Ellie is settling down a bit now. She is much more predictable. She even asks to go outside (I've never had a dog that does that) She stands by the door and "yips" or paws the door itself. She gets rewarded when she does that so, hopefully she will continue it.

The Border Collie herding instincts are coming to the fore. If you move quickly she is up and running along side. She chases balls (and children) and is very quick. She can also jump very high (although I do not encourage it as I am mindful of her immature physique).

We had to put our recall to the test at the weekend. George forgot to lock the front door and one of the children innocently let the dogs out the front of the house. We live on a main road and Ellie, closely followed by Darcy, legged it up the footpath along the main A413! Darcy has no road sense at all and I had visions of him racing across the road. I raced the end of the drive, called them back, then, making sure they had seen me, I legged it back into the garden (where they couldn't see me). I held my breath and hoped that they would come back (knowing the worst thing was to chase them down the road, I hoped that disappearing would make them curious enough to investigate). My gamble paid off and they came racing back with Ellie leading the trail! Phew! Disaster avoided!

Ellie is teething badly at the moment. It doesn't seem to bother her much but when we play tuggy games, there is plenty of blood and a couple of teeth have been pulled out. Some dogs will refuse to play or retrieve when they are teething (you just have to wait until they have finished). Ellie is not at all bothered but I feel the need to be a lot more gentle in our games!

One thing I particularly like about Ellie is her ability to "switch on and off" quickly. I can wind her up easily and thus get some motivational training in. Then I can easily calm her down - just by asking her to sit and stroking her slowly - she slumps into seventh heaven. Darcy was never like this. He is very easy to wind up (you just have to say "ready, stead" and he's off) but he is a nightmare to calm down. He is like a coiled spring!

On the obedience front I have been working on Ellie's foot-target. This is taught statically so that the heel position is fully reinforced. She is coming on very nicely and is starting to offer a left circle, tucking in her behind quite well. The retrieve, which had been a real problem, has come on leaps and bounds (although I can't do much more until her teeth settle down). I have had to make the retrieve article "higher value". This means that Ellie perceives it as being more important and is therefore more motivated to hold on to it. Previously she had just been dropping it in a very disinterested fashion. Some dogs will be naturally possessive over retrieve articles and, in these instances, it is more important to reduce the value of the article. She has now got the point where she will go out, pick up the article and sit,in a front present (whilst I am sat in a chair), holding the article. I then take the article and give a big reward. She will only sit quietly for a couple of seconds and then jump back. I now have to work on getting her to sit still. This applies equally to the recall/ front present, as the retrieve.

Another big exercise to teach as early as possible is the Stay exercise. We have been working on this. It is not in Ellie's nature to sit still so I have to give her lots of feedback. I ask her to sit, give her a titbit, then wait (I don't go anywhere at this stage) the give another titbit. I keep giving titbits whilst she is sat still but make the time between treats, a bit longer and a bit longer. If she gets up and moves, I say "wrong", take the titbit hand away. Then ask for the sit again and start again. When she has sat for long enough (long enough will vary each time, dependent on how well the session is going and how much distraction there is etc) - I then "click" and give a big reward (not just a treat) but have a big game. Currently, the sit is coming on better than the down, which is a bit wriggly. She also tends to bark when she is frustrated and this has to feature as part of the exercise, so that I can train it "out"!

This page was updated on 15th March 2004