked at is at the ferry port going to the UK on the way out they don't even ask if you have a passport. My friends issues stem from the fact that person looking after the puppy could not find a vet willing to do the rabies injection before 16 weeks so he now has to wait till she 19 weeks to get her.

Liz the puppy is coming to Spain and mainland Europe is not rabies free, just controled. The UK seems to be the only place that takes it very seriously .... The channel helps

Congratulations Kristi and Rex, I have always admired you for being able to play agility and still compete with Rex as an open dog.

My puppy is now 9 months old, when we got him at 10 weeks he spent a lot of time in his crate. He was either playing with us, outside with us or in the crate. This prevented him from making house training mistakes and getting himself into mischief. Over time we build up how much time he spent out of the crate, at 9 months he sleeps out of the crate at night but still goes in when left at home alone. He has always been a good puppy, but even good puppies get into mischief as they are curious playful creatures, and just when you think they have forgotten all about a favorite forbidden item, you find them with it (my husband rescued my underwear as I was typing this ) basically puppy raising is all about vigilance.

Thanks for the info. The puppy is in Florida staying with a friend of theirs and she could not find a vet who would do the rabies jab any younger than 16 weeks, so I was curious as to what was the norm. EU wide law is currently puppies can be vaccinated at 12 weeks, with a 3 week wait, then their passport is valid, same applies to older dogs, 3 weeks after rabies travel documents are valid. What is weird is you can import a young puppy into the US just seems to be a problem exporting!

What is the age that a puppy can have the rabies vaccine in the US? A friend of mine is bringing a puppy from the US and cant have the puppy for another month as they have been told that the pup cant have the jab until it is 16 weeks. (then there is the 3 week wait for it to be valid) Rabies has been standardized in Europe to pups getting their vaccine at 12 weeks and able to travel at 15 weeks, which was when he was hoping to get the pup.

I will be interested in what others have to say, but I would be inclined to let it drop as both words are so similar sounding, they are two words a human could confuse and it is not an important thing to learn. My concern would be in breaking the real releae word. The caveat is I am a fundamentally lazy trainer and if I think a dog is struggling I look for a different approach unless it is a foundation skill they have to learn.

Companionship is a hard to define term, for me it simply means providing me with interactive company, I don't think it has anything to do with physical interaction. How that bond devolps I am sure is through a variety of reasons, my current older dog and I have something special, which I am sure has been build up through training and providing my insecure dog with support, while my husband had an amazing bond with Brody, who was an adult rescue, he could be very aloof, pets were on his terms, yet the two have them had this deep weird bond that was simply because they liked each other, with me he was a very different dog, I enjoyed his company but there was always a reserve.

I fully agree, I am on border collie #4 and my well bred ISDS dog excels in companionship just as well as his rescued predecessors. Although I compete in agility and take it rather seriously, first my dogs are pets and companions and I could not imagine having another breed.

My puppy has a rock obsession which now he is 8 months old is fading, but I do still find him with an occasional stone. All we could do is keep taking them from him and giving him an approved toy as the house we live in has rocks everywhere. He still loves chewing on pine cones and sticks.

Looks like verbals are making a come back in agility fashion circles, there was a period where people aspired to run quietly and just use motion, but now you are seeing top handlers using verbals, especially with turns coming out of running contacts. I have always struggled with verbals, I primarily use them to send away, and use his name to bring him close, running a big fast dog, running flat out and rembering what I am doing has always challenged me enough . Teaching Fenway verbals from the beginning might make a difference, we will see how I get on! Having them should make a difference to my handling and make it easier to get to where I need to be, to be competitive. Fennway is growing into another big border collie, so looks like the short middle aged women is going to be running another big fast dog.

I am auditing, when I first looked the class there was space, when I decided which to do 10 hours later, the working spots where filled. As an auditor you can ask questions, and I am learning a lot from watching everyone's videos. If I continue with them I will try and get a working spot as my handling will be more critical, I figured for foundation a working spot is not so important as I have a good understanding of the concepts, what I wanted was a solid guide to follow, just like I did with Sylvia Ts puppy class. What you say about Cik/cap is correct it is why I could never use them as it would be impossible for me to remember which I was supposed to use on course.

No hijacking going on, always like a good conversation, the OMD tandem turn is effectively a rear cross on the flat, my dog reads the movement really easily, in NADAC most of the really impressive use of Switch I have seen is used from a much further distance, especially for complicated gamblers courses, the tandem turn would not work in those situations. (Before moving I had been in Elite in agility and jumpers in NADAC). The turn I was talking about is a tight wing wrap, which is where Sylvia Trkman uses her cik/cap not a change of direction like the tandem turn or a rear cross.

so far we are working on three turning cues:one that is a wrap, where the cue is the same either side, the dog is turning towards the handler on a tight wing wrap. Left and right spins, not sure where they are going to be used And post turns on the flat. All of which are being put on verbals, along with tunnel and down/sit, and racing to a toy. That is the NADAC switch, I have never trained with an International handler who uses an equivalant turn, to achieve a similar result on course they use a rear cross cue on the flat. I am planning on videoing our work at the end of our first 2 week session, and I will post our progress.

I posted a couple of months ago looking for suggestions for an agility foundation class and decided on The Shape Up Agility one. We have had our first class assignment and so far I like their concepts, we are working on verbal cues and turns. One of the reasons I did not want to do Sylvia Trkmans foundation class was Cik/cap and my inability to tell my left from my right! These guys only use one turning cue for the same reason! Dr Leslie Eide is also taking the class, as is the Dutch trainer we work online with, and occassionaly in person. I don't think this is a course for a complete beginner, there is an an assumed level of knowledge, as an example one of the tasks is sending to the tunnel on a verbal command only, but there is no guidance on how to teach the tunnel. Fenway is having lots of fun, Sylvia Trkmans puppy class was great, but he was ready to add some motion and speed to his training!

Thanks for keeping us updated, it is great news that you have found a way that you can work with her and help her develop at her own pace. Updates are great as so many people come here looking for advice, and for them to be able to read about the journey and the sucess is really helpful, they learn that they are not alone and that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Congratulations on you and Tess's achievement, lots of hard work and variety to get there. As a 1 sport competitor I can't imagine how much time is involved in the huge variety of activities you and your dogs do.

This is so very true, at my club we encourage people to try the game, they might never compete but it is a fun activity to play with your dogs and build a much deeper bond. My first agility border collie was not going to ever win anything, he played because I asked him, I learned loads, met some great people because he loved trials and made friends where ever we went. Your experience at trials is going to depend on the organization, you are going to see a much wider variety of border collies at a USDAA trial than an AKC one. NADAC and CPE are much more laid back, NADAC does not allow tugging in and out of the ring, so it keeps some of the intensity down. There is lots of different flavors in agility, you just have to sample and find the fit for you.

My adult border collie is very chilled at home, is a great pet and good company. Waiting in line for agility I keep him calm and focused, once we walk to the line all bets are off, he is fast, driven, intense and if I get my timing wrong hell ... Agility trials can bring the worst out in Border collies, it's a fast game, full of fast moving dogs, you will find many of those dogs are mellow away from the setting.

If she had just killed the cat, it would never have been blown up into such a big deal. The US has a huge hunting culture, even in the liberal North East where we lived, but killing cats is not part of that culture. To brag about the kill, claim you should be awarded vet of the year, is what has caused the issue, killing an animal that as vet you will be being paid to care for does not look good. The situation then got worse when someone came forward and claimed the cat was theirs.