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I don't have a cattledog but my favorite work collar is the Julius K9 collar with closable handle. It's sturdy, has a safety lock over the buckle, and the handle and width makes it super easy to grab and lift your dog if you have to. They're pretty much indestructible too.
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Jul 24, 2013 18:20
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The best way to work obedience is without a leash. People use a leash as a crutch (or worse, a steering wheel) when it really should only be a safety belt. So, collar-wise, I'd just use a flat buckle collar in your material of choice. If your dog is a collar escape artist (not unheard of with ACDs) try a martingale. Martingales can be either cloth or chain. I prefer the cloth. Martingales aren't really collars for corrections - you're not going to be checking on it like you might a choke collar. Depending on what you're working on, harnesses (regular or the no-pull variety) or head halters may be helpful. I try to recommend people train as if the leash wasn't present. So that means you're controlling your environment, managing distractions and using your movement and reinforcement to keep the pup with you and engaged. For more on this and general dog training sperg, browse through the dog training megathread (Which is in dire need of an overhaul, but will suffice for now). http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3364451
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Jul 24, 2013 18:25
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Weltlich posted:So I'm about to sign on for getting an ACD here at the farm. There's a breeder up in Maine who breeds for health, work-ability, and disposition instead of "show quality," and he has been recommended to me. This will be the first non-rescue dog we've had in a long time and I'm worried and excited at the same time. Mostly I'm just excited at the prospect of having to chase cows around the farm a little less in about a year and a half I have an ACD mix who is a house pet- he's got a usual nylon collar and when I walk him, I walk him with a harness. He works really eagerly for food and is a quick study, but be really really ready for a dog who is a stubborn button pushing dick head. They're really smart dogs, and in my experience they are opinionated and will look for things to do. My dog recently decided to jump on tables and eat candles after never expressing an interest in them because he was like "well lol thats a thing to do I guess:.
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Jul 24, 2013 18:26
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a life less posted:The best way to work obedience is without a leash. People use a leash as a crutch (or worse, a steering wheel) when it really should only be a safety belt. This is especially important to remember if this dog is going to be loose around livestock. Choke chains ain't gonna do poo poo if the dog decides to chow down on some beef. My personal preference for dogs is just for wide, flat nylon collars or martingales. I think ACDs generally tolerate harsh handling a little easier than some dogs (such as BCs) but they still aren't really dogs to be bullied into what you want.
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Jul 24, 2013 18:30
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Weltlich posted:For goons who have ACD's that they train/work - what kind of collar are you using? Regular canvas/nylon, half-check/margtingales, or full on chokers? Everyone I've talked to has said that ACD's respond best to positive reinforcement, so I'm a little reluctant to go the full choker route for fear of ruining a good working dog because it pulls too much on the lead.  She has worked on a long lead previously and those times a wide collar is pretty nice. Otherwise my BC(s) and Lapponian Herder are off lead at home. I never do obedience with a leash on and we do practice with other dogs present.
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Jul 24, 2013 19:56
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Fraction posted:This is especially important to remember if this dog is going to be loose around livestock. Choke chains ain't gonna do poo poo if the dog decides to chow down on some beef. My personal preference for dogs is just for wide, flat nylon collars or martingales. Yeah that's pretty true. If I yell at Bailey (and that isn't super common) or scold him, he pretty much is like "oh yes I was bad" and then bounces back to being a giant doofus in like the space of 5 minutes. I mean they're meant to go after angry cows, someone having a little shout or scolding them a bit isn't really going to do too much to them.
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Jul 24, 2013 21:06
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Weltlich posted:So I'm about to sign on for getting an ACD here at the farm. A few years ago, I got two ACD puppies from good working lines. They were absolute terrors! Seriously. I love them, they're great dogs, but puppyhood was a freaking nightmare. Jack would never come when I called him, no matter how positive the reinforcement until the day he bit a porcupine. That day he came to me when I called him and every day after. His sister, Pepper was better, but she would still poop on everything. I could never leave her alone in the house. Poopfest. I couldn't crate her. Poopfest + crate = poop covered dog. They ate my chickens after I thought they were completely farm acclimated. Nope. Guess not. And for at least a month before they ate the chickens, they would lay down and sleep with the chickens and guineas like it was no big deal. They also completely destroyed the inside of my car. Chewed it to bits, ripped off all the interior trim, dug a hole in the back seat. And I couldn't even get mad. I knew very well that ACD puppies cannot be left unattended for even 5 minutes. Eventually they calmed down. And then they turned into awesome farm dogs. But it took them reaching adulthood. After they decided that being farm dogs was cool, I never needed to supervise them. I could leave them to watch the farm (like mini livestock guardian dogs) or I could work with them and have them herd livestock for me. Except the goat. They had this friendship they developed with the goat. He would only distract them and then they would all run off and play together. On the other hand, the ACD that we got from the pound when I was a kid went from abused, distrustful and destructive to awesome happy workdog in only a few weeks. ACDs are awesomely intelligent. However, unless you're some crazy miracle worker, you're not going to get the dog you want until they are adults. As far as I'm concerned, I will never buy a puppy again.
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Jul 24, 2013 22:05
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Everyone posted:Lots of good advice. Thanks! The whole "eating chickens" thing is what I'm worried most about, hence my question toward leads and collars. It seems that when I've seen pups being "introduced" to livestock before, they're on leads. For me it's less of a "you're not allowed to do anything unless I say so" and more of a "Hey, look at your new friends, please be nice to them." with an insurance policy in the leash. Any more advice is appreciated!
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Jul 24, 2013 22:44
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I know Notsowelp has pretty solid experience with teaching dogs to ignore livestock, maybe someone can lure her over here to give some advice.
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Jul 24, 2013 22:58
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      - Start young - Get sit-stay down first - And 'watch me' - Lots of treats - Do let them look at the livestock a little but most of your training session will be clicking and rewarding for watching you rather than the livestock - You will progress up to click-reward for just being chill around the livestock - *can-o-worms* I use negative reinforcers (verbal) during livestock training; telling a dog firmly 'no' if they are too pushy with the livestock is the fastest, most straightforward and safest way of letting them know that they are not supposed to do that. If backed up with lots of treats and clicks and praise for good behaviour I do not think it will hurt their precious dog feelings all that much. - I also use 'warning' reinforcers, like  'heeeyyy' if the dog is going into 'alert mode' (ears pricked, quivering) when watching the livestock, followed by a 'watch me' command if they don't stop and lots of rewarding for Being Good- Do not use an e-collar on a young puppy there is no need. Also do not encourage the 'dog' to get the livestock and then zap them repeatedly for trying to do so as I saw moronically recommended one time. - Just be loving chill about it for the most part, let the puppy 'help' with feeding and cleaning out and stuff, pottering round your feet as you do gross livestock chores, get them into a routine of being around livestock like it is just part of their day. - Be aware dog training is context dependent; Mouse will literally give rabbits kisses if we are just chilling out doing chores and they are in their runs (even if she is in the run with them) HOWEVER if one escapes and is running in the garden (this happened one time) she will chase and kill it immediately and be so fricking pleased with herself for doing so. Be smart not dumb about what you do and don't let your dog do. - My dogs do not have herding instinct to factor in so ymmv a lot
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Jul 25, 2013 02:18
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Haji posted:They ate my chickens after I thought they were completely farm acclimated. Nope. Guess not. And for at least a month before they ate the chickens, they would lay down and sleep with the chickens and guineas like it was no big deal. And this is how Pistol came to be my house pet and no longer lives on a farm. Ate one too many chickens. Speaking of Pistol he has figured out how to open cabinets. I need to install childproof cabinet locks in my entire kitchen because of this dog. He's old enough to be growing out of his ADD puppy stage and is turning out to be incredibly smart so I need to stay one step ahead of him. Max is pretty complacent and doesn't have a desire to get into mischief and is content being a couch potato, but Pistol is a whole different story. We start agility training in September so hopefully that should focus his brain on more than just finding new and exciting ways to make a mess in my house if I'm not actively paying attention to him. Jury's still out on whether or not he actually has a spine, or just a series of hearts connected together (he is seriously the most affectionate and bendy dog I've ever met): 
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Jul 25, 2013 03:31
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Jury's still out on whether or not he actually has a spine, or just a series of hearts connected together (he is seriously the most affectionate and bendy dog I've ever met): It's funny you say that, Digby is the same way. Whenever I get home or I guess whenever he is excited he gets all bendy and turns himself into a kind of U shape that moves in kind of a crab-walky way. It is just so cute. He's at work with me today and its just amazing how different he is compared to all my Aussies. I had to do the same thing with the cabinets; Freddie figured out the refrigerator as well as the microwave which was interesting. He and Sadie eventually tag-teamed the child-latches on the kitchen cabinets and I just kind of gave up and made alterations to my schedule to keep them from getting too bored and lonely. They would only do that when I had an exceptionally long day or if I didn't exercise them enough which was really my fault.
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Jul 25, 2013 19:36
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I knew the chickens weren't really their fault. And even though I was so sad (I really adored my rooster), I just dealt with it. The pups were only a little over a year when it happened. They were mostly good, and I made a mistake. My fault, not theirs. I knew they would eventually get through it and that I would have awesome dogs 100% perfect for farm life. I guess, just be glad that you got Pistol. Good dog given up on way too early. And now you're reaping the benefits. You have an amazing, smart, silly dog. ACDs are just the best.
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Jul 25, 2013 19:38
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Sheepdog pictures!                                    We saw three dogs grip sheep. It was hilarious. The crowd went OOOOOOOOO each time.
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Jul 26, 2013 17:47
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:And this is how Pistol came to be my house pet and no longer lives on a farm. Ate one too many chickens. lurker status chiming in to say pistol is hands down no contest my favorite PI dog 
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Jul 27, 2013 05:15
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Co-han photo dump. Walking in the woods. She's unimpressed with how slow I am, and the need to wait for me to catch up.  Happy, waiting. Covered in burrs.  Forest pathways give way to rocky ones as they get closer to the water.  Wet dog. She's quick-dry though. Wetness normally lasts about 20 minutes.  Slightly damp dog doing what comes naturally. Barking. I have a lot of photos that look like this. Strange.  Home after the walk. She's dozing, but doesn't want to give up her toy.  "I'm not so sure I trust you not to take this and give it to The Other Dog."  Aussies
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Jul 30, 2013 17:56
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Are herding dog mutts acceptable? If so meet Bailey. He's an ACD mix (or a very BYB ACD), probably with beagle or something like that. I got him from the SPCA after he got turned in for breaking down fences to get at horses. Because training the dog to not chase horses or preventing him from doing that was too much.   The derp is strong with him in this one.  He's had his challenges and he's a stubborn dick 90% of the time, but he's pretty smart and very food motivated so I pretty much have to get over the other poo poo.
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Jul 30, 2013 19:47
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Cohen is as gorgeous as ever, I see.  wtftastic, whenever you post Bailey I'm totally taken aback. I always think he's blue. Until I see pics. Please dye your dog blue asap so I'm no longer wrong.
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Jul 30, 2013 19:50
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Fraction posted:Cohen is as gorgeous as ever, I see. Every time I see a blue heeler I'm pretty much 100% like I NEED ANOTHER ACD, BUT A BLUE ONE. I think people's default mental image of an ACD is blue. (if I can get my bf to help with kool aid dyeing my dog blue I will try to make him blue)
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Jul 30, 2013 19:53
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wtftastic posted:Every time I see a blue heeler I'm pretty much 100% like I NEED ANOTHER ACD, BUT A BLUE ONE. I think people's default mental image of an ACD is blue. I guess I'm just weird then, because my default mental image is always red. Then again, the first ACD I ever met was red, so maybe that biased me 
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Jul 30, 2013 20:14
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RazorBunny posted:I guess I'm just weird then, because my default mental image is always red. Then again, the first ACD I ever met was red, so maybe that biased me I honestly never realized that blue heelers and red heelers were the same dog but different coloration until I got Bailey.I assumed they looked a like but were different types of dogs so I don't even really know what I expected them to look like.
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Jul 30, 2013 20:45
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I think that's the case with the different kinds of coonhound, blueticks and redbones and b&ts are actually different breeds. I may be remembering that wrong, though.
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Jul 30, 2013 21:26
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I wanted a red heeler friend for Max, but I was being a responsible dog owner and knew I couldn't have two ACDs in an apartment or I would totally have a matching red and blue set of heelers right now. Then Pistol happened and I literally couldn't even give him away for free on craigslist, now the freckled buttmunch is stuck with me forever and I am most assuredly not adding a third one.
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Jul 30, 2013 21:56
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It took me a while, but I finally re-sized a few pictures that I took playing around with the new camera. Behold, Sadie and Freddie!     and finally, Sadie looking like a doof. 
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Aug 5, 2013 23:33
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Cute dog The noble collieball: 
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Aug 18, 2013 17:59
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Fraction posted:Cute dog Thanks! I'll let Freddie know, hopefully he doesn't get an inflated ego! That look when they ball up like that is so cute. She's looking adorable as ever.
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Aug 19, 2013 01:10
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Proud after assisting me move some horses:   Ball play:    Snack time:  Good dogs.
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Aug 21, 2013 05:00
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Daisy would like you to know how photogenic she is, as she flaunts her new tag.
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Aug 30, 2013 00:26
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Fraction posted:The noble collieball: Bundogs are the best dogs.  (Her form was flawless, but I woke her getting my phone. Need to get an actual camera someday.) EDIT: Take two! 
Nyarai fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Sep 1, 2013 |
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Sep 1, 2013 16:38
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TyTy went herding for the seventh time here. We had a trainer from UK, who offered me twice the amount I paid for her when I got her. Maybe I'll better start believing she's a nice herding prospect. What was especially nice is that we are welcome to practice at the same place, if we wish to do so in the future. This is good as it is less than half the distance the previous place we've been going to is.
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Sep 1, 2013 19:15
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keeksmeet posted:Proud after assisting me move some horses: This dog is fantastic and crazy intense.   YARD DAWGS             I'm glad Kalli finally enjoys boomer/jolly balls. She gets all frustrated and yodelly when she's playing alone. My friend's BC pup seemed to have fun too!
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Sep 5, 2013 18:22
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Fraction posted:The noble collieball: 
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Sep 6, 2013 12:05
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I think these two recent photos sum up my Aussie pretty well. Handler focused, to a fault.  Springs for legs. 
a life less fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Sep 10, 2013 |
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Sep 10, 2013 01:11
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What is a Rough Collies prey instinct like? I may be getting one from a rehoming place and I'm hoping theirs a chance it won't go into a mad drive to get into the hamster cage like my aunties Jack Russell. When my brother had a hamster years ago our JRT mutt could be trusted around a cage. He would just calmy sniff the hamster through it and look at it sometimes. :3
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Sep 10, 2013 01:38
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A Sloth posted:What is a Rough Collies prey instinct like? I may be getting one from a rehoming place and I'm hoping theirs a chance it won't go into a mad drive to get into the hamster cage like my aunties Jack Russell. When my brother had a hamster years ago our JRT mutt could be trusted around a cage. He would just calmy sniff the hamster through it and look at it sometimes. :3 Rough collies have had just about everything about them diluted by the show ring. It will depend on the individual dog, but generally I think of RCs as being pretty lackadaisical about prey drive. They're big alert barkers in my experience, but otherwise very mellow and pleasant.
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Sep 10, 2013 01:41
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A Sloth posted:What is a Rough Collies prey instinct like? I may be getting one from a rehoming place and I'm hoping theirs a chance it won't go into a mad drive to get into the hamster cage like my aunties Jack Russell. When my brother had a hamster years ago our JRT mutt could be trusted around a cage. He would just calmy sniff the hamster through it and look at it sometimes. :3 Hahahaha no, they have no prey instinct. Ours will trap himself in the room with the baby quail just so he can look lovingly into the brooder box and then lay beside it with ears pricked for possible danger. He loves cats, especially kittens, and needs to endlessly lick them and patrol after them with a wagging tail. We have a ton of reptiles, too, and he's afraid of them, but he just turns his head away and looks sad when we make him put up with a lizard being near him. Most of them are just pretty, driveless lumps at this point, but Spice will still herd things and protect livestock, even being a former puppy mill dog.
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Sep 10, 2013 17:13
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Yay, an excuse to post pics of my BC Elly (short for Elohel(get it?)) Watching me play DnD  She doesn't do the BC stare but she'll put her paw in the air like a horse  My Instagram account is basically just pics of Elly  Borrowed a mates GoPro so obviously I had to put it on Elly  What she sees when she's chasing and kicking a ball around https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n78XpkqE3e8 What I see when I'm kicking the ball around for her (in slow motion) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pJtzyTuVjA
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Sep 15, 2013 01:43
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a life less posted:Rough collies have had just about everything about them diluted by the show ring. It will depend on the individual dog, but generally I think of RCs as being pretty lackadaisical about prey drive. They're big alert barkers in my experience, but otherwise very mellow and pleasant. My wife and I have often thought of a rough collie as a second dog. We've met a couple at the dog park and they've always been really chill and it'd be nice for Linus to have a playmate during the day. Then again, herding dog.
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Sep 16, 2013 19:25
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MORE DOGS Lady  Lady again (I accidentally used the flash and I think it froze her brain mid-kong)  Lady and Stormy getting their kong on 
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Sep 19, 2013 23:27
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It's not the best quality but Digby just looked wonderful today.
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Sep 30, 2013 06:28
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