What activities do you do with your Border Collie and Why? General Chat

Running on from another thread, it would be lovely to find out what activities/work you do with your collies and why?
What made you get into a certain activity? How did it all start?
Please note this is not a debate post. It is a post of "interest"

My first border collie I wanted as a pet but i wanted to get into agility as love watching it and thought it would be a good thing in getting me fit. When i took her to training I was told i should try my hand at showing as she was a nice bitch so that's how I got into showing, although my first love was agility and flyball.
When my boy came along I showed a lot more and am really enjoying it.
Mainly i enjoy the fact that I'm spending my weekends with other people that love the breed and being surrounded by collies, collies and more collies. I've also made some fantastic friends in lot's of other breeds as well.
I am now looking at starting to work my boy as he has shown potential when put to sheep. With a lot of info and help from Moobli and now an offer of a farmer to start training him,this is going to be my next adventure.

I always had a love of collies from spending each summer on my grandparents farm in Laois in Ireland.

When I decided I really wanted a collie, I looked around at all sorts of dogs/types of breeders etc with the idea of doing agility or working trials. Even though I went for an ISDS registered puppy, I never dreamed I would get the opportunity to work him on sheep. I got lucky in that I bought him from a famous triallist who encouraged me to bring him along for sheepdog lessons when he was around six months old and we have never looked back!

I have since bought an ISDS registered part-trained dog who has taught me an awful lot, I have had a steep learning curve training my novice dog, I met my fiance at the English National Sheepdog Trials and through him have had the opportunity of working trained dogs, started dogs and starting out young pups. I have learned a lot about sheep too - but still have a lot more to learn.

Thanks to buying my first sheepdog pup and an increasing interest in working dogs, I am moving to a remote and beautiful part of Scotland to work with my fiance, sheep and sheepdogs on a daily basis.

How cool is that!

You will both love it You are always welcome to come for a long weekend or whatever up to us as well, to get some practice in with Bobs

Obedience - We got into it because we did a puppy class, and at the end of the 10 week course the trainer said we would miss out the other classes and go straight into the competitive obedience class It keeps his mind engaged and I enjoy it and like the people at the class. Hopefully when he has been doing it for longer we'll got to competitions

Ringcraft/Conformation - We go to these classes because we ended up with a show quality pup which we weren't expecting. We were supposed to get a girl, Skye, a black and white mismarked bitch, but sadly she died at 6 weeks. The reast of the pups already had homes and there was a huge waiting list for all of them in case something happened, but when the home Alfie was meant to go to turned out unsuitable, he came to us instead So we ended up with a pup who was meant to go to a home that would show, so we thought we might as well give it a go. We're going to have a bit of a break for a while though and just go to some shows to watch it and let him get used to it.

Agility - We are supposed to start this soon, as he is nearly 1 We have a couple of tunnels in the back garden and he loves it. Agility is my favourite

I'd be up for anything that's available near me

Not sure whether I should be posting seeing as my answer is none!

When we rescued Kip I had every intention of doing something with him - my preference would have been agility. However, Kip had other plans. He didn't enjoy agility or learning tricks and shows no interest in sheep. He is actually happy just playing with his ball.

When we rescued Hoki, I thought, yes, once she's lost some weight, she'd probably really enjoy agility, and I think she would have. Trouble is, we then found out that she had a ruptured cruciate ligament and although she's had the op, I'm not sure I would trust her knee to the physical demands of agility.

I also think she has the instincts to work sheep, although being mainly white she would've had a job facing down the sheep and again, her damaged knee may hold her back (demanding on how well it finally heals).

She does love to search for things though & I have been thinking of doing some kind of search and rescue with her (though this would probably mean me getting my own fitness level up )

So, in short, both of mine are pets only, but (imo) for valid reasons.

We do lots of long walks and Rocks carries his own backpack




Dog scootering



He also competes in obedience and agility and does flyball for fun.
He is lead dog when we run our sled dogs and we use him to train youngsters and new dogs.

He also loves swimming and sleeping and herding sheep when he gets the chance but not recently

Fudge is a collie cross but we do agility in the Summer for fun and then we keep up with the obedience over the Winter months. She also enjoys running with my OH, and can keep going for ever!!

I compete at agility with my dogs, I also go to HTM classes, because we enjoy it!

Defa - Agility.
Although he has herding instinct many shepherds would envy, he is also deaf and I could never get a long enough range vibrating collar to enable him to work sheep - to be able to signal him without one he would have to be able to watch me at all times so it just is`nt possible unfortunately. He would have loved it and would have excelled, [ he was sheep assessed, not to actually do it but to gauge his drive etc so the rescue could place him where he would get the brain work he needed ] so its a real shame it was never feasible for him to do :?
Soooo, him having such a strong work ethic and need to learn, agility was the most suitable possible activity for him

Willow - deaf, partially sighted, a tripod, and came with lots of baggage due to abuse, so somewhat limited in activity types suitable for him. The obvious one was Sniffer type `work`. Not something he could do `formally` of course, but he gets a great deal out of `set-ups` which I do for him. They are always based on a treat as the `target` and while he will do anything for food [ the gannet ], he clearly gets a lot out of using his brain as well as his nose and always looks very proud of himself when he lets me know he has made the `find` and waits for me to give him the reward for a job well done.
He has a very keen mind and loves to learn so that he can show me how clever he is

Gremlin - very worky but scared stiff of sheep Her previous owners called her an untrainable imbecile [ yeah, right ].
Her `jobs` include being hearing dog for my deaf crew for off lead long distance stuff including directional guiding and turning them toward me if I need to signal them at a moment when they are`nt facing the right way, and she had great aptitude for SAR so I honed that talent of hers with volunteers for her to find.
She is getting on now, certainly slowing down and her own hearing is`nt what it was since her two vestibular episodes this year, but she still takes her `jobs` very seriously :smt001

Silk - deaf BC of the Muppet variety
She would`nt know what to do with a sheep in a million years, bless her, and her concentration is`nt brilliant [ likely brain damage from when she was abused by being beaten with sticks by a load of yobs in the streets where she was rescued from ], but Agility training has improved her focusing ability for learning generally and she loves doing it - but I think her real talent will be in Flyball, that will be her `niche` so as soon as I can get a Flyball box she will be giving it a go

I started with obedience. Just a basic pet obedience class when I fell in with some people that did competition obedience and felt Moxie had skill. Well, once I started competeing, I met hundreds of dog people and was introduced to so many sports.

I currently compete in Obedience, Rally, and agility. We have trained in tracking, water rescue, flyball, herding, and freestyle. There are lots of sports I'd still love to try.

Its not about the competiton, the titles or the ribbons, its about the actual training. Moxie loves to learn. She has such a keen intelligence that I feel its cruel not to challenge her on a regular basis with new skills to learn. Sometimes they are useful things, sometimes not. But its always fun.

I love the fast sports like agility and flyball because they keep her energy needs satisfied as well as her intellectual needs. The odedience and other "thinking" sports are wonderful in their versatility. I love to show off all that moxie can do on our therapy visits. These will be things that we can practice and do together long after her body has given out.

I do breed showing with Leoti, and we thourghly enjoy it and with my other two i do agility so am always busy with my collies some where along the lines i go to work

Off for two shows now! but cant WAIT To do this when i get back!

Loving reading all your posts and about your dogs. Keep them coming
D

I do Obedience, i fell into it by accident & i love it. I love the training the one to one relationship you build up with the dog, sometimes when im Doing HW & me & flynn are gelling together perfectly, hes reading every move,i dont have to say a word its Magic. With Mav hes such a joyful little Soul if ever im feeling Sad i can just pick him up & do some training & he makes you feel so happy . (I cant work Flynn if im down /upset as hes very senstitve to me)

This is Flynn & i training



This is flynn doing SENDDDDDDDDDIES!

Sendaway look back marker


Goooooooo!!!!







DOWN

Last year for Crufts we had to learn a new exercise ret over a hurdle

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v682/michflynn/?action=view&current=P1010087.flv


all you can say is one command to send your dog!!!!

Puppy Training

I havent got any recent training vids of mav but here was some HW training when he was 6 months old

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v682/michflynn/?action=view&current=P1010001-1.flv

Again ages ago , but Mav recall training

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v682/michflynn/?action=view&current=P1010003.flv

Will have to get some new vids!!!!!

I've always had collies growing up and so I know they are perhaps higher maintenance than other breeds of dog and need a little more understanding.

When I moved out of home and in with my boyfriend he decided he wanted a BC. I wasnt so sure because I knew he didnt understand what he was taking on but we had one anyway.

Now, rather than let Jed go doolally through boredom and brain waste, I decided to take him to obedience classes and he does very well in them. I only have to show him something once and he's more or less understood what I want him to do.

He also does agility as I think he finds obedience a little bit slow pace so I wanted to challenge him in a different way. I wouldnt compete with him however as he simply doesnt have the fanatical drive and motivation which stereotypical collies have. For a collie, he's fairly laid back and easy going with lowish energy levels.

As a pup he was very destructive and strong willed so obedience was a way of channeling that as well as teaching him manners.

Having a BC kind of forced me into dog sports and since then i've never looked back and have been bitten by the bug of working and sporting dogs!

Unfortunately, many collies do not find the right home as people seem to think because they are the most intelligent dog, they will be the easiest to train. Unfortunately, it's that same intelligence which makes them a difficult dog to handle as they tend to think quicker than you do and outsmart you at every opportunity!

when i was seven i got my lab (though it felt like id been waiting forever!), took him to obedience where he was a git so they palmed him off on the agility people!!! i fell in love with training dogs. after that i had spring and ziggie (lost spring two years ago and ziggie suddenly in august at only 4 ). felix i originally got to do flyball with and he did really well in starters, and knowing i was loosing ziggie indy soon followed. i then had a load of issues health wise and at home so theyve not had much to do recently...

we've now started training in competitive obedience as felix has had a "paw replacement" thanks to one of the local rogues, so cant jump. he loves the obedience, indy thinks its "ok", indy and i are also going back to agility after xmas. i know from the bits we've done at home that she'll love it.

i dont know if i'll compete with them, at the moment its to raw with ziggie and i couldnt face a show (havent been to one since i lost him). i know it sounds daft but one day he was winning a big multibreed competition with his team mates and playing on the field, literally the next he was gone. in the meantime though im enjoying training. maybe when they're ready we'll enter ob. shows, ive not really competed (other than ykc) so itll be something different with a new dog ...

I got my first collie in1978 (having had GSDs) from john and Moira Rogerson (Xandoa) in Co Durham I was alreadt into Working Trials by then and "Polly" taught me an awful lot about tracking . She became CDex ,UDex WDex and TDex she was a wonderfuldog.Now i have Rookie a blue merle, and Sprig a young black and white bitch ,i hope to get back into trials with.
Why do I have collies? I love the partnership,the ability to work together, and they love working/training.and theres always the challenge of not being outsmarted by a dog

Jeanette