JayJay

Hi all, it is us again We had a quick question this time. With the nice weather coming back, our Minnie is finally spending a lot of time outside when we are working. Sadly, she has started running after the cars that drive by our house and barking at them. I tried to grab her and "oh oh" her, but, in the garden there is no way to catch her (big garden, quick dog...). We tried stop and no, in a preventive manner, when we are outside, but doesn't work very well, and this mostly happen when we are working inside. Any suggestions? It also scares us, because she runs at the cars (there is a fence) while she barks, something she is reproducing when we see cars on our walks. Reminder, she is about 6 months old. Sorry, no tax (picture) today, as I am working a bit too much and a bit short on time Wishing you all the best!

Hi Flora & Molly! Thanks for the feedback. Couple of questions. The most important one, about "wistle means treat or play, never a leash". But, if you need to put the leash on, do you need to wait a certain time or, what do you do to separate the idea of whistle and leash? Because I am often confronted with that. When she goes to far away, and I manage to recall her, I put her on a leash so she doesnt run away again. But that does create the link between coming back = leash. How can I separate the two? When you speak about whistle, you mean a regular old style 1$ whistle? Because we bought one of those ultrasound dog whistle... ANd we dont know if its any better than a regular one? Also I use my fingers to whistle. it used to work very well, then came the birds About the hunting grounds, I did think about that part before. But I tought, if I only put her on a leash when we near the hunting ground, she will simply shift her hunting ground once she get it? From what I have seen of her... cunning

30 ft is 40 bucks, getting cheaper by the minute Our flexi is 28 ft. I thought that was so short already, doesnt really allow her to run?

Those biothane lead look awesome. I have one in fabric, that will soak everything it touches. Not ideal. I will try to find a similar 30m lead in europe The monkey game sounds fun to mix things up, thanks! We have a big field next to our house that allows plenty of training in open space, it will be easy to broaden the distance during the exercises. Edit: found them. 100$ for 100ft 70$ for 65ft

As we thought, we need to go back to basics Recall training. I hope we can make it fun again with your game suggestions We are also trying to find a new leash that is longer than 8 meters. Cant find anything on amazon. We have one but its not a self recalling one(dont know how you call em), so, it is going to be messy in the fields with a huge leash on the ground

I do have one like that, where i call her with an old lady's high pitched voice (i am a dude). it works, if there are no birds

@gcv-border We started to leave her off leash after a week or so. Its our vet, who also has BC's, that told us to start as soon as possible of the leash. Training for recall has always been: let her go her way, call her, and as soon as she is there, lots of cudle and a treat or two to congrat her. The truth is, it worked so well, that we stoped the positive reinforcement after a few weeks, since she was coming back every time when we called her, we took it for granted. We never tried to run after her, we see how fast she moves... But when we start moving off the path towards her, in those infamous fields, she will put more dinstance between us. @urge to herd We will see what we can do, as it is a bit rude to cut the owner out sudenly, as they were kind enough to join us in the first place.

Thank you. Yes, at our first vet visit, she told us it was "not a good idea" as a first dog to take a BC. But, my gf choose that her next dog would be a BC, 20 years ago... We have a question. She is used to do those daily walks, but 3 times a week its with 2 other dog friends. All 3 have no leash as she doesnt run after birds when the two other dogs are there. Do we need to stop the walks with those other 2 friend-dogs? As using a leash with them will be a real issue (they play and roll and... you know).

I am not sure I was clear on a couple of points, when reading your answer: - she knows what "Minnie, come" means she does it all the time, except when she prefers playing with other dogs, or chasing birds. otherwise, "come" will make her come imediatly. That is also the reason she was alowed to be without a leash in the first place. because she would stop when asked, come back when asked, etc. she knows sit, lay down, park(sends her to her place), wait, stand, slower, "uh-oh", leave it, no, paw (gives paw), other paw (gives other paw), etc She knows all of those, and will do them gladly, if she wants to (= she is not distracted, there is nothing more intreesting than us, like birds she will never be able to catch) I, of course, could be wrong, but what you explain is how to relearn words to her, she allready knows perfectly well? The issue seems to be about consistency on when to following (all of) those orders?

Thank you for your reply. Her name is Minnie, like Minnie Mouse, because of her colors. Do you have any advice, during training, on how to handle it when she ignores the command? I know we are not supposed to repeat ourselves, we do our best not to. But how are we supposed to do, when we give the order, and she does nothing (even when she knows it)? Some people said we had to be harsher to make her understand we are the boss, but, we have never been like that with her. It feels... Wrong. Maybe it is our mistake? I did not mention it in this post, but she is our first dog/animal.

Hi D'Elle, Thank you for your feedback. On that point, the issue is, uhm, have you tried running AFTER a running BC? Once she is couple of meters away, catching her is imposible, thats when it gets complicated. At that point, trying to catch her is a game for her, she will run away, and once you manage to grab her, putting a leash on her, does not seem to convene any message. She had her fun, she knows now is the time to go home anyway. I am out of ideas on what to do to make her understand we are really not happy with her going that far away. Since we never punish her (we use crate time to calm down/make her think), we do not know what to do. Also, from what I understood, they do not understand consequences if they are not imediate. When she runs to far away, and we finally manage to get her, and put a leash on her, it does not stop her from going way to far away the next time. Even if its 5 minutes later.

Thank you for your reply. A lot of things you said are reinforcing what we already tough. We will see when we have more replies, if everyone thinks the same For the teenager "years", we heard it will until she was 1,5/2 years old... That would be really long

Hello Everyone, We are back with a big issue and tons of other questions and hope you can help us out again She is now almost 6 months old, and everything is going well. She started training in a very chill dog school, only positive reinforcement. We love it. Our first question/big problem, that we really need to resolve: Couple of weeks ago we had our first major incident, that has tarnished our joyful walks. Those walks are daily (sometime twice) through the field, with no leash. About 3km each time. After a few weeks of those walks, she started to run further and further away to try to chase birds. On that day, she decided she would not come back when I called her, and followed different birds in succession, until I could not see her anymore. I tried to continue our walk and call her, but after 10 minutes of her not showing, I panicked and called my wife. While she was getting ready, I continued calling and going through the fields. After 10 minutes, my wife called, telling me the dog was in front of the door, at our house. Since then, I do not let her of the leash anymore which sucks, for everyone. The thing is, she listens almost all the time*. If i call her (on the long leash) she will come back, if I ask her to wait, she wait, etc. We try once in a while to do the walk again without a leash. She will listen, up until the big fields with the birds, and there, again, she will stop listening to anything. Candy call, squeekie toys, us calling her. Only the birds matter. Our fear is of course that she gets killed by a driver when leaving the fields, or get lost and something bad happen to her, so, we need to fix this. Any suggestions, ideas, magic solution? Now, on more lighthearted questions :) - Up until now, based on the vet's advice, we fed her 3 times a day. She gets 10 minutes to eat and then we remove the bowl. It seems to be pretty stressful for her. We tried leaving the bowl, and it seems to be more enjoyable for her. She can come and eat at her pace when she wants. Is leaving the bowl and refill 3 times a day, a good way to do it? Of course, we do not give more than her daily allowance. - She LOVES human food, of course. After our meals, we give her some meat pieces we cut and make sure there are no bones/bad spices when we eat meat once in a while, etc. But of course, this creates a habit, where she knows she MIGHT get some good stuff from us, and she will come and beg when we are in the kitchen, even not eating. This does not happen too often, but we do not want a bad habit out of it. And we would like to continue to give her those little treats. How can we handle this better please? -With the nice weather finally back in our country, she has started spending a lot of time in the garden. Sadly, she also started DIGGING in our garden. What should we do to make her understand it is not ok? As of course we only see it after the facts. I started filling one of the holes with my feet, and she came and barked at me (she almost never barks). - *At the dog school, the excitement of the 3 other dogs is so big, that she stops listening. I am usually the last one to get my dog back at the "get your dog back without running after it" exercise I tried better candies (real meat), she just doesn't care. Playing with the other dogs is more important. I do believe this is linked with the birds issue, where SHE decides when she listens or not. Any advice/suggestions please? - She is 6mnths old now, loves to play, but i am totally out of ideas on what to play/train her in the garden. Any suggestions/videos/books with games/exercises for her for this age please? Not-so-puppy-anymore tax attached Warm regards to everyone

Thank you everyone for reasuring us. We will try to find the next "best" training school, untill we get one that does not use any aversive methods fo schooling.

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all doing well. We have encountered a little issue, and were hoping you gals and guys can help. After asking around, we found the best training school of the area. I called and had a very good contact. They invited me when they reopen around end of January (currently in lock-down), and everything was peachy. The next day, I talked with my neighbor who told me he know the school, and casually told me "yeah and a choking collar is mandatory". I freaked out... And honestly god mad. As i mentioned in my previous post, it is our first dog. When we hear choking collar, we think barbarism, uncivilized training. For the naive me, its the equivalent of kicking my dog every time she tries to pull. Of course she will stop pulling if I do that! So, yeah.. Can you guys please tell us if it is "normal" that the "best training school" of the region uses choking collars? Are we wrong to see it as barbaric? Warm regards Jay