Falon's Mom Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 I injured my ankle in October and have been working with my doctor to get healed up. The problem lies in that it is not healing like it should and I need help in finding alternatives in activites I can do with Sage. Things that can become his "job" as he gets older. I was originaly going to be training him as a Search and Rescue dog for wilderness areas. My doctor feels that my ankle will most likely not hold up to that kind of activites for quite some time. So my question is this: What do you do with your dogs that they treat as work? I am just looking for alternatives that I can turn to incase I am unable to continue on the chosen path I have set before Sage and I. We are in no way working on any SAR work, he is far to young in my opinion. We have only been working on basic manners and socialization. Thank you in advance. Felicia (ETA: Spelling errors) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 I didn't start Kipp in SAR until he was 2 yo so you do still have plenty of time for that. If I was in your position and still really wanted to do SAR I'd go ahead and teach foundation behaviors for that. Many people feel that the age to start a pup is when you get them - just keep it short and sweet at that age. There is a 5 mo pup on my team right now that has been coming to training since she was 3 mo and loves it. Lots of fun simple things you can work on on your own at this stage. And a year from now if you are still unable then its simple to switch gears with him. If you are able then he's got a good foundation in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 There are endless ways to keep a Border Collie mentally stimulated. If you haven't, you might want to explore trick training. While that may seem like games to us, to a dog they can be quite a mental challenge (while remaining an enjoyable challenge). Not sure if you would be interested in dog sports, but one that you might want to look into is Rally Obedience. Rally is low key, intended to be enjoyable for the dog, but also can provide quite a mental challenge. There is actually an online Rally venue (www.cyberrally-o.com) that has varied and fun exercises to teach the dog and, if you are ever interested in titling, you can do so regardless of your location. I wish you the best in finding what will work best for you and your dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 Teach him to pick up anything you tell him to and hand it to you. Teach him the name of things he can go get for you. Both of these are seriously helpful around the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 K9 Nosework. Very easy on the handler, and teaches us humans very good dog observation skills. As Gideon's girl suggested, teach him to pick up and bring you items from around the house. And pick up and take items to another human. Silly dog tricks - Idiot's Guide to Tricks for Your Dog, (or something quite similar), by Sarah Hodson. Good luck with your ankle. I've had a lot of foot/ankle injuries, and wish you the best. Keep that foot elevated whenever you can. Do your physical therapy exercises, and exercise the rest of you, as well. There are youtube videos of people doing pretty good workouts while seated. Keeping fit in general aids recovery quite a bit. Ruth and Agent Gibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 If you decide on K9 nosework I wouldn't start training for it until you were sure that SAR was off the table for you. Lots of teams just want the dog trained for human scent and there are some differences in foundation training Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 If you decide on K9 nosework I wouldn't start training for it until you were sure that SAR was off the table for you. Lots of teams just want the dog trained for human scent and there are some differences in foundation training Good point, Mara. I was thinking in terms of ease for the human right now, not long term plans. Ruth and Agent Gibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falon's Mom Posted December 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 Thank you all for the great suggestions! The last BC I had trained for SAR was a BC/Coyote mix that was trained as a cadaver dog. He absolutly loved dead things so I went with his strengths. I will definatly look into both K9 Nosework and Rally as good alternatives if I am unable to do the wilderness SAR. I love the idea of teaching him to pick up after himself. I thought everyone taught thier dogs to pick up after themselves as part of "basic manners"? I even did this with a lab mix that I had growing up. Sage already knows Bunny, Fishy, and Hoofy. Bunny is his stuffed rabbit that when we got him he could lay on it completely and not have fallen off of. Fishy is another stuffy, if any of you remember "rainbow fish", that he carries around and plays tug with. and Hoofy is his rope toy that has a couple cow hoofs on it for chewing. He takes them out of the exercise pen in the morning then before bed he gets to put them all back before going into his crate for bed. I will see if I can get him to take his toys to either of my young boys and my DH as part of his daily activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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