Pip's Progress

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Sprig

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We are continuing to have great fun with Pip. We have had glorious weather here for the last few days so he has been helping in the garden. He knows already not to go on the flower beds and is happy to lie and watch, in-between games with our lurcher. You can really see his sheepdog heritage when they are playing (see the vid in the link).



He has been practising a bit of lead walking, which he is great at. We went to sit at the end of our driveway today to watch cars. He has ridden in one lots (he rides in the boot nicely with our other dog now which is much easier than having him in his crate on the back seat) but not been close to a moving one. He was a bit wary to start with but fine with cars and motorbikes by the end. My son also practised scooting back and forth past him and that got no response at all.



As the plan, once he is older, is to have him riding out with me on the horse I am starting early with getting him used to them. He comes to the yard with me every day anyway but today I practised having him to my side when leading my horse in (off the lead so he can get out of the way if anything happens). He did really well. We stopped and started and just went about ten metres and through a gateway. Hopefully if I can keep him confident doing this kind of thing then in a years time I will have a reliable hacking buddy.

Links to lead-walking vid and playing in the garden with our lurcher (can someone point me in the direction of how to embed videos here. Preferable the 'for dummies' version!). Thanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrfQUi63KjU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qP34QvgPyQ
 
Ohhhh he is lovely! The pink on his wee nose is sooo cute.

I secretly want a BC but I don't 'do' fluffy so obviously I need a nice short haired one like Pip :p
 
Aww he's still so puppy-like, Wolfie grows up every day and her legs gets longer and longer!

You're lucky being able to take him up to see the horses, we can't have dogs at our yard (YO has a very aggressive BC), but I could take her up to see G.

I think you embed videos using the [video ] codes, I'll test it out.
 
[video=youtube;OrfQUi63KjU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrfQUi63KjU[/video]

[video=youtube;4qP34QvgPyQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qP34QvgPyQ[/video]
 
Love that video, nothing cheers me up more than watching dogs playing together. How great that they are getting on so well. He looks to have a wise head upon pup's shoulders except when he thinks he can catch Hector!
 
Sprig said:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrfQUi63KjU

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I'd offer a word of caution. Sometimes collie pups, certainly when work-bred can learn early on, certain behavioural traits which can prove tiresome. Your pup wasn't actually playing with your lurcher, he was showing early, and in the case of a dog intended for work, desirable, attempts at 'Heading'. I would also suggest that your senior dog, rather than playing was finding the attention unwelcome and unsure how to react.

Some collie's, denied their work and from early implanted behavioural slants will try to Head, just about anything, cars, chickens, cats, small children, anything including other dogs. Mostly other dogs really don't like it. I have such a dog here and he is always out and exercised on his own. ALL the other dogs here hate the fact that he'll try to Head them. In public places, with access to strange dogs, they can misinterpret the pup's actions and they can then be aggressive. If you like, it's a bit like when another person sits and stares at us and we find it uncomfortable.

I may well be quite wrong of course and I may well have misread the actions of both dogs. If I'm right however, the behaviour is best stopped by either calming the lurcher down and/or distracting the pup. Once engrained, behavioural issues with collies are generally impossible to break.

Alec.
 
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As a PS, I now notice that you've headed the vid clip 'Pip 'Herding' hector', so you've already recognised what the pup is attempting to do. He already displays 'eye' which we want in a work dog but not necessarily in a pet!

Also have to say, love your garden!

Alec.
 
Thanks Alec, I welcome all input. The lurcher was courting the attention. He plays similar games with me and will race past as close as possible while I stand in the middle of the garden. We are conscious that we don't want Pip to get in to the habit of chasing things, so will keep an eye on his behaviour. He can start going out around other dogs later this week so we will see how that goes.
 
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