This is how we watch TV. Every evening, we sit down to watch something and the dogs decide it’s time to play. You can see that Aura is very engaged with what Ounce is up to. Busy also wants to know what’s going on, but will usually go off and play with her own toy. Luna usually comes and grabs the toy then runs off with it, lol. Sunny will take part, but only on her terms. She won’t tug with another dog, only with me. She gets really cross and starts shouting if someone (Luna) runs off with something she is playing with.
Anyway, I thought it was a good demonstration of how Border Collies are not the most ‘laid back’ breed! I am sure that many dogs do love to play in the house with their owners, but perhaps only occasionally, or only for a few minutes? Collies just keep going… and going… and going…
You might think that they are lacking in exercise and that another walk would be better for them. (It certainly would be better than Ounce pinging on and off the sofa, which we obviously try to limit!) You’d be right, I could of course walk them for a few more hours each day – they’d love it! But then I would have dogs that are even fitter and likely to be even more demanding! It is noticeable at the moment that Ounce plays during the day far more than the older dogs; that’s just a puppy thing. More than just exercise though, collies need stimulation – something to think about.
My dogs have plenty of space, both inside and out. They have each other, so can engage in dog play whenever they like. They have many, many toys, which they wreck constantly. And they have me, watching over them and engaging with them, every day.
It’s a dog’s life, fortunately.
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Just me, three friends and 15 of our 19 dogs! We had such a lovely time.
They were still under control, waiting for cyclists..
I wanted to get some ‘posed’ shots of each of us with our dogs. Hmm, easier said than done. But when you have mostly collies, with a few spaniels and a Miniature American Shepherd, it’s not too difficult! So great to have so many happy dogs.
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Thought it was about time I did an update of Ounce’s ‘head down’ trick. I am trying to create some distance with it, so that I can be out of shot. The hardest bit at the moment is getting her to wait round the corner. Oh and to keep her head down once she’s done it. And I’m still having problems getting her to stop and sit. So not much progress really! Never mind, we’ll keep practising..
Oh and then I decided to see if I could teach Busy to read. What do you think? This is after 5 minutes of training, so if we work on it..
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Dogs cannot do agility until they are a year old; we don’t want to damage their joints and it’s better to wait until their bones have finished growing. However, there is a great deal we can do if we know we want to do agility with them later on.
Wait – teaching a good solid stay and release
This is one of the first things you will need your dog to do. They need to be able to wait while you get ahead of them. Many people with slower breeds of dog start with their dog and run around the course with the dog beside them. It looks so lovely and I am often jealous of this great bonding experience. Not with a collie! The faster you run with a collie, the faster they will try and beat you! They like to be ahead of you. They have great vision, particularly their peripheral vision, which means they can see you coming!
Therefore, if you want to have any hope of getting your dog round a course, you will need them to wait for you to get a head start. Fortunately, I have been teaching Ounce to wait since she was a tiny puppy, so her wait is not bad at all. Of course I need to continue to practice it, but we have the basics solidly in place.
Recall – working off lead and coming back at the end
You can’t do agility on the lead! So we need to be able to let them off, run around with them and then get them back again. Getting them back at the end of an agility run is a bit different from the ‘formal recall’, but if you have the latter, the former should be straightforward. Here’s a reminder of Ounce’s formal recall training.
Still not quite sure why I thought it was OK to wear my pyjamas to do this video.
Other moves to teach
Once we have a wait and a recall in the bag, we can start to work on other commands. These include:
round – go around an obstacle and come back to me
left and right – yes really!
on it – get onto something, ie a piece of contact equipment
touch – stand with two feet on the equipment and two feet off
The last two are what I am trying to teach in this video. I am using this box because it’s nice and sturdy. I am trying to ‘shape’ her behaviour. This means I am trying to get Ounce to understand what I want without me having to show her each time. She is already familiar with the moves and you can see how eager she is to show me! If you look carefully, you can see that near the start of the video, I reward her for getting ‘on it’ and then ask for a ‘touch’. She does it immediately, but is so excited that she then jumps at me, so doesn’t get a reward. I am being critical and I want her to stay in that position until I release her. So I have to show her and encourage her.
NB: This is the whole of her training for today. I do not want to spend ages with her in this position because again, I don’t want to put undue strain on her joints. But as with all training, consistency and practice are what pays off. If we spend a few seconds doing this a few times a week after our walks, Ounce will be a long way towards her contacts when we transfer this skill to the field.
Why do we teach contacts in this way?
It seems a bit odd that we want our dog to stop at the end of the contact equipment (dog walk, A-frame and seesaw), with this very specific requirement of ‘two feet on, two feet off’. We do this to stop dogs jumping off the top, which can cause them serious injury. All the contact equipment has painted sections at the bottom which must be stepped on before the dog moves on. If we teach the dog to get down to the bottom and take a treat from ground level, waiting until we release them before moving off, we ensure that they are safe, which is better for their health. It also stops them being given faults.
There are other ways to teach contacts; a ‘running contact’ is when the dog goes down to the bottom but then carries on without stopping. If you have a fast dog though, this just means you have to keep running! It’s a bit of a mystic art anyway, not something I am familiar with!
Why do agility?
The same reason we should do any form of training or sporting activity with our dog – for fun! Agility is great fun for the dog, they find it really exciting and stimulating. Generally it should be safe and should build their athleticism, while giving them something to think about. It can even improve your athleticism, although this is a bit debatable!
There are many different activities you can do with a dog. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you are spending focused time with your dog, enjoying each other’s company. If you have several dogs, it becomes even more important that you focus on each individual dog for a set period each week.
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Had a lovely walk this afternoon in the woods – the light was great for taking some pictures. I was lucky enough to have Kate from Kate Everall Photography giving me a lesson in shooting angles and light, although we had six dogs to manage, so it was a bit of a challenge. Some interesting results though, don’t you think?
I think some of these could do with a caption – please send me your thoughts? Which photos do you like?
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Silently. Watch this video clip and you’ll see something remarkable. This is Ounce playing with her sister Pixie. They are having a great game, very interactive and pretty lively, but they make no sound. As I am saying in the clip, it’s as though they don’t want you to know what they’re up to!
I think for dogs, when it really is just a game, they don’t make any noise. As soon as one of them is not happy though, you can hear something. This was demonstrated perfectly (though not filmed, unfortunately) later on in the visit. Ounce came to have a fuss from Hollie, Pixie’s owner and Pixie didn’t like it. She was a bit jealous, so she immediately started growling. In fact when it happened again a bit later, they were right on the edge of a full-on fight. I yelled at them and it stopped, fortunately.
Funnily enough we were talking about fighting at school yesterday when I went in with Busy. We discussed ‘play fighting’ and whether it was OK. We decided it usually isn’t, because someone gets hurt. “It’ll end in tears” is said for a reason, after all.
With dogs, a bit of lively play is completely fine, if the pair are evenly matched and the play is supervised. I would never leave two pups this age together without being present; I know it would end in a fight and someone would get hurt.
When Pixie first arrived and they had overcome their initial shyness and started playing, I grabbed a camera to video it, but they then stopped, as they had already run out of steam. They started again later, but it went on like that, with them taking a break now and again.
I believe that dogs (and children) are much more likely to fight properly when they are bored, tired or hungry. That was the approach I took with my sons anyway, and I think I do the same with my dogs. If trouble starts, there are no recriminations. I just separate them and distract them. I expect it to happen if they are allowed to carry on for too long and I do not expect them to manage themselves particularly well.
Oh and by the way, do you think Busy was pleased to see her daughter today? No, she wasn’t. She doesn’t like other dogs much and having a stupid puppy trying to say hello is just annoying, quite frankly. That’s why it is not possible to get a pic of Busy and Pixie next to each other.
Finally, have a look at this clip. What is this game called? Peekaboo? Hide and seek? Let’s see how long we can play this before the curtain get ripped? Funny girls. It was lovely to see Pixie, Sarah and Hollie today. I am excited to see the Hollie and Pixie partnership up and running in the future – great things may happen!
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I think you can make a number of observations from watching these two videos. First of all, Sarah and Smurf (and Wilma) are professionals; they really know how to put on a show. We have much to learn. Smurf is clearly extremely talented and obedient, as well as being quick to learn. He is able to follow commands at a distance, which is the main thing we are not yet able to do.
I have waited to post about this because I wanted to video our very first attempt to learn it. I thought this would be more interesting for my followers than showing Ounce being able to do it already – it’s all about the learning process.
So this is literally me switching on the video and beginning to teach it. Because of that, it is not the finished production. You cannot hope to teach a puppy a trick in one sitting. What you can see, hopefully, is some progression.
To start with, I hold the bottle cap (I didn’t want to use a coin, too hard to handle and was worried she might swallow it for some reason). I try to get her to touch it with her nose, when I say ‘yes’ and give her a treat. Can you see how inept I am at doing this compared with Sarah? You might notice that I don’t have to put a treat behind the cap for Ounce to touch it with her nose. That is because I have already taught her to ‘touch’ something – a bigger lid – on one or two other occasions. Just holding out something is enough for her to sniff it.
You can see in the middle of my video that I am trying to get her to sit. I want to try and put the cap on the floor between her feet. But she doesn’t really know ‘sit’ as a command on its own, or if she did she has forgotten it. Instead, she offers me a whole range of other tricks; twisting, lying down, giving a paw etc. Bless her heart, she is eager to please!
We get there in the end. She then lies down and I manage to put the cap between her front legs. Ounce looks at it but doesn’t touch it, twice. I should then wait for her to figure it out. This is called ‘shaping’, where we wait for the desired behaviour. Unfortunately I interfere and move the cap, which gives her a massive cue to do what I want. I do then manage to reward it, but again, it’s pretty poorly managed.
I am not beating myself up about it – it’s hard! I am trying to demonstrate that even though it is hard, it is manageable. You can get there, you just need to persevere. And be patient.
I will try again tomorrow. One of the things that is confusing me at the moment is the use of the voice commands. Sarah doesn’t say anything until she has the coin on the floor. When Smurf starts to put his head down, she says ‘head down’. I started off saying ‘touch’ meaning ‘put your nose on the lid’. There are two things wrong with that. One is that I want ‘touch’ to mean ‘go to the end of the agility equipment and stop with your front feet touching the ground’ and secondly that if I am saying touch the lid, how will Ounce know what to do when the lid is not there?
Hmm. Maybe you can teach a young dog new tricks but this old dog is finding it quite a challenge!
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This is mainly a demonstration of my poor handling – sorry Ounce. We muddle through though and I believe we demonstrate the following:
Stay
Come
Sit
Down
Twist
Spin
Roll over
Through legs (various ways)
Paw
Speak
Tug
Touch target
Standing spin (we don’t really know that one yet!)
Back (definitely needs work)
Retrieve
On bed (needs work that one)
Open door
Into bed
Shut door (poor equipment with these)
Above all, I think what this video shows so clearly is how keen Ounce is to please. She wants to do it, whatever it is. She offers me things I don’t ask for constantly, just in case that is what I want. How lovely is that?
The video also demonstrates the importance of rewarding what you do want. A couple of times when I have the target, (the lid) I miss her touching it, so she immediately loses confidence. We haven’t practised it much, so need to work on that a lot more.
Here are my ideas for what else I want to teach her:
Bow
Hide face
Back through legs
Feet on feet
Carry a bag
Pick up keys
Bang on a door to shut it
Give high five (she gives a paw but I want more of a high five)
Wave
Cross paws
Play dead (lying flat on her side)
Tidy up her toys
What else? Please comment and let me know what you think she should learn to do? Some of these are quite complicated sequences of actions, so need a bit more tuition. I don’t know how to teach some of these, so will need some help. I also need to reinforce quite a few of the ones I’ve done already, as they are a bit haphazard still.
Thanks to Sarah Humphreys again for the training and Adam for the video.
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I’ve been waiting ages to take some beautiful pictures of collies looking cute in snow. Hmm, seems I shall be waiting a bit longer…
It was still snowing hard when we went out. It eventually stopped, but even at the time we went out, the ground was quite churned up. Plus, it was the wrong sort of snow!
It was wet and sticky, not dry and fluffy.
Chris commented that collies are a bit boring when it comes to snow – they aren’t that excited about it, because it is the sort of weather they are designed for. Even though it was Ounce’s first time in the snow, she just ran about as usual.
Their coats are double layered, so they have a top, silky layer which is fairly waterproof, and a bottom fluffy layer which keeps them warm. So why are they wearing jumpers?
My dogs live inside, in a centrally heated house. Going out into weather that is around freezing is always going to be a bit of a shock to the system, even if you are fluffy. I think it’s only fair to add an extra layer of warmth. They certainly don’t object. And often they don’t have a full coat of their own, so appreciate a bit extra.
The light quality was poor – I think I had the camera on the wrong setting, but they do still look pretty, don’t they?
I’d really love a pale blue jumper for Busy..
And a lilac one for my puppy. She looks OK in her granny’s jumper though, doesn’t she?
Silly puppy with snow on her nose!
Shake it off, just shake it off. Let’s hope for some better conditions next time..
Cages are a key piece of equipment for your puppy. They are certainly not a cruel thing to torment your dog. Look what my puppy can do! Thanks to Sarah for telling me how to teach this trick. She’s supposed to shut the door as well but I’m not confident about teaching that bit. As you can see, she has chosen to go into the cage herself.
People often say to me “I don’t like the idea of using cages for my dogs, it seems mean to put them in there.” But with the right setup, cages can become a safe haven for your puppy and even for adult dogs. They should be their preferred space.
Cages as cots
You don’t take a newborn baby and put him down to sleep on the floor do you? You put them into a crib, or cot, so that they can be safe when they are asleep. The crib might be beside you bed, and that’s fine for dog cages too.
As you can see from the photo, there is plenty of space for Ounce inside her crate. I’ve covered it with a towel and she has her vet bed in there to make it nice and comfortable. In fact it is more like a kennel than a cage. Here’s what I have put on the Equipment Advice page about crates.
Cages or crates
Your puppy needs its own space and safe place. The crate or cage keeps it safe and out of trouble when it is alone, rather like putting a baby in a cot or playpen. It also helps to teach the puppy that it does need to rest and so do you.
When ordering a crate for your puppy, buy one big enough for it to lie in stretched out and standing up in when it is fully grown. Make sure that the mesh is not too big as puppies may get their mouths caught. Put some bedding inside and tie some toys in the far end of the crate so the puppy has to go in there to play with them. Gently place your puppy in there whenever it falls asleep. Leave occasional treats in the crate for the puppy to find, so the puppy learns to love going in there.
Away from noise and bustle
A handy hint to ensure that your puppy is eager to enjoy the safety and calm of the crate is to feed him in there. Then, quietly close the door. Puppies love to search and sniff for pieces of food, and once they have found and eaten everything, they often settle down and drift into sleep for an hour or so. This gives you a chance to do other things without worrying about what the puppy is up to, and it is a good experience for the puppy to curl up and sleep in the cot by choice. You can gradually increase the time the puppy stays in the crate and initially this should be whilst you are in the room with it.
Make sure your puppy has recently emptied its bladder and bowels before it enters and do not leave your puppy in the crate or puppy pen for more than a couple of hours during the daytime. Although most puppies are content to sleep in their crate overnight, they get very distressed if they have to foul near their beds, so you must be prepared to get out of your bed to let them out if they need to toilet during the night. If they have fouled inside the crate, you must clean it out immediately or the puppy will hate being in the crate.
Never use the crate as a sin-bin or you will teach your puppy to resent it. Always remove the puppy’s collar when in the crate in case it gets caught up on it.
A dog’s choice
This is the crucial point. It is not a way to contain your dog and stop them from moving about and enjoying life. It is somewhere safe for them to go and sleep.
Medium dog cage
Eight years ago, for our 20th wedding anniversary, my husband and I went to Norway to see the Northern Lights. Part of that amazing holiday involved going out on a husky sled. The dogs were great, but they weren’t very domesticated. I was shocked to see that they were kept in individual kennels, which were little more than holes in the ground, out in the snow. But I was told that if they were kept together they fought. And during the summer months they lived a much freer life.
Those dogs were happy and healthy and quite honestly, they had a brilliant life. They were outside, running about every day, howling at the moon all night long (we didn’t get much sleep!)
Living in luxury
It really made me think about the way we keep our dogs and it is something I often reflect on. I know many people with large numbers of dogs, who usually keep them in separate crates for large chunks of the day and night. I don’t do that, but if I put a crate up, all my dogs will immediately go in it. If Ounce isn’t in her crate then someone else will usually go into it (often the cat!) So my dogs aren’t ‘kept’ in crates, but they don’t sleep on my bed either.
In this country, we want the best for our pets. That’s great, as long as it is actually the best for the pets, not what we think is the best for them. If your dog is left alone to chew up your house and you then get angry with it and want to get rid of it, that is not a great solution, is it? Give your puppy a safe, happy place to call their own. They will thank you for it.
I know so many people who buy lovely big, soft beds for their dogs and find that the dogs prefer to sleep on the floor, because the bed is too hot. What will your dog choose?
Buy the Workbook
The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. This book is a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely! Find out lots more by looking at the Contents page.
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Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs? And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.
If you are looking for a Border Collie puppy, please visit the Champdogs website? Don’t ask me for help, I can’t do anything more.
