Goin' to the Dogs!

[heirloomgal]

@heirloom girls said ,”My dog has Hound syndrome…interesting.
My border collies have ‘Can’t sit still syndrome’. always begging to play frisbee, ball, . I got them interactive toys thought I could get a rest. Well they insists I play with the interactive toys with them .
Maybe the borders have , ‘Separation Syndrome ‘ .
Next I’m thinking about ordering an obstacle course to keep them busy.

Have you tried doing scent detection with them @Shades-of-Oregon ? They may really like the mental challenge of it, I just took a class to be able to teach my dog. You start off with wintergreen essential oil and little plastic totes with holes drilled in the tops. The learning process of it is SUPER challenging if they're athletes, because most pet dogs get challenged physically only, this requires them to psychologically work to figure out what the heck you're asking them to do. It's an enjoyable process for us too, seeing that little brain ticking. Right now my dog is hung up on going to each tote, sniffing the hole, looking at us, checking if this is 'it', then going to the next one if it isn't, over and over. It's hilarious right now because he thinks 'the trick' is just to sniff each of the boxes. He hasn't figured out just yet why sometimes one of those box sniffs magically gets him mozzarella.

Border collies are so smart, they do really well with riddles like this. The high drive dogs usually start whacking the boxes all over the place constantly with their paws when they get the gist of 'this is about these boxes somehow', like the boxes are treat dispensers. It's so funny. My goal is to eventually fade out the winter green and instead train him to scent out my car keys, and my wallet.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

@heirloomgal I like that idea to teach them scent detecting. It is interesting to watch their brains ticking . Once they figure anything out they want to learn more. Always need a task or something to do. Maybe I’ll teach them to do some of the scented plants in the garden. Then let them to smell a sample plant in my hand and ask her to show me where they are?

We have those talking buttons.. gets a bit annoying after awhile. ‘I want a cookie”, potty outside, Water, Hungary. Play ball… UHG.

They are runners and run circles around the pastures. They have followed scat trails for the bobcat , quail .. squirrels.. .and coyotes. Finds the active gopher tunnels too.
Thanks for the idea for scent training.