How To Get My Border Collie To Lay Down And Stay Mid Run?

[reef]

i have a beautiful border collie 5 1/2 months old shes very intelligent we are doing great with her training but i would love t teach her how to stop and lay down mid run ie when playing fetch. she knows 'wait' very well and will stop when ever i say it but if im far away she will stop and come back to me which is great, but i would like her when we are playing to stop and lay down till i give the command to 'go on' to carry on doing what she was doing, we are currently working on the 'stay' command which is going very well almost mastered it hope this makes sense

 

[bekah1001]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4PPcE1CqY

hope this helps!

 

[bekah1001]

wait there is another video! ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVGaslyGaGE.
pkay this ight help to

 

[reef]

thanks bekah thats great will be goin out soon so will be trying out a few things

 

[fly30]

Fly is good at this game. I taught her by running with her, then stopped with a loud "stop, wait". That was for stopping while in movement. And I use this when a bike is coming. Then we went herding and, naturally, she stopped and lied down when I asked. That was the first time I had her lie down a few meters away from me. It is incredible what we can naturally learn at herding.
Now we play a funny game : I throw the ball, say "wait" and she stops half way. We now go further and I can send her right and left from the ball, stop her, have her walk towards it and take it when she's allowed to. I'll film that if you want.

 

[reef]

thanks, thats just what i want to teach reef to do, that would be a GREAT help if u could video it for me i see your herding thread u posted and its really inspired me to take reef to do it very soon as she has the most incredible herding instinct, i have rabbits which she grew up with and she helps me get them from the back of the garden down to the front next the cage so i can catch them, she also rounds up other dogs lol and stalks her balls and teddys its so cute, i feel reef would get the same benefits as fly with really helping her grow and do what she is meant to do naturally

 

[fly30]

Reef, herding is the greatest present you can offer a border collie. Let us know how it goes.
I'll be out with Fly at lunch break and try to film our herding game with the ball.

 

[reef]

yeah i totaly agree she will be in her element we will start herding in about a month as she is just about to start agility classes, i cant wait that will great i cant wait to see fly in action, i just love border collies

 

[fly30]

Here we go reef, I filmed Fly in action ! I could not make her run too much, she hurt her back lately and is not allowed to go crasy. So this was our quiet game at lunchtime. See how she looks at me all the time, that's because we play together most of the time during our walks and there, I have the ball with me.
Then I say "lie down" and I throw the ball. She used to move so I taught her by adding "stay" but she doesn't need that anymore, she understood what the game was about. So I send her left ("come by" in herding terms) or right ("away" in herding terms) and ask her to stop and lie down mid-way. Then I have her "walk" towards the ball and she will pick up the ball when I say "go". Appart from "go", all the commands are herding commands. This game was Fly's invention. I found it very useful to work on directions.

http://youtu.be/qIzBzltR4kY

 

[reef]

that video is just great shes an amazing collie. yeah she has her eyes on you at all times thats great to get her so focused on you like that, thats amazing how you get her to go from left to right im really looking forward to advancing reef walks and expanding her skills n tricks, ill be working of what you'v said and shown me till we have mastered it thank you so much for doing that it will help us loads

 

[fly30]

Thanks for Fly

Be careful though. You want to go herding (and wow that's THE activity for a border collie so don't miss that). So I think it's ok for the moment to work on "lie down" and stop mid-way, but don't try on directions yet. You'll learn that at herding and will then practice with the ball if Reef is comfortable with that. For example, don't ask Reef to turn around trees and come back to you for directions (this is an error I did). Your dog will then learn to turn short and that's not what you want for herding. So take your time and above all, play all the time with her. Complicity is the key to all tricks.

So for now, ask her to lie down, throw the ball and immediately say "stay" (of whatever work you use). Use a release command for her to be allowed to pick it up. Does she already give the ball in your hand ? That's also one of the keys for good communication.

 

[reef]

ok yeah your right we will work on jjust the stay and lay down command till we have mastered which will be before she starts herding, and i will defiantly wait for the herding classes to get her doing directions as i dont want to complatcte it for her or me, i like her to be confident in what she dose. we have a hand signal and the command 'side' and she will come to the side im a signaling to but thats as far as we go with directions. yeah i will throw the ball then when she has it and faces me i say 'here' and she will just come up to me and drop the ball at my feet i dont really give her a command for it unless she stands their with it and dosnent drop it after a few seconds ( or if she has somthing in her mouth shes not ment to ) i say 'drop it' and she will drop it straight away shes very good with that, she alway comes to me when i say 'here' and will wait at roads sides or by my side if theirs another dog on the other side of road or for any reason as soon i say 'wait' if she it at a distance i say 'wait; and she will stop then walk back to me which it great. we have great comminacation as we have a great bond, so im very confident we will learn this in no time, i have all day every day at home with reef and we have a great area to play at home and out on walks so we will have lots of fun learning this

 

[fly30]

I'm glad to read you have this communication with Reef. Border collies are so happy when they can create a bond with us. Body language is well understood by them. See the end of my latest herding video, I did not notice until I saw it in slow motion but she changes directions when I turn around. So that's great you work with hand signals.
Now that she drops things at your feet, try to have her drop them in your hand. So do not pick a ball from the ground unless you stop the game. You'll see that very quickly, this will become natural. And it creates contact.

 

[reef]

thanks, yeah she a very happy girl we have a great bond which will only get stronger as we go on learning new things about each other, yeah shes fully connected to you the hole way through the video its amazing to watch great connection between you too, its looks so effort less to watch but yet very skill full to do. ok ill work on that with her as it will be a great way to create that contact as you said, we go back out in a few hours so will be practicing, we went out this morning and i got her to wait by my side as i threw the ball them gave the 'go on' command which she quickly went off and retrieved to ball ) i got her to stop by saying 'wait''stay' mid run to the ball that was amazing but she did turn around and come back walking to towards me a few times, but it was our first time doing it so really happy with was shes done, once shes got the message to stay their till i say, we will then advance it to the lay down to, i usually give a hand signal as well a 'down; command so she will have to learn more of the word 'down' than the hand signal so she will no before she has to look at me to lay down. thanks so much for your advise it defiantly working great for us

 

[fly30]

I'm glad to read that. She looks as clever as she is beautiful. Have fun and never forget that it is the main point : fun. Also, even if you want to let her take initiatives, don't let her do what she wants too much. Border collies lie down naturally when they concentrate on something and they can stare like that for hours and develop what we call "the eye". Then once at herding, they may have too much eye and stare at the sheep without moving anymore. A bit of "eye" is ok to have an impact on the sheep but too much eye is a problem. So when you play the ball game, if she lies down without being asked, have a command like "stand up" and "walk" to have her back in movement. We have intelligent dogs, they can learn a lot of vocabulary so let's take advantage out of it

 

[reef]

thanks i love her, she has such a great personality its just wonderful to just sit their and watch her she very entertaining yes their are very intelligent and are so eager to learn, i just lover border collies i had one when i was younger he was just incredible sooo intelligent, but unfortunately he passed way at only 2 1/2 years from serve epilepsy fits so sad i still have his tag off his collar my dad has a 6 1/2 year old collie who just wonderful very long haired just beautiful hes my dads best friend back in the UK. i wouldn't have any other dog. yes totlaly, fun is key to keep them interested and wanting to learn more. ok thats good to no as iv heard of that stare before, it is good to a certain point but as u said when it comes to doing a particular job/task it can be a problem, i have a command and siganl 'up' when she laying down so this should come in handy when we learn this new trick i will upload videos so u can see reef in action when we'v got this trick sussed properly

 

[Anneke]

Wow! That is an impressive video!!!
I'm still working on the stay part, when throwing a ball

 

[fly30]

Thanks Anneke. I'm sure you can do that with your dogs when they understand what the game is about. Herding the ball was Fly's idea so I made it an opportunity to teach her directions. She had the idea to lie down half way, so I used the "walk" command we have at herding to have her move forward and not stay there gazing at the ball forever, and now it's a daily game. I like it when she invents games or tricks, so I use what she started to work on something else.