 Barked: Wed Feb 27, '13 12:14am PST |
 | |  | | I won't be getting into anything immediately, mostly due to my pregnancy and my fiance working long hours 6 out of 7 days a week. But I do intend to once baby is old enough to get a babysitter comfortably. As Ria is only eleven months old or so, there's still A LOT I can do with her on my own to start on basics and gain a good bond and level of obedience with her. And I wouldn't do any strenuous activities with her til after the age of two anyway because I don't want unnecessary stress on her joints while they're developing.
So first of all, I'll tell you about her. She's Lab/Border Collie mix, only 30 lbs of sleek, lean pup, agile as all heck. Has energy unbound, quick as lightning to do something you ask(you ask for down, she hits the ground hard and fast!), loves fetch, has intense toy and food drive(will do ANYTHING for either), is extremely smart, eager to please, loves the water, and has excellent recall. Her issues are that she lacks impulse control and patience.
Things I need to work on now:
Impulse control
Patience
Commands she knows:
Down
Sit
Stay/Wait
Leave it
Off
Go(go where I point and lay down)
Come
Shake a paw
Her recall, stay, sit and down are her most reliable. I'm talking 100% reliable. I tell her stay and she'll stay til I say otherwise. I call her to come, and she's RIGHT there because we've worked on that from the beginning so we could have a dog that could be off leash. Sit became automatic for her, she'll sit if you look at her. Down is ALWAYS complied with. I have yet to see any of these get blown off in the past two months or so(she did in the early months when she hit that stage where she had to test her boundaries and tried to push us - we didn't allow it and she quickly got over that phase).
Ideas on sports? I'm debating agility later on and possibly obedience as well, as I know she's a dog that could easily excel in most sports.
Any suggestions for what to work on? Or what commands to teach, or how to teach them?
I'd love to teach a good heel, and a pivot too - the pivot has me stumped though.
Anything I can do at home now to work on to teach her basics that can help her succeed later on if we do get into sports? Any video suggestions for training? I'll be honest, I think kikopup is a great trainer but watching her videos for me is like watching paint dry - she doesn't motivate me whatsoever, and I get bored. Michael Ellis's videos on the other hand, have motivated me and REALLY made it look fun to do and made me want to take Ria further. |  |  | |  |
|
| my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals | [notify] |
Dogster Obsessions: The Starter Kit for Dogs by Wildebeest
10
