BWCA Our girl has arrived! Boundary Waters Group Forum: Doggie Paddle
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      Our girl has arrived!     

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ECpizza
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05/10/2016 10:16PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Yesterday morning our new pup Lucy arrived via Delta from Memphis. She started her day in Mississippi and ended it in Minnesota. She tolerated the travel well. It took longer for her to cross the airport to the freight pick-up than her flight from Tennessee.

She is a sweetheart. A cross between a black lab (90% certain) and a border collie (50% certain).

What commands do you think she should be well trained in before taking a BWCA trip? I will take her out in a canoe before attempting up there, and she is mostly crate trained alreadty. I am confident she would sleep in a portable kennel without ripong it apart.

Yesterday and today she has been my shadow... Except when she smells a rabbit... She is very tuned in to what is around her, in a positive and inquisitive way, not a skittish way. Invisible fence training starts tomorrow.
 
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05/10/2016 11:02PM  
The most important command is "come". Having a solid recall command that the dog obeys 100% of the time can literally be a life saver. It also allows the dog to have more freedom because you know it will come back to you on command.

The second biggest one I like is heal. With the heal command I can have my dog walk next to me on my left side without need of a leash. It allows hands free control over the dog which is nice when you've got a canoe on your head.

Both of these are probably more advanced commands to master and to get the dog to obey in a setting like the BWCA where there are a million new sights and smells. I recommend practicing them first at home or in a controlled environment and then move to progressively more stimulating and distracting environments during your practice sessions.
 
barracuda
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05/11/2016 05:56AM  
Congrats on the puppy! She sounds beautiful. We have a black lab and a herding dog, a mix will make a great companion.

A good "leave it" and a "down stay" are nice to have in the canoe. Comes in handy when she smells or sees her first grouse, moose, fischer, raven, pine martin, trumpeter swan, river otter, loon etc. :)

Teach "down stay" around the house on the same dog mat you put in the canoe.

 
05/11/2016 09:02AM  
Dang, thought I was going to get to see a cute puppy picture.
 
05/11/2016 09:48AM  
I agree with the above, including where's the photo.

1. Come - ensures you aren't putting up lost posters.
2. Heal - control on portages makes everyone happy.
3. Stay / Down - for me, actually, these are separate commands, but both important.
4. Leave it - critical for me because my dog finds everything and wants to eat or roll in anything that was connected with some other animal.

I'd certainly suggest focusing on those on a regular basis. Other things that may require training to work on as you can might be:
- if your dog is a barker, teaching a command to be quite.

- assess your dog's prey drive, and if needed work to check it on command. A lot of dogs learn "come", but don't hear it once the chase is on. A rabbit or deer that suddenly appears and takes off might set your dog off. I've always worked with my lab to learn "stop" in the middle of a retrieve, and wait for me to tell him to continue, go down, or come back to me. By working on this hard, I got him to transfer it and now can call to stop if he starts after a rabbit or woodchuck. It also helps to teach them to be steady when they see an animal and not just start after it in the first place.

- make sure your dog doesn't have (or learn) a fear of lightning/thunder. Wasn't it two years ago that someone had a dog bolt when thunder struck, and the dog was missing for about 10 days? Whether you hunt to not, you may want to look up breaking to gunfire, as its a good way to get them use to loud noises.
 
05/11/2016 01:10PM  
Awesome!! can't wait for pics.

Great advice above.

Another one I use for canoeing is "wait". He does not get in or out of the canoe until I'm ready. At home I use this one for going in or out a door.
 
ECpizza
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05/11/2016 11:56PM  
quote nojobro: "Dang, thought I was going to get to see a cute puppy picture."
I have been having trouble trying to attach photos lately. I do not know if it is an iPad issue or what, and have not had the desire to spend time trouble shooting it.

You'll just have to trust me that she is a cutie!
 
ECpizza
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05/11/2016 11:57PM  
Jaywalker,

She is an incredible girl. She behaves well, but does not know commands. She is a stray/rescue. It is apparent that she spent some time fending for herself. It seems likely that she had some rough treatment. But she has borne it well. The woman who rescued her trains and competes with sheep dogs. She came to us 90% crate trained, she knows how to walk on a leash (no tugging, follows my turns, etc.), and sits before getting her food.

She has yet to bark (day 3) and has only made the gentlest of whines, and only once or twice.

She LOVES rabbits. I watched a rabbit in our back yard. About 5 minutes later, I took her outside and when she crossed the rabbit's path her nose went into overdrive, and she tracked Buggs all the way into the trees. It is the one and only time I let her take the lead, but I really wanted to see her behavior and learn some of her signs.

Barracuda,

Down Stay - exactly what I was looking for but did not know it!

Dog mat - suggestions on what to use? I rent canoes, and also need to find out if the local park rentals will allow a dog so we can practice.


I am conflicted about proper walking where she is at my side vs. trail walking where I want her on front of me, but on the trail.
 
05/12/2016 08:44AM  
Our dog mat is a yoga mat that we cut down to size.
 
barracuda
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05/12/2016 11:48AM  
I use an old z rest cut into 2 pieces 66/33. It folds up and secures to my pack well for portages.

Here are a few links simple intro detailed intro to my favorite dog training technique. Works great to build confidence in you and the dog. Some of it is a bit dated so I use it loosely. It is a relaxation protocol, we use down instead of the sit, no clicking, and we start by just dropping a treat between the dogs paws for a 5 sec down, then 10 sec, etc. just go very slow to start and be prepared to back track occasionally. We are a two dog house and this is easy to do with both and can be done in very short segments, rather than longer training sessions.

Due to his young age(2) and idiotic speed hopping over and through brush, gunter is often on leash for the first few days.

Gunter is carabiner clipped on a 6' lead and I let Gunter walk in front of me on the trail (I figure the branches he kicks don't hit me in the face), but he heels when asked and always around town.

Also, took Gunter into BWCA at 8mo. He knew most commands but had mastered none. I thought he understood the concept of water and canoing, as we had practiced. Instead, it took two full days before he would stay in the boat consistently, lily pads were just too tempting. He wore a life vest, did great overall, and we had a good time. So don't stress too much :)
 
ECpizza
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05/13/2016 11:45PM  
Yeah. She may not make her first canoe trip in July. Maybe hike, but not canoe. She has very selective hearing. On leash, or in very controled situations, she obeys every command. She often does what I want without a command. But... Off leash with a distraction, she ignores everything. She just goes on as if she were deaf to me.

Ha! IOS update fixed it! There she is!

As I was posting the picture, I had to stop and deal with our girl. She let me know that she was done listening to my BS for the day, and staying right where she dang well is! No bribery will move her in a direction she does not want to go. My wife got a video. Hilarious.

 
05/14/2016 07:21AM  
Great looking puppy! If her little "hearing issue" persists with training, maybe consider a check cord - maybe 20-25 feet. Helps them learn with a little more distance. Also helpful on portages later on. It's all I use - in fact I've never owned a regular 6 foot commercial leash.
 
05/14/2016 08:26AM  
She's a little cutie. Thanks for giving her a good home.
 
barracuda
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05/15/2016 07:02AM  
Yay happy to see a pic! Shes a pretty girl, it will be fun to see what those big ears decide to do.
 
05/15/2016 09:52AM  
Good lookin' pup. I wish you many adventures together.


 
05/15/2016 11:46PM  
Thank-you for taking in a rescue dog, my wife and I volunteer for the local shelter. All our pups have been rescues. Here are our two current ones.
 
ECpizza
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05/16/2016 12:00AM  
A couple cuties!

The more I interact with her, the more certain I am about the border collie half. Not in a good way. She herds. She (gently so far) uses her teeth sometimes. We are being more careful with her training. But, we have been introducing her to other dogs, other people, other kids... She has dome admirably well. She misbehaves, but does not seem stressed in any way.

She can be stubborn, but in an aweful cute way.

 
05/16/2016 06:48AM  
I have a border collie and your girl might make a very good frisbee dog. This is a good way for her to expend excess energy. You can train her by getting a soft full size disc and rolling it on the ground for her to chase. Then start doing short throws for her. Don't throw at her but lead her away from the throw like she's a wide receiver going out for a pass.

If she takes to this you can have tons of fun with her. Here's a video of my girl doing what she loves the most. We play in the park on most evenings. Luna and her Frisbee

**Fast forward to the 2:30 mark. The first section is her swimming in a local river.

 
Alan Gage
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05/16/2016 10:40AM  
I know some people don't like them but a shock collar worked wonders on my dog. She's smart and has always aimed to please but once in a while she'd develop selective hearing (chasing deer and rabbits). She was also wandering out to the road at home.

Problem with her wandering out to the road was that she'd always come as soon as I called and no matter how mad I tried to sound when I'd call to her she was happy to be wanted and would come trotting over wagging her tail. Once they come to you you can't punish them anymore because they did what they were supposed to do. So she was not learning to stay away from the road. Same with the deer.

I think I only shocked her with the collar 2 or 3 times. After that I only had to use the "beep" function. You can push one button to beep and if they don't respond you can push another button to shock. She caught on really quick and after those 2 or 3 times once she heard that beep she was only too happy to do what she was being told. Made it easy to train her to stay away from the road. As soon as she'd get too close just give her a beep.

She still loves to chase deer and rabbits but the difference is that she can be 10' behind a rabbit in hot pursuit and if I yell she'll break off and come to me.

No matter how you go about training I'm sure there are a lot of good memories on the way. Enjoy.

Alan
 
ECpizza
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05/16/2016 10:55PM  
TomT, cool!

Alan Gage, I have been considering the collar. I saw one that uses a vibration instead of a beep. I have also learned about proper adjusting so it gets attention, not causes pain. The vibration collar I saw had 2 settings for the vibration, quick or continuous, and two settings of shock gentle and "stop! Don't run into the road!".

We will try more without the collar, and see where we get.


One "problem" is figuring out the following... We have an invisible fence, and I would like to train her on it. I trust our old dog 100% to stay in the yard, and he's a spoiled mama's boy lap dog. I want to trust the new pup will stay in the yard also.

The problem is, it is only 30% of the yard... It's a big yard. I'd like for her (when accompanied) to use the rest of the yard for play time. So, how to teach her when it is or is not O.K. to cross the line.
 
Alan Gage
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05/17/2016 09:20AM  
The vibration collar I saw had 2 settings for the vibration, quick or continuous, and two settings of shock gentle and "stop! Don't run into the road!".


I like the idea of a vibration collar. My million dollar idea is a collar that has 4 different vibration settings. You'd train your hunting dog on it and could control them in the field silently. Best of all when the dog got older and lost its hearing, as hunting dogs seem to do, they could still be controlled and used for hunting.

Fella just up the street from where I work in town has a small house on about 4 lots so he has as big yard. He's got two dogs that he works with a lot. I don't know exactly how he trains them but those dogs will not cross his property line for anything. I'll drive by and see them sitting right at the edge of the property line staring at a squirrel in the next yard with their owner nowhere in site. Not wearing a shock collar as far as I can tell. I believe he just walks the perimeter of the property with them repeatedly as soon as he gets them, scolding them when they cross the line. They seem to catch on quick.

He's usually had labs but one now one looks to be a herding dog; something like a blue healer.

Alan
 
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