We are going to the park!

[Smudge]

She is just ready to say something to you, if she could only speak English.

If Fluffy could talk I am sure I would get an earful.

I am thinking I should measure Fluffy again. I haven't noticed that she has gotten any taller, but she is taller than Jennifer's dog, Shaine. She better not grow anymore.


Or else.

At least measure I think she was 14 and a half or somewhere along those lines. I'll measure her tonight and see.

 

[Calliesmom]

poor Fluffy- tortured with flowers- probably she wanted pink
they do keep growing on you- I guess I'll have to measure Cran again soon- he was pretty close to being over 16" at the sheltie party. not in Sca's class yet but still a big boy

 

[Smudge]

poor Fluffy- tortured with flowers- probably she wanted pink
they do keep growing on you- I guess I'll have to measure Cran again soon- he was pretty close to being over 16" at the sheltie party. not in Sca's class yet but still a big boy

See, when I measured Fluff last night she was a little over 16 inches. I want a recount thouh, because I don't think she is that tall. Smudge is 17 and 1/4. There's no way she is 16 inches.

Smudge shot up at about 10 months though. It was like all of a sudden he went from around 15 inches to 17 and 1/4 in no time. I was seriously starting to think he was going to get collie sized. Everytime people ask me how big Smudge is I just tell them he is a mega mega sheltie.

 

[Lovely]

Everytime people ask me how big Smudge is I just tell them he is a mega mega sheltie.

Cute! Abbie is our mega Sheltie at 18". Then "mini" Duncan comes in at 13"!! The height difference is hilarious. Especially since neither one seems to really notice.

I love Fluffy in that picture. It is so hard to get black-faced dogs to show their real personality in a picture. I saw and thought, "Oh, that's a Duncan face!" Every one tells me he is spunky and has attitude, but he is such a sweetie to me! He listens and all.

I wanted to PM you with different techniques on teaching Sit and Down... but I felt like you might not appreciate it. It's just that 'catching' takes so long and Shelties are so friggin smart that you can lure them three times and they have the movement down. Then you can start the waiting game. Oh well, I"m glad she got it!

 

[Smudge]

I wanted to PM you with different techniques on teaching Sit and Down... but I felt like you might not appreciate it. It's just that 'catching' takes so long and Shelties are so friggin smart that you can lure them three times and they have the movement down. Then you can start the waiting game. Oh well, I"m glad she got it!

You can pm me with anything you want. Why would I get mad about something like that?

I don't know why, but sit has got to be the single most difficult thing I have ever taught Smudge and Fluffy. Gizmo caught on to it fast. It took forever for Smudge to learn it, and then it took six weeks of practicing to get him to sit in class. That included me taking me him out three times a week outside of class! Fluffy is still pretty clueless. I can't get her to do it on her own.

Oh well. She'll get it eventually. She's finally going to get tired of me and say, "OK! JUST SHUT UP!" and then maybe she will sit without me having to lure her into the position.

I think maybe it's more difficult because they are so smart. Either that or their trainer is a complete nimrod.

 

[Calliesmom]

I know that the people that you are training with in the park show dogs in conformation but do they compete in obedience? Cranpup learned sit one Sat evening at our Petsmart puppy class and then we had to relearn sit the next Sat at sheltie school. For obedience trials, the dog has to sit without rocking back so that they stay in the heel position and for down, they should lay down - straight down without moving at all. maybe check out some obedience videos- maybe Justicemom has some posted here- can't remember

 

[Smudge]

I know that the people that you are training with in the park show dogs in conformation but do they compete in obedience? Cranpup learned sit one Sat evening at our Petsmart puppy class and then we had to relearn sit the next Sat at sheltie school. For obedience trials, the dog has to sit without rocking back so that they stay in the heel position and for down, they should lay down - straight down without moving at all. maybe check out some obedience videos- maybe Justicemom has some posted here- can't remember

Yeah. All of them show their dogs in comformation, obedience, agility, and rally. Some are also working on herding, but herding is so hard to do when people with sheep live so far away. The only one who competes in comformation only is the lady with the aussies.

One of the sheltie ladies Jennifer introduced me to, Janita, has been in obedience competitions with shelties for over 30 years. Janita does not go to the park with us though. She lives too far away, I think. Janita's dog, Storm (bred by Jennifer's mom) was the 2008 Best All Around Sheltie at the sheltie nationals.

Some might disagree with me, but also I think another thing is that one way of teaching does not work for all dogs. Like you can teach a dog to do something one way, and it might work fine for that dog, but another dog you might have to try another approach. I think it's trial and error sometimes.

I do also think that 99% of Smuff's training problems lead back to me.

 

[Calliesmom]

I do also think that 99% of Smuff's training problems lead back to me.

you just need to be consistent in what you ask for and how you ask for it- that's the big key. it's so easy to just do it a little differently and then the dog is confused about what you are asking. I notice that sometimes I say something different that what I say 99% of the time- and then I wonder why the dog didn't do what I asked. also be aware of your body language- not sure if you read the agility stuff but when they talk about the shoulders pointing one way and the handler wanting the dog to go another way- it does matter

 

[Lovely]

You can pm me with anything you want. Why would I get mad about something like that?

Dunno... I have been so good about not making anyone on here mad for a while, so I don't want to break the streak... Whatev. I take your comment as an invitation. Muahahaa...

Oh, and all of Duncan's mistakes are actually mine. I am a famously clumsy handler. I don't know if you follow me blog at all (it is listed as my homepage on my profile if you are interested in super novice agility), but last class, I smacked the pole with my pointing hand right as Duncan was preparing to jump. He landed and told me off. It was hilarious. The small crowd that had formed (apparently Duncan is really fast for a beginner) was dying laughing at me. Good thing I was hooting with them. Duncan was less than amused.

 

[Justicemom]

I know that the people that you are training with in the park show dogs in conformation but do they compete in obedience? Cranpup learned sit one Sat evening at our Petsmart puppy class and then we had to relearn sit the next Sat at sheltie school. For obedience trials, the dog has to sit without rocking back so that they stay in the heel position and for down, they should lay down - straight down without moving at all. maybe check out some obedience videos- maybe Justicemom has some posted here- can't remember

Here is a article on rock sit vs tuck sits. I accidential taught Justice to Rock sit. It caused alot of issues down the line when training for competition. I had to retrain his whole sit behavior. Not fun. Diva had a heck of a time learn to tuck instead of rock . We did tons of skooch sit(half step forward sit) to get the muscle memory down.
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001b/compsits.htm

I'll see if I can get video of it.