thought for the day

with all the training we do; our relationship will shine through

The adventures of Stirling

Today our friend Monica had pre-wedding activities at Papago park. Stir & I went and afterwards Stirling took a swim. He has really just, after the great duck dive of 2011, started to love swimming. Stir swam for nearly an hour; even then, he did not want to stop. He had a blast swimming and at Monica's picnic. Stir loves Monica, whenever she walked away from him he would start barking.
Congratulations to Monica & Rob, may they have all the happiness they deserve (and more!)

Stirling's adventures

Last night Stirling and I went out to meet my dear friend JP. He is here for ASU's MBA program. I let JP know I'd be bringing Stir, as I cannot leave him in the crate in the evening after he has been in the crate all day. JP thought Stirling was a "new man." JP got all excited and asked if Stirling were someone he should impress...of course!
Funny, JP's expression when he realized we were having dinner in Tempe with a dog; not a dog, but Stirling..so goes life with an amazing border collie!

training, training and more training?!

Article update: well, I've put the article on a lead and I am flopping the article about to stimulate prey drive. So far, so good. He still isn't picking it up, but he is holding the article and tugging.
My thought for the week: is less really more?
I must admit, I am a little, uh, a little obessed with training and running. I LOVE both. I LOVE to heel. I love the connection between dog and handler. I tend to heel a lot. My sheltie was ok with this. My young BC, is not ready for that yet. I've had to change my heeling "fix" requirement to short periods of heel work. And so goes, life with an amazing border collie!

Metal article or bust

Metal article or bust

Well, I thougt Stir and I were on the road to articles...NO LUCK! Again, he promptly decided no go on taking the metal article. So, back tracking we are going. I now have the article on a leash, wiggling the article about on the floor so Stir will take it. We've made a little progress, as he is at least taking the article and doing some tugging. :) We'll continue our progress..

Great adventures...

Ah, today we had the Great Duck Dive of 2011. Stir's "Aunt Tina" and I were running along the Arizona Canal network with Stirling. Next thing we know Stir jumps right into the canal to chase a duck! I nearly jumped in after him, but thought better of it and was able to find stairs. Stir swam to the stairs and we were able to pull him out. WOW, seriously NEVER thought Stir would jump into the canal; it's deep and a pretty long jump into the water. Scared me too death!
This adventure reminded me of the Great Goat Adventure of 2010. I took Stir over to the horse farm owned by my dear friends Brian & Karen. They had 2 goats. I asked if I could take Stir out on the goats and see if he would still herd...OK has anyone heard of a Border Collie NOT herding?! Well, we showed him the goats, he ripped out of my hands "herded" the goats through the horse pasture, the parking lot and finally into the main field where Stir, basically brought the goats to me. OK, perfect. I got Stir on lead and he barked and lunged at the goats continously. I decided we'd worn out our welcome and walked to the car about 100 feet away. At this point, I really thought the goats were a vague memory. As I loaded Stir into his car crate, I took off his lead and went to pick him up. He jumped out of my hands and headed straight back to the barn. I take off after him. He finds the goats, and starts going after them! He is chasing them; the goats jump over a bench (complete with 2 men sitting on the bench), Stirling follows suit--yes, completly jumping over the men on the bench, into the corral until we finally corner the goats and the "amazing" Border Collie Stirling. One of the men sitting on the bench says, "wow, over my head came 2 goats and a black and white dog; I thought he was supposed to be an obedience dog!" Well, what can you say, that's life with an amazing Border Collie!

And the Winner Is!

And the Winner Is!

Whose bright idea was it anyway...

So, in my previous life, I was a sheltie owner. I loved my shelties; they were fabulous. They also barked-A LOT! They barked to go outside, they barked to eat, they barked, well...just to plain bark. When I had the shelties, I didn't have a concept on how much they barked, until I got Stirling. There wasn't any barking. Not barking to go out, to eat or at all; weird. So, I had some potty training accidents, as Stir would be at the door to go out, but since I didn't hear any barking..well, whoopsss, potty accident! So, in all my wisdom, decided to train Stir to whack a bell when he had to go outside, or wanted a treat. Believe me, during the training period he really tested how much "power" the bell would hold. He would whack the bell constantly to get me to respond; what a fun game for a Border Collie! Well, on occansion, this idea bites me in the rear-end usually at 4am when Stirling is bored. As such, this morning at 4am Stir starts whacking the bell. UGH, up we go to take him outside....nope he merely wanted his frisbee. Ah, life with an amazing Border Collie!
We had a great training session with Monika and Brady this weekend. First, we had to kick some boys out of our obedience ring set up; don't mess with 2 women and 2 BCs! Brady is coming along so nicely with his heeling and drive! He and Stirling both wanted to work for me at the same time. Stir, for the first time, did a full go-out complete with a turn and sit! And, some beautiful heeling. WAY fun!
Monday nights are our agility nights with our agility friends. Stir and I are the comic relief, but we are coming along!
Stir and I had our lesson with Deb this week and, as always, made some great progress. Stir's "wait" (for active behavior) is way broken, as Deb identified he is anticipating that "wait" comes with some active behavior such as a recall. So, we worked on proofing his "stay" (complete with Stirling impersonating Elvis- he shakes his right leg during stays) and retiring the "wait." We also worked some go-outs, Broad jumping with forward focus. And, some beautiful heeling. :)
And so goes, life with an amazing Border Collie...

Singe's Jumpers agility run

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qktv_nwqZEE&feature=player_embedded

Stirling's BFF Singe

GREAT news, Stir's BFF Singe, got 2--yes count them 2 agility titles today!! He his Standard title and his Jumpers title winning every class! GO Singe :)

Visit to Aunt Tina's

Tonight John, Stir and I went to have dinner at Tina's house to meet her new BF, Ryan; who is really nice. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. Stir was standing at the sliding glass door barking and tracking something, we thought, outside. We then realized he was barking at Ryan's reflection. Tina then got up behind Stirling and slowly walked up behind Stir in a crouch like position, Stir, was wildly barking and, still barking at Tina's reflection, jumped about 5 inches when Tina's reflection pretended to grab Stir. He then realized she was behind him the entire time! We couldn't get him to fall for it again, but it sure was Friday night entertainment :)