jodetoad
Active Member
Last spring both my dogs died, and my husband thought we could try living without a dog, or any animals, so we could travel, since we are older. Ha. Most of my life I have had many animals, horses, birds, you name it, but ALWAYS dogs. I could only take it a couple months, it was sooo lonely. I don't even like to travel. He got pretty lonely too, so when a neighboring rancher had a litter of working dogs, we got Chloe.
She is obviously mostly Border Collie, but they weren't sure she's a purebred. I don't care. I call her a Kern Valley Cow Dog, we see them working cattle here all the time.
She is extremely smart, athletic, hyperactive and high-strung, so it was obvious that she needed training. I never knew about clicker training before, but it makes great sense, so we have both been learning, and I'm amazed at what clicker training can do. Had to list her 'tricks' to be sure we practice them all from time to time, because I can't remember them all. Has 43 things right now, some are just little small behaviors like standing her front end on a book and spinning both directions, and she's not great at all of them.
In this photo she's 8 months old, she just turned 9 months old.
Wanted to train her for search & rescue, it's looking like she's too timid and hyperactive for that, but we'll see. She's afraid of new things and places. Meanwhile, I'm still teaching her things toward SAR, most are valuable anyway (scent, searching, obedience, etc.). Biggest training problem is being so rural that it's hard to expose her to people. Some neighbors let their dogs run loose, they are pretty wild, so exposure to other dogs is a bit of a problem too.
Chloe loves new tricks, and I already got new ideas from reading posts here. Look forward to posting new things she learns. Though trying to do videos while working with her is kind of over my head... pretty lousy so far.
Wish I could video her 'helping' me weed. Yanking weeds and tossing them in a pile looked pretty attractive to her, so she started pitching in. Teeth aren't the greatest garden tools, but she makes up for it with enthusiasm.
She is obviously mostly Border Collie, but they weren't sure she's a purebred. I don't care. I call her a Kern Valley Cow Dog, we see them working cattle here all the time.
She is extremely smart, athletic, hyperactive and high-strung, so it was obvious that she needed training. I never knew about clicker training before, but it makes great sense, so we have both been learning, and I'm amazed at what clicker training can do. Had to list her 'tricks' to be sure we practice them all from time to time, because I can't remember them all. Has 43 things right now, some are just little small behaviors like standing her front end on a book and spinning both directions, and she's not great at all of them.
In this photo she's 8 months old, she just turned 9 months old.
Wanted to train her for search & rescue, it's looking like she's too timid and hyperactive for that, but we'll see. She's afraid of new things and places. Meanwhile, I'm still teaching her things toward SAR, most are valuable anyway (scent, searching, obedience, etc.). Biggest training problem is being so rural that it's hard to expose her to people. Some neighbors let their dogs run loose, they are pretty wild, so exposure to other dogs is a bit of a problem too.
Chloe loves new tricks, and I already got new ideas from reading posts here. Look forward to posting new things she learns. Though trying to do videos while working with her is kind of over my head... pretty lousy so far.
Wish I could video her 'helping' me weed. Yanking weeds and tossing them in a pile looked pretty attractive to her, so she started pitching in. Teeth aren't the greatest garden tools, but she makes up for it with enthusiasm.
WOW, 43???? that's A LOT!!!! 
This site is a GREAT place if you're looking for any trick ideas to teach your GORGEOUS puppy, or if you have any questions or comments. I hope you LOVE this site as much as we do!!!!
