Becoming the perfect dog (a collie puppy update!)

[BBP]

I just wrote a long post about the training issues and breakthroughs we have had since my last post (cats, horses, cars, loose lead walking, sleep, separation)...but then realised how boring it was so deleted it and thought I would settle with some pictures! I must get some better photos of him! He really is becoming the perfect little dog for us.

The first time we saw him:

Little:

Lanky but still covered in puppy fluff

Not so little and much less fluffy!

 

[travellingpony]

That dog is sooooooo lush!! I love the naughty look in the eyes!!

 

[WandaMare]

He's gorgeous, lovely pics

 

[pippixox]

😍😍😍
I have decided I like collies after having a rescue one for just over a year, having previously to be honest never been fond of them. So much energy and enthusiasm which only causes issues when not stimulated. Our 3 yo girl just wants to please (with a bit of a nearotic streak) after 2 years in a house doing nothing and causing them chaos. She is currently in the garden playing fetch with my toddler!

 

[Clodagh]

I would love to read about trainbing and what you have done - it is always interesting, not boring. Go and type it out again!
Anyway, he is a gorgeous dog. He will have to meet 'Juno' one day - do you and Jennbags live anywhere nar each other?

 

[ycbm]

He is SO gorgeous!

 

[Abi90]

I love him! He looks so cheeky

 

[Oenoke]

Gorgeous puppy

 

[JennBags]

OMG he really is utterly gorgeous and utterly goofy all at the same time!

Him and Juno would have loads of fun together (yes I know I need to do a Juno update too!), can you imagine, I think the photos would close the forum down from a cuteness overload :lol:

I'd also love to know about your training (wins and fails).

 

[BBP]

I would love to read about trainbing and what you have done - it is always interesting, not boring. Go and type it out again!
Anyway, he is a gorgeous dog. He will have to meet 'Juno' one day - do you and Jennbags live anywhere nar each other?

Ok, if you insist!

Firstly, having been given advice to ditch bowl based meal times so that all of his food comes from me in a way that engages his mind and focuses him a bit better, I came to the realisation that his current dried food just wasn't going to cut it. He's been on Arden grange puppy food but has never really liked it. He wouldn't touch his food until after lunch, and if you tried to use it for training he would very gently take a piece of kibble from your hand, wander off with it, put it down somewhere and then go back to doing his own thing, or he wouldn't take it at all. So it didn't build any enthusiasm at all for focussing on me. I am now mixing in 'Core' chicken flavour dried dog food, which he seems to love. Instantly I have more attention and focus with it.

I have been working on some of the 'absolute dogs' training games, rolling food between my legs, getting him to circle around to either between my legs or at my left heel, 'watch me', that sort of thing, with this new tasty kibble, and he is being brilliant just in 72 hours the difference in his keenness to be involved with me is fantastic. This morning I was able to feed my two cats their dry food up on a high shelf in my patio. Usually this would create hysteria in the dog, pogo-ing up and down trying to get at them on the shelf. This morning I spent the time throwing bits of food around the patio for him to find and bringing him back to my side, sit, heel etc, all without bothering about the cats, so now i'm going to do the same each time I feed the cats. One of the cats in particular makes him crazy as she is such an enigma, she meows and runs away most of the time, or sits on the high shelf and smacks him on the nose as he pogo's up and down, and then runs away! he started doing it this afternoon, so i grabbed his chunks and started rolling them across the patio again, and again he broke off harassing her and merrily trotted about looking for his food. Win! I figure if I keep this up he will learn that her being around means he gets good things. He is being brilliant with the other cat. She really has the measure of him and will biff him or chase him if he gets too boisterous but otherwise is happy to sleep in the same room and sit inches from each other.

Cars - this is a big deal and will a long time to work on, his arousal levels are through the roof as soon as he touches tarmac. But yesterday I had a small success that made me feel like I can do it. I have realised that the road outside my house is way too stressful, there are no footpaths and although its a 30 limit, cars drive way too fast, way too close and there are way too many of them to use it for training, so now he goes in the car even if i'm just going a short distance up it. Or I go out at 9pm to practice. Or like yesterday i took him to a quieter village with wide footpaths. I took a ball chucker stick thingy and smeared the scoop with dog friendly peanut butter. Each time he heard or saw a moving car i popped the scoop under his nose and let him have a lick. He has never allowed any food to distract him before but yesterday he was actually licking the peanut butter, and for two whole cars I had no crouching and lunging at all, so that was brilliant!

Toys wise, I am making an effort to really engage with him when we are out in the garden, not to mess about on my phone or sit watching him do his own thing (usually chasing insects obsessively). So I try to get him really excited as he is usually very laid back about playing games. The flirt pole (tuggy toy on a lunge whip essentially) is the favourite game and I am finally getting a lot of enthusiasm from him about it, he will run back and grab it after I put it away, which he has never done with a toy before. We practice a bit of impulse control with 'leave it' and then 'go go go!!' to chase it. I just have to be careful how i use it so he isn't doing too much skidding about whilst he is still young.

Loose lead walking - tricky if he is near cars, but I have been working on consistency with stopping/turning back every time he puts tension on the lead, and rewarding when he comes back to heel. Really relaxed about it but really consistent. He has been making brilliant progress with this in just a few days.

Its all a challenge as he spends 5 days a week with my OH usually, and im not sure just how much training he does with him. He has to walk between meetings etc and i'm not sure if with the time pressures he doesn't work on the loose lead walking or cars and just kind of lets him pull or dive at cars without really actively trying to work on it. So i asked if I could have him this week as im working at home a lot, so i had the time to put some work into his training in my breaks and before/after work. And in just a few days we have achieved so much of the above, im really pleased with him.

Crating - usually he is ok with being left in his pen at home, but a kong stuffed with good quality wet dog food (carnilove) is very well recieved and entertains him for a while!) I open a tin, push the whole lot out, cut it into slices and then freeze the slices. Then defrost a slice of dog food a day, shove it in the kong and leave him whilst I got o feed the horses, all is peaceful, which makes me less stressed.

I guess the key things I've learned are, don't expect too much - he's a puppy and without consistency, how can I expect him to learn. He won't be calm and chilled about everything in life immediately, it takes work. But equally, its ok to make life easier by doing things like having him sleep upstairs in my room (in his crate), rather than him being downstairs and the yapping causing me stress. Pick my battles and keep myself as calm as possible. Not only does it prevent both of our adrenaline levels rising as we react off each other, but it reduces my headaches and means i can continue to work with him, whereas before if i got stressed the pressure in my head would go up so high that i couldn't function properly.

So its a work in progress but he is such a wonderful little dog and his issues are really few and far between. If I could crack the car thing I would be happy, for his own safety.

Told you it was a bit boring, but its made me really happy this week.

 

[BBP]

He is also proving to be an excellent therapy dog. This afternoon, after a phonecall with my doctor, I had a bit of a tearful few minutes. I sat on the floor and had a little cry and he was straight over, climbed onto my lap and just kept licking me. Its so good for the soul and so hard to stay sad when he is around. (The cats would have done the same but there was a puppy in the way!)

 

[BBP]

OMG he really is utterly gorgeous and utterly goofy all at the same time!

Him and Juno would have loads of fun together (yes I know I need to do a Juno update too!), can you imagine, I think the photos would close the forum down from a cuteness overload :lol:

I'd also love to know about your training (wins and fails).

They definitely would! Him and Juno would be a great pair! I think we are a bit far away sadly. He met a gordon setter puppy thins evening and they were gorgeous together. Mine was racing around trying to figure out how to get the puppy to play (it is much younger, still waiting for final jabs) but he was so careful around him, and amended his playing style to persuade the puppy to chase him, as it was a bit overwhelmed when mine was trying to chase the little one. When I finally put his lead on to take him home as we felt the little one had done enough, the little one grabbed his lead and started running around 'leading' my puppy. So cute!

 

[splashgirl45]

lovely pup and great report. sounds like you are doing really well....keep up the good work and continue with the pics please as he is so beautiful

 

[JennBags]

Thats a brilliant report, really interesting. We are also feeding Arden Grange, she likes it but I definitely get more enthusiasm when I use real meat or cheese. I feed between 1/3rd and 2/3rds of most meals from my hands with training, then give her the rest.

 

[Lintel]

Aww he is lovely so nice to see the updates

 

[Moobli]

He is a beautiful looking pup and it is great to hear about your trials and triumphs. It sounds from your synopsis that you are doing everything right. Patience, consistency and repetition are the key to dogs learning and also just take time out to enjoy him without getting too stressed about the things he might not be up to speed on yet. You will get there with him. Collies and cars can be a real issue (it is their instinctive need to control things that move at speed) but distracting him and getting his attention and focus on you, while trying to avoid him practising the behaviour is a good start. Is there anywhere you can sit, far enough away from a road to avoid taking him over threshold, but close enough so he could show an interest - then distract, reward, distract reward etc.