Jives first day on full height of Dog Walk

Jive did his first full height of his dog walk today, yesterday we had the dog walk on crates so he could get used to running on a low dog walk,  he thought it was great fun, so today we put the dog walk to full height.

 


More training for Jive
We trained on putting together our weavers and dog walk, then did some jumping with a leadout pivot and a rear cross. We now need to train our A frame in which we are going to try out the running A frame so that might take some time, we also need to work more on the seesaw.

Jives first Xmas party

Have been very busy lately with work as everyone wants a nice clean, clipped dog before xmas, however Jive and I get up early and do some training every morning. Jive went to his first xmas party last week and played the game of tunnellers, he thought it was so much fun, he only has ever done one tunnel before so he was a bit confused and asked lots of  questions when he had nine tunnels in a row to run through, he managed to get second pretty good effort for a baby boy.



Jive working on his weaving, jumping and 2o2o for his dog walk

Jive weaves 12 poles

Jive has been busy with plenty of foundation jumping, I bought the DVD One Jump, Two Jump. It is a really good DVD for young dogs. We have been working on our lead out pivots, rear crosses, front crosses, pull throughs, push throughs, post turns and serpentines. As Jive is still a young dog I only ever do 10 minutes of training a couple of times a day. We make it fun and fast so he does not have time to get bored. We have also progressed with his weavers which he can do all by himself.







Jive has been a busy boy in the last couple of weeks, he went camping for the first time. As Katie and Kris decided to enter Mt Gambier trial which is in Sth Australia and a six hour drive from home. Jive was a very good boy on the long trip and also camping in a tent. The following weekend we went camping again this time it was a four hour drive to Warrnambool, nice trial but it did not stop raining all weekend, it was a shame as we could not take the dogs to the beach as it was just too wet.

Jazz and Jive getting ready for their big trip.

Jazz and Jive had a lot of trouble jumping of the banks of the dam into the water so Kris and John built a jetty to help them jump into the dam,

Jazz and Jive diving from the new jetty, it takes a bit of persuasion but at last they now will jump into the water.

Weave Pole Lessons with Jive

At last we have started serious training with our weave poles, as Jive is now nearly 13 months old.

We have worke our two poles and made them very high in value, then moved the two poles at 2pm and 8pm for nice entry work, we have now started working with four poles, and today have added a couple of jumps before the four weave poles. He did not have a problem with this at all.




We also have been working on our jump work with one jump on different angles, then two jumps. We added five jumps today and Jive had a ball. It is very easy working with a dog that just loves to learn.
We also did some work on soft tunnels and nose touches today.

Jive's First Birthday

Jive had his first birthday on the 16th September 2010, Katie organised a birthday party for him and all of our dogs. He is starting to love birthday parties as he knows he will get lots of yummy cake and Jive just loves his food.

All waiting for a piece of birthday cake

Opening some of his presents, Jive does not like sharing his toys.

Jive has been busy this last month, most of the time he has spent at Katie's were she has been taking him to obedience classes on a Sunday, we figure we had better get some good control in early with Jive otherwise he could easily turn into a ferral young dog. I have also been taking him to agility foundation lessons, I did enrol him into K9 agility club which is outside under lights, but we have had the wettest winter for some years and the classes have been cancelled for the last two months.

Agility Foundation Skills

After his first birthday Jive has been at my place and working on one jump exercises, I love the Linda Mecklenburg Jumping book, I have bought a jump inside and we do one jump exercises for collection.

We have also been working on our 2x2 weavers and are up to lesson 4, he has picked this up quickly and having lots of fun. Will put on video in the next day or two.

Since we have bought him home Jive has been working on his nose touches for his contacts, play drive, start line stays. Perch work, trotting through ladders, walking backwards. He also is doing a lot of shadow work, with accelaration and decel. Front crosses on the flat and also basic exercises for the rear cross.

Jive loves his tunnels and we are getting a lot of drive sending him through tunnels from a distance, we need to teach a lot of distance as I don't think anyone will be able to keep up with him. Jive just seems to love learning and doing anything that has anything to do with jumping and running. He gets very vocal when another dog is training  he needs to learn to be patient before he has his turn.

Jive chasing his girlfriend Nakita through the tunnel.

Jive watching Nakita and asking when is it my turn.

Jive at the beach and school

Jive has been staying with Katie for a couple of weeks, Katie is taking him to obedience classes at Croydon, mainly for socialisation and meeting lots of new people and meeting lots of doggies and being in a different environment. In class Katie has so much time as Jive knows all of the exercises already so Katie uses that time by doing shadow handling, workng on nose touches, and other foundation exercises while she is waiting her turn.

Katie and her friend Laura took the dogs to the beach the other week, although it has been very wet and cold in Melbourne, we did manage to see the sun for a small amount of time. Jive thought it was so much fun.

Laura's dog Levi turned two the other week and Jive went to his birthday party, he loved the cake but a bit unsure of the noise when every one started singing Happy Birthday.

I have just started taking Jive to foundation agility lessons, Katie brings Jive to classes every Wednesday night, we first of all had an assessment night where the owners needed to be in control of their dogs with a basic sit, recall, no aggression to other dogs or people,  dogs need to know how to play with toys, of course Jive passed this with no problems.

We have also been playing the Susan Garrett games from her e course which we find lots of fun playing.
Jive's favourite game is when Kris goes and hides in the bush and then Jive has to go and find him, he gets so excited.

Foundation agility training has started for Jive

Jive has been home now for 10 days, he has settled in really well, he loves running in the bush every morning with the other dogs. I go with John and the dogs now in the morning as this is when I train Jive on his recall, not that he needed it as he already had a fantastic recall, but just to get him used to coming to me on any occassion. On these bush runs I also teach him to come and sit in a heel position or side position, we also train on our release word and our start line stay, we are also doing nose touches while out in the bush. So by having fun in the bush we also use that to train some basic foundation stuff which is needed for agility. Bush runs are also great for getting dogs fit and getting them used to jumping all sorts of branches, logs or whatever gets in their way while they are chasing each other around the bush.

We have just started putting a few of these skills together in the agility field. I have started Jive on puppy jumping grids with a send to a target and a recall over the bump jumps. I love the sending to a target as this gets the dogs to focus ahead and not worry about the handler. As you can see we have had lots of rain as it is rather muddy everywhere.

Recall over the jump bumps



Send over the jump bumps



We have also worked on the tunnel, at first it was a very rolled up tunnel without bends and now he can fly through any bended tunnel.

Jive's first agility trial in Melbourne

Jive attended his first agility trial in Melbourne last Saturday, he met lots of dogs, puppies and people. He hung out with our dogs under the gazebo and was a perfect little puppy dog.

Jive meeting new friends

Jive hanging out with his new friend Kirra

Jive comes home at last

It was a busy day today for Jive, Katie and Kris picked up Jive at AQIS this morning at 9.30am. Hooray at long last.

Goodbye AQIS

Jive in the car on his way to his new home

Katie and Kris went straight home to introduce Jive to Kirra and Jive's girlfriend Nakita, we were a bit worried about Nakita as she sometimes does not like certain dogs but they got on as if they knew each other all their lives. What a little hussy!!!!!!
See video below.







Then after introductions at Katie's house they drove to my place, Jive got to meet my three dogs, Merlot, Jazz and Ace. No problems at all they all got on so well, so we took them all for a run in the bush which is behind my place, they had the best time, Jive was beside himself he just ran and ran. And thanks to Brittany he has the best recall, every time he went off for a run we called his name he came bounding back, gave him a treat and then off he went again.







After their run they were all so muddy as it is winter in Australia, very wet and muddy conditions. We decided they could get clean by going for a swim in the dam, Jive decided I will get wet but not too sure on the swim, he watched as Nakita did lots of diving and swimming, he will eventually get the swimming idea maybe when we go in with him in the warmer months.

Nakita diving in the water and Jazz and Jive looking on.

Ace running with Jive

Dogs after their run

From left: Nakita, Kirra, Jive, Jazz, Merlot and Ace

After a great run and swim in dam, Katie decided Jive needed a hydro bath, so off he went for a bath and blowdry.

After that he came inside and jumped on the couch and watched some of our agility runs from last weekend. He was a very tired boy at the end of the day.

Only five days to go

Jive only has another five days in prison then he will finally be free, it seems to be going on forever but finally we are down to the last week.

Katie and Kris had another visit to Jive last week, Katie started teaching Jive to shake hands, he is very quick to learn new stuff.







Katie bought Jive a new blue collar and lead, ready for his big escape this Saturday.

Bath Time for Jive

I decided to give Jive a hydrobath at quarrantine on my visit to Jive yesterday, as he started to smell a bit.
Jive enjoyed his nice warm hydo bath and was a good boy especially when I put on the loud dryer he did not like the noise but put up with it. Now we have a nice sweet smelling boy.

Jive getting towel dried after his bath.

Jive enjoying his pigs ear after his bath

Case of the Missing Bed

We settled Jive into his new bed in his kennel, he loved his new round bed, so we thought at least he will be nice and warm on these cold Melbourne nights. Alas the next time I visited Jive I went to check his kennel and no bed, his mattress and extra blankets were there but no round bed, I went to the office to ask them what happened to Jive's bed, did he dirty it and maybe it is getting washed. I spoke to his carer who said. Sorry, Jive decided to rip his bed to pieces. Oh, I thought maybe he was looking for his chicken frame, he probably thought I know I buried it somewhere in this bed.

The next couple of visits we worked on our round the chair for a nice GO which he is doing nicely from a distance. We also have been doing lots of shadow handling which he is doing nicely. I took a blue round disc for some perch work as Brittany the breeder said he was trained on perch work which he does rather well.

We also did lots of "Get It" throwing toys so he goes and retrieves and most of the time he will bring it back to you, and off course our recalls and lots of other stuff to fill in the hours.

Katie's last visit was funny as he had all of his toys scattered all over the exercise yard, he then proceeded to bring each toy back and lined them all up on the picnic rug, then sat down with them all.

Jive picking up all of his toys.

Jive after he picked up his toys and put them all on the rug

Kris meets Jive

Kris, Katie's husband and Katie visited Jive last week, he was very excited meeting Kris and both got on extremely well.

Katie gave him a chicken frame but instead of eating it he decided to bury it under his mattress in his new bed.

Playtime  - he loves his toys and playing

Katie and Jive taking a break.

Katie working on his recall and working on the around the chair we will be increasing the distance in the next couple of visits.

We bought him a bed and extra blankets to put in his kennel as it is very cold in Melbourne. Jive had a nice rest after his work out he loves his new bed.

Second visit to Jive in Quarrantine

It was a cold winters day in Melbourne, but luckily the sun came out in the afternoon as I drove to Spotswood Quarrantine for the second time to visit Jive. Katie was at work so went by myself, silly me forgot my camera but did some videoing on my tripod. Jive was very glad to see me when I went to his kennel to get him. We had to work hard to keep warm so we had some fun doing a bit of shadow handling, and basic obedience, he is such a good boy. Gave him a brush and he just lay back and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I took my flask of coffee and a picnic rug so Jive and I had a bit of a picnic in the exercise yard as we had three hours to fill in.

Meeting Jive in Quarrantine 25/06/10

The day finally had arrived where we met Jive, it was so great to see that little face poking out of his enclosure, he had a great big smile on his face when we came and said hello to him. What a lovely friendly boy he is, nothing seems to phase him with having that big adventure travelling halfway across the world on and off planes, in different kennels, meeting lots of strangers, he just wags his tail  and trys to give you lots of kisses. He certainly loves people and just seems to love life

Visiting hours were 1pm-4pm, Katie and I arrived just after 1pm and spent nearly three hours with him. We were allowed to take him to the exercise area where we played with him and gave him lots of treats and toys, wow he certainly loves his food. Our time was up way too soon, we felt like sneaking him out of the gate and taking him home with us, but of course we did the right thing and put hime back in his kennel, and left him with a nice big juicy bone.

Jives arrives in Australia 24/06/10

Good news James from the IPTLAX has emailed us and told us that Jive has arrived safely in Melbourne this morning at approx 7.45am after a 15 hour trip from Los Angeles to Melbourne Airport.


Katie rang quarrantine this afternoon the girl she spoke to said it looks as if he travelled really well they are very happy with him. They said he is now getting used to his surroundings and has eaten and gone to the toilet. The girl from quarrantine said he has a great personality and is such a happy boy.

Jive needs to be seen by a vet before we are allowed to take him out side in the off lead area for a big run and the vet will be seeing him this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Katie and I will be visiting him tomorrow Friday 25th June. We are allowed to bring him toys and bones, the girl Katie spoke to on the phone sounds really nice and generally sounded like she really likes him. She will be his carer for his entire stay.

Only one more sleep before we meet Mr Jive, and we will be taking lots of photos.

Jive arrives in Los Angeles 21/06/2010

An email from James of  International Pet Transportation, Inc. informing us that Jive had arrived in Los Angeles safe and well.

Hello Katie and Brittney,


We have your little Jive here safe and sound, he is doing well with us settling in to our kennel facility. He has been playing in our enclosed area enjoying his time outside his kennel.
He seemed to have had a good flight and did not mess the travel crate.
We will keep in touch tomorrow with updates on his status.

He is looking great!

Best regards,

James

International Pet Transportation, Inc.

Jive's last day at Oregon U.S

Brittany and Lori drove Jive to the airport on the 21st June 2010, it was a very sad day for them as they had nine months with Jive and they both fell in love with Mr Jive man.

Jive had a photo shoot with all of his relatives on his last day in Oregon.

Left to right: Kate (great great grandma), Lash (grandma) Jen (great grandma) Rumor (mom) Singe (dad) and Risk (grandma)

Front row: Brothers Jive and Moe

Brittany also put a slide show together on Jive's first nine months living at Oregon.




This is a video of Jive's great, great grandma Kate in her hey day also Brittany's heart dog.
Kate was named Triathlete of dog sports by Animal Planet in 2004. This is a video that was done to showcase her versatility in dog sports.




A video of Jive's grandma Risk on Singe's side semi final and finals Grand Prix run at the 2007 USDAA Cynosports.  See family photo above of Risk.

Jive's flight has been booked

Good news Brittney has booked Jive's flight he is flying to Portland airport then to LA on 21st June 2010.His flight has also been booked from LA to Australia, Jive will be arriving in Melbourne on Thursday the 24th June. Katie and I have Friday afternoon off from work to go and visit Jive where he will need to spend 30 days in quarrantine.

Jive playing with his grandmothers pups

Jive between 5months and 8months

Jive at five months - Map of Australia on his coat

Jive at 5 and half months- Getting ready for his Australian trip

Jive and his brother Moe at eight months

Jive at eight months

Photos of Jive as he is growing up

Rumor and her six pups born Sept 2009

Jive at one day

Jive at six weeks

Jive and litter mates seven weeks

Jive at four months

Jive at five months

Introducing Hillcrest Jump'n Jive

We decided to write a blog on a working border collie named Jive that my daughter and I are importing from Oregon U.S. The blog will be mainly around the importing and then the training of Jive in agility. We decided to import a registered working border collie after spending months looking for a mate for Nakita, our lovely chocolate border collie, registered name Kayladene Born to Run . We could not find a suitable dog for her in Australia, that is when we decided to see what is available overseas.

In March 2009 after months of surfing the net and sending lots of emails to breeders I came across Hillcrest Border Collies. Brittany MacNeill the breeder said she would help us to import a dog to Australia.
Brittany gave me a couple of choices of litters that she would be breeding in the near future. We were looking at a particular line and as we sent our deposit to Brittany early we had first pick of the Singe/Rumor litter that was due in September 2009. Our preference was a  blue male merle with blue eyes with a lovely temperament. We had our fingers crossed Rumor would produce a blue merle male, she did the right thing and had six pups, three blue merle males, and three females with one female blue merle. Brittany always has a theme for her pups and this litter of pups were named after American beers. Before we named him his nickname was Porter which is an American beer.

It is a very long and expensive process importing a pup from the U.S to Australia as Australia has very strict AQIS procedures, dogs need to be quarrantined for 180 days in which 150 days can be spent overseas but the last 30 days must be spent in quarrantine in Australia. Jive had a lot of visits to the vet for various tests and blood sampling.

We decided we needed help to import Jive into Australia so have asked a company that specialises the importation of dogs into Australia. Jive will be flying out to Australia at the end of June 2010.