Sheep Training

We took her to Lee Lumb in Lavington for a few weeks of training in 2011.  On her first day, I attended a Beginners clinic with Lee.  Chloe was a bit too agressive in the small round pen and would run directly at the sheep (bad habit learned from chasing horses), but her down/stays made her manageable.  It was a learning curve because I would "down" her and she would lay there and the sheep would come around and almost run over her.  Then I realized I had to "break" her.  After that it was easy peasy and we just had to work on her aggression. 

Her down/stays and her obedience really won her over with the other participants.  All of the dogs were running in the field during a break and when they got too close to the road I called her and she ran back immediately.  All of the others had to run out to get their dogs.  All in all the clinic was very inspiring.  I highly recommend Lee Lumb as a clinician.  She is amazing. 

http://www.stirlingbordercollies.ca/Stirling_Acres_Border_Collies/Welcome.html

While Chloe was there, I received a few updates from Lee: 

April 5, 2011

Hi there - I'm sure you are anxiously awaiting an update on Chloe!  

She has settled in very well - she gets along with the other dogs and enjoys running with them.  She has been on sheep every day and is improving each day so can't ask for more than that.  We are working in the small paddock and she is going around both ways and starting to walk up on the sheep.  She had a hard time releasing the pressure to go around the sheep at first but is starting to relax and let that go.  Her lie down is nice - good job you did with that.  She is eating well - scarfing down about 1 1/2 cups morning and nite without any hesitation.  She is nice and quiet at nite in the garage.  So all in all - it's going smoothly.  I can see her getting more relaxed as the days go along but she is keen to work and had no hesitation working for me or taking pressure so that is the main thing.  will keep you posted!

April 17, 2011

Hi Laura - well we are still getting cold winds and bits of white stuff here - what a painful spring it has been!  Doesn't look like anywhere in BC is faring much better.  Chloe is doing just fine.  I had hoped to be further along with her by now but she has some pretty ingrained ideas on how she wants to work stock.  It looks like being able to work the horses on her own combined with the amount of eye she has gave her lots of pleasure.  We are working out in the big field now but I struggle with getting her to flow and keep balance to me - she wants to run to where she anticipates they are going to be and head the sheep off.  Many young dogs do this but I'm able to convince them to give that up and team up with me once they realize they can keep control without having to run to where they think the stock are going to go. but she is pretty determined about where the right place should be - which leads her to take off and run way out of contact with the sheep in order to get to the gate or the corner where she knows the stock want to go.  Smart girl but kind of thwarts the goal of getting her to bring sheep to me as her primary task.  So we are kind of stuck on doing lots of balance work trying to get her to team up with me as her handler.  that's a major piece of the foundation work so can't move forward until that is more firmly in place.  Anyway, will see how this week goes and then will show you on the weekend how to continue to work through that with her but one important piece at home is going to be you setting up her kennel so she can't work stock on her own anymore.  I have her in a dog run here where she isn't able to run up and down the fence right near sheep but even when the sheep are in a non adjacent pasture she still tries to work them.  That's her game and she obviously loves it!  Hope the weather improves before the clinic next weekend. 

The Early Years

Early on, Chloe showed so much of that Border Collie intelligence that amazes people.  My stepson worked a little bit with her with the "down/stay" command and she almost taught herself.  Housebreaking was a breeze, and I don't actually recall her chewing anything.  I couldn't imagine ever owning another type of dog.  At the time, we owned a Doberman and a Malti Poo.  The Dobie (Foley), was Chloe's first playmate.  Foley was a great companion and I am sure his calm demeanor contributed to her amazing personality.  We lost our Foley in November 2009 and 4 months later welcomed a Pitbull/Bullmastiff (Lou) into our pack. 

By now Chloe has already shown a strong herding sense and basically had free run of our horses.  This taught her some very bad habits, and knowing what we know now, could have cost her alot more.  

We wanted to leave her unspayed in case she showed promise and we wanted to breed her.  It became apparent quickly that we had no business owning an unspayed dog.  We lost her overnight twice when she went on little jaunts down the road when we weren't paying attention.  We had to start kenneling her at this point.  We have a rather large run and a smaller sleeping kennel. 

I wanted one of my friend Randy's pups before they were even born.  I chose the name for Chloe and when they were born, he told me he knew which one looked like a "Chloe".  He couldn't have been more right.  She was the best birthday present ever.