New addition and a question!

[Littlemissmoneypenny]

I recently decided it was time to get another doggy after loosing my lovely girl back in November 2011. She's another collie and I picked her up on the 20th Dec so far she's been very well behaved

Just after some advice, yesterday she started taking interest in shadows , just wanted any tips/advice how to get her to ignore the shadows now! So far I have distracted her when she starts 'playing' with them, for example I will call her and she will come to me and then I will try and start playing with her ball or training which then she'll usually ignore them again. Is this the right way of dealing with it?

Also, as far as training how much can you do before a certain age or does it not matter? She currently knows sit, lay-down, paw & other paw (she has learnt this when we are cleaning her paws after being out in the snow), stay and drop/leave. So far proving quite bright?! She is just 13 weeks old.

Also any agility collies on here? Just wanting to know how old they can be to start as I think she may love this.

 

[CorvusCorax]

She sounds like a sharp one and you are right to distract her, breeds like collies can easily develop OCD behaviours like shadow chasing, tail chasing, they can become easily fixated.

You ideally want to re-direct that fixation onto a ball or a toy, and teach the dog that YOU are the producer of the ball or toy. You be the one to help activate and stimulate her, try not to let her self entertain.
I don't allow free play with balls or tugs, they come out when I decide, I instigate the play, I put them away, I use things like raw bones and stuffed Kongs for timewasters.
This means that the dog builds a higher drive for certain toys which you can exploit in training when they are odler.
So many people leave their dogs with toys and forget to play with their dogs - make you the centre of her universe, don't be boring

Training depends on the dog, it is great that she is learning fast but keep everything very upbeat, fun and lighthearted, use this time to bond with her rather than teach solid commands as you could end up souring her for later.

Re agility, you can start on the ground quite young but it's not advised to do very high impact jumping/landing until 12 months plus to protect the joints.

 

[blackcob]

Wot she said ^ but just wanted to add that you can start some really valuable agility exercises now. Certainly no jumping or other high impact stuff until at least 12 months (18 months at our club) but the groundwork can be done early - working between jump wings with poles on the ground you can do recall games over a line of them, send her off to a toy thrown ahead, basic turns and crosses, planks on the ground for contacts etc. All without leaving the ground. As above it's about generating drive, if you can get her to run on over poles in return for a tennis ball it will be a brilliant foundation for your first agility classes.

There's a lot of very useful books in this regard, the Control Unleashed series has a puppy specific book and my current bible is Unleashing the Velcro Dog (I didn't have the advantage of starting with a puppy or a high drive dog and basically did it all wrong when starting out...)

 

[FinnishLapphund]

She looks very cute and adorable.


Besides dittoing what Cave Canem and Blackcob have said, I want to add that you should also remember to train her on doing nothing. It may sound strange, but for example, later when you can take her out on more proper walks, just stop/sit down for a while and teach her that sometimes nothing happens, and that it equals that she should also just wait, until you decide that the walk continues again.

As said, it might sound weird, but it does happen that owners (unknowingly) actually teaches their dogs to be hyperactive or reinforces an already big zeal (in direct translation I would say workdrive, but that doesn't seem to be an English word), which can lead to a dog that "always" wants/expects something to happen and if it doesn't, they'll try to entertain themselves.
Of course some dogs might turn out that way no matter what their owners do, and there is also those breeds/individuals that is in less need of this, but I wished more puppy classes/puppy books also included talking about teaching your dog to accept making a break in the middle of something interesting, as well as the sit, stay, come etc.


You can also look into calming signals, one of my favourites is blinking. That is when you look towards your dog's face in a relaxed way (no staring!), and then slowly, as in slow motion, closes and open your eyes. Usually none of my bitches reacts at the first blink, but if I keep on blinking really slow, they will calm down and sometimes even blink back.

Another calming signal is to lick yourself around your mouth and/or show the tip of your tongue while making a smacking sound. Dogs often use this signal in situations that involves stress and/or excitement, and owners can try and use it to tell their dog "I want you to calm down".

If you're interested to learn more about calming signals, look up Turid Rugaas.

 

[wildwest]

no help just wanted to say shes adorable :}

 

[Littlemissmoneypenny]

Thanks for all your replies....very helpful and useful points!

I completely understand what you mean by training to just chill and do nothing. Our last collie was very chilled and it was nice to just have that when out and about.

In regards to the agility, some great ideas. I'll certainly try them out when we've done some more recall work.

In terms of her training/tricks shes's sort of picked them up whilst playing or day to day routine, I try and keep it fun and interest her with rewards but only stick to asking twice and then move onto ball games etc. I would hate for her to not enjoy learning