A Couple Of Issues With Border Collie

[whitka]

So I have decided to start doing some training with my brother's 18 month old border collie since he does nothing with her

First issue she pulls when one the lead so walking her isnt great and I guess being a herding dog this is to be expected but she wants to chase birds, casr and cats, she's always on the lead when out of the house. She can also be abit shy in new situations.

I've never had a dog with any of these issues so open to all suggestions on what I should do with her to make her a more behaved confindent dog as I would like to give trailing a go with her :)

[Tassie]

Good on you, whitka, for taking on the challenge. :) My recommendation with a Border Collie, especially one which is inclined to be a bit shy, is to use reward based training - in short exciting bursts. Try to be very clear about what you want from her, and what you don't want - for the don't want, think of alternative acceptable behaviours which you can redirect her to.

My feral agility girl is a confirmed wannabe car chaser (BCs are very motion oriented as a rule). So for all her nearly 11 years, she has been classically conditioned that when she hears/sees a car she would want to chase, she looks at me - and gets a treat. In the early days, I would actually ask for a sit - now I don't bother with that, but I do reward the head turn to me - sometimes it will be a verbal, followed by a somewhat delayed treat - but in the early stages, you would want the treat to be delivered quickly. I don't kid myself that this is anything other than management - so she doesn't get the chance to practise any car chasing.

You'll get various suggestions for the loose leash walking. First thing is to have a clear criterion in your mind for what is acceptable - for mine, it is not havng tension on the leash that is uncomfortable for me - they can walk in front or to the side, as long as they're not actually pulling me. Occasionally they'rll forget their manners, and start to pull (maybe to get somewhere they want to go), and then I'll do the stop and wait, or maybe even the back up a few steps (penalty yards). For them that's enough - but for a youngster it probably wouldn't be.

The technique I really like is the series of sharp changes of direction (no pre-warning to the dog) to a different direction from the one the dog wants to go, then just keep walking purposefully in the new direction, and mark and reward as the dog's head turns to look at you (to see what's going on :D ) - the leash will have slackened at that point. Then you can keep chatting and occasionally rewarding the dog while the leash is loose, and change direction if the dog starts to pull - rinse and repeat. Most dogs actually really like this game, and they start paying more and more attention so they don't get caught out. :laugh: . I think a key is not pleading with the dog or saying anything when you change directions - just keeping on going until the dog makes the choice to notice and pay you some attention. You can set up a slalon coiurse using cones or garden stakes, and walk through it - rewarding the dog for paying attention - many dogs quite like this one too.

You would be using this technique at the same time as you were doing lots of other relationship building stuff - teaching focus (there's a recent/on-going thread on this), teaching hand-targetting stationary and then moving .... teaching all sorts of tricks.

This sort of relationship building can also help with the shyness thing. She will learn to trust you - and in return, you will respect the feelings she is showing you, and try to keep her below the threshold where she starts worrying about things.

Hope that makes sense - I'm sure others will be along with some more ideas.

Oh, and I don't know how far east you are, but I'd probably be thinking about your local obedience clubs too - explaining the situation to them, so that thy will know that you may want to take new things easy with her.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

Agree with what Tassie said.

I walk my 2 on easywalk harnesses, they walk nicely on their own but together I need the harnesses for them to not pull. I do the stop and wait with them, but I think I'm going to do some more of the directional changing.

Shyness, I'd start doing a bit of LAT so she gets more confident and calm just being in the environment. The other thing I did with Kenz (who used to be quite shy) was used "touch" to my advantage. I taught her touch, and it became one of her favourite things. Then if we were out and about and came across something she was worried about first we would look at it, then get closer and then eventually I'd ask her to touch it. This increased her confidence drastically. With people and dogs I turned "touch" in to "say hello", just sounds nicer!! So when we meet someone if she is being shy I ask her to "go and say hello" (if I can see she will cope with it) and she goes up to the person and will target their knee and touch it! People think it's cute, but for us it's a great confidence and reassurance technique!!

[whitka]

Thanks Tassie and Pretty Miss Emma

Excuse my igonorance but what does LAT mean?

[Weasels]

LAT = the Look at That game (although I find the cue "lookatthat" cumbersome, so I use "there!")

[Staffyluv]

LAT is Look at that.

It has worked wonders for Zig and I.

I started by using his squeaky tennis ball and holding it out to the left and say 'look at that', when he looks he is rewarded with his ball (he is ball focused not food focused - works the same with treats). Then I hold the ball near my knee and say 'look at that' - he gets the ball when he looks at what I want him to look at.

We don't need the ball to play anymore - I can say look at that and point and he looks in that direction or at whatever I am pointing at. Then he gets a big rough up and pat when he does well..

It is a good distraction method for dogs that focus on things they shouldn't.. You get their attention on something else.

ETA - we also do 'look at me'. When he looks at me and stays focused on me, he gets a treat or his ball. The ball works better for us.

I have also taught him wait - this means he focuses on me and waits for the next thing I ask him to do..

Edited December 29, 2012 by Staffyluv