2 Cool Border Collies + 1
  • Home
  • Beckett
    • 8-12 weeks old
    • 12-16 weeks old
    • 16-20 weeks old
    • 20-24 weeks old
    • 6-9 months
    • One Year Old
    • 18 - 24 Months Old
    • 2 - 3 years
    • 3-4 years
  • Kaffee
    • Kaffee's Videos
  • Myst
    • Myst's Videos
  • Balance Disc Fun
    • Adv Disc Fun
    • Senior Dog Fitness
    • Building Strength
    • Tool Kit
    • Puppy Body Awareness
    • Advancing with Your Core Strength Work
    • Be Creative With Body Awareness Work
  • Obedience
    • How I Taught the Utility Scent Discrimination
    • Proofing Go Outs
    • Positive Heelwork - Pivoting
    • Drop on Recall Training
    • Shaping the Dumbbell Retreive
    • Utility Go Outs
    • Obedience Jump Training
    • Using Balance Discs for Teaching Obedience and Rally
    • Tips for Showing in Obedience
    • About Turn Footwork
    • Shaping
    • Finding the Joy in Heel Work
  • FANTASTIC Obedience
    • Competitive Obedience >
      • Building Focus & Attention
      • How Dogs Learn
      • Happy Obedience
    • Pressure & Games
    • Engagement & Distractions
  • Blog
  • Vestibular Syndrome
    • Vestibular Timeline
  • Trick Dogs
  • Resources
    • Senior Dogs Healthy
    • Wellness
    • Preventing Illness
    • Traveling Safely
    • Service Dogs & Autism
    • Nose Work Fun
    • Pet Ownership Resources
    • Training

BLOG

In this BLOG are writing about what I have learned in my journey with 3 very different Border Collies, KAFFEE, MYST, and BECKETT. It has been a journey of not only my experiences in dog training but also with encountered health issues that I felt were so important to share since often the information available to us is hard to find or specific to our needs. My medical background has kept me focused on research and science-based approachs.

If you have any questions I am happy to respond by emailing Cynde at 2coolbcs@gmail.com

Contact Me

Balanced Training

11/19/2015

0 Comments

 
This writing started out with thinking of a way to share a few of my herding trial videos on my web site since for me they represent my balanced training approach with my Border Collies. Rather than just put the videos up I thought that they are part of a bigger, and for me, more interesting story that others might find interesting and hopefully helpful.
 
First, Kaffee is my almost 11 year old amazing Border Collie. I got him when he was 8 weeks old and started taking him places to train and learn. Back then, we did a lot of pre-agility work preparing to start agility when the dogs were between 12 and 18 months. Kaffee started agility when he was 15 months old and did very well for a few years. As the courses got more challenging he had increasing difficulty with turning due to his structure. Eventually I left agility and went to herding. My dream was always to do open field herding as I had seen done in Europe.
 
I took herding lessons for several years, trialed  and titled Kaffee in all the novice and started herding classes in AKC, AHBA and ASC. However when the place we trained lost the larger field, I lost my interest in herding since we had to work in an arena and it seemed all I was doing was hollering at Kaffee all the time. Teaching Kaffee to drive was very hard for me.
 
Then we started training and more seriously showing in obedience. Kaffee got his OTCH (Obedience Trial Champion) in December 2014 when he was almost 10. This journey was long and quite stressful since Kaffee was my first obedience dog. I had a lot of stops and starts in my showing including Kaffee’s iliososas injury. I started showing and training obedience again when I worked with Catherine Zinsky in southern California.  With her encouragement and support we finished Kaffee’s OTCH. Even though Kaffee was 10 years old he still was happy when he trained and went in the ring. Kaffee loves to do anything I ask him. He does it with a happy heart and happy expression.
 
This all made me reflect on our journey and why Kaffee, even today almost age 11, still enjoys doing obedience with happiness. When he sees his dumbbell he jumps in the air with excitement even at shows.
 
Kaffee is also very sound and healthy. We often go on hikes of 1-3 hours; when there is snow, he runs and runs; he loves to swim and float around in local Oak Creek; chase balls at the ocean and anywhere; and I hoped he might still enjoy and be able to do herding.
 
When trying to think of some other activities to do with my dogs other than drill and drill in obedience, I came up with trying herding again. However, due to my time and problems I had teaching Kaffee to drive and also wanting both dogs to herd without crazy running and chasing, my decision was to try herding with a local experienced, and excellent handler, Dawna Sims. Kaffee had worked with her before and adored her as do most of the dogs that she trains.
 
We only go for training once a week yet both Kaffee and Myst continued to make excellent progress. Kaffee finished his Course B (open field) Started sheep title a few months after working with Dawna and Myst just started trialing this fall. She was a challenge and certainly needed a professional to handle her but she has done very well as you can see in the videos. This past weekend she trialed in a very busy and full ASC of AZ trial. On Friday she finished first in STARTED SHEEP with 16 dogs in her class; on Saturday she finished FIRST IN STARTED GEESE with 13 dogs in her class.
 
I love watching both dogs enjoy their herding and do so with such intensity and focus. Such a joy for me to watch them do what they were bred for and for them to not only do well but be happy.
 
However, what I saw this weekend and continue to see at both herding, agility and obedience competitions is that not all dogs are happy and enjoy their sport. This is why I feel such a need to share some ways to help make dogs enjoy their work in their sport. And, it has to do with
  • Understanding how a dog learns, and
  • Balanced training
 Click on the above bullet points or go to the menu, TRAINING to learn more about our balanced training with diversity in our activities.
0 Comments

    Author

    Cynde Leshin lives in Sedona, Arizona with her husband and 2 Border Collies: Myst and Beckett.
    Cynde has worked in the health care field for over 10 years, is an author, instructional designer and most recently as a faculty member in the College of Education at Western Governors University. She is now enjoying her free time training and showing her dogs in obedience, scent work, and herding. She also enjoys writing, creating educational programs, and hiking with the dogs.

    Archives

    February 2023
    December 2022
    March 2022
    March 2021
    January 2021
    April 2020
    January 2020
    July 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    August 2017
    May 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Categories

    All
    Aging Dog Young
    Allergy Management
    Anorexia Experience
    Antibiotics & Microbiome
    Balance Discs Obedience/Rally
    Balanced Training
    Barking: Eliminating With Calm Cue
    Bladder Cancer
    Conditioning & Injury Prev
    Conditioning Part 2
    COVID-19 Dog Training
    Fear Of Failure
    Happy Working Dog Tips
    Healthy Dog
    Hiking Partner
    Honoring My Dogs
    Iliopsoas Strain Rehab
    Iliopsoas Update
    Low Fat Diet & Pancreatitis
    Obedience Heel Work
    Obedience: Retrieve Based Go Outs
    Obedience Ring Manners
    Obedience Showing Tips
    Obedience Show Ring Tips
    Obedience Utility Go Outs
    OTCH
    Pancreatitis & Low Fat Diet
    Positive Reinforcement Training
    Positive Training Tips
    Pressure In Obedience Ring
    Probiotic Health
    Puppy Reaction To Shots
    Puppy Shots Assault Immune System
    Rabies Vaccine Reaction
    Reinforcement Based Training
    Spay/Neutering Dogs
    Swimming Turns Deadly
    Tracking Mt. Lion
    Vestibular Disease
    Warm-up And Cool-down

    RSS Feed

© cynde leshin