Jam had another wonderful practice session today. He is once again a fully functional obedience dog. All brain cells firing on command. Oh he has a few crooked sits and a bit of a lag on the one part of the figure 8 exercise and he looked a little panicked at the very end of the 3 minute down, but oh what a good boy he was! If he does it good the first time we stop right there. I've learned about the Collies, you do not drill a Collie. They get bored and frustrated and quit. So if they get it right the first time we take it. It'll never be a perfect 200, but if it's a qualifying score I'm totally happy. Better to have a happy dog than a high in trial. Not that I'd turn down a high in trial score, of course :-)
Harold is the first naturally talented dog I've had since Murphy back in the early-mid 90's. He learns everything super fast, works happy all the time and just will not quit. He loves to work. His off leash heeling is better than his on leash, his focus for such a young dog is spot on and he has the fastest sit I've ever seen in a Collie. For such a big guy he is very agile and turns tight and does this almost sliding into a sit. And of course the non stop wagging of the tail. Today he proved he can jump the 20" required in rally advanced/excellent. And in true Harold style he cleared it by a mile.
Jam, Harold and I will be traveling to show next weekend so let's hope that those planets remain in perfect alignment.
I think it's true of most of the herding breeds that you really can't drill them. I grew up with Golden Retrievers and they would happily work on something for hours, but with the Cardis I've found exactly what you said to be true: if they do it right once, stop! Otherwise, they think they must have done it wrong, so they try something different. The challenges of a thinking dog... :-)
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