New Family Member, Lots More Pics 8/27/07

[happygirl65]

What a pretty girl! Nice kennel too!

[Lonewolfblue]

I've been on a quest to see if she has any other mixes in her that I don't know of, sending emails and pics to several breeders and ACD rescues, and here's what most of them are saying. This is a quote from one of the breeders that responded.....

"shes absolutely beautiful.. too bad there arnt some papers on her somewhere. the only thing i dont see about her is no tan anywhere.. but she really looks all cattledog to me.. shes really a very nice looking girl.."

And here's what another breeder said about her....

"she is really pretty. i would say she is full ACD. her coloring is mottled and it doesn't look like she has any tan or if so it's very little. but she will register as an ACD through the AKC ILP registry. but her mottleing is an acceptable coloring, you just don't see it a lot, if she were AKC registered she would be registered as a blue mottle. but yes, i would say she is full ACD."

Then we got to talking about Betty's issues on leash, and her fast learning in Rally and having a really good herding instinct, here's what she had to say....

"She sounds like a cattledog to me.."

I'll be registering her through the AKC here shortly under the ILP program, then the trainer here can get more serious about getting her into competitions. The ILP program is basically a program that allows 'registerable breeds' that have no papers for whatever reason to compete within the AKC.

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, it's Monday again, guess what that means? You probably guessed correctly, she had school today. But instead of doing her normal Rally training, we changed it up a bit and worked on Obedience. We worked on her heeling, did some drills with heeling in a straight line, then heeling in a straight line with a hault in the middle. Then finally, we drilled her on watching me while heeling, where we would heel in a straight line and whenever she took her eyes off me, we would stop and I would put her at a sit. It went very well, but she's got to practice, practice, practice. But she'll get it, will take some time. So this is my homework for the week, having 2 to 3 short sessions a day for the whole week, doing a little of each of these 3 things that we worked on. We will do some more Rally on occasion, but her classes are going to be working more on her Basic Obedience, which should correct her sloppyness in Rally-O.

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, Betty's class went well. We first had some fun with a little agility stuff. We started with direction with 2 jumps, Betty did really well with it. We had to have barriers up because she would run around the jumps. But we got to the point where she was doing the jumps on command, and the correct direction. I would point left or right, and she would go that direction and take the jump. Then we worked a little with the broad jump, just for some fun. She loved it. Then we went on to Obedience, working more on her heeling and turns. Her turns are getting really good, but her heeling and sits are still sloppy, but she's really come a long ways, and shouldn't be too much longer and her heel and sit will be great.

[Lonewolfblue]

New update here, Betty is going in for her first herding class on Sunday at 4pm. It's going to be great, and I think this time I'm going to be wearing my boots, and not my good shoes like the last time and was muddy up to my pockets, lol. It was great, lol.

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, a few weeks ago Betty had her instinct test done, and did pretty well. Now today, she finally had her first class. She did really good. The last few weeks she's been working on her Downs, and it really showed today. We did a little work with her Downs as we were approaching the class area where the sheep were. As we got closer, her anxiety really got to her, and she wanted in there bad. But we wouldn't advance til she would Down. When she obeyed the command, we got closer to the sheep, and would have her down again.

Then for in the ring, she did pretty well. She did break them up a couple times, but then got back under control. Since she's doing well off the bat, now it's time for me to be taught, lol. I need to learn where exactly to go when I release her behind the sheep. So, next time we go, I think that's what I'll ask Monique, to basically get me to where I'm on the same page as Betty and be in the correct position for her to do her job effectively. But overall, she did very well, and we ended the class on a very good run where she drove the sheep to us, and dropped like a rock when the Down command was issued. And we praised her highly to let her know she did a Very Good Job.

[Lonewolfblue]

Today we had a couple instances where we were approached by off-leash dogs. The first was with a Red Heeler. We walked by a yard without a fence, and never knew they had a dog. Well, the owner was out with the dog, and I don't think the owner saw us or his dog coming towards us, as he was around the corner of the house. His dog, who was a male red heeler, approached Betty, and when he came within 15ft, he slowed down and started to arc a bit. From what I understand, this is a proper approach, and not a head-on approach. He came up to Betty, and Betty looked a little stressed but seemed ok with his approach. I also praised her a bit as well, telling her she's a good girl and he's a good boy. But a big mistake, it's one of the only times I was out and wasn't armed with good treats. He then came up to Betty's behind and sniffed. Betty then looked back, and as he sniffed again, she whipped around to strike, and I had to apply a correction. The male dog took a few steps back and sat, watching me and Betty. Then about 20 seconds later, he turned and went back to his owner. Now my question is, what would be the proper thing to do? When Betty was beside me and she turned her head, I had no view of her face, so I couldn't see any signs. Is the turn of the head a sign where you need to intervene to keep her from going over the line? Should I have given her a verbal correction when she turned her head towards the other dog, since I couldn't see if she started do any lip curls or any other facial signs? Overall, I thought this was a really good sign for her, as after her snap and bark, she didn't continue, but just sat there and watched him as he left. A normal occurance would be lunging and pulling to get at him.

The other instance was a neighbors dog behind a fence with an open gate. The dog had escaped the other neighbors back yard and running free in their yard with a gate open. Betty seemed to have no issues with him, he's an older Border Collie mix. And he came up to the fence and made a quick greet and went back to where the other dogs were, and Betty looked as if she really wanted to join all of them, was really excited, but not overly excited.

Then we came to another street corner where there looked to be a male black lab/great dane mix. Looked lab'ish but was much, much larger, and had ears more like a dane. He was in their fenced yard, and was kitty-corner from us, so the street was between us. He barked and Betty looked. I had Betty sit on the corner, and she looked at him. I praised her and petted her. The other dog then came to the corner of the fence, and Betty still sat fairly calm. Then the other dog decided, well, since you are sitting so pretty, so can I, lol. He looked like the cutest huge dog, sitting there nice and handsome, neither dogs barking or wanting at each other. I stayed about 2 minutes, praising Betty and rubbing her on the chest. Then we walked off, and she came with me with no issues, heeling perfectly.

Overall, we had a nice walk. Any comments on anything we did is appreciated. She still has issues with some of the dogs we pass, but is getting much better with the new dogs we come in contact with. She still doesn't like the one monster dog we occasionally pass, looks to be a shepherd/rotty mix. She's never liked him and lunges anytime she sees him. So we don't pass there very often, just now and then to see if any of her other training is taking enough effect to where maybe someday she can pass without lunging.

Edit:
I always take caution as well, and look at several things when another dog approaches, such as speed, direction, ears, tail, muzzle, eyes. And I felt good about doing it this time, which is like a once-in-a-million type of occasion. 99% of the times I take other measures, whether walking away, shooing the dog away, or anything else, but the other dog seemed to be giving me good vibes, and thought if anything, would be a positive experience for Betty, instead of one where I'm pulling her away on the collar like I'm showing her I'm afraid and wanting to run away from him. The pressure on her collar to pull her away is what starts the lunging, and she's very sensitive to that.

Also, we've been working really hard down at the park on her issues, and this has been the first time we did our walk closer to home, and her actions today really made me feel good. Not just with the red heeler, but with the other 2 dogs as well, who were off leash but behind fences, and one was across the intersection. Whenever we would come across a dog that barked across the street, she would start pulling and wanting across, and she did none of that today. It's times like these that make me feel really good about all the work we have been doing.

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, looks like I'll be picking up a Border Collie tomorrow. It's the same one I was going to get a couple months ago but they changed their minds. This time they said they are now committed to rehoming her. Can't wait. It's going to be an experience with Betty.

Here's a couple pics she sent me of when she was a tiny pup......