bret

does no one have any suggestions for this? bret

I am just trying to find someone who trains sheepdogs in the hunter region, scone more precisely. I have a 4 yr old border who used to do sheep dog training, but it was just too far to go, now i live in farm country and am looking for someone who might be able to help me and get her back into training. if you know anyone, can you pass on their info to me please? bret

thanks, that makes sense, I will try that at home, it is the same with my parents. HOpefully i will be able to use them as the guinea pigs, and then it will transfer into other people. bret

I'll respond to all 3 posts but using this quote. when is arrive home she is out the back, i don't get super excited when i see her do to previous training and questions, usually i get home let her see i am home through the glass door, then she will settle down and i will go see her about 5/-10 min later. I know how to control the squealing when i am home, she gets the NILF treatment as this is how she was trained as a pup. When i pat her and stuff I don't use high pitch excited voices she just gets good rubs, a little whining but as soon as she starts I walk away. It is easy for me to do that. The problem that I am asking about is with friends. They are all up to speed with my training of maiya and her discipline, they are all told to ignore her for 10 minutes when they walk in to settle her down. Sometimes this works, sometimes this doesn't. Yes she is instigating the nuzzling by the contact later on, but her training was always 'if you wanted to be patted, then you must sit down' she does this with perfection every time, it is the whining that has really become a problem. it is not that it goes on forever, it is just really loud and involves barking to get the attention, which is when i step in and make her go to the corner and stay there and settle down so she can receive the pat. She is a very affectionate dog and from what i hear that is a collie trait after speak to a number of collie owners, the love the pat and usually do nuzzle in and get the old head rub. anyone else with some other suggestions that might help out? bret'

HI all, i will do my best to explain the issue without sounding harsh. I know that everyone says this about their dog and I am no different. I have a 3yr old border who was trained quite thoroughly for well over 1.5 years. She is a very obedient dog, and smart as a normal collie would be. She is actually very timid in regards to playing with other dogs and prefers the company of people, although the dog we live with now they love playing and get on really quite well together. my issue arises in the her greeting of friends, espeically friends she knows and has lived with, and to only a lesser extent people who come into the house. I get it when she wakes up, but I actually just let her out of the crate and walk away from her until she calms down, which i am finding harder to control when friends come over. anyway, when they come over, as trained as she is she will sit at their feet waiting for a pat (yes that was supposed to happen) but her excited state is so high that she squeals, and barks until she gets the pat, and then she whimpers as she is getting the pat due to shear excitement. I instructed my friends to ignore her until she calms down, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But it is getting to a point now where it is just getting annoying, as it will last for at least 5 or 10 minutes of whimpering. She was never really bad, but a quick 'no' would settle her down and she would just lap up the pats and attention. Now though, her correction is much more forceful, where i have to yell at her to get her attention, move her away (via voice command, not physically) to the other side of the room and make her lay down until she calms down. that usually takes 10 minutes, but then when she is given permission to go over and say hello, the whimpering starts, but only at about 50%, so not quite as bad. She has always nuzzled everyone for cuddles and pats, and after she has received it she quite happily walks away. The greetings though at the door and when friends/family come over is just getting out of hand, and i am not sure how to train that out. anyone has any suggestions please I would love to hear them regards bret

HI all i have just noticed maiya (3yr old border) to have flaky skin, it isn't a massive problem, but it is noticeable, something i haven't seen before. her average diet daily which is in packs frozen, is a chicken wing/neck, combo of lambs heart and beef liver, small amount of rice, and a coles mixed vegetables. recently i have noticed little white squares in the mixed veggies, and was wondering if anyone knw if they were potatoe parts? if so, damn... i have to change brands. the other packet of mixed veggies though is cauliflower and broccoli. anyway, i looked up and it said she could be missing some essential fatty acids. would the suggestion be to add an egg or some flaxseed oil to her meals? I wil bath her this week, she doesn't get bathed much, as we swim a bit especially in summer in the ocean and the local park lake. or should i buy her some sardines and throw them in her bowel every 2 or 3 days. any advice is great bret

There is a heap of information on these forums in regards to fleas, but from my experience, i have and will until it stops working only ever use advantage. maiya my border is 3 now. when i first got her we lived in a house with a great back yard and apparently a bazzilllion fleas. we would wash her get off like 30 or so fleas left in the tub, then try this malwash stuff, sprayed the backyard the whole 9 yards. we may have even gone too far because we used so many things. In my honest opinion and that is just that, my opinion, the first thing you need to do is get rid of them on your dog. When i switched to Advantage, without word of a lie, within 20 minutes of putting it on her, there were no fleas hanging around, and you used to be able to just turn her on her belly and it would be swarming with black movement. after a week or so there were no eggs to be found. By using too many pesticides and flea killers especially on the lawn, which i am affraid you are never going to get rid of, its just too hard, you run the risk of hurting the puppy. I have also found on other forums especially ones in america, that fleas have actually become resistance to some brands of products, that is why they don't work any more. I have never had luck with sentinal, capstar, malwash or another one i can't remember the name of, but i have used both advantage and advantix and recommend them from what i have seen. wow! such a long post for a 1 line answer try them, they are more expensive, but like i said i found them to work. bret

when you say carcasses, do you mean the chicken frames you get? that are just left there? cheers bret

HI guys, i will just answer a few of these questions then. where and what is bonnie light? is it in australia? as for her weight, i was told by the vet and the dog charts at the vet as well as my agility coach (when i could take her) that her ideal body weight should be around 19-21kg. currently at last weigh in (about 2 weeks ago) she was 29kg. are chicken legs and wings with skin off raw way too fat for her? I understand that dogs use fat a lot more for their energy consumption than does a normal dog. Feeding her a higher amount of veggies ie: frozen and mixed would not lend to her weight problem but would fill her up, much like a human correct? I just don't want to starve the weight off her, I want to lose it responsibly. thanks heaps bret

HI guys, i will keep it quick, but I am just trying to work out how to feed my border collie again. I have slipped in my ways of feeding, she isn't a super active dog, i take her for her walks every day for an hour and most days she gets 20 minutes of frisbee and stuff, but the food i was feeding her was cobber, working dog food. I have learned that this is too high calorie for her as she is not active enough. she is currently 10kg over weight, i haven't fed her this cobber for well over 6 months now. I purchased the 'normal dog' cobber, which is a lower calorie food, and my last vet visit she was still 9 kg overweight. I have now just put her back on raw meat and bones. For those who are in australia or know what I am talking about, she gets about 80g of chuck steak, which is not fully fat, but is a fatter cut than something like a topside roast, and 1 chicken leg or wing in the morning. and at night she gets 1 chicken wing or leg. I have also recently just remade up a batch of veggie pulp which she got as a puppy, but she doesn't like it that much so i just mix the meat up in it so she has to eat it. My questions though are these. Can you point me to a topic or a thread that lists a complete list of foods that allow for the dog to be nutritionally supported, and assist in weight loss? I know that swimming is by far the best exercise, and she hasn't done much of that lately, which we will get back into. AT least 30 minutes a day I also know about the time for digestion in regards to dry food and raw food, which is why I also have started giving her her dinner earlier in the night, like at 5pm, so by the time she goes to bed at 10 it has digested quite a bit. so, if anyone can really give me a clear list of meat that is 'low fat' good for her, and maybe portion sizes so that i can get back on the right track, it would be greatly appreciated. ps. the place up in brisbane that does the raw foods i read about in another 'pinned' thread. what is the costs of this? how long would a 50kg bag last? and how much woudl that cost? it might be just easier for me to take the trip to brisbane and get it from there. sorry for the long first post : regards bret

there was one thing that basically got answered in this post. I was wondering if i played with the pup while maiya was around, would that also alert her to the fact that the puppy isn't all bad. this isn't a long term thing as i am just bording with friends, but at least for a few more months. and when i get settled in my house again, would like to get maiya a play friend as well. it will most likely be another border so they can ware each other out, but just to get used to the idea of having a puppy around. maiya hasn't had the play with her yet. she is more tolerant, but still very stand offish. i also have a problem though the the cat who lives here. maiya being how she is loves to investigate, well when she first met the cat she investigated too close and got a swat on the nose. since moving into the new place, the cat has had a go at her 2 times now, both times making her yelp loudly (yes i know, what a wuss of a dog) but it was done with maiya's back turned and she got her on the ass. so maiya is also actually hesitant to come inside because of the cat. the funny thing is that the cat will walk past maiya without a hiss within 2 feet, but as soon as maiya stands or moves that is when she hisses. maiya is liek 25kg, and the cat is like 6kg that has also added to her non acceptance of the puppy. maiya does get free time, she is an outside dog. and i take her for at least a 40 minute walk or a 30 min flat out run every day. most days she gets a spot of fetch with her squeaky or her frisbee. i am very lazy in my extended training though, which is a downfall of me... we have started agility which she loves, bu that is only 1 day a week. anyway, just thought i would also ask if me playing with the puppy while maiya is right next to me will help her see the puppy is not a threat? cheers bret

hi all very helpful advice.. a lot of stuff to take on board. at first, given her training, i figured that correcting the instant she started to growl, it would be that she associated taht with the correction, but on looking at your replies, it may easily be mistaken that she is associating or can associate that when the puppy is near she gets in trouble, and therefor will never let the puppy get close. they really are never together unsupervised, and maiya is able to get her 'dad' time and her 'alone' time, as she is an outside dog and spends a lot of it outside away from said puppy. i will tell the flatmates about crate training, but it isn't my dog, so i can only advise.. i was lucky with maiya, her crate wasn't introduced to her life until she was about 8 months old, but as stated she was an outside dog and had a sister to play with... thanks again bret

Hi all. let me give you a little background on maiya my border, before i ask the question. I got her at 6 weeks old from the farm with her sister. I have had her for 2.5 years now. her and her sister used to get on like a house on fire all was good. during puppy school they both hid under the seat. as she grew up she never really liked other dogs, the upper lip would quiver, but she would never do anything but growl a little. she has always loved humans, some ways i actually think she thinks she is more human than dog. her sister left when she was about 1, but still all good. she is well trained and seems to be happy. I moved in with friends who own a cat, maiya just wants to say hello but she has been whacked 3 times by the cat now and is very very cautious around her. the cat will walk past maiya no problems as long as maiya isn't moving, otherwise she may feel threatened. now, we have just had a new moodle introduced into the family, 7 weeks old. the cat seems to have no problem with the new dog, maybe because it is smaller than her, but maiya on the other hand isn't so accepting. the moodle seems to want to play with maiya, but maiya just looks to be around the humans. she gets a low growl when gizmo (said moodle) comes close, but has been corrected with 'no' etc. she knows she is doing something wrong. as far as i am aware she hasn't snapped at the puppy, but i guess the question is, how can i get maiya to be more accepting, or want to play wth the puppy more? it seems that her maternal instincts are there though, because when gizmo yelps she is at his side like a rocket. but just doesn't seem to want to hang out with the pup. I am just hoping that it is time that will allow her to get to like the dog better, but i am unsure as to how to approach this. if anyone has some suggestions that would be great thanks bret

cool thanks i will give that a go bret

Hi all, just want to ask a quick question, my 2.5 yr old border who is easily trained, loves to bark LOUD when we are doing stuff like learning to spin, and other more high energy tricks. the problem is that her barking at being excited is not only loud, but it is distracting from the training, as well as making me deaf the more we do it. anyone have any ideas on how to reduce this super happy barking when we are trying to play, ? bret

I will do my best to explain this short so i can get some answers. I have trained maiya in shirley chongs retreice method. I have worked my way up to throwing the dumbell 8 feet away, she looks at me, i say 'take it' she will go get the dumbell, bring it back, now for the first few times 'out' will work, but she is starting to just look away from me, until i say her name or a grumblier out' this is getting frustrating. i am trying to teach her new tricks that involve retrieving, ie: get your lead, bring me your bowl etc, but take it only works a certain number of times. I am not sure if she is actually being a 2yr old border and pushing my buttons, but she knows the command, i have used 'take it' successfully, first time with a ball, rope, shirt etc, I have written shirley for help but no answer. what i want to know is how do you make the retrieve fun for the dog, when it is a little boring for the both of us to continually go and 'take it' the same thing. she loves to fetch, we play it every day, but i feel she is getting super bored and needs more stimuli! i hope there is a question in there. oh, ps: i went back and completely retrained the retrieve from the first step, same thing.!! bret

I did have one other question, during trick training i find that i don't think of enough hand signals to give here to learn both voice commands and hand signals. ie: for close training no more than say 10 feet away how big or how different do the hand signals for different tricks have to be. Ie: lets just say you have a closed fist for sit. would she be able to distinguis 1 finger, then 2 fingers, then turning my hand upside down etc. just a curious question :D bret

i have not posted here for a while, but i will put a little background in, only short though. I have been training maiya for 2 years now got her when she was 6 weeks. she is super protective of me i found out only over the last 3 to 4 weeks, i thought she was just a sook. i also know that i have been neglecting her training due to financial issues and time constraints, but have been able to get back in over the last 2 weeks. so here goes. i noticed that when i train her, she loves it, as long as it is exciting, so i obviously do my best to accomodate. how long do you train your dogs for when they are learning a new trick or perfecting an old one? usually she is unhappy that we are finishing her training. so i would like to get some feedback on how you do it. I think that because i am home all day and night, that i feel guilty i am not putting in as much effort as i should, ie: maybe on the days i do 4 training sessions about 10-15 minutes long. also when i train her, because she is such an intelligent dog, i have to make things more interesting, and i find that if i don't ahve a plan that my training goes up the shit, because i don't have a clear goal, and she doesn't know what i am trying to get her to do. case in point, i am trying to get her to pick up her toys and put them in the toy box, as well as learning to take rubbish and put it in the bin. it might seem that i am lazy but i am under good authority that they like to be challenged :D anyway, just some thoughts on that would be great. cheers bret

hi guys, thanks for all the responses. she is early stages in her training, we haven't put sides on her yet, she has moved out of the round yard and we do open paddock stuff. she is a little close when she is trailing, which makes the sheep a little jumpy as well. as you pointed out yes she is a 2 yearold pure bread border collie. her stops are based on my down's or stays, which in general are pretty good. i was thinking of teaching this outside of the sheep training, just to add to her training. i want to do casting at home, given that i don't own sheep, nor do i have land. i can only make it to sheep training 2 times per week, as the place i do it is at canungra. unless you guys know of somewhere else i can do it more often, maybe some where closer to the coast? or any more info would be greatly appreciated. cheers bret

hi all i have been lookin for some time in finding a method to train maiya to go away. ie: when i am sheep dog training, i might want her to run away from me until i call hold or stay, to give time for stock to move through, or even just to position her in a place that i want to start the stock moving etc. what would be an effective way of training this behaviour? any help would be great bret

I have been having the same issue with maiya, only maybe i am little more along. Maiya will retrieve and run after most anything i want, but to try and get her to take something and hold it, without there being a tug of war or game involved, is also proving a little different. I am having slow success though, i did post something today about it under 'book with some of the dumest stuff' but the success i had after taht post was this, i am usinga beer cooler for my object of choice. to start wth maiya has a fur that she loves to play with on her own or a game of tug, i just got her excited for about 10 or 15 seconds with that. then i held the beer cooler in my hand. when she came to it and even just sniffed i mark and treat. maiya has an 'ok' command which allows her to do things, so have been using that to allow her to get near the beer cooler. once she was doing that solidly, i moved the cooler around a litltle, so she would try and bite it. as soon as any part of the cooler when in her mouth, i marked and treated, making a really big deal of that. after about 10 goes, she cottoned on to having to mouth the cooler. then i laid it on the floor, gave the ok command. at first she just touched it with her nose then sat on it. but after about 3 tries of me moving it and allowing her to go, she tried to bite it, i made a huge deal of this, then the training session finished. but so far that seems to be working. i am assuming now that when she mouths the cooler more, i will be able to delay the mark and hopefully make her think she has to pick it up, then delay more and have her hold it, finally add in the que 'take it' and see how we go. hope that helps... ps. wish i had done second training session before last post ;0 bret

now before i start, let me just say that there are some great things in this book, there is not an abundance of badly or incredibly vaguely thought out tricks, but i tell you what, i am getting a little tired of their explanation for some of the tricks. this is the second one i am looking at and just saying 'you have got to be kiddin' the first was the trick training the bow, 'with the training used for a drop, there is no wonder i couldn't get her to bow' but now i am on to the 'take it' command. again, the steps involved. 'grab an object not a toy something the dog is likely to pickup on its own.' well i picked up a beer cooler, foam light weight, doesn't feel funny in her mouth. if i threw it she would pick it up, moving object and all, 1)put item on floor abut three feet away, click and treat her for movign toward it 2) click and treat for touching with nose, repeat about 12 times 3) hold off on click, 'if he mouths the object at all, click and treat'. IF he mouths the object, well i have just done 2 lessons at varying times, and we get to her touching it with her nose, i hold off on the click, she touches it 5 more tiems looking at me saying' what the hell do you want'. she has learned 'touch, touch lid, and touch stick, as well as 'paw, paw lid and paw stick'. this isn't working, so i tried to improvise, i had the cooler in my hand and moved it a little, ( this is how i got her to catch the frisbee) when she opened her mouth on it, i mark and reward, again this didn't last long, i delay the mark for her to hold it, but she just throws it out of her mouth. i read in another book the forced hold, put the object in her mouth and gently hold her muzzle giving command, then mark and reward, nope not working. i am trying to teach her to pick something up without it being a fetch item, ie: inanemate (spelling) object, then either bring it to me or put it somewhere else (later advanced stuff). anyone else done this and able to give me some instructions that work? cheers bret

i brush her maybe 2 or 3 times a week. she is pure breed border collie.

Hi all. i just need to ask about dogy dandruff. maiya's skin is very flakey. after taking her to the vet for desexing i asked him about the skin, he said just to give her some monunsaturated oil every day with her dinner, that hasn't worked. i am wondering what to use for a shampoo. here is what i do, and given that i just washed her 2 days ago and her skin is bad now,i am assuming that it is that. i have an oatmeal shampoo from dermcar, called alloveen. i washed her in the shampoo. i also have a satin black shampoo from professional groomer, whic is for black coated dogs. I am thinking that it is this possibly that is doing. i also have a conditioner from allowveen, i haven't put that in her yet, but i am going to do that today as a leave in conditioner. does anyone have any recomendations ? i only usually wash her 1 time a month, when she gets smelly. thanks bret

On another topic, i would like to input as to mind games that are good for puppy. given that maiya is turning into a 16month old nearing 2ish, i want to know of the more mind using/stimulating games or things you can do for your dog both on its own and together. to give you a small idea, i unfortunately work afternoon's evenings, so my time is in the morning till lunch with maiya. i am doing trick training with her and although i woud prefer 3 short sessions a day, most of the time we only get 1 in and a walk with training, so sort of 2. as for her being on her own, i have a small puzzle treat ball which i am sure you are all aware of. and i show her a bone and make her watch me make it hard to get, but are there other things that i can do for her/with her when she is alone and not that are games that make her think, that stimulate her to use her brain rather than just stuff like fetch, which she loves but hey, how hard is it to pickup a duck and bring it back. i know of games like hide and seek tug, but any other input would be good!! thakns bret