Will be at allmycollies.wordpress.com

My last post was in September. My goodness, time flies ( Read more... )

I've been under stress lately. So on Thursday, I took off to go herding. It was such a healing, restful, peaceful experience. Steve drove us there... it was nice to have him with us. Both dogs worked really well. Scout has done nothing but improve since sheep camp. And Tristan, he's just an awesome dog. I decided to do something very ( Read more... )

I've long been fascinated by the concept of canine problem solving. I do believe dogs have more ability than we give them credit for. Witness herding dogs reading and responding to livestock, or the actions of service animals. But how much of that behavior is either an inherited or trained response to complex stimuli, and how much is an actual ( Read more... )

As far as I can tell, I'm an unusual person. I don't like to take pictures, and actually, I really don't like looking at pictures that much. I do enjoy them occasionally, and some photography is really amazing in its ability to capture the freeze frame details that one's eye cannot see in real time. But I do find looking at too many pictures ( Read more... )

I've been meaning to put down my thoughts on this subject for quite some time, even if they are not fully formed. But first, I want to remember yesterday for a bit, and how proud I am of Scout. Our first time back to herding after sheep camp, and she demonstrated how far she's come. I worked three different sets of sheep with her- Spice Girls ( ( Read more... )

I just returned from Sheep Camp at Fido's. It was a tremendous experience for me and my dogs. In my early days of canine obedience, I attended a fair number of seminars. I attended one camp for retriever training (also 5 days, like the Fido's herding camp), and one agility camp at Argus a few years ago (just before embarking on our agility ( Read more... )

Patience pays off! Scout is getting more and more in tune with stock. I finally found a method that works for the displacement behavior. The first step was recognizing what the behavior was. She is really interested in stock, but if she feels they are out of reach, she grabs for something else. Sheep poop, grass, even gravel. She does the ( Read more... )

I went to my first herding clinic on Saturday, and took only Tristan. The clinic was more on trial logistics and not on training. It was useful to walk through the courses and should help with my trial prep when the time comes. The military bases in the distance were doing some sort of training, and the loud noises were just the type to disturb ( Read more... )

Interesting post by well known trainer about "busting" dog training myths. Alleged myth #1 is that one should end training on a good note. Alleged myth #2 is that if dog is scared, take him back immediately to show it is "okay". I have a huge amount of respect and awe for Silvia Trkman. I love her you-tube videos, and she is so much more of a ( Read more... )