Intro and a question

[UziDaddy]

 

A month ago I got my first dog of my own, a red (red mom, merle dad) from a local breeder that's involved with herding trials.  I have previous BC experience because my step-sister+bro-in-law have had as many as three at a time.  The first few days were a bit of a pain due have to get up frequently in the night for potty breaks.  But he's really good at letting me know.  Now it's just once during the night, though my nights are usually only six hours of sleep.  Thankfully my mom is gladfully taking care of him during the day when I drop him off at her house on the way to work.  She doesn't work much and has lots of time for playing, walks and learning.

He's great riding in my truck. Once we get moving he just lays down in the container I have him confined to and stays quiet.  No issues with his crates.  Though he seems to prefer the one at my mom's. He's very eager to run into it when I drop him off.  At home he can be a little stubborn getting into the crate.  Once in, if I leave he'll start to cry a bit sometimes, but that doesn't usually last long.

He's got the stairs mastered now.  But he can get carried away and I have to slow him down otherwise it could get ugly. 

 

I've already made some hurdles to jump and I think he's already doing quite well and willingly.  Once I get some bases for weave poles I'm starting that training.

 

 

I'm hoping in the next few months he'll be ready to leave alone in my lower uncarpeted level all day and use a doggie door to go outside.  So I'm going to be replacing the current door with a solid steel one and putting in a doggie door.

Does anyone have recommendations for any of these secure electronic ones?

 

 

[Lawgirl]

I don't have any recommendations about the doggy door, sorry. 

I don't mean to be a downer, but please be very very careful about doing jumps with your puppy at so young an age.  I realise that they are low jumps, and puppies will be puppies when it comes to steps, but dogs are not allowed to compete in agility in my country until they are 18 months of age, and most clubs will not allow them to start training over jumps until they are at least one year old because their bones are still growing and they can do serious damage to their joints with doing jumps at this young age.  The growth plates do not join up until at least 12 months. 

To avoid possible joint problems and arthritis etc issues in the future, please put the jumps on the ground so he can step over them, not jump over them until he is one year old.  If you want to train agility, there is a lot you can train without the jumps, just Google agility fundamentals, or agility foundations.  These are still really fun games, and if you want to do agility, they will be so helpful for you.  Weave poles also involve a lot of twisting and are not recommended for young bodies.

Your puppy is super cute; I love the freckles and the gorgeous eyes.  I hope you and he have many, many happy and healthy years together.

[urge to herd]

Gorgeous pup! AND, ^^^ what Lawgirl said. Even jumping low heights can damage your pup's joints, including his shoulders, back and hips. Taking him thru the uprights over just bars on the ground is fine, but not several times in a row.

Border collies sometimes do not heed their own bodies telling them to stop. I had a 2 yr old who ran her front feet to hamburger, playing fetch on a hard packed earth surface. Totally my fault ~ I wasn't paying attention AND had no idea she was hurt until there was blood flying from her feet. Sam was my first bc, she passed away 8 yrs ago or so, and I still wince when I think of her poor feet.

Enjoy him, play with him, but give him time to physically mature before you put that stress on joints and bones.

Ruth & Gibbs

[D'Elle]

^^^what they said. He is adorable going over those jumps but it made me wince because it is truly bad for him at this age. You can work on other things, though, like weave poles. Thanks for the little puppy fix you just gave me. I have puppy envy these days.

[GentleLake]

^^^ Ditto these. I've even read cautions against allowing puppies to do stairs because of the potential for damaging joints, especially hips.

They have no idea the havoc they're wreaking on their little bodies. They need us humans to look out for them.

[UziDaddy]

I'm not going all out with agility training yet.  I don't even have intentions of competing.  I'm just testing his willingness  and eagerness for different things right now.  Looking good so far.

The stairs video was his first time down on his own.  In a matter of minutes he went from wanting nothing  to with going down to leaping off the last few stairs. I was like  Dude, chill!

[D'Elle]

On 3/22/2019 at 4:29 PM, UziDaddy said:

I'm not going all out with agility training yet.  I don't even have intentions of competing.  I'm just testing his willingness  and eagerness for different things right now.  Looking good so far.

The stairs video was his first time down on his own.  In a matter of minutes he went from wanting nothing  to with going down to leaping off the last few stairs. I was like  Dude, chill!

I understand that you are not going "all out". But even the height of the  jumps I see the puppy doing on the video is too much for his age and risks serious injury, so I hope you will stop doing it.

[diane allen]

What they said about jumping.  There is sooooo much more to agility than just learning to jump!  And stairs - just don't let him do it.

You can do lots of foundation work without worrying about his joints.  (Look online for any number of foundation courses!) Teach him to learn - that is the most important thing pups can learn. Let him balance on soft items (like a pillow).  Teach him to get up on a low stool (I use the Rubbermaid ones that are about 10" off the ground).  Teach him to back up. Teach him to touch your hand with his nose.  Teach him to give you a paw.  Lots of these are "silly tricks" with application for agility later on.  And mostly - have FUN!!  They don't stay puppies long enough (or too long for some - LOL!).

Also, he seems pretty fearless, but it's a good idea to expose youngsters to as many different things SAFELY as you can - walking on different surfaces, eating from different bowls (metal, ceramic, paper, etc.), riding in elevators, and any number of other things that will help make a balanced and eager agility dog.

Good luck!

diane