Vickie

I hope you post pics & updates as you start to train your pup

that's of the many things I like about her, she doesn't go looking for trouble, but is perfectly capable of dealing with it when it comes along. I should imagine that is a really valuable natural trait in a dog that you need to be able to trust to do a job and something good breeders would aspire to produce.

Just found this one too. I love it, because I remember her casting through 2 fences and & via the horse when I took it.

Here you go Dasha Some pics of your (and one of my favourite!) Border Collie

wow, he does have long legs & a shortish coat. Did you breed him? Are the others from his litter similar in appearance? I have seen a few young dogs around agility lately with similar appearance, maybe they are related. Will be interesting to see his progeny. Has he been bred yet?

no, not often on our property, but they are certainly around. The only ones we have had here have been when we have returned from being away for a few weeks. I think they are too scared of my noisy kids to hang around while we are here

nah, it's good, we have a heap of lizards, they look & move very different to snakes. I do worry about peppi though. I feel sure she would have the same reaction to a snake. I am comforted that the girls did not join in her game. Shine has seen a snake & had a very different & reassuring reaction.

Lol, I just lifted something & a lizard about a foot long flew out. It beelined for Trim who jumped about a foot into the air before launching into my arms. Shine was very interested but maintained about a 2 metre distance, crouching & circling. Peppi just launched at it, pounce, grab & proceeded to make it a toy. The lizard is now safe & all 3 dogs are back to lazing around.

probably also fine if you have been bred for hundreds of years to perform exactly the same function as a kelpie. Makes perfect sense to me that they would share traits in appearance. Not to mention the fact that the predominant breed used to create the kelpie was in fact border collie Makes a lot more sense that a BC who looks like an Aussie, since they are bred for a very different style of work.

Oh yeah, and another notch again if it's any kind of race against another dog, like a relay.

Trim likes to perform for a crowd. Her intensity goes up a notch from training to a trial & then another notch again at a demo with people clapping & cheering.

Oops caffy beat me to it.

Wow RS. From your descriptions, I was expecting something pretty crappy. The video shows anything but! Ruby looks fantastic, keen & totally understands her job. I don't think Millie is that far behind. She looks really good on the left & just a liitle unsure on the right, but she certainly understands. It looks like your timing needs some work on the right, you are actually rewarding her for stopping at the 3rd gap & looking at you, so she is likely to repeat this hesitation. From the video, you seem to be moving forward a little more for the left side & hanging back more for the right side. I probably would never use a nrm with her, lack of reward should be enough. I am sure other will have input as well... And I'm sure they too will be just as impressed as I am!

Does he chase/retrieve balls hopenfox? I have helped a number of pressure sensitive WK's by using a tennis ball. If not, you can do it with food, it just takes a little longer. For now I would start by feeding every single morsel he eats from your hand while he is in a lateral position. Never command or reward him for anything while he is facing you. It is possible to get him closer from a face to face position, but he will continue to face you, so better to work on the lateral position first as you will only have to fix that later.

Well done TN he looks fantastic, very independent & totally understands his job!

I was just about to type some suggestions & then held off as I saw pax was posting. What she said

Agreed. Not only do certain breeds have certain tendancies, certain breeds also have certain capabilities that other breeds simply do not have. Once you have been on the receiving end of some of these capabilities in life & death situations, irrational fears are no longer irrational.

Using the whole of my backyard...just to make RS & TN extra jealous complete with my naughty bar knockers! back to grids for us for a little while

Speaking of frustrations...I just set up a big loop for Trim & Shine of jumps, a tunnel & weaves. They did about 4 runs each & we only managed ONE run of 8 without a bar going down . Worst thing was, it wasn't always the same bar.

This is really good advice! It makes it so hard when you have 2 different dogs who learn & progress at different rates. Lowering expectations about speed of progress while maintaining criteria of exactly what you want will work. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen .

Thanks RS & TN ;) Since I began agility I've only ever had room for 3-4 obstacles until now. It is fantastic to be able to set up little courses. I always thought I'd train all day every day if only I had the room ...needless to say, I thought wrong . I think we actually did more training when I went to a club once a week . Here is another little clip where I am trying to get Chloe to wait & let Peppi work things out a bit.

A few videos from today

I agree with others who suggested you go talk to the neighbours. Just be careful to make it clear that at this point it is your problem, not theirs. We have a dog next door that I worry about. I am on very friendly terms with her owner & told her of my concerns very early after we moved in. It has never caused any animosity between us and she has always made an effort to respect that I never want her dog to interact with mine. The dog next door is mostly staffy & the traits of her breed do come into it a bit, as they tend not to work well with herding breeds. My males have had bad encounters with a few staffys in the past & never seem to have forgotten, that is my problem, not my neighbours. She is way too rough for my dogs. They would not understand her idea of play & would find it offensive, again my problem. All of mine would tell her off if she rammed into them and she would retaliate. I have watched her with other dogs, she escalates very quickly & is so powerful that none of mine would stand a chance once that escalation turned into aggression. Her obedience also leaves a lot to be desired. So for me it is an issue that my dogs would have with her dog & this is how I explained it.

My Zeus had a nail bed infection that we treated forever with no improvement. It was just in one toe & my vet was convinced there was some cancer in his bone. After months, I was advised that the amputation of that toe was the safest & only option. We went ahead, recovery was quick & we never had another issue. I still wonder if it was the right thing to do, it was many years ago now. In the end I trusted my vet & we did it.