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Brix is now 10 mo. old and her behavior is starting to change a lot. She has become very reactive to her environment. It's no surprise since we moved when she was 9 mo. old to a house that had neighbor dogs on either side, a very reactive and aggressive cat as well as a host of noises and yard animals like occasional rabbits and squirrels. To make matters worse we have huge sliding glass windows looking out on the yard. The big issue has been the cat. Her reactivity starting shortly after being attacked by the cat. Now all cats are an issue to be barked at at best or lunged and growled at at worst. I've worked so hard to introduce her to just about everything since the day she came home and she didn't show any reactivity to anything outside of the normal puppy timidness. Barking is a new issue and I'm working hard to keep that calmed down, but the approach on how to do that is still unclear. Just the other day she showed her first sign of defensive behavior and nipped at my girlfriend's hand when she tried to grab and move a bone we had given her. This is the first time she's done that So naturally I'm concerned and quite anxious about these changes. I'm not sure how much of it is a normal phase for this age. I tend to want to make every little thing an issue, mainly because I've been around a lot of bad behavior dogs and I vowed to do everything I could to avoid it. In a lot of ways it feels like the months of training I did with her have no affect at all. Can you all share some of your experiences with getting your BC through adolescence?

Hi everyone! Ok, my 9 mo. old is in full teenage swing now. Very agile, smart and excitable. Her recall is positively terrible. I take full responsibility for this since I just overused the "come" command (and any notion that she needs to return to me) without reinforcing it. As it stands, she will certainly come back to me...when she feels that its in her best interests, but when it isn't she'll positively ignore me. Not good! While she is a wonderful pup otherwise, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be able to call her off if she was really excited. So, I need to go back to square one, determine a new recall command and get her properly trained up. I work SO SO hard not to keep blabbing my mouth and repeating "come! come!" but it's like a reflex. She's 9 months old, very well behaved otherwise and is trained on the clicker. I would like to stay with the clicker if possible. Can you detail your approach to recall in this case given she's already developed a sense that she can ignore the command? How do you begin? How do you enforce the command if she ignores? Thanks so much! At this point, most of the rest of her training seems so unimportant compared to this, so it's my top priority right now.

It's official, Brix is nearly 9 mo. old and training her now is far more difficult that it was at 9 weeks. The big issues lately are leash walking, recall, listening to me and barking (also related to cats, which you can read about in this previous post) The issue is that she knows a cat lives on the other side of the fence at our new house. She has recently developed a new idea about cats after her interactions with our in house cat (see above post) She now loves to chase the cat out of the yard, hackles raised and barking at the fence. She will bark in that direction in the house as well. I have read several approaches to barking training, most of the convincing ones steering you away from yelling "hey!" or "stop it!" when the pup barks. When she gets to barking I will go over by her make her lay down and then praise her as she watches attentively without barking. It honestly seems to do absolutely no good. She appears to be looking right through me. What is everyone's experience with this? Do you take a passive approach on the theory that her not getting a reaction out of her owner makes barking boring? Or do you take an active approach, correct and then praise the correct behavior? If it's the latter, how long did it take to see progress? If it's the former, i guess the same question applies. My pup is so smart, I can tell, but she seems to enjoy "playing dumb" at moments when she appears to not learn at all. Thanks for the help!!

I have posted quite a few times throughout my pups early months. I received so much guidance from people here. Somewhere after about 6 months of age, I began to sit back and admire my mostly well behaved, well socialized and generally adorable BC pup. In looking back I realized how much work I had done with her, how many early mornings and late evenings I committed to her. People would even praise me on how happy, well behaved and wonderful she is. I suppose that means my job is done, right? Time to sit back and reap the rewards. Wrong. I will say that my puppy continues to be a well behaved, socialized and generally adorable little dog with one caveat...she is changing. She is 8 months old now and while I enjoy every minute with her, her behavior has begun to evolve. Around 6 months she discovered that the ball is the only thing worth living for and I discovered that the ball was an almost automatic means of having a wonderful experience with my dog. With the ball I taught her to lay down reliably, then to lay down immediately when she is 50-100yard away from me. I taught her to wait reliably untill my "ok" before sprinting off to retrieve the ball. I joyfully observed her speed and grace in a huge open field. I was completely in love. But, recently things have been getting a bit more difficult. In a bit, I will rant about how thankful I am for a few specific resources that manage to highlight these times and give me guidance on how to work with them. The pup has discovered that she loves the ball so much that she's now not as willing to wait in the car while I gather her things and instead feels the need to push against me trying to get out. On leash, as I walk her through the city streets en route to the field she tugs relentlessly. Even though I try the "red light, green light" method, she manages to just tug and tug. This leads me to get frustrated and even lose my temper. Not good. I pride myself on being sensitive to my dog, so I can immediately see how my mood change affects her. Today was the final straw, a highly frustrating walk to and from the ball session in which she seemed to only want to go where I didn't want her to go. Tug, tug, tug despite all my stop and go until I was literally pissed off. I failed her. Luckily I have these few resources that I refer to and in coming home to find them after feel very bad about how I worked with the pup today I realized how long it had been since I referred to them: First, The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell Ph.D. This book was my invaluable education into the mindset of dogs before getting my pup. What a savior as I had always subscribed to the dominate and control method of raising dogs simply because it was all I ever saw around me. This book changed EVERYTHING about what I knew and taught me 1. that dogs are always seeking and growing into positivity and 2. that I as a human with all my non-canine behaviors was a veritable liability to her well being. This book taught me to think like a dog and alway use positive reinforcement even if it is the more difficult option. Second, After You Get Your Puppy by Dr. Ian Dunbar. This book is an invaluable insight into dog training by a true master. When you read what Dr. Dunbar says, it all becomes so painfully obvious that you wonder why you didn't figure that out yourself. His insight into bringing up a well behaved dog is amazing. Third, and this is a bit unrelated, I feel really grateful to have watched the movie Buck about the horseman Buck Brannaman prior to owning my pup. While this movie is about horses, it highlights some of the exact struggles I am going through with the pup, namely my own human element. Watching this movie gives me inspiration and hope in working with my dog. So, the lesson learned today is that I got lazy, but luckily I realized in time to keep up working with my dog so that I can actually maybe sit back when she's...oh...6-7 years old and enjoy her. Puppyhood was difficult, but the time invested has paid back in spades. I intend to navigate adolescence with the same determination. Thanks for listening!

Link and I have been having some trouble with contacts. He does them fine on the bottom of the obstacle (on the A-frame, decent on the dogwalk), but when we start doing the whole obstacle it falls apart and he comes off the contact. If someone is waiting on the other side and puts treats on the target he does ok, but usually I'm working by myself. My instructor suggested having him jump up on the side of the A-frame using a table, or lift him onto the dogwalk and start working backwards, since it really seems he is having a hard time slowing down, and on top of it doesn't really understand his back feet have anything to do with it. I did a little bit of that though and it worked better. We also have a target box at home that we do back foot targeting with, but I don't know how to transfer the behavior to the contacts. this is my first serious agility dog, so I'm pretty confused on how to address this. Any suggestions?

Ok, I need drastic help! I have a female BC who I trained and is amazing, she is the envy of our friends, she is just over 2 and not desexed. We have since added to our family with a male BC (Jin) who is now six months old and will be a big dog as he is already bigger than our female. Our problem is this, this dog is totally different and not interested in anything we try to involve it in, we walk both off the leash twice a day where there is huge running space and the female loves to chase the rugby ball which I kick until she's puffed, the male takes the path of least resistance always, will sit still in one spot in our yard during the day, will walk slowly beside us on walks and will sit still when we get to park and watch our female exercise, Jin won't chase the ball, won't run unless he has to and generally seems lazy.... Until we aren't around or looking (nighttime etc) he seems to save all his energy to destroy everything he can and we can never catch him in the act. Jin digs, rips, chews, scratches and squashes anything that Jin can. This is driving me into a slow rage as I can never discipline in the act. I've resorted to keeping him on a chain as it's getting costly repairing all the unnecessary destruction. I feel I have a purebred dud.. Hes never short of exercise opportunities, food or toys yet his mission is to get on my nerves, also it poos at least 4 times as much as our female, and everywhere, seems like I feed it 1kg and it poos out 2kg??? The shovel is getting a fair workout. Please help, my wife just says "he's just a puppy" but that's not the issue in my eyes. Many thanks Gareth

I wanted to open up this post mainly in hopes of hearing others' stories of their first off-leash walk with their pups. At what age did you do it? What was your experience? What did you wish you did differently, or what were you happy you had done in advance? I pose the question because I have virtually no idea how she will respond to this. She's 5 mo. old now and show's a lot of inclination toward me, but then also shows dazzling moments of indifference. One particular thing she shows is amazing speed and often she wants to run right to the end of her leash with the distance in her sights. I am planning to start taking her to the park on a 30' lead and seeing how she reacts. I am working constantly on recall, but of all her tricks she loves to "play dumb" on this one. I am all ears!

Hi, I live in the UK. I have just got home from walking my 4 1/2 month old border collie puppy. She normally has good recall but will suddenly chase after people in the park barking aggressively a just totally ignores me. It seems to be men walking on their own. I have tried taking tasty treats to encourage her to come back to me, squeaky toys to distract her and playing with her to discourage her from doing this. Today was the worst, she was very happily playing with 2 other border collies and then suddenly set off after a man who was just walking, she barked very aggressively and jumped up at him. When I eventually got her back I carried her over to the man to apologize. I keep her on the lead for much of our walk due to this behaviour. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

This little pup is getting big so fast. It seems like overnight she went from a little clumsy sausage to a small agile, fast and smart dog! Impressive to see the change so quickly. She's 12 weeks old and has had the first two of her vaccinations. The vet projects another two shots, which means she will be 19 weeks old before I am able to get her out into "the world" This has worked out fine so far, but lately she's developed so much mobility and curiosity. My question is concerning the risks for parvo. I know this is a very vulnerable age for pups and have read all the warnings (know the history of a yard, lives up to 1 year in soil, etc.) This week I have had the strong desire to get her out of the house a lot more in a controlled way. The vet mentioned that concrete or hard surfaces were probably ok, but I am curious what everyone's experience is with the true risks here. I have no plans to take her to the dog park, or busy hiking trails yet, but I would like to walk her in the neighborhood and take her on errands around town to keep up with her socialization (which she is doing so well with!) As it stands I only take her to a few places I know are safe and carry her around outside of the house. I'm worried now that I'm being one of those parents that won't let their kids touch any dirt for fear of "germs". Then again, I don't want her to get sick! Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Quick question about free time in the yard. I am lucky enough to have a nice sized yard for my 11 week old BC to play in. Many times I will do 2-3 hours at a time out there, which is also really wonderful. Usually I will start out with a 5-10min training session on the basics using the clicker and then just release her for her own free play. Every 10-15 minutes I'll join in for a tug game or throw the frisbee (which she either does not get or grabs and runs off with). My question stems partially from me being a worrier and a doer, so when I see her romping around in the bushes, chewing on all kinds of stuff and generally showing zero attention span I wonder if all that free time is good for her. Part of me thinks that of course she will need time to develop her sense of independence, but I definitely do not want to squander opportunity to help her develop. Thoughts? Thanks!!

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This is my first post on the boards here, but I have been following frequently. I brought home an 8-week border collie a couple weeks back (put deposit on her a few months ago) Since putting a deposit on her, life has begun to get quite busy with work and finding out that I will be attending graduate school and I've begun to doubt my ability to provide the environment I had hoped for this brilliant pup. I recently found myself trying to figure just how much i can crate her during the day to get what I need to get done, but it often feels like all day (with visits to let her out, of course) This is the exact scenario I hoped to avoid for such a great dog that will require so much attention, stimulation and exercise. I am so conflicted over what this might mean for this puppy. Her needs are such a high priority for me. Have other owners come upon this situation? How were you able to remedy it? I have done such extensive research on the breed, which is why I have so much worry. The worst thing I could imagine would be to bring her up in an environment that didn't foster her abilities, which even at 10-weeks she is displaying so brilliantly. I'm literally tearing up inside. I would love to hear people's insight and experience. Thank you!

My family dog is a young collie, about 2 years old, who seems to be suffering from extreme anxiety. In the house he is fine, but taking him out for walks is fast becoming impossible. He seems to stop when provoked by nothing, and cower, constantly pulling in the direction of home. He is very scared of trucks and motorbikes and will become stressed if they drive by, but it seems just being out is scaring him. He has been attacked by other dogs a couple of times in the park, and he has actually attacked another dog, even though he wasn't threatened. If another dog walks past him while he is on the lead he will sometimes growl and make a lunge for it. I have been abroad for a year and a half and have come home to find him like this. My parents are having a hard time coping with him. My dad has Parkinson's disease and so finds it very difficult to move, and having an out of control dog is extremely frustrating to him. To the point where he has actually been hitting the dog to try and discipline him or get him out of the way. This breaks my heart and I have had many arguments with him in an attempt to get him to stop. I am leaving to move to London on Monday and am worried that the dog will only get worse if I am not at home to train him. My mum wants to get a shock collar, but I think this is a terrible idea and will only serve to make him worse. Sorry for the long winded post, but we really love our dog, and I'm desperate to get him sorted out. At home he is extremely loving and playful. I have suggested to my mum that we should take him back to the Dog's Trust, because I am sick with worry at what might happen while I am away. Please any advice will be appreciated!! To get him to calm down on his walks and stop being so scared, and be more disciplined with my dad. Thank you!

First I think I need to give a short history of Samson. I got Samson from family my last year in the military. He is a pet instead of a working dog. He did exhibit strong instincts as a puppy. It was a big surprise to find out that I would spend my last months in the military deployed again, so Samson headed up to my family's home while I was away. When I dropped him off he was herding the chickens, circling around, bringing them to the chicken coup, crouching and staring at the door. He was being a pest but he wasn't really harming anything. Present day... Samson does not herd chickens anymore. He doesn't bite at them, but he loves chasing them. He goes a lot of places now where there are loose chickens. Last week I walked outside and he was between two groups. He'd chase one group, send them flying, then go towards the next group, send them up in the air and just continued until called in. I'm not sure if he learned it on his own or he picked this up from the other BCs he was with when I was deployed, but I would like to stop him from terrorizing the chickens, turkeys, and any group of animals he finds. I heard of Control Unleashed as being a good training tool, would some of you here recommend that? I was also thinking of training him with livestock to learn commands. I would love to hear any suggestions.

My family recently adopted a young Border Collie who came to us as a stray. My husband was quite nervous about taking on a new dog, especially considering we have a 1-year-old daughter who I stay home with. I assured him that I would be able to care for and properly train our new dog, Archer. So...we've had Archer now for about 3 weeks. He exhibits pretty normal puppy behavior (he's just under a year old) - chewing, has some potty training accidents, nipping, etc. I'm hoping that someone more experienced with BCs than myself can offer some advice on proper training as well as what to expect from our dog. I began some basic obedience training (heel, sit, come, stay) and I'm seeing some progress. However, if he is the least bit distracted he does not come when I call him. In fact, if he is off leash outside he will completely ignore me, which means we've had to chase him through the neighborhood a few times. I have two young nephews who get rowdy, and if they run he chases after them and nips them. I know that is pretty common behavior for BCs but how do I keep it under control? How do I teach him not to herd children or other dogs? How can I train him to come to me when I call him, even when he is distracted by other dogs or people, etc? And most importantly, what is the best way to keep him occupied so that he doesn't try to escape constantly? He no longer dashes out of the house every time the door opens but I'm worried about him getting out of the yard. I walk him at least twice a day and practice our obedience training several times a week, with lots of playing inside during the day. But I cannot trust him off-leash outside AT ALL. Will that ever change? We are getting a new house and are planning on building a 6-foot privacy fence. Could he climb that? Should we build a pen for him? Do BCs dig out from under fences? I hope someone has some advice for me. I don't want this guy to get away from us and end up getting hit by a car, and I don't want to give up on him as we have become VERY attached to each other. But I need some reassurance that he will become better behaved.

Hi. I recently started taking my 3 yr old BC to learn to herd sheep. At home or any where in public, she listens great, but doesn't listen when it comes to sheep. I need to teach her "that'll do," but I don't know how to. Anyone have any advice on how to teach it? I am trying to teach her at home to begin with.

Hello, everyone! I am a BC beginner and I will be getting my first Border Collie. She will be just about 8 weeks old when I pick her up. I am extremely excited, as I've been searching for the right puppy for a few years now. Even though she comes from a strictly herding line, I've decided that I would like to train her for both flyball and agility when she's older. I've been involved in flyball for about two years now and I am a complete beginner in agility. So, I have a bit of a dilemma that I'm hoping a few of you can help with. How should I go about as far as training classes go? More specifically, which classes should I take (obedience, foundation agility, etc.) and when is a puppy considered old enough to begin said classes? I'm aware that a puppy cannot be subjected to repetitive, strenuous activity until they are about a year old. That being said, what should I be doing with my puppy until then? Also, are there any general (not necessarily sports-related) training tips you can offer? Or any information you'd feel would help a novice? I'm a bit nervous for my first BC and I want to do things to the best of my ability. So, any knowledge would be incredibly appreciated! Thank you!

I am trying to train my 1.5 year old female Border Collie to work cattle. I have no prior stockdog training experience. My problem is related to (a lack of) biting. The dog does not bite heels. She doesn't recognize the heel as a target. She only shows interest in light nipping at a calf's head. I purchased 3 gentle 450 lb. Holstein calves for training this dog. My herd cattle are somewhat unfriendly, so I was advised to use comparatively docile milk cows for dog training. The calves were not dog-broke. The calves quickly learned that if they turn their bodies away from the dog, the dog will not bite their rear or heels. When this happens, the dog tries to circle around to the calf's head. This causes the dog to push the calf the wrong direction, or more often, the calf spins away, and the dog chases the head, in a circle. I tried to strongly discourage the dog from running in front of the calf when I want her on the opposite side of the calf. Unfortunately the dog can't do much if she is behind the calf and the calf refuses to walk forward. Even when the dog is face-to-face with a calf, she has trouble forcing the calf to move away. She has a very weak bite, like a kiss, which is really too gentle to motivate the calf to leave. The dog gets nose-to-nose with a calf, but the calf often just stands in place. The calf stares at her, or moves his head away, or butts the dog. If the dog would bite, instead of gnawing at the calf's face, the calf would move. I don't know how to encourage the dog to be more assertive. I try to praise, excite, and encourage her, and she becomes excited, but she doesn't use her teeth to make the cattle move. How can I encourage the dog to bite when appropriate?

JACK KNOX STOCK DOG TRAINING CLINIC July 27 & 28, 2013 Entries Close July 20, 2013 ALL BREEDS/ALL LEVELS at Maple Hill Farms 8999 Fairmount Rd., Novelty, Ohio 44072 8:30 A.M. EACH DAY CLINIC: $200 – per dog/handler for two day seminar (Sat/Sun). Auditing is unlimited at $50 per day, per person. LUNCH: Will be provided. Please specify if you are a carnivore or vegetarian. A variety of cold beverages will be provided also. All dogs must be kept QUIET, on leash or crated when not working in class. Bring a comfortable folding chair for each person attending. CONTACT/MAIL ENTRY TO: Bill or Elaine Blaschke; 8999 Fairmount Rd., Novelty, Ohio 44072 BBlaschke@aol.com or EBlaschke@aol.com Home/Bus: 440-338-6301 Bill's cell: 216-218-8890 Elaine's cell: 440-533-1878 All of these numbers have voice mail. So if no answer, leave a message with a number so we can return your call. We have a large variety of sheep that can be used to train your dog. This would include adult rams, ewes w/lambs at side and yearling rams and ewes. We also offer the ability to train your dog in herding and penning on farm terrain ranging from open fields, woods, trails, streams, gullies and obstacles to test your dog. Our facilities include a 50' diameter round pen, a 32' X 48' rectangular pen, a 187’ X 288' paddock, a 2-1/2 acre paddock and a 25-acre pasture. We do have limited parking for travel trailers or motor homes and can offer 115-volt electrical service and water. There will be a $10 per day charge for electric and water. Bring your own hoses and cords. We do not have septic service so your units must be self-contained. If you are from out of town and need a place to stay, there are several motels with in 25 minutes from the farm. They are north of the farm on Route 306 in Willoughby, Ohio at the intersection of rtes I-90 and 306. They include: Red Roof Inn, no extra charge for pets, phone # 440-946-9872 Days Inn, $15 per dog, per day charge, phone # 440-946-0500 America's Best Value Inn, $15 per dog, per day charge, phone # 440-953-8835 A LITTLE ABOUT JACK: Jack Knox is a renowned breeder, handler, trainer and trial judge making him a household name in the world of the working Border Collies. He has been training and running dogs his whole life and is an extremely popular, accomplished and well respected clinician. Jack has helped both novice and experienced handlers to improve upon and fine-tune their training and handling skills. He emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1971. He initially lived in North Carolina for three years but now lives in Butler, Missouri with his wife and daughter. Jack has trialed heavily from the mid seventies to eighties and started teaching herding clinics in 1979. Jack is constantly learning and feels that //his training methods have evolved over time. He has placed in and won numerous trials, including USBCHA National Finals. Jack is in the ABCA Hall Of Fame. DIRECTIONS TO FARM: From the North: Get off I-90, coming from either the west or east, at exit #193 (Kirtland/Mentor) and head south on rte. 306, aka Chillicothe Rd. Continue south thru the towns of Kirtland and then Chesterland. Fairmount Rd. is the second crossroad south of Chesterland and crosses rte. 306. Turn left onto Fairmount from rte. 306 and head east one, (1) mile to the farm. The farm is on your right, on the south side of the road. From exit #193 to the farm is twelve, (12) miles and will take about 21 minutes to drive. From the South: Exit rte. 422, coming from either the west or east at the Aurora/S. Russell-Chagrin Rd./Bainbridge Rd. exit. There is no exit number. Head north onto rte. 306. You will cross E. Washington St., Bell Rd., Music St., and rte. 87, aka Kinsman Rd. Fairmount crosses rte. 306 and is the second crossroad north of rte. 87. Turn right onto Fairmount from rte. 306 and head east one, (1) mile to the farm. The farm is on your right, on the south side of the road. From the rte. 422/rte. 306 exit to the farm is 7.2 miles and will take about 12 minutes to drive. From the West/Chagrin Falls area: From downtown Chagrin Falls, take E. Orange St. east to North St. and bear to the left. North St. turns into Russell Rd. and then dead ends into rte. 87, (Kinsman Rd.). Turn right and head east to rte. 306. Turn left onto rte. 306 and head north. Fairmount crosses rte. 306 and is the second crossroad north of rte. 87. Turn right onto Fairmount from rte. 306 and head east one, (1) mile to the farm. The farm is on your right, on the south side of the road. From the center of Chagrin Falls to the farm is 6.75 miles and will take about 12 minutes to drive. From the East: Leave the town square of Burton, Ohio and head west on rte. 87, (Kinsman Rd.) You will cross rte. 44 and Auburn Rd. Continue to rte. 306 and turn right and head north. Fairmount crosses rte. 306 and is the second crossroad north of rte. 87. Turn right onto Fairmount from rte. 306 and head east one, (1) mile to the farm. The farm is on your right, on the south side of the road. From Burton Square to the farm is eleven, (11) miles and will take about 15 minutes to drive. JACK KNOX STOCK DOG CLINIC ENTRY FORM Signature at bottom required HANDLER NAME: ____________________________________________ ADDRESS, CITY & STATE: _______________________________________________ PHONE: ______________________ E-MAIL : ________________________@______ I WILL PARTICIPATE (CHECK DATES THAT APPLY): CLINIC: Sat/Sun, July 27 & 28, 2013_______ Number of Dogs ______________ Breed(s) of dog(s): _____________________________________________________ Dog’s name: __________________________________________________________ AUDITING: Sat/Sun for days (how many day(s)/people) _____________________ Entries close July 20, 2013. Payment in full must be made in advance to hold your spot. Checks payable to: Maple Hill Farms Refunds are possible only if the seminar is filled to capacity and there is someone else to fill the slot. You are welcome to resell your slot with timely notification. In consideration that I will be participating in the Jack Knox Stock Dog Clinic and private lessons sponsored by Maple Hill Farms, div. Geauga Drilling and Supply Co., Inc. and held at Maple Hill Farms in Novelty, Ohio on July 27 & 28, 2013, I do hereby agree that in the event of personal injury or death and/or damage to my property or animals in my control, I will not hold Jack Knox & family, the hosts & their family, their members, or workers responsible. I will pay for livestock injured or killed during my participation at the clinic. Signature: ____________________________________ Date: __________ I will be having lunch: yes no (circle one) How many having lunch? ___________________ total Vegetarian: yes no (circle one) How many are vegetarian? __________________ total Non-vegetarian: yes no (circle one) How many are non-vegetarian? ______________ total

JACK KNOX STOCK DOG TRAINING CLINIC July 27 & 28, 2013 Entries Close July 20, 2013 ALL BREEDS/ALL LEVELS at Maple Hill Farms 8999 Fairmount Rd., Novelty, Ohio 44072 8:30 A.M. EACH DAY CLINIC: $200 – per dog/handler for two day seminar (Sat/Sun). Auditing is unlimited at $50 per day, per person. LUNCH: Will be provided. Please specify if you are a carnivore or vegetarian. A variety of cold beverages will be provided also. All dogs must be kept QUIET, on leash or crated when not working in class. Bring a comfortable folding chair for each person attending. CONTACT/MAIL ENTRY TO: Bill or Elaine Blaschke; 8999 Fairmount Rd., Novelty, Ohio 44072 BBlaschke@aol.com or EBlaschke@aol.com Home/Bus: 440-338-6301 Bill's cell: 216-218-8890 Elaine's cell: 440-533-1878 All of these numbers have voice mail. So if no answer, leave a message with a number so we can return your call. We have a large variety of sheep that can be used to train your dog. This would include adult rams, ewes w/lambs at side and yearling rams and ewes. We also offer the ability to train your dog in herding and penning on farm terrain ranging from open fields, woods, trails, streams, gullies and obstacles to test your dog. Our facilities include a 50' diameter round pen, a 32' X 48' rectangular pen, a 187’ X 288' paddock, a 2-1/2 acre paddock and a 25-acre pasture. We do have limited parking for travel trailers or motor homes and can offer 115-volt electrical service and water. There will be a $10 per day charge for electric and water. Bring your own hoses and cords. We do not have septic service so your units must be self-contained. If you are from out of town and need a place to stay, there are several motels with in 25 minutes from the farm. They are north of the farm on Route 306 in Willoughby, Ohio at the intersection of rtes I-90 and 306. They include: Red Roof Inn, no extra charge for pets, phone # 440-946-9872 Days Inn, $15 per dog, per day charge, phone # 440-946-0500 America's Best Value Inn, $15 per dog, per day charge, phone # 440-953-8835 A LITTLE ABOUT JACK: Jack Knox is a renowned breeder, handler, trainer and trial judge making him a household name in the world of the working Border Collies. He has been training and running dogs his whole life and is an extremely popular, accomplished and well respected clinician. Jack has helped both novice and experienced handlers to improve upon and fine-tune their training and handling skills. He emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1971. He initially lived in North Carolina for three years but now lives in Butler, Missouri with his wife and daughter. Jack has trialed heavily from the mid seventies to eighties and started teaching herding clinics in 1979. Jack is constantly learning and feels that //his training methods have evolved over time. He has placed in and won numerous trials, including USBCHA National Finals. Jack is in the ABCA Hall Of Fame. DIRECTIONS TO FARM: From the North: Get off I-90, coming from either the west or east, at exit #193 (Kirtland/Mentor) and head south on rte. 306, aka Chillicothe Rd. Continue south thru the towns of Kirtland and then Chesterland. Fairmount Rd. is the second crossroad south of Chesterland and crosses rte. 306. Turn left onto Fairmount from rte. 306 and head east one, (1) mile to the farm. The farm is on your right, on the south side of the road. From exit #193 to the farm is twelve, (12) miles and will take about 21 minutes to drive. From the South: Exit rte. 422, coming from either the west or east at the Aurora/S. Russell-Chagrin Rd./Bainbridge Rd. exit. There is no exit number. Head north onto rte. 306. You will cross E. Washington St., Bell Rd., Music St., and rte. 87, aka Kinsman Rd. Fairmount crosses rte. 306 and is the second crossroad north of rte. 87. Turn right onto Fairmount from rte. 306 and head east one, (1) mile to the farm. The farm is on your right, on the south side of the road. From the rte. 422/rte. 306 exit to the farm is 7.2 miles and will take about 12 minutes to drive. From the West/Chagrin Falls area: From downtown Chagrin Falls, take E. Orange St. east to North St. and bear to the left. North St. turns into Russell Rd. and then dead ends into rte. 87, (Kinsman Rd.). Turn right and head east to rte. 306. Turn left onto rte. 306 and head north. Fairmount crosses rte. 306 and is the second crossroad north of rte. 87. Turn right onto Fairmount from rte. 306 and head east one, (1) mile to the farm. The farm is on your right, on the south side of the road. From the center of Chagrin Falls to the farm is 6.75 miles and will take about 12 minutes to drive. From the East: Leave the town square of Burton, Ohio and head west on rte. 87, (Kinsman Rd.) You will cross rte. 44 and Auburn Rd. Continue to rte. 306 and turn right and head north. Fairmount crosses rte. 306 and is the second crossroad north of rte. 87. Turn right onto Fairmount from rte. 306 and head east one, (1) mile to the farm. The farm is on your right, on the south side of the road. From Burton Square to the farm is eleven, (11) miles and will take about 15 minutes to drive. JACK KNOX STOCK DOG CLINIC ENTRY FORM Signature at bottom required HANDLER NAME: ____________________________________________ ADDRESS, CITY & STATE: _______________________________________________ PHONE: ______________________ E-MAIL : ________________________@______ I WILL PARTICIPATE (CHECK DATES THAT APPLY): CLINIC: Sat/Sun, July 27 & 28, 2013_______ Number of Dogs ______________ Breed(s) of dog(s): _____________________________________________________ Dog’s name: __________________________________________________________ AUDITING: Sat/Sun for days (how many day(s)/people) _____________________ Entries close July 20, 2013. Payment in full must be made in advance to hold your spot. Checks payable to: Maple Hill Farms Refunds are possible only if the seminar is filled to capacity and there is someone else to fill the slot. You are welcome to resell your slot with timely notification. In consideration that I will be participating in the Jack Knox Stock Dog Clinic and private lessons sponsored by Maple Hill Farms, div. Geauga Drilling and Supply Co., Inc. and held at Maple Hill Farms in Novelty, Ohio on July 27 & 28, 2013, I do hereby agree that in the event of personal injury or death and/or damage to my property or animals in my control, I will not hold Jack Knox & family, the hosts & their family, their members, or workers responsible. I will pay for livestock injured or killed during my participation at the clinic. Signature: ____________________________________ Date: __________ I will be having lunch: yes no (circle one) How many having lunch? ___________________ total Vegetarian: yes no (circle one) How many are vegetarian? __________________ total Non-vegetarian: yes no (circle one) How many are non-vegetarian? ______________ total

So Ambrosia is a bit young, but I was hoping to discuss an idea I have and how others would go about training their dog to accomplish such a task. Here in my hometown they lay out handmade glass floats on the beach for about half the year. I myself am not overly interested in finding them, if I'm looking for anything at the beach it's agates or cool driftwood. However, I was thinking it would be super if I went to the beach with my great grandma (who is 93) and my dog and my dog could find her one, since she doesn't have the stamina to just go searching herself. I have plenty of these of different sizes and colors I could use for training, I'm just not sure how to go about teaching a dog to find what is more or less an odorless, hidden (in nooks and crannie, not like buried or anything) and randomly placed object. All ideas would be helpful. Thanks.

I will start this off with I know the difference between the actual training methods of shaping vs. luring. My question is for those who do both methods in simple exercises what are the benefits to take the time to shape a behavior? For example, something simple like 'Spin' right and left I can effectively teach my dog by luring in just a few sessions and have a pretty solid behavior performance in the end. Where if I took the time to shape it, to me it take considerably longer. I understand also that as the dog learns to offer behaviors that shaping new things gets faster/easier but my border collie in particular has never been one to offer behaviors and have VERY low drive for treats and looses interest very quickly even with very frequent clicks/rewards when shaping mostly because she's not interested in the treats (it can be steak, hot dogs etc she just doesn't care) She is VERY toy motivated and I try to mix it up with a toy reward every few clicks which is very time consuming. Luring seems to work much better for her but I'm wondering if the end result is really that different? My newest edition is a Staffy bull terrier puppy who is over the top food motivated and has no toy interest (totally opposite!) but will offer behaviors for a cookie til the cows come home! What started my thoughts on this topic was trying to teach the Silvia Trkman Heeling method (spinning front paws on a bowl to start) My 5 month old Staffy puppy picked up on feet on the bowl = treat within 3 minutes. My border collie no matter how much I treat for a head shift in the right direction etc etc etc will connect it with putting her feet on the bowl, and because of her lack of food interest getting the treat isn't that important. If I resort to luring her for the initial behavior am I losing anything in my end behavior result? I will add that my border collie is brilliant and excels in agility and have over the top drive for other things that she can go "do" something. I just can't seem to get her to stop and think about non-agility activities no matter how exciting I try and make them!