Training a Border Collie

Tia Now 20 weeks

2007-03-02T10:00:00.000+11:00

Toilet Training
Is coming along really well, I would say we are there.

Crate Training
Have been working on this all week, using a method out Pam Dennison's "Idiots Guide to Positive Training" great book don't be put off by the title.
We are up to 15 minutes inside, in a crate without her whining. If I put a bone in their she can go even longer.

Running Around A Cone
Have been getting her to run around a cone from 5 feet away, she runs around the cone and comes back for the tug reward. Next I will put the cone in a corner to tighten up the turn.

Retrieving
She has no real drive for a tennis ball but will retrieve it for food. Before she gets fed she has to retrieve a tennis ball. So she has worked out that to get what she wants she needs to do what I want. I usually do this in the morning when she has her most energy. Went to Maxi's Supermarket yesterday and found a toy that has a rope with a tiny tennis ball on the end. I attached the tennis ball toy to the end of a horse whip and fling that around, she seems to enjoy this.

Herding
We are going to herding training on 11 March, 2007 hope to take a video. Have been told she has real talent for this. May end up just doing herding.

Stays
Drop stay is up to 10 seconds from 5 paces away on a good day. Sit stay about 3 paces 4 seconds. As soon as I say the word "stay" she tends to move and start sniffing. Tends to sniff a lot in the drop stay. Stand stay, only at my side a one forward at this stage. I am starting to add the "Stay" word while she is in position at my side and I am not moving any where. I think this is telling her what a stay is and just because I say a word doesn't mean she has to physically move and do something else.

Agility
We will be doing an Agility Assessment at Action Dogs. We will see how she goes in agility, if she is not driven and does not seem to enjoy we will not persist.

Obedience
Her heeling is coming along only do about 5 to 10 paces, of heeling where she is looking up at me. I click whenever she looks, if she loses interest and starts to sniff then I run away. Seems to be working a bit.

Swimming
Tia is now starting to go into water and swim only if Josh is already in. She will follow him in and start swimming. She will also only swim where she has swum before, and has to be at the exact same entry point. She will also follow me in as well. She is usually quite happy to walk up to her tummy. Once she starts swimming she gets more confident. We take her swimming about 4 - 5 times a week.

Appearance
Her new adult coat is starting to come in. Her ears are not sure what to do.

Intensive Training

2007-02-07T21:24:00.000+11:00

Have had the last two weeks off from work so have been doing a heap of training with Tia.

Toilet Training
While she has never dropped the heavy artillery inside she has widdled a bit. So the last 2 weeks while I watch TV at night, thats when she is in, I take her out every add break. We found that when I take her out, she just sits and looks at me, but when my husband takes her out she performs. In the last 2 weeks we haven't had an accident in the house. We use the word "toilet".

Stays
We have been working on stays, and seem to be making a bit of progress. I found that when I use a toy and then release her and let her play with the toy, I get much better response. A more steady stay. If I leave her in a stay and I have food on me she tends to sniff at the ground. I have to click the clicker before she goes to sniff, so that could mean every 1/4 of a second. I also found that I could hide the toy, and place it in my pocket, and come back and reward her with that. Then I tried alternating between a toy and some food.

Stands
From the moment I got Tia, sit is a default behaviour. So stands are a challenge have to hold my finger out for her to target, or have to keep rewarding the stand whilst bent over so she doesn't go into a sit. Works in progress. But on the other hand she already auto sits whilst heeling. I use the same footwork each time.

Drops & Sits
The other night she dropped from a distance of about 5 feet I then ran up to her and gave her a jack pot.

Herding
We did some more herding on Tuesday in a paddock. The trainer said she was a little "ripper",. She at one stage split the sheep but then worked out how to get them back again. Will probably do the herding instinct test as soon as we get her papers, still waiting. The only other way is to register her as an associate, but that would mean having to desex her early.

Tennis Ball Drive
Her drive for the tennis ball is not very high. In the mornings she doesn't get her meal till she retrieves the tennis ball. So I am working on the premack principle, if she does what I want she gets what she wants. It usually takes a couple of goes. Then she does it. Tonight she retrieved the tennis ball and I rewarded her with a game of tug. She still loves her tug.

Buster Cube,
Have been using a buster cube, and a food dispensing ball. To get her thinking and give her something to do a night. She loves it and the other dogs don't go near her, maybe she is boss???

Bubble Machine
We bought a bubble water pistol thingi, where it shoots out bacon flavoured bubbles, she quite enjoys this and even still looks for the bubbles whilst my other dog is wagging his tail in her face. Have updated my web page. Also added a counter to this blog and am surprised how many hits it gets.

Tia Now 16 weeks Old

2007-01-31T22:10:00.000+11:00

Tia was weighed at the vet and weighed in at 8kg, the vet recons she will probably end up being a small border collie and weighing 16kg (he says you double the weight at 16 weeks except not for large breeds).

Have been working on kick back stands from in front.

Also from the side.

Tia also had her first go at herding sheep, she had never seen a sheep before and is not from herding lines.

Have been teaching her to do a paw wave and march.

Tia has also been learning to not eat out of her food bowl till she gives me eye contact.

Her Rolling over is more confident now, I don't need to reward in increments as much as before. She still needs a fair bit of help.

Still need to work on ball drive, I think I may use food as per shirley chong method for the dumbell. She is also nervous of cars when I am out walking her. I have two weeks off work so have been putting a lot of training and socialising into her. Whenever I leave her in the car, (which is not usually longer than 10 minutes), she always has a bone to chew on, which stops her stressing. Will be taking her to the Pet Expo on Friday.

Tia - is now getting very clicker savvy.

2007-01-12T21:49:00.000+11:00

Have been working on the following.

Ball drive.
Each morning when she is her most energetic I do a bit of throwing her tiny tennis ball in the hallway, this way there are no distractions and she can't run off with it. I do a little bit of tug with it, and let her chase me with it in her mouth. I am also working on "catch". I started off with a soft toy, then I went to the tennis ball. I bounced the tennis ball until she was following it with her eyes, and then threw it for her to catch, the first time she caught it, I think it was a bit of a fluke.

We are up to Step 21 of the Shirley Chong clicker retrieve. She is up to the stage where she will pick up the dumbell from the ground and place it into my hand.

Backing
We are still practicing this using a puppy pen as a barrier. She is moving about 5 feets backwards but sometimes seems to jump backwards.

Cavaletti
Have also been getting her to walk over a ladder on the ground. So she will learn to use her back feet, she seems to move them together like a rabbit.

Swimming
She will now happily go into a paddle pool when she is hot. Out at the lake I still have to coax her in with food lures so she will start swimming. Swimming is a very good form of exercise and it may help her back legs.

Close Door
I have been shaping this one. I smeared a little bit of cheese on the cupboard door and c/t (click treat) her for sniffing, then waited for a nose touch. She gets a little confused and sits next to the door looking at me and hitting the door with her side. At one stage she got frustrated and jumped up with two feet and slammed the door close. I c/t that and she is starting to get the idea now. I now c/t for when the door shuts. I am also altering my position. She nows where the treats are and would like to get them without doing the work.

Mat
Have been freeshaping this out of the Click Quicks book. She will go towards the mat and turn around and then lie down backwards onto the mat. If she misses and I don't click she then move her body backwards.

Crate
Have been working on crate training using "COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO POSITIVE DOG TRAINING, 2ND EDITIONby Pamela Dennison I tooks the other dogs out with me to do the paper run, and left Tia in the crate with a couple of bones to chew on. She was still quiet when I got back an hour later and still chewing her bones. I found this work best in the morning when she is at her hungriest.

Paw Touch
Have been working on paw touch to a target using the "Quick Clicks" book.

Socialisation
Have been getting Tia out and about, and she is well and truly used to the car now, and does not sook. Have taken her to friends places so she can meet new dogs and new people. She is much more confident, usually plays with the dogs we introduce her to. When she sees people she runs up to them and sits in front, (I didn't teach her this). She is a little nervous of cars when I walk on lead around the street. Took her to a flyball class, mainly so she could get used to the sound of barking dogs. I also did some recalls to a tug toy on the flat. To get her focusing on me when there are distractions around. She did quite well, loves her tug.

Rear End Awareness
Got a phone book out, and lured her to put her two front feet on, I then moved around the phone book and clicked each time her back legs moved. She kept her front legs on the book but moved her back legs. Here is a video of my older dog doing this. I also noticed today in the garage when she got stuck in a narrow aisle, that she just simply backed out when she couldn't turn around.

Stays
These are still very challenging but managed to get one step past her. It seems as soon as you say "stay" she moves. Haven't had this problem with any other dogs I have trained.

Rollover
Have been luring her over, she is not yet confident but still working on it.

Recalls
She is coming to the sound of my metalic audible whistle.

Tia Now 12 weeks old!!!

2007-01-03T19:40:00.000+11:00

Took Tia to the vet for her injections and she weighs 6.7kg at 12 weeks old, don't know if that is big or small but her brothers are 8kg.

We are working on the Shirley Chong Clicker Retrieve, we are up to step 13. I tick each step off and date it as I go. Hopefully her retrieve will improve by doing this. She tends to want to run off with the object, but does sometimes bring it back, but it is early days yet.

She has learnt to come to a whistle, which is very handy.

Still not really confident about swimming yet but I try to lure her into the water with food or using a rice cake with meat smeared on the top for her to swim after. It took my goofy flatcoated retriever 6 months to enjoy swimming and now look at him so I am not too worried. Her brother loves the water.

The water being used if from our creek, which we are allowed to use during water restrictions.

I took her for a walk on lead by herself, and clicked her for looking at me whilst walking, she was a little worried about the cars.

I have done some crate training using the book "Idiots Guide to Positive Dog Training" she gets fed in her crate every morning.

I have also been teaching her to go to the mat and lie down using Quick Clicks book.

Sometimes when I start to train her using shaping she is so happy to see me, she wants to jump on me and ignore the dumbell. I was at a Richard Curtis Seminar and he said he used to ignore the first 20 minutes of his dogs work.

Concerns
Her back legs don't move correctly when she runs, they tend to move in bunny rabbit fashion. The vet suggested hip displaysia but she wasn't really sure. I took her to a lady who does deep muscle massage and she thought Tia was very sore in the back.

Stays are still a problem area.

Photos Taken Today

2006-12-27T21:04:00.000+11:00

These photos were taken today.

Photos Attached -

2006-12-27T09:03:00.000+11:00

Found that the latest internet browser made it difficult to add photos. So am using Firefox for this. The first picture is taken with my mum's Cavalier aged 11 months, the other one is with my daughter.

Treat N Train - Going out to a Target

2006-12-26T10:37:00.000+11:00

Have been teaching Tia the Treat N Train. She goes out and touches a stationery target and then goes to the Treat N Train for the reward. Some of my clicks are a bit late and some times the machine doesn't dispense the treat but despite that she seems to be getting it.

Here is a link for more info about the Treat N Train.
http://landofpuregold.com/tat.htm

Obedience Training and Tug

2006-12-25T13:00:00.000+11:00

Have just started Shirley Chongs Clicker Retrieve, we are up to step 5, I reward her for interacting with the dumbell.

I am also working on increasing her tug drive. In this video I am recalling her to the tug in the family room.

I am also working on having her touch a target stick with her nose, I keep the sessions short as she is easily distracted as food is not a high motivator for her. My husband is busy in the kitchen which provides a bit of distraction that she has to work through. I will wait for her to work out what gets rewarded. I take the target stick away when she is not interacting with it as I don't want to nag her with it.

Tia is following the target stick, I may use this to teach heeling, she seems quite interested in the moving target.

I am working on tug and getting her to drop the tug for another toy that I have. Hopefully she will learn that the tug is more interesting when I have it then when she has it.

Just Starting to Offer Behaviours

2006-12-19T13:31:00.000+11:00

Have been working on sit at my side, this has been quite challenging. She is slowly picking it up.

Went to brush her the other day and got out the Treat N Train, a remote control device that dispenses treats making a beep sound. I operated this to get her mind of me brushing her seemed to work. Then I sat at a distance from the machine and set it to dispense a treat each time she gave eye contact. Then I waited for her to do something else, and she offerred a drop so rewarded that. In another session I got her to run to me to target my fingers then go back to the machine for a reward.

Took her to the Supermarket on Saturday, and stood outside whilst waiting for my husband. She saw many different people including people with thongs on. She also was quite close to the automatic doors and trolleys going past. She took it in her stride and fell asleep.

When I feed her in the morning she dives at her food bowl, and will try and help the other dogs eat their food as well.

At the moment my mums Cavalier who is 11 months old and slightly taller than her is at my place. The two of them play wrestling games all day.

Took her to Warrandyte last night to do some water training. I entice her to swim with a food lure. She also met an 18 month old German Shepherd who she enticed into playing with her. She would run up and play bow and then run away and then come back again. The shepherd would play bow back. It was quite funny to watch.

Tia More Confident Around My Other Dogs

2006-12-12T17:17:00.000+11:00

Tia is starting to get more confident around Moses my Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, and is trying to entice him into games. She runs up to him and then runs away so he will chase her, then she rolls on her back. He is very gentle with her. Then the game starts again. I am still at Bairnsdale.

Tia is getting more confident in water.

2006-12-11T15:03:00.000+11:00

Have been taking Tia to the water with the other dogs just about every day. She is getting more confident. At the moment I am at Bairnsdale helping with the fires, I will be here until Friday. My husband took Tia to the lake, and she swam after some ducks and then came back, so that is a big step forward. My husband also crossed the creek, and she had a winge and then jumped in and swam across.

2006-12-08T15:43:00.000+11:00

Here are photos of Tia taken this morning, on my front lawn.

Tia Getting Yet More Confident

2006-12-08T10:24:00.000+11:00

Tia is getting more confident and more food obsessed. Showed her the agility tunnel today. Costs $10 from "The Warehouse". My daughter held her at one end, while I called her at the other end to the 'tug' in my hand, then I sent her back through the tunnel, to my daughter who rewarded her at the other end of the tunnel. Her ears are starting to prick up. Here are some updated photos. Have been starting to teach her rollover. Have also been getting her to spin in a circle in both directions have heard that it keeps them more supple. Watching her I see that she is naturally very pawry, tends to give paw whilst sitting. I like this. Also notice that she walks backwards naturally.

Tia Getting More Confident

2006-12-06T21:33:00.000+11:00

She is starting to get more confident. Everyone who sees her likes to give her a pat. At Kintala Club she met lots of puppy's and older dogs. I have reduced her daily meals, with training treats to make up the difference. She is getting more food motivated now. Her ears are starting to prick up. She has learnt drop, stand, sit, and starting to do roll over. She also knows spin, and to target my fingers.

Little Breakthrough

2006-12-01T19:49:00.000+11:00

Last night took Tia socialising, two people patted her and she pissed herself.

After listening to some advice I have started feeding her out of her food bowl. Tonight each time before I gave her some food, I clicked my clicker. She started responding to it a little. I then threw her kibble a few feet away and clicked when she turned her head and threw another piece the other way. She enjoyed this and started trying to turn quicker than what her body could do. Very funny to watch.

I then did another session of tug, and played two toys game with two tennis balls, she retrieved right to hand. Then took her outside with my daughter who held her and said "ready, set go" and released her to play with the tug.

Will continue feeding out of my hand. She was actually jumping up at me to get the food which I like.

Day 2 & 3

2006-11-29T12:31:00.000+11:00

Took Tia to puppy school last night, she started getting confident with the other puppy's but definately not over the top like some. Kept her away from over the top puppys. Her food drive is very low, you actually have to put the food into the mouth.

Did some tug play with her, she growls while she tugs. Did some push away games. Also got her to sit then tug, then sit then tug. While I was playing tug she saw the cat and was a little bit worried but then went back to playing tug.

This morning I fed my two dogs first, and she just about dived into Moses food bowl and he let her, so I moved her away and gave her her food bowl, she ate much quicker and more food today. I put small amounts of meat into her bowl (all she has been fed is kibble) and she actually seeked out the meat to eat.

Last night she sooked in the car for the first 5 minutes until she worked out that it was easier to lie down. After puppy school she sooked again in the car and then went to sleep.

This morning, I showed her the paddle pool and lured her in and also showed her the creek and got her to follow me across the creek, it is very shallow.

She is going to puppy school again tonight and will see her two brothers again.

Concerns
Low food drive.

Photos From Day 1 - 8 Weeks Old

2006-11-27T17:34:00.000+11:00

Future Freestyler

Day 1

2006-11-27T14:58:00.000+11:00

Picked up "Tia" from the breeder, Budwiser this morning and took her back to my mums place. At the moment she doesn't seem very food motivated, and a little timid.

Targetting
She already knows sit. I have taught her to target my fingers, I held my fingers out and click and treated when she touched them. I then repeated this 3 times, then added the word "Touch". I found that as soon as I click she seems to sit. So I always give the reward when she is standing. Will try and phase that sit out.

I showed her a pola bear on the end of a stick which I bought from Seaworld, she was a bit scared of it. I again showed her later on in the day. I then Click and treat whenever she touches it, left it at three repititions. I am using "meat" as a treat, as liver treats don't do anything.

Recall
I am calling her to me, with my hand down low, and as she is coming I click and then treat. At this stage I am still not sure whether she understands what the clicker is, as she is not particularly fussed about the food reward.

Socialization
I have been socializing her with my mum's 10 month old cavalier. She was a bit nervous at first. I kept the sessions short so she wouldn't be overwhelmed. After about 4 sessions, she is no longer worried about him.

Sand Pit
I showed her the sand pit, and she quite enjoys it. Loves to dig and is carrying the plastic spade around in her mouth and running out of the sandpit with it. The sand is making her a little bit frisky. The sand pit is one of those clam shells with sand in it.

Swimming Pool
I showed her my mum's clam shell swimming pool with water. I lured her in with a piece of meat. At one stage she had two front feet in and was trying to lift her rear legs even though all legs were in the pool. Did three repetitions of this.

Sit
I stood in front and told her sit, and she knows it on verbal alone. No food in the hand.

Drop
I had her in a stand and lured her back into a drop from me in front. She dropped quite well. I lured her two more times, then I took the food out of my hand, and just did the hand signals and voice. She dropped.

My sessions are only lasting a couple of minutes, have been videoing her and taking some photos. At the moment she is sleeping.

Play
She loved my mums broom, and at one stage had both front paws on it, and lying down at the front with back legs running. Likes to tug.

Comments
Seems to learn quickly. Learnt targetting and drop very quickly. Takes food gently out of my fingers and is not mouthing me at this stage. She warms to people quite quickly once they pat her.

Concerns
Does not seem to be to food motivated, so will need high value treats, chicken mince, will train before feeding. Seems a little timid of new situations, so will be doing a lot of socialising and showing new things. Cried a bit in the car whilst sitting on my lap on the way home (40min drive), but eventually settled down. Will need to work on prey drive. It is only Day 1, and she has been taken away from her parents and siblings, and stuck in a whole new place. So will see how it goes. Will run and hide when she feels overwhelmed by the other dog.

2006-11-24T13:54:00.000+11:00

Just found Moses my Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever on youtube. We filmed this add about a month ago. The quality is not good. When he reverses through the legs, they are actually my legs I had to switch clothes with the actor.

Picking Up Pup - On Monday

2006-11-23T17:58:00.000+11:00

Will be flying to Sydney on Sunday and picking the pup up on Monday and flying back with it. So many things to teach it. Have been going through "Quick Clicks" by Mandy Book and "Shaping for Success" by Susan Garret.

I am calling my new pup "Tia", here are her brothers at 6 weeks old. Two of them are going to Victoria.

2006-10-24T15:24:00.000+10:00

Here are the pups at 12 days old, I don't know which one is mine.

Border Collie Pup

2006-10-24T15:17:00.000+10:00

After having selected a breeder, went to visit my puppy, she is 1 of 6. One female amongst 5 males.