I have a 4 month old border collie, has learnt a lot so far but was wondering
if anyone new of some tips on training her something different other than the ususal collect and return ball?? i.e hide and seek or finding a treat under a cup.
Also what is a good age to take her to agility classes? as i've been told 18 months, but that seems ages away.

Cheers

You could teach her some basic obedience, which will help when you start agility with her.

For instance a solid sit and down stay, heelwork, fast and instant recall to front and heel, etc.

It's a long wait but dogs need enough time to grow strong bones and ligaments before they are put under strain.

I completely agree with the poster who said solid obedience sit and down stay, instant recall and working to heel will be useful in agility. These also help to build their attention span and add variety.

A s the other posters say u need to get a solid recall , sit and down stay , you can also teach them left and right , use a plank in the garden on the floor and get her used to walking on it , another thing is get a play tunnel and get her used to going through this , these things will all help u when u do start agility training , here wqe start training at 12 months old

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She is at a great age to teach her loads - have you thought about clicker training her? This worked a treat with my collie pup... You could teach her all sorts of things, differentiating between toys, shutting the door for you, giving paws - anything that takes your fancy really

Just remember to keep the sessions short and fun and enjoy yourselves

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Some agility clubs do puppy agility. Go and have a look, but no high impact stuff!!

You could look at heel work to music? Thats fun and all dogs love it. Or just teach the tricks without the music.

Working trials, competative obedience, obedience rallys, god theres loads you can do. Find a decent trainer and they'll be able to give you loads.

Dog puzzles are cool too!

Re Clicker training...I was speaking to an incredibly well known and experienced trainer who loves clicker training but she did warn that the bond she had with her youngest dog (completely clicker trained) was not as strong as those she play trained with. However she did say that with a clicker you can teach them something like twitching an ear, which has now prompted me to add a clicker to my list of things to get. (my pups do the cute head tilt...love that!)

My dogs are compelely clicker trained and their bond with me is just as strong if not stronger than my dogs who were play trained before I learned about clicker training. The same is true of many other incredibly well known and experienced trainers I know.

So there is no need to worry, perhaps it is just coincidence.

We have a box of proper dog training/games, which Duke loves doing and will try Clover with soon.

The games are things like hiding a treat under a tin can and putting with two other cans.

Taking the dog out of the room while someone hides a treat somewhere and getting them to find it.

Duke's not into treats but loves balls so always use those.

Border Collie are great and very intelligent so will try anything.

Make everything fun but try to work some obidience skills in aswell.

A good basic training class should teach him lots and get him used to being in an area with lots of excited dogs! Agility is very exciting for dogs and it's important that they can focus with all the distractions. So going to a basic pet obedience will help with that.

Most clubs I am aware of start at 12 months with low impact only.

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