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My family just got a 3 month old smooth coated, BC last Friday.

 

Now before I get the "oh foul newb in the BC world" :rolleyes: Let me say, I have had some BC experience. I've babysat BCs before and I spend more time with my next door neighbor's BC than they do. I've loved then for their intelligence and energy!

 

The lady we got him from found him as a 3-4 week old pup with his eyes still shut. She bottle feed and babied him along. She also trained him quite well, He knew a few comands and was house trained.(for the most part :D ) HE loves to herd our 5 weeks old kittens, it is the cutest thing!

 

Now, we all love our "Samwise the brave" (formerly Goober) to pieces, but I'm wondering where to take his training. My 8 year old son has Autism and I would like to train Sam as a helper for him. Flyball sounds like a lot of fun to learn for both of us. I'm a photographer and would like to train him to help on hikes, carry cameras and water bottles on hikes, etc. I walk and play with him twice in the day and the kids keep him occupied during the afternoon and evenings, But I worry about him getting bored.

 

 

Any advise on what training would be good?

 

 

As soon as my new camera comes tomorrow I'll get my avatar and siggy up with Samwise. :D

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Welcome to the boards. Goober :rolleyes: sounds like a great little pup. I wouldn't start working a 3 month old pup to awful hard by carrying to much heavy stuff (or carry your expensive camera stuff either) lol. Maybe teach him "shake" "wave" "high five" "roll over" "stand up" "fetch" and so on. I would keep going over "sit" "stay" and "down" to make sure he has them down pat. Good luck with your little guy.

 

Can't wait to see pictures.

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Welcome to the boards. Expect to find great advice and meet wonderful people here. Can't wait to see pics!!

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Hi shutterbunce , Welcome i have a 4 month old bc pup called mack.

I think its wonderful that you wish to train your pup as a helper for your autistic son my aunty's little boy whos 5 has autisum and they have a bc and her son responds more to his dog than anyone else.

They never trained the pup as a helper he just seemed to no that there was something wrong with my cousin and they are inseprable.

I think that dogs understand and pick up on a lot more than people sometimes give them credit for without having to be trained to do it.

I'm sure sam and your son will be wonderful freinds and sam will enjoy his job as helper. :rolleyes:

I would however wait on the training him to carry your camera etc for quite a while maybe until he's atleast 2 . If you want him to be carrying equipment like that then you need to make sure he has fully matured growth wise as some people think that just becausea dog stops growing and has reached adult hieght thats it they are physically mature but this is not the case. They still have to fill out there body frame bones still need to mature etc. I'm no expert but i have been around dogs all my life my grandad used to breed whippets and we used to race and show them. We always went easy on the fitness training and racing until they where between 18 months /2yrs old so as not to put to much stress on there bones.

I don't see any probs with you maybe starting sam off with an empty pack on his back when he's grown to adult size just to get him used to wearing it. Just bear in mind bc like springer spaniels and other such dogs do not mentally mature until they are around 2/3yrs old sometimes older than that so i would be wary about asking him to carry expensive equipment.

I don't think that you will have to worry to much about sam getting bored i'm sure your son will keep him entertained and vice versa. As the other posts have said carry on with all the basic training on comands etc i do 1 main traning session aday on comands with mack and then reinforce them at every oppatunity i try to walk him twice a day and we play fetch and tug and football he loves playing fetch and football on and off throughout the day. If he looks like he's looking for mischief which if he is it usually involve my 3 yr old son as well then i will start playing some games my 3 yrold son like s playing fetch and football with mack too so double bonus it tires them both out lol!

I have just started crate training with mack as well which he has aceppted really well and also gives me and him some quiet time. :D:D

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Hi! Welcome to the board. You're going to love the atmosphere here! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing pictures. :D Just one thing, from my experience puppies normally open their eyes around 2wks old. If his eyes were still shut, then chances are pretty high that he was younger than what she said (3-4wks old when he was found). :D Well, welcome to the board, once again, and get those pictures loaded! :rolleyes:

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Welcome! I can't wait to see Samwise, I love smooth coats! :rolleyes:

 

Have you thought about enrolling in an obedience class together? This would be a good basis for any further training you might want to do with him.

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Recalls recalls recalls. You cannot have too good of a recall, especially if you want to take your dog places, and especially if you want to take him on hikes. I highly recommend Leslie Nelson's Really Reliable Recall DVD (there is a cheaper booklet version too, if you are DVD-averse).

 

Second is manners. Sitting politely when meeting new people will go a looooong ways towards making your dog welcome on trails, and anywhere else for that matter.

 

I expect you'll be back to discuss the "getting bored" issue more later. The kids will go a long ways towards helping with this. BC's prefer to interact with their humans far more than to entertain themselves, but one thing you might want to get on board with is teaching Samwise to enjoy some downtime in a crate with a nice stuffed Kong.

 

Have fun!

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Even more important than recalls recalls recalls is socialize socialize socialize. Check out the number of posts about "reactive dogs." BC's are prone to edginess anyway so make sure you get your pup in front of as many different people and dogs as you possibly can. And everybody on this board will emphasize mental exercise. That's important--but in my experience absolutely nothing can replace a good 30 minutes of off-leash sprinting twice a day. A good BC is a tired BC.

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Welcome! Well, I guess you got your fill of "oh foul newb in the BC world" :rolleyes: Others have given great advise, mental exersize (tricks, find it games, interactive toys), physical exersize that's fitting for his age and development, recall recall recall, socialize with dogs, people, places, I think I would just add that NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) is a wonderful foundation for any canine good citizen. Hoku politely sits (his 'please') for just about everything he wants, even when he is just about turning inside out with excitement, he is trying to glue his butt to the floor, pretty darn sweet! The other night a friend returned a borrowed tool, and Hoku was a mass of wiggling fur, but kept all four on the floor, and sat to be greeted. I was very proud of him and our friend was full of praise for his good manners... thanks NILIF!

 

Have fun with your pup!

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