SmoothieGirl

She is a very pretty girl nell.m What is her personality like? I've never really had much to do with FTs.

Sounds like he'd just prefer to be with you rather than in the laundry, but that's normal. The only thing I wonder is if that walk around the block before bed gets his adrenalin up a little and he's then not quite ready for a sleep but rather more play. It may be a little like humans, exercise just before bed time can sometimes raz us up a bit and we need time to settle down before sleep kicks in. Think about how mothers (sorry, and fathers) get babies off to bed, its all about quiet time just prior to bed. Just a thought.

SP I thought that Bronte would run away too as she is a really soft dog. She wasn't the slightest bit worried about the sheep and kinda got that she was supposed to go up near them. She was more worried Daniel the trainer, he's a 'man', or in he's terms a 'bloke' and 'men/blokes' are scary sometimes according to Bronte. She got over that pretty quick though, think having the sheep there distracted her. Bark, yep we got plenty of that, but not when she was in with the sheep, but when she was bored and watching the other dogs have their turn. Damn that Collie bark can be high pitched can't it. PMing you now.

Persephone, she certainly thought it was fun and we loved watching her.

My Dobermann used to do this slow walk, but at easily about half the pace of the video of Jack. She would only ever do it with the family, especially if we were playing hide and seek. She would try keep eye contact with you while she did it, until she got to about three metres away, then she would avoid eye contact until she got to about a metre away. Then she would suddenly play bow, wag her bum and tail like mad and tear off on a zoomie. Waiting for her to pick up and place down each foot was amazing. She would peel each foot of the ground really slowly, lift it through the air and place it down every so gently and even slower than the pick up. It could take her five to seconds per paw and sometimes she would kind of hover there for a while. Very odd behaviour. I have seen other Dobes do it too. Never associated with anything touching her back though and she was not reactive to anything else going on around her during this behaviour, she was always purely focused on the 'game' if that was what it was. Edit - Excusing the initial quality of the video and the fact its a US vid, this is a great example of another Dobe stalking. As you can see this is in play, but there seems to be a theme of Dobes stalking on YouTube. My girl did exactly this. Edit again - Idiot, I forgot to add the link -

If I'm in the study, she'll lie on the carpet near me. If I'm in the lounge it depends on her mood, sometimes on her bed or the couch near me, or if its close to bedtime, she'll go up to my bedroom and climb on the bed. I think she hates me being on DOL, sometimes she looks at me with those 'do something else' eyes. But generally I'm on here after we have done something constructive and she is due for a rest.

I'll PM you Cos, but it was in Nyora, about 30 mins past Koo Wee Rup - bit of a drive but well worth it.

Very bad move with a Collie. Some dogs will just get over it and tough it up, but with a Collie that kind of behaviour can completely destroy trust. I'm angry now.

He looks like he could be a model dog for the next Incredibles cartoon.

Thanks Kynta. I got a real kick at seeing her with the sheep too, while she needed some encouragement, it did look a natural situation for her. Pip - You're right, it explains a lot. Sammie's are herders too, maybe you could give her a go. There were Norwegian Elkhounds doing it, they were really cool too.

Happy Birthday Jane!

Cashew I'm still not sure I know what herding looks like. Have a bit of an idea now, but its tricky trying to train a dog when you have no real idea what you are looking for. Basically the lead sheep should be up near me and she should be behind all of them. Its fascinating stuff, we're going in March too to see if we can get a better handle on it.

Bronte and I went to our first Herding Clinic today. First off she was really clingy to me (but that's Bronte) and quite worried about THE MAN (she has a stranger danger reaction to most men). But after a couple of go's she started to figure it out and she was working with the sheep a bit. Long way to go, but it was a good start.

My dad was at the local shopping centre the yesterday when he saw an old man with a dog lead attached to a cabbage. Dad said to him, "What are you walking that cabbage for?" The man said, "Its not a cabbage, its a dog?" Dad said, "It's not a dog, its a cabbage." Quite sure of himself the man said, "Its not a cabbage, its a dog." My father isn't a patient man so he raised his voice a little, "No its a cabbage!" The old man, not to be intimidated said, "Its not a damn cabbage, its a dog!" Finally Dad lost it, and very carefully articulated to the man, "NO no no, it is not a DOG, it is a CABBAGE." The old guy puffs out his chest, brings himself to full height and proudly says, "Shows you how much you know, I was just in the pet shop and they told me it was a Cauli".

Hi Cos My first thought is pretty much what PF said. The only thing I'm second guessing is their 'instinctive' bites not being hard as instinctive tends to suggest reactionary and I'm not sure they would put much thought into a reactive bite. I don't know.

As far as soft AND challenging I can't say I've done it. But I trained my 'challenging' Dobermann at Werribee Obedience Dog Club and I now train my 'super soft' Collie at the same place. The club have always been good and I have noticed a distinct change to positive training approaches since I trained my Dobe there (16 years ago) to now. They are also very helpful and open to many training styles, eg. if you want to train your dog in a harness or a halti, that's fine, they will adapt. I'd recommend they contact them.

Oh SP I was just about to ask you when I could swing by and pick up Miss Pink when I read that you have picked her. Damn, ok, I'll have my second choice Mr Green. They are all adorable though, its going to be a tough choice. I'll let you in on a little bit of info, your Mum might be interested, but I'm very close to starting my search in earnest for my next Smoothie. Not to take home until next year, but another puppy, how sweet.

Flux I'm pleased that you found our comments and advice helpful, its really heart warming. Isn't it good to have it reconfirmed occasionally that we aren't all going mad and everyone else gets frustrated sometimes. As you stated you have already realised the best thing about a Collie, they forgive as long as you make changes to adapt to suit their style. Bronte doesn't tend to herd me when we are walking on lead, but can do a little in the house if she wants to play, or off lead if she wants to hurry me up. But she's more inclined to herd my cat or the broom. That being said we are doing our first herding clinic tomorrow so I hope to uncover some hidden talent. Some of the other Collie clan may have experienced this though. If not, as its not as prominant in the Collies these days as they are much more 'pet-ified' than some of the other working dogs, don't be afraid to drop into the Border Collie or Kelpie threads, or even post in the Training thread, there are a few people in there that know about herding. I'm going to swing by the Collie thread now, ohhh, I hope there's photos.

Just a note from another Collie person... Apart from the tips you have recieved here, be very careful with being 'assertive' with a Collie, they are sensitive dogs and generally very soft. Rather you need to be clear and consistent. Collies will crumple if you try to be too assertive with them. I was assertive with my Dobermann and that worked well. I would describe my approach to my Collie as specific but gentle. What you think of as her not wanting to do something, could very well be her getting concerned and confused and retreating into herself. I'm a big fan of Tassie's suggested approach. The second she pulls you stop dead where you are, either encourage her to come back to you, or place her back next to you, the mark the position (with a click or simply say yes) reward and move on. She pulls, you do it again. It may take you a very long time to get down the road, but its all a training experience. Also, if she starts to auto correct, ie. returning to you as soon as you stop, start to introduce a word command to go with her auto correct, then reward the second she is in the position you want her. Personally I don't walk my girl next to me unless I'm doing formal heeling, but she is NOT allow to pull. She understands 'don't pull' and will either slow down and wait or come back to me to continue on. You decide where you want her to walk on your trips out, but be consistent. On another note, it sounds to me that she actually doesn't understand what 'outside' means as generally a Collie will do backflips to please you and fulfil its owners requests if they are clearly understood. I'd take a step back, simplify your training and requests, show her calmly what you mean and reward her exuberantly when she does it. Truely for most Collies a simple lack of acknowledgement of their attempt to respond is correction enough. Eg. If I ask Bronte to sit and she drops instead, a simple very flat toned and quiet 'no' and no reward will have her sitting up in no time. But this has been taught quietly and carefully using positive reinforcement. Also, food rewards work brilliantly with many Collies. Edit - Btw, drop by the Collie thread in the breed sub forum, we'd love to see photos of her.

Technically they shouldn't be washed if you want them to remain waterproof. However I've washed their rugs before and the horse destroyed them well and truly before the waterproofing was lost, after a couple of winter seasons.

I'm going to check out ABBA Kennels in Keysborough in a week or so, is that near enough? Heard good reports and the facilities sound good.

I don't often use her name. If I want her to look directly at me rather than just be attentive I will use 'watch', but right now we are working on building up her eye to eye contact just using positive reinforcement and shaping, rather than asking for her to put her eyes on me. If she's on a break from an exercise and she wanders away for a sticky beak or a sniff, but I still want her near me, I will tell her 'this way' and she'll return to my general location until I'm ready to go on again. If I get chatting and she does go a little far or get a little too distracted I'll tell her 'Bronte, this way' and it gets the same result. Generally if she does something super super good and I make a big fuss of her, that's when I'll use her name.

JJ's bean bag, not yours!!!

Happy Birthday Charlie!!!!

Sounds good to me, as long as the date suits, but I seeing that I arrange my life around my animals, it should be fine. Do we have any indication of the date yet? PP - I'll PM you rather than clogging the thread up.