Weekly Training Update (Feb 15)

First, our cast of characters:

Of course, Lilly (3 year old, border collie) who can be both shy/shutdown or reactive/snarky, depending on the situation. Sadly, she does not and has not competed in agility.

Pitsch (3 year old, Australian shepherd) who LOVES other dogs and gets very, very excited about agility and other things. He is currently competing in agility and doing well.

Essentially, they have the exact opposite personalities.

Like a total goof, I forgot to take photos of Lilly and Pitsch together, but you can see some photos of him and even watch a video of his herding instinct test on his website.

*** For the life of me, I can’t embed a link this, so I’m putting the URL here. Sorry, you’ll have to cut and paste it.***

It turns out that other than living nearby, Betsy and I have about 101 things in common. Very funny.

Then, we leashed up with our long training lines, and I brought Lilly out. She clearly alerted to his presence, but with enough distance settled into some good flatwork (heeling and turns). Her body posture seemed pretty relaxed, so we practiced the LOOK AT THAT game. So, I’d say … “Look puppy,” and she’d look at him, earning a click and a treat.

She did a pretty good, fairly relaxed stay while Pitsch did his flat work.

We tried a little side-by-side heeling, with us a bit behind and to the right of Pitsch & Betsy. A couple times he turned to look at her, and she snarked. Not terrible, just her usual there’s-a-dog-looking-at-me thing.

Then, we decided to practice looking at the mules next door since Lilly enjoys it and Betsy wanted Pitsch to practice since they have neighbors with horses too. Lilly and I worked our way right up to the fence, and she looked at Molly and Junior. A couple times, she broke and lunged, but did not bark.

While Pitsch practiced looking at the mules (in other words while his focus was elsewhere), I asked Lilly to take 2 jumps on our home agility course. And … drumroll … she did it, without question, without hesitation. That’s a big deal since for a long time she has refused to do any agility if other dogs are around. Granted, we were at home, not at a training field, but still. He was about 30 feet away, and she took 2 jumps. Whoo hoo!

Then, since Pitsch was itching to have contact with Lilly and since she seemed pretty relaxed, we unleashed them and let them play.

Now, regular readers know that I use the NO visiting rule when we’re in public and most times at class. It takes the pressure off Lilly so that she doesn’t wonder if she’s going to have to interact with other dogs. But, at home, she tends to be much better. She’s still bossy as border collies tend to be, but she’s generally OK.

Their initial greeting went well, no snarking or anything, and they were off playing — chasing each other (mostly Lilly chasing him while he fetched). I never saw them wrestle or anything, but she generally treated him just like she treats Ginko. She carried her tail a little high for my taste, and she occasionally tried to throw her weight around by showing him her teeth and such, but Pitsch was a SAINT and put up with it.

A couple times, I did step in when I thought she was just being obnoxious, but I think she did well overall.

I even used a couple LEAVE ITs, followed by COME and she came right to me, even though they were playing. It’s not quite the Whiplash Turn that Leslie talks about in the book, but it’s getting there.

I even saw them have a nice, almost kissing thing. He was right there, sniffing her face, and she took it. She let him sniff her butt, she sniffed his boy parts, and all was good. Clearly, we praised the heck out of all that.

Mostly, she followed his lead. Whatever he did, she did. Where ever he went, she went.

Other than our official work, a couple interesting things happened.

1) Lilly showed Pitsch that you can be right next to the fence, right next to the mules and if you stay quiet and hold still, you can poke your head through and practically touch noses with them. That was a big moment for him. Later, we used a bit of the Premack Principle with him (give them what they want in exchange for what you want). He would run down to see the mules, then we’d call him back and immediately release him to go back to the mules.

2) Pitsch showed Lilly that just because people and dogs are walking by on the street doesn’t mean you have to go out and fuss at them. She took off several times, with him following, when she saw people on the road, but they never went all the way out. Just all of a sudden, they’d be back playing behind the house. So, I’m not sure what Pitsch said or did, but he kept her from her alert routine.

So, both set good examples for the other to follow.

We didn’t officially try any Relaxation Protocol work, but we did ask them for down-stays toward the end of our training date. Any time Pitsch moved, Lilly popped up, so clearly we have some work to do there.

I put her inside to give Pitsch a break. She can be relentless in her following. She was very bummed and hovercrafted when I asked her to go inside, so I was pretty sure she liked having him around.

Later, I let her out for a bit to say goodbye, then I crated her in my car while they drove out. We were standing around chatting about plans for our next training date, and out of the blue Lilly started howling.

Now, she only howls for 2 reasons:

1. She’s happy.

2. We ask her to.

I’m betting on happy.

And, thank to all the excitement, she ate dinner then immediately sacked out and slept like a log all night. Thanks, Betsy & Pitsch for a night of peace and quiet!

Can’t wait to train again soon.