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Went back and rewatched the video. I wasn’t running with her. I sent her and called it in a stationary pose. Took her back down and ran it again. Yes, my motion kept her on the right path. I think I’ll back chain that a bit. I’ll work both left and right and go and slowly move further from her. She is doing amazingly well, I think, for her age. At times I know she is working in arousal and have to simplify so I get her thinking again. I did add a third jump to the grid with one of them at 16″. She is powering over it just fine. I’m in my yard again, so the surface is better than the mats. Still a bit hard and wet, but she does seem to be powering up her rear end going over the jump bar. She is 10.5 months now, so I’m only adding a very low bar otherwise. Just added the 16″ today to see if she understood the jump command and didn’t just go under it. She seems to be learning really fast this week. We had a tough March with a terrible fear stage. She was terrified when I took her inside at the McKinney,TX venue. Several people told me that a lot of dogs are afraid in there. After seeing her reaction there, I didn’t dare take her anywhere near the rings at Nationals. She seemed to spook with the recorded “go”. So, we slowed training down to a slug pace and just worked on tenacity and resilience for three weeks. Otherwise, she was a model traveler. She didn’t even mind riding on the airplane with us. She was in the third seat in a kennel. This week I presented agility equipment again and she was on fire for it. She really is a silly girl most of the time. Yes, she is speedy and I will need to be able to steer from the back seat or from a distant lateral position with her. I don’t see myself staying in front of her.
I’m not sure if this is a game I need to go back to. I taught crate games at a young age and used the TT as a distraction. So, she doesn’t self release out of a crate.
It’s been a week in bed for me. Today I took her back to the club and trained a little. She is pretty toy focussed and guessing mostly I think. But, she is seeking out obstacles, easily stays focussed forward when I am going the opposite direction. My biggest challenge with left and right is calling the right word. I’m often calling a left when sending her to the right. Dang Dyslexia! Just short of drawing a line in chalk with the word, I’m not sure what more I can do about that.
I used the tunnel opposition as her recall. I’ve been working on sending her while I move in the opposite direction. My goal is for her to seek out a jump after and not run around it for a toy.
Go Line Up is our stay game. We have worked on that since she was a tiny thing. Super happy with her ability to stay, even with distractions
Minny Pinny didn’t seem to confuse her. I tried to keep it slow and call the correct word. She seems very bendy
Rocking Horse is absolutely her favorite game
Here is the advanced and super duper advanced. I did practice both sides. She needs my arm still. She was guessing on verbal only.
She is 8 mos on the 20th. But, yes I agree. Jump bars will be used sparingly. On the first Go, I had a toy. Then on the next two I didn’t and I noticed in the video how tight she turned back at me and was concerned. I won’t do that again. Today, I’ll work on advancing into the threadle. I’m also going to go back and work on the mechanics of the rear cross. She isn’t understanding that very well. She is reacting and guessing still.
I think she really understands the tunnel threadle. Last week she was introduced to a low bar, so I’m going back and forth with the barrel and the wing with a bar. It seems like she jumped ahead this week in her understanding on many things. We are in another foundations class, I think I told you about it. Anyway, I combined what she is learning on the flat and the barrel work really is beginning to transfer to the wings
I think we are simply riding a wave. Yesterday we got an ice storm. With it comes sideways rain and high winds. So, everyone was locked inside. Roads were too bad to go to the dog club. Our old mini was a nervous leaf all day. Lots of startled barks. Plus we had some human disrupts as well. Circus kind of a day. 10 never once was concerned. Link startled and 10s response was look at him and grab a toy and bring it to me. I was training the cookie jar, but I have a terrible time keeping healthy weight. So, I had her choose a toy instead. By the end of the day, the bark became a game. Nothing else seemed to bother her and it was clearly a bother-filled day for all of us.
It’s a compilation of the day. Longer video, but I think it is a good representation of what I’m seeing. A little avoidance and then curiosity. Very noisy environment with barking and people clapping. We were behind the bench and the ring was about 10 ‘ beyond. She could see the dogs running. Some barking bothered her more than other barking. Some dogs barking actually got her more excited looking than scared looking.
She is learning all four feet must stay on her cot. She demonstrated amazing understanding and restraint with that exercise. There were times when ears were high, tail wagging and toes were on the edge of the cot. But, she stayed there.
Watching the video, I can see some eye flick and puffing on the cheeks. But, I didn’t see any desire the flee. In the kennel she tucked her head to sleep.
I took plenty of breaks with her outside and then put her in the car. She was only at the trial today.
>We hit the road in February. We will be living in the fifth wheel for a couple months, traveling to nationals and other opportunities.>
FUN!!! Hope to see you on the eastern side of the country?
We will be in Dallas for the March 7-9 McKinney trial. Then onto Tulsa for AKC Nationals. I hope to get 10 introduced to sheep while in OK. From there we will visit my folks in AL and TX. Then we will start heading back to AK, via AZ to visit with some friends. We will be back in AK around May 1 to settle up with the house. We are signing it over as an Air BnB. Packing up its contents, moving into our fifth wheel and heading south to find where the next chapters will begin. We are both tired of AK weather and its time to retire. So, if you hear of a good property with room for a training building, keep me in mind. We are leaning toward Northern AL, TN or Northern GA. I want to be close to dog events and training, Scott wants to have a shop and a hunt club.
The Puppy Play Time was at one of our training buildings in the Valley. All dogs under 10 months of age. It was my first time going. I thought it would be a good environment to try the MYOB games on the road. There was a Rottweiler puppy. He was just a little taller than 10. A husky puppy, about the same size. A Great Dane puppy and a terrier puppy. All the other puppies had been there before. So, they knew each other and the room. 10 had never been to that building before. We walked in on leash and joined the puppies on the floor. Everyone was on leash. I worked the up and down game. Then the Rottweiler puppy and husky puppy were let off leash and immediately went over to the Great Dane puppy that was on leash. My instinct told me to let 10 off leash, so she could get away if she wanted. The Rottweiler pup came in hot. Not aggressive to start, just super pushy. The owner told me he was a bully sometimes, being a singleton that didn’t have pack manners. Well, 10 immediately went submissive and the Rottweiler got vocal with her. The owner, organizer, was of the tune of just let them work it out. She had zero control of her puppy. I grabbed her puppy by the collar, so 10 could get up and away. As I was trying to get off the floor with 10, the husky pup came in and 10 just fell over and peed everywhere. Then a person, trying to help me get her from under the table, grabbed for her and she peed again. I finally just asked, please step away from her. As soon as they did, I called her to “come”. As soon as she came to me I said “lets go” and I followed 10 to the door, leashed her and went outside. The owner/organizer came out after us to tell me just come in and put her back on the floor. The lady clearly did not know me :-0. I told her first I’m going to let her calm down, finish emptying her bladder and then I will assess her tolerance and let her tell me if she wants to go back inside. I walked her to the door and opened it. She walked freely inside but was super skittish. I leaned against a plastic table by the door, 10 on leash. The floor where the puppies were playing was a good distance away and behind a set of gates. 10 then proceeded to jump up onto the plastic table so she could get behind me. I picked her up and set her back onto the floor and sat in a chair. She then got under the chair and laid with her back to the location where the puppies were playing. I just sat there talking to another owner. Then another puppy came in, some small breed. Very outgoing and cute puppy. She sat down next to me and 10 came out from under the chair to greet that puppy and the people. I stayed for about 5-10 more minutes and left. The coordinator kept wanting me to make 10 come onto the floor. I finally told her, in my mommy tone, that is not what I’m going to do. So, we left and went down the road to the agility arena.
What she seems afraid of:
Dogs bark, she either jumps into my lap or if I’m standing at a counter gets behind my legs. If she is on the couch with me and one of the dogs bark (usually at one of my sons walking in the house), she sits up straight and looks at me with great concern in her eyes.
When I opened the closet door and starting emptying the contents onto the bed (I swear closets breed crap), she went into the opposite closet and laid down in the corner. Her going into that closet’s corner seems to be a space she feels safe. Because if she has ears back and headed down the hallway, I know that is where she is going.
If I get the vacuum out, she either goes to the closet or out the dog door.
If we are moving around, cleaning and packing things away, she is not happy and seems a bit anxious following us around. But, as soon as we stop, sit down, she does the same.
We have a door to our crawl space in the laundry room floor. There are stairs behind the door. We have to tell the other dogs to stay up and do not go into the crawl space. The three of them thinks its great fun to explore down there. This morning, Scott opened it. All three dogs went running to see what he was doing. 10 came running to me on the couch and hid her face.
Dog barks on the other side of our fence, she doesn’t run inside anymore. But, she does take steps back and looks worried. If the other dogs bark back at the golden next door, 10 backs up almost in a hop and wants nothing to do with it.
Here’s the crazy thing. Last night during scent work class all the ring gates fell when we were walking in for our turn. 10 didn’t seem to care at all about that. The other dogs in the room were running for the hills.
Taking Food:
Yes, I have only had one time she would not take sirloin. That was during one of our very first visits to the airport. Our lifestyle demands airport training. So, we start them young. I love that our airport encourages dog training inside. We were sitting on a bench, near all the animal displays. 10 was very concerned about the moose across the way. I just sat with her and finally she came around and asked for her sirloin.
At the puppy play date, I didn’t try to give her food in the moment. She was urinating and I was trying to get her outside. Once we came back in and sitting in the chairs, she took food, played her game and played tug before we left. I never walked closer than about 20-30′ from the puppy play area. 10 was off leash, I thought letting her decide where she wanted to go or not good was for the best. She stayed close to me the entire time. The furthest she ventured was about 4-5 chairs down to meet the little puppy and the person. But, came right back and wanted her toy.
I’m a little concerned with the lack of confidence in some situations with 10. She submits and pee when meeting new dogs and some people.
I took her to a puppy play event to practice MYOB games. That was an utter fail. She went into flight mode even when I backed up over 50’ from the dogs. At first she was curious, but couple of the larger breed puppies pushed her to uncomfortable. I immediately walked her out to the door and just asked her to sit with me far from the puppies. I did finally get her playing the up and down game and then interacting with a toy. Another person got her taking food. We only stayed about 10 minutes. Then went to the agility arena where they were running dogs. In that environment she was a rock star. Could focus on the game and stay engaged with me. She wasn’t concerned about any of the other dogs or people. She went into work mode.
We hit the road in February. We will be living in the fifth wheel for a couple months, traveling to nationals and other opportunities.
I’m not encouraged by the counsel I’m getting about fear in border collies. I was gifted a membership with Sara Dtrwmming for Christmas. So far it’s all, don’t let the other dogs bark when she is around, keep her separated and bc’s fears only escalate as they grow up. I cannot separate her from the pack, I can offer safe space and soothing, but I’ve got to believe she will mature out of this.
Maybe this is nothing. I don’t see a huge problem. I just don’t like that she runs and hides when she is concerned. On a side note, if I call her, she comes immediately. So, she knows I’m a safe space.
Yes, the video presentation really helps. I looked at it and then reread and watched the exercise. I can better visualize what I need to do and what I know my dog does not know or I have never trained that. This is SO Helpful!
Our agility room is only 40’ wide, so I couldn’t really challenge Freedom. It didn’t matter if I used offside or dog side arm. I think she just listens for the verbal. I could tell her from a layered position or a close to the tunnel position.
With 10 I set out her mat and the TT. My body position definitely was needed. She is all about staying in extension, so, I called it early and moved toward the get out. Otherwise she handled the sequence fine.
I’m going to set up the “get out” scenario. With Freedom, all I would need to do is dog arm pointing at that out jump and tell her to “go out”. I think. I’ve never used an opposite are for a go out. I’ll set it up and see what I need for that.
I struggle with the definitions…. threadle wrap, threadle slice.
If I’m running past a jump and I need the dog to come past it, to the other side and “slice” it like it was a Serp, that would be a threadle slice in my brain and I would use dog side arm, shoulder back and a “here, here”.
If I’m running past a jump and I need the dog to come past with me, or pass me staying on the same side and wrapping the wing closest to us, from technically the back side. In my mind, I’m pulling her to me and then around to the opposite side of the jump. I would call that either a “me me”, if dog is passing me and jump is in front of us and I use an offside hand, elbow bent. If I’m parallel with the dog and want the dog to take the backside (wing closest to us) and wrap it and stay with me I’ve been known to call that an “in in”, again offside arm bent.
But, maybe those are just backsides. If the course allows from me to push the dog to the backside, wrap is “push”, slice is “get back, get back”.
I’m not sure that is correct, but looking at videos of me and Freedom, that is what she seems to understand.
Now, if the line goes from a serpentine to a come through the gap into a threadle, that is usually just a “here, here”. I don’t think I would or have ever asked for a “wrap”.
That said, I’ve added left and right wraps while training 10. I’ve never had a left or right with my dogs, so now I’m teaching those to Freedom as well.
I’m very visual, so I usually need to see a scenario on a map and then I understand it.
last month I went to Stacy Goudy’s winter camp. I realized during Terry O’Neils lesson, I do not have a rear cross on the flat wrap (a switch) and I really needed one. So, I’m trying to get that foundation training organized in my brain as well. Either courses are really getting more technical, or I’m finally starting to understand other options.
