sheena

My border collie has a very strong "eye" & will often get "stuck" on something as she stares. She is also "motion reactive" & when she wants to chase something, or if she is on the end of the leash, she spins...she always has to have a leaf in her mouth. If I don't catch it quick enough, she just seems to shut her ears off to me, & I have often joked that when she has a leaf in her mouth...it affects her ears & she can't hear me. I have learnt to keep it under control with LAT, but according to Leslie McDevitt, it is true, when she is like this, she is functioning on a different part of her brain, & she really can't hear me. A dog that gets "stuck" is operating on the primal part of it's brain not the operant, which is "if I sit I will get a cookie" part. Evidently, it doesn't just happen to border collies, though they are the main ones, because of the way they work sheep, it can happen to any breed of dog that is doing agility. They can get "stuck" on weave poles or tunnels & just can't hear you when you call them away. It is very hard for a dog to learn to switch out of eye/stalk mode. They are called "sticky" dogs. This is from an article in this months Clean Run Magazine.

Cricket had his first trial on the weekend, he had three runs, Agility, Jumping & Gamblers. Agility he was DQ'd & jumping he got third place after getting two faults, however he did the 36 sec SCT in 19.6 seconds In the Gambles he got 36 points in the opening sequence (he only needed 20), but he was mid-air over the last jump in the Gamble when the buzzer went I am so pleased with the way he ran...just glad that I didn't run him in Gamblers or I would have been well & truely b...g...rd :laugh: Here is a video of his Gamblers run

At a trial on the weekend, we were sitting waiting for the presentation with our two border collies sitting nicely at our feet & a lady was sitting near by with a very tiny SWF on her lap. We didn't know her or her dog. So what does the stupid lady do, she takes the SWF off her lap & puts him on the ground right at the feet of my two BC's who she didn't know from a bar of soap. It only took a couple of seconds for the SWF to lunge & of course my two reacted back....no-one was hurt, because we had a good hold on our two. She did apologise, but geeze, some people are thick.

This thread reminded me to go dip my sticks. They are lovely & fresh but a little too pongy for my liking at the moment, so I will seperate them & put them into different rooms (the lid is back on the oil). Funny thing I noticed, Bindi was only in the room for a few minutes when she started to reverse sneeze. I put her outside to go & look for grass, but she never actually chucked. Maybe the smell was too strong for her. She is now in a room without them & she has settled down. Might bring her back in later & see if they have the same effect on her, then I will know if it's them

Get his tummy settled first, but then you could try Livamol which is good for brown/chocolate/copper coloured coats. Or pure virgin coconut oil added to his diet, tinned fish, sardines, raw egg yolks.

I would say, he IS reactive...not in an agressive way, but if he is being distracted by other dogs & other things & want to "go play" with the other dogs to the extent where you don't exist, then he IS being reactive. My girl is "motion reactive" ie, she has to react to anything in motion, being that another dog running, a kid on a skateboard, or someone else playing with their dog at training. She is not agressive, but she sure is reactive. She can walk past a SWF if it is sitting quitely, but if the SWF lunges at her (which they often do), then she will react & pull my shoulder out. A clicker is not used as a distracion, it is used as a "marker" of very tiny steps the dog may do, so that it "shapes" a certain good behaviour. Learn to use the clicker (which is ALWAYS followed by a treat) & then start out by teaching her some simple tricks. Within no time, you will have her hooked & you will be able to teach her anything. Last week, in less than 5 minutes & half a handful of treats (they wern't even yummy ones) I shaped my girl to go to the mat, lie down & stay there until released...she even tossed in crossed paws as well. All done just by using the clicker...no voice, no body cues & no luring

Staffyluv...have you been keeping an eye in this thread Exercising Reactive dogs. I think a lot of what is being talked about in this thread could very well apply to & your situation. It's not just about dogs being agressive, it's also about dogs like mine who are motion reactive & lunge at other dogs (especially little ones). My dog would never hurt a fly, but her reactiveness to other dogs in motion & SWF's has been a HUGE training problem with her. I have overcome that by teaching her the LAT game. It is an ongoing thing, which I have to revisit for a few minutes, every time we go to training or a trial, but the difference is amazing. 12 months ago I had problems keeping her in the ring if another dog was running, now thanks to LAT, she is in Masters & knocking off the "Q"s one after the other. Learn how to correctly use the clicker, reintroduce it to her....get her really motivated (my girl will die for the clicker), then try the LAT. But first you must learn to use the clicker correctly, otherwise you are sending the wrong message to your dog. Have a read of that link & a lot of us talk about it in there :)

They can be a bit over powering. What I do, is just soak 3 or 4 sticks & then put these into a dry jar/vase somewhere safe where they can release their smell & I put the lid back on the actual bottle of freshner. Then you can do several rooms with just the one bottle & one lot of sticks.

I have some of those "stick" things. They look like a bamboo skewer & they bunch together in a special bottle of room freshner & gradually soak up the stuff & release it into the air. You can put them out of reach on top of a cupboard etc. I got mine from the Kitchen Shop, but they sell them at markets & I have seen them in the supermarket (tho. they may not be very natural).

I wonder then why that is not in the original application that you fill out for the second dog & nominate a second handler?? You would think if there were a fee it would be stated there. I have raised the matter with Cathy, but she hasn't got back to me yet. I don't think they have looked at my original application properly, but just trying to get my facts straight beforehand. Thanks DC, I guess you will be there this year??

On my original entry, I put down that my second dog would be being handled by my OH who has joint membership with me. I am now being hit with an additional $40 fee for putting him down as the second dogs handler. Is this the normal thing. I have seen lots of dogs just being handed over to someone else to run on the day & I don't see them paying an additional fee. Has anyone else had to pay a fee for the 2nd handler.

If he likes his treats, then NEVER leave home without any. It's amazing how many times you can reinforce a behaviour that he offers while out on a walk. Is he clicker trained???

Hmmmmmmm....havn't you forgotten something Weasels????? Photos are a must...what did you get????? Silly question...odds on it is a Kelpie :laugh:

If you want to feed your dogs beef, then I can't see what difference it would make as to what cut. We have our own beef, so when my dogs get beef, it is anything from prime scotch fillet, to shin beef, depending on what we have an excess of. I cut it up into 1 inch pieces...if I gave them a whole steak, then they may be tempted to swallow it whole as there is no bone in it. By "leg" meat, your Mum is probably referring to "shin" or gravy beef.

I have raised my border collie pup on Black Hawk Adult formula from the age of 10 weeks & he has done very nicely on it...he is now 18 months old. My older girl has been on it successfully for two years as well. They both get half a turkey neck daily as well & often raw or canned fish, beef, roo or mutton meat or a raw egg yolk.

You will be very hard pressed to find a responsible breeder that will sell a puppy to you if you are not going to vaccinate or treat responsibly for ticks & worms IMO. I suppose you don't believe in desexing either. You wont be able to join any dog clubs or attend dog trials unless your dog is up to date with vaccinations either. You will end up getting a 2nd grade pup from a BYB & could end up biting off more than you can chew as far as a healthy, sound pup goes. I am not a breeder, but as a lover of border collies, if I were, then I would run a mile.

My boys nuts do a good job of blocking his ears! A well hung dog...no doubt :laugh:

Selling unpasteurised goat milk (or any milk for that matter) for human consumption is illegal in Victoria. I know there are many people like yourself who want it for themselves but unfortunately in Vic this isn't possible. Perhaps the laws are different in S.A. If you contact the Dairy Food safety SA they may be able to tell you where the registered goat dairies are. Lucky to be a dog sometimes. Same in NSW & just recently someone was fined 1000's of $, as they were selling unpasteurised cows milk to the public.

My two guys have a really good recall. THEY have made a game out of it, & if they are both off running together & I call either, they will have a race back to me...do a few laps around me just to tease & then drop at my feet in front for a wad of treats delivered slowly while they gets lots of praise. However, this morning on our walk, the young guy decided that he would wander off in search of fresh young, baby calf poo (there is nothing better). Evidentually, calf poo effects your ears, so you can't hear when someone calls your name. I only called him twice then walked off & left him & after a little while, he came running flat out. He missed out on his training treats & had to wait for second place in the swimming pool. Next time I walk that way, he will be on a lead

My girl is a weave pole suck & when given the choice of a tunnel or contact obstacle, she will take the contact if I am not careful, but the last couple of trials she has been pretty good, as I have been remembering to reward the tunnel if she gives it to me fast. I do a lot of reinforcing on the jumps too, especially wraps, serpentines & threadles. Another area, which often gets neglected, is reinforcing the start line stay ie: coming back & rewarding for a good wait. I like to come back occasionally & throw multiple tiny treats at her feet & with every one, I say something like, "good wait", "lovely wait" etc....so she knows what it is she is being rewarded for.

My girl very rarely drops a bar, so when she does I know that it was most likely my fault. I crowded her, called too late, gave the wrong body message...whatever...it would be my fault. Most of the time, if she pulls out of the weaves it is my fault also, because I should have her proofed against all distractions. I think the problem we all do is reward highly, things like weaves & contacts & forget to reward good tunnel performance or jumping skills. The new kid on the block, has his debut next weekend...that will be interesting

Yeah, you'd have to be careful if it was windy but on an average day I think you'd be okay with the citronella spray as the nozzle is designed to spray up to 10 feet so shouldn't disperse in the wind as easily as something like hairspray. The citronella also doesn't cause any pain for the dog so even if it did blow back on you, it won't do any damage besides being a bit unpleasant for your dog. I'd be really concerned about using something like the Dazer on a dog because it's guaranteed that it will also have an effect on your own dog (when you'd have to be fairly unlucky for the citronella spray to blow back on your dog) and for a reactive dog, it may well cause them to associate the effects of the Dazer with other dogs and increase their reactivity next time they see a dog. I don't think I'd be prepared to take that risk with all the hard work we're doing to overcome his reactivity. Yeah....Megan....we all blame our IPhones I know what you mean Snook. I was really meaning to carry one for really bad situations, for instance, I live in the country & have encountered, not too often, dingos & wild dogs who would rip your dog to bits, given half the chance. Good if the citronella spray is more of a stream rather than a spray, then you could direct it at the dog. Where do you get it from ??

Megan....have you been drinking

With any sort of spray repellent, I would imagine that you would have make sure you were on the right side of the wind, or it could just blow back in your face or your own dogs Have you ever thought of a hand held ultrasonic device, like the Dazer. It will also make your own dogs run for cover but at least it doesn't hurt them & is good at defusing a bad situation.

Great work PME