Help is on the Way!

One of my all time favorite (dog) books is Shaping Success by Susan Garrett. Her trials with Buzz remind me that I am not the only one out there with a crazy red&white Border Collie.

After last weekend's USDAA trial, I had a bit of a breakdown. I really thought I had Dash prepared for all the hububb...boy was I wrong. From the moment we parked til the moment we left at the end of the day, Dash screamed. and screamed. and barked. Did I mention screaming?

Luckily I had read Susan's book and she gave several pointers on how to deal with a highly motivated dog in such a charged atmosphere. I worked with him for about 30min. in the parking lot and each time that we got distracted I would move farther and farther away from things that were rewarding. Only when he calmed down did we move any closer to the entrance.

Later that night I felt angry with myself as I didn't train him the way I wanted and I got too uptight with him. I really wanted to be calm and stress-free but I wasn't. At all.

So Dash and I are officially enrolled in obedience class now and while this is not the route I wanted do go, I think it will be best for Dash. Dash gets HIGHLY excited when around other dogs who are playing...so much so, he doesn't even know I am around. I mean, this dog will go to hell and back for his tug toy but it doesn't even register with him when other dogs are near.

It's not a bad thing at all, it just means that those other dogs are more rewarding than I am. I hope that obedience will teach Dash how to keep his focus on me and that I will become more rewarding than anything else. (As I type this he is running around at 90mph in the backyard...yeahhhh I have got some work cut out for me)


-B

Twitter.

Ok, so call me lame but I signed up for a...are you ready for it? TWITTER.

I never really got the point of Twitter as we have email, texting, phone, etc. but hey to each their own. But now I have to look like a hypocrite as I now am the proud owner of one. It's not really going to be about my personal life, but it's dedicated to this blog and will mostly contain the same type of content.

Content like this:

                                            Don't ya just want to hug him?

My Twitter name is AgilityBlog or if you would prefer to look me up by email address, my address is AgilityGurl@yahoo.com

-B

Puppy Days.

I miss the big ole puppy belly, the puppy breath and of course the innocence.

                                 Here we are bringing Dash home at just about 13 weeks.

Dash comes from purely working lines, as do his parents and their parents and so on. As we drove up their driveway to look at what could possibly be coming home with us, we saw a Border Collie out working sheep. I didn't admit it outloud but I was sold!

They had planned to keep him but eventually decided that they didn't need another male. According to them, he was the smartest of the whole litter and was quite the trouble maker. He was constantly getting out of the puppy pen and getting into the sheep pen. At 13 weeks old he had zero fear of the herd and would try to work them! My curiousity got the best of me and they gladly put him in with the sheep just so I could see.

Imagine a red fuzzball the size of a dodgeball, running around yapping at these huge sheep. It was the cutest thing I had even seen! Unfortunantely I had to leave him as we had another litter to "access"...they claimed to have puppies from 'working lines' as well. That's a whole 'nother story".

I obviously ended up picking Dash and I have never regretted the decision. He is a very independent dog, but gladly works for me any time I ask (other than at the agility trials!). He is very intelligent so I have to watch my back with everything I do as he tends to watch me...then come back later to try and get whatever I just put away.

                                             Getting into our little dog's house.

So if you have a puppy, don't be in a rush for them to grow up. I know I used to think the 18 month minimum age requirement for agility was SOOOO far away, but now that it's only 9 months away...will we even be ready in 9 months?! Just enjoy the puppy days while you still can..<3

-B 



Little Red Devil.

I think the majority of people who own Border Collies have one time or another referred to them as 'a devil'. We don't mean it in the literal sense of course, but more of a way to describe their frenzied behavior.

Right now I have the pleasure of being owned by a little red Border Collie who goes by the name of Dash. He is in the middle of his teenage years and can be a huge pain in the rear. He is smart. And he knows it.

This is the first dog that I have ever trained using the Operant Behavior and they learn SO much faster with this method. He is eager to learn and will work longer than if I used any sort of traditional-type training. For those who don't know what Operant Behavior, a simple way to define it would be: Reinforce what you like and don't reinforce anything else! Dogs naturally do what is pleasing, so if they get a cookie every time they sit, you  better believe they will sit a whole lot!

It's definitely a lot harder than traditional training, but once you get the hang of it you will see that both you and your dog are happier. Dash learns things in only one session whereas in the past (with previous dogs) it took me mulitple sessions to teach one behavior. For example, last night the Hubby and I went to Petsmart and in the time it took to browse ONE aisle I had taught Dash how to "side" (line up on my left side).

I highly recommend anyone interested in this type of traninig to check out Susan Garrett's book Shaping Success.  It can be found on Clean Run or Susan's website Clicker Dogs. It has dramatically helped me in my training as well as showing me that I am not the only one who a red Border Collie who screams at the agility field. Ohhh my little red devil. <3

-B

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