Ok now Paxy is almost 9 weeks old and has just started nipping much much harder. She is jumping and nipping at clothes and hands and I have holes in my clothes and me.

I have started working on "sit" and she has picked it up amazingly fast, even faster after finding the right treats she likes !! LOL!! This is helping with the nipping. When she is calm she is rewarded with a pat and verbal praise. But she is very cute so it's very hard.

I think some of the nipping is being caused by overexcitement. Yesterday after she was very nippy with my son he put her straight into her crate and there wasn't a peep out of her - she fell straight to sleep.

Basically I am trying to work on the NILIF or Alpha Dog to try and stop it as I don't want it to be a habit when older. I know it happens and is part of being a puppy but I don't want it to be a habit with her. I can't remember what I did with my last dog - soo long ago.

I have also been told to say "no" in a big booming voice - if she ignores you, then say, "No!" and grab the scruff of her neck (the skin on the back of the neck) with your thumb and fore-finger and give a quick pull. This won't work at 11 weeks, but it usually does a 9 weeks.

Hmm tried the scruff method and it seemed to excite her more!

Anybody had success with any other methods?

Okay with my two totally different dogs. Ceejay when she started nipping, everytime she nipped me I yelped. This startled her and she stopped, but she also worked out the connection that everytime she nipped me it hurt me and stopped. Just like dogs at play. With Izzy I had to do go one step further because she was a bit older and had not learnt, so when she nipped it was a yelp and a growl (and I mean a scary one with bared teeth and all). This is all I do if the my girls are annoying me or not doing what their told. They quiver in their paws. lol.

I am sure someone will come up with a better solution, but every little bit helps.

When my ACD puppies are very bity (chewing on my feet) it is very painful so I do something similar ... I copy the other dogs and I grab a hand full of scruff and growl at them making sure they know that I am not happy with them for that bite, also making sure they understand I am not having a game with them.

They get the message quickly. It helps that the older dogs have also reinforced this "I don't like your biting" as well.

Hi Yep I have tried the yelping which helped with all my other girls but not Gabby that one I found if I folded her lip onto her teeth gently and than I said I'd bite she soon found out that it was very uncomfortable so as soon as I said I'd bite she stopped (hard to explain that one) but it worked and she stopped very soon but she still gets bitey with the girls and that is usually when she is tired so she is put to bed. It's just like having a child time out
cheers
Danni
ps good luck

Oooh nippy puppies, that's no fun.

Does she jump up at you before nipping?

Koolie’s love to jump up at you if they can get away with it.

Try holding her muzzle and gently following her back to the ground.
You don't need to squeeze, push or say anything, just look her in the eye as you follow her back to the ground, she will most likely sit, then you can rub the sides of her face, head and ears, which is what she wanted in the first place.

I'm no big name expert but this method I have used and found successful on Koolie’s.
I don't have a lot of nippers but I think it is because I raise them from birth.

I also use it when I have a stressful Koolie’s to take the vets, I find by holding their muzzle they just freeze, not necessarily relax just stop carrying on and hold still.

A lot of juniors can get jumpy when they get excited, I just hold their muzzle and calmly hold it until they have sat and then I pat them, it gives them a chance to use their brains instead of their energy.

It may not work with every Koolie but it doesn’t hurt them, nor intimidate them adult Koolie’s use the same method when a junior gets too in their face.
They just grab and hold their muzzle until the little offender rolls over and settles down.

So give it a try, you have nothing to lose.
If you do use it, let me know how you get on.

i do the same as jackieH but i push them to the ground by the muzzle and growl at them this stops them very quickly from jumping up and nipping and i have taught my guys apart from greyson (he just does not bend to sit) to sit for a pat

Thanks guys! Am trying the muzzle bit but she's faster than me and sees the hand coming and moves!! Decided to up my voice growl and stance. I tend to be a bit quiet spoken and don't shout very loud, except when really really cross. This has sort of worked a bit better, obviously we're both a work in progress.

I find the scruff thing just seems to excite her and she thinks it's a game!

She does seem to have developed a taste for cat poo though. I think in the last three days she has dug up all the fresh stuff. Has the nickname of "turd breath" now. Delightful stuff to remove from her mouth. Now I have found she's taken some out of the kitty litter and spread it around the laundry. I usually remove it when I smell it! Fortunately I can close off the litter box with a flap. It's a poo palace according to my mother - all enclosed. So shall have to see how Tammy reacts to being enclosed in her poo palace, she's a big cat and there's not a lot of room with the flap on - she usually has her head sticking out!!

I think we get the picture, no photos will be necessary.

Yep know all about "dog recycling" as I call it. Except Izzy has taken a liking to chook poo but she is not satisfied with just eating it she rolls in it too. Then comes to me pleased as punch. If I catch her I tell her to "leave it" and she does so with great reluctance.

Maybe start using a word when you want Paxy to leave something alone. Just a suggestion.

And I do agraee with TJ pictures are not required. lol.

I'm quoting one of my fave authors, Suzanne Hetts, here - this behaviour will almost always stop with maturity, even if nothing much is done about it (or what is done isn't effective). It isn't reliably associated with aggression or other beh probs in the dog as an adult.

My preference is to always interact with pups with something they can chew on and redirect their chewing onto this. One of my fave trainers is Nina Bonderenko - trains assistance dogs in UK, is an Aussie (I've never met her, but used to work with a trainer who had done Schutzhund with her) - pretty much if you see her with a pup, she's got a toy in her hand and the pup's chewing on it.

Also doggy zen can be really helpful - treat in hand, allow the pup to chew the hand until it moves away of its own accord (ie gives up) and then gets the treat. Sue Ailsby I think is the source of this idea - http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/Leve...vel/1Level.html

Go down the page a fair way to find first stage of leave/doggy zen.

http://ninabondarenko.com/services.htm

This is Nina's more advanced way of teaching doggy zen, marking the pup for closing it's mouth. Click on *teaching gently* in the list on the left.

Lots of ppl use a word (like gentle) when pup chews but that doesn't make any sense to me - the pup prob learns not to chew for other reasons. If anything they're naming chewing 'gentle'.

Chewing/nipping does seem to be something that pups at certain ages just really really *need* to do. And some of them get more snarky/bitey as a result of discipline attempts that involve hands. And it's definately not uncommon for them to get more hyper-excited as a result of 'yelping'. I still regard this is most often a punishment-based strategy (IMO not approp for any dogs, but esp for pups) - although I think owners often try to use it just to provide information to the pup, when it works I think it's most often because it evokes a startle response.

Hope this is some help.

And like humping, other dogs of good, tolerant but *firm* temp are better at teaching bite inhibition than humans.

To me, this is a lovely eg of just the right kind of interaction between an adult dog and a puppy (and I also love it because it involves 2 of my favourite breeds). The adult Collie really loves the pup and is gentle, patient and persistent (doesn't frighten the pup but keeps dumping him off for eg when he tries to use him as a dog-mountain and moves quickly from playing to setting boundaries and back to playing). And the Foxy looks like Pepe Le Pue (which I can't spell) and has my favourite Foxy patterning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGtkjDOidj8

Which reminds me, it's certainly not a universal positon amoung trainers (quite controversial actually) but super guru Ian Dunbar believes pups *must* be allowed to chew on ppl in order to acquire bite inhibition. He recommends *accepting* a reducing scale of pressure. This is one of his main works on puppies, available as a PDF, which is great - good thing for breeders to recommend to potential/new owners, IMO.

http://www.openpaw.org/PDFs/BEFORE_YouGetYourPuppy.pdf

But the one that isn't available as a PDF (After you get your puppy) has more on bite inhib.

Oh, and about using scruff-shaking, according to Karen Overall (another super guru) in a study of 190 breeders, 97.2% had never witnessed scruff-shaking by mother to pups. So this does not seem a means by which bitches normally discipline their pups, although I guess that doesn't necessarily mean that when we do it to pups they won't find it punishing.

I'm quoting one of my fave authors, Suzanne Hetts, here - this behaviour will almost always stop with maturity, even if nothing much is done about it (or what is done isn't effective). It isn't reliably associated with aggression or other beh probs in the dog as an adult.

i will totaly disagree with that i have added some pic's of kearby this dog was my soul mate so to speak kearby was not trained in any way when i got him he had lived his hole life on a chain which was starting to inbed it self into his neck and if left with his old owner for another week kearby would have died. now the pic's will show you in one kearby biting me 2 were i just got my arm out of the way from being bitten and the last two of him a mth later. to stop him biting me over the jumps i started throwing toys over the next jump for him to go after instead of him coming back onto me and biting the second way was if he jumped up on me and tried to bite i would grab his muzzle and push his head to the ground and growl at him as i said in one mth i had this behaver stoped and had a happy settled dog
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Hey Royalla we know what you look like now.

Good shots, nipping needs to nipped in the bud, sorry about the pun quickly in my opinion or it becomes a set trait and is then ingrained and comes out in their training with stock.

A Koolie should only use bite when it's absolutely needed, when its other resources have failed, such as presence, bark, physical force.

A Koolie that immediately turns to the use of the bite is worthless on sheep and ewe even calves and cattle no stock person wants their stock harassed and chewed.

So best to get it under control, younger the better.

Would you believe that Ceejay taught Izzy about bite inhibition. When we first got Izzy she grabbed Ceejay's back legs. She only bit hard a few times as Ceejay would put her in the place quick, turned around and forced Izzy onto the ground by grabbing her muzzle and doing a low growl. Izzy still grabs Ceejay's back legs but gently. She used to grab my arm too but that soon stopped too, when I did the same thing in general.

So they do learn from each other. Izzy does deflea you though. lol. She also does a "seal kiss" all whiskers and nose against your cheek (gawd it tickles).

Royalla, Kearby had the same face as my last boy Zorro but with more hair. Those eyes so reminded me of him. He was also so very special to me.

How is the nipping going Bluedog? Has it lessened at all?

Thanks everybody for your help. I have to say we're getting there. She seems to be listening to me more when I say "no".

She seems to really like my sons toes more than anybody else!!! I think this is because he wriggles them more and they probably stink more.

I do try to have a toy in my other hand to distract her but with puppy ADD I usually haven't picked one up by the time she comes back!!!

I am successfully making her sit before food and before any throwing of balls or toys.

Tammy is one thing that is constant. She at least has stopped yipping at her - I squirt water at her from a bottle - but she runs and nips at her. Tammy at least stands her ground and boxes her. She is very tolerant, very much like the collie in the youtube clip, but after a while has had enough and growls and chases. Paxy is learning to stop or at least slow it down. This afternoon Paxy actually tried to sleep very close to Tammy on the same mat - lasted for about 1 min until my son walked in the room!!

I know Kearby, like him a lot. He certainly doesn't seem to be bitey now. And I'd say that the pics show not puppy nipping but rather redirected excitement (your description is consistent with this too). Which is a different behaviour and responds to different treatment.

I've just put Wal back on a NILIF program too, as he'd got really demanding as his health has got better. Are you just using a sit as the default behaviour?

In the past I've found default behaviours are real nuisance when trying to work on advanced behaviours (not sure what to do so I'll sit), but guess it is well and truly worth it for the calmness/self-control that comes from using it. But may use Mary Ray's idea of somehow marking 'new' training - I think she sits in a particular chair when free shaping so dog is less likely to throw the behaviours that aren't on cue yet at other times.

I'm using verbal command sit before feeding, before throwing a toy and just started sit before allowed to go in and out of back door and few others. I forget to take treats with me some of the time, but she still sits after a couple of repetitions, mostly first go esp with toys! If I have a treat she tends to focus on that rather than what I'm saying too. So I guess it is basically the default behaviour.

This is making some progress to being a bit calmer!! Of course she still gets very excited sometimes and being a puppy that's acceptable! But I try to walk away from her then and just leave her on her own. Once their head is in that space it's hard to get them down. She is starting to just mouth my hands a lot more now, except for my pants which have holes in them, they seem to be for tuggawar!

It's so long since I did obedience with Bluey (and it was only basic), I just used to point to him and say sit and he sat but that's what I learned in Vic so don't know if NSW has different hand signals - probably need to go and watch the next DVD in the course as I think that's about actual training! But whatever works is the main thing and as long as you're consistent each time does it really matter what you use?

Bluedog

My first Koolie Jacksy was not a nipper at all, but he was a bloody Jumper Upper! Anyway, what I did with him was turn my back straight away and IGNORE when he did that for a minute or so. He was particularly jumpy uppy at the vet because he was always so excited to see the girls there. They were good with IGNORE as well, and he grew out of it.

As for Alby, he was a real little nipper from the get go, but it's a form of play. I think it's a developmental time when they learn about dominance and who they are in the pecking order. Lucky for me poor jacksy got the brunt of it. I hope this pic is not too big, but Alby would leap across the room at a reclining Jacksy and just go for the jugular!



Well, Jacksy is a patient dog, but he'd only put up with so much of it, and a few times we'd hear "yelp yelp yelp", and in would run Alby, because Jacksy had put a stop to it and given him one back. Working out dominance can be deceptive, because although Jacksy is a steadier dog, he is in fact the more dominant of the two. I am the biggest dog of all, and though its hard with a pup because they are so cute, you have to reinforce this. I don't know about grabbing them by the scruff, but maybe if he nips try ignoring, because he's trying to engage you in a play fight. If he keeps it up, maybe grab him and put him on the ground on his back real quick, this shows him you are dominant to him, and may get him to think twice. Oh, BTW, pups teethe as well, thats what a lot of the chewing is about, make sure there are lots of chew toys around.

I'm always more interested in why training works than whether it works, but lets just say I'm not a particularly practical trainer <g>.

Thanks Shaunagh - Paxy is a jumper and nipper at the same time!!! She only does it now (touch wood) when hyperexcited/tired. I've noticed that late at night she is continuous with the nipping and like a child it's time to pack up and go to bed!!! She still attempts to nip but lets go much more easily. I also laid on the ground yesterday with her and just let her mouth me and when she got too hard let my arm lie on her back/shoulders and the weight of it made her lie down. That seemed to help matters somewhat as she relaxed in her play and every now and again just wandered off and then came back. I guess I am the big dog!!!

Poor Tammy is copping the brunt of Paxy's exuberance. She is very patient but Paxy is actually jumping on her and nipping. Tammy is boxing her ears, nose and face but not using claws. She hisses and growls and it's getting louder each time. When Paxy gets too exuberant I have taken to squirting her with water as it is far more immediate than "no". She's in the zone and doesn't hear where the water seems to distract her!!

Koolie Mum - why training works!!! The how and why is one of my main interests.

That's the next instalment in the NDTF course! Have learnt so far about body language, behaviour patterns, instinctive behaviour and goals, principles of behaviour modification, reinforcement and punishment (not punishment as in physical or suchlike - withholding reward, not attaining goal), periods of development, socialisation.

Next up: operant learning, extinction, pavlovian conditioning, motivation, reinforcement, desensitisation and sensitisation, the effects thereof and counter conditioning (that's the shortened version!)

The course sounds like fun.
I'm curious about what text books they're using.

No texts as yet - may come later. Lecturers on DVD's and notes supplied for each DVD, working in conjunction with each other, ie notes complement the lecture but do not repeat lectures word for word. You watch the DVD first then read the notes.

One source used in the "Canine Communication" section for diagrams was Fogle, The Dog's Mind, Howell Books, 1990. Might try and have a look for that one.

I understand the Delta course uses a lot of texts, I would be interested to know what they are!

The practical session in April is with some of the lecturers who will be coming up from Melbourne plus others from NSW. I don't have all the information yet as to who will be there but I'm really looking forward to that part. As well as theory we work on dogs from the kennels and also rescue dogs with problems so will be interesting to say the least!

Not that many books, I think. The book list has probably changed since I did the course in 03-04, and all I can remember as being required were Turid Rugaas' calming signals book and Pam Reid's Excel-erated learning (we were always discussing what we didn't quite like about this book - eg she's not opposed to use of shock collars, but the teachers thought they hadn't been able to find one that was overall better. And a general pet-owner level health book (which I always thought was a pretty awful book, but they had to be careful not to give the impression that we had a health qualification). Am pretty sure the Fogle book, Culture Clash, Other end of the lead, Don't shoot the dog etc were recommended but not required. There might have been some other requireds but I can't remember. I do remember it as a time when I spent sooooo much money on dog books.

But you've inspired me - I've just been looking at courses through CASI. Just what I need with full-time work, 2 uni subjects, external physics to finish by the end of this yr and big plans for next yr, not...

Now I have to say you got me thinking so I went to Amazon last night and stayed up late looking at books!! Ordered some including the Fogle "Dog's Mind" book and also the Turid Rugaas' Calming signals!!! It was highly recommended in the reviews. A couple of others too - vague memory today of exactly what, will check later!!!

I have some other books that I ordered a little while ago. They should be here soon. More bed time reading!!! Going to need more bookshelves.

Now I'm going to be nosy and ask what you're studying at uni??
Also showing my ignorance what is CASI??

I didn't know there was a Delta course until after I had signed up for this one!!

Unfortunately (I think) Delta as a charity never has any money for promotion. But I get the impression the NDTF course is good, perhaps that it is not *required* as it is in the Delta course to take a stand against +ve punishment/-ve reinforcement??

CASI is the Companion Animal Sciences Institute. http://www.casinstitute.com/ used to be the Cynology College. Run by James O'Heare who's a bit of a name in positive training - writes about many things but perhaps the biggy is his critiquing of the 'dominance myth'. It's all external, on-line (Canadian), but pretty advanced (they have diplomas available as well as certificates and the possibility of 'practicum' and 'supervision' modules after you finish the core subjects for some of the courses).

There's so much interesting info available about training dogs these days. I think the clicker training phenomenon is what started it, was very lucky that it coincided with the development of the internet.

Have you also looked at dogwise.com? Probably most things are both there and on Amazon. Dogwise publish quite a lot of books too. One of the things I like especially about training at the moment is that we're working from/thinking about the behaviour analysis/learning theory (and from a more refined understanding of dog behaviour), rather than in the past when it was more that as a trainer you learned a few 'methods' of achieving whatever outcome but because you didn't particularly understand the mechanisms of why they worked you couldn't refine them much. And did lots of superstitious things, that possibly harmed dogs or reduced the effectiveness of the training.

I think you'll find the Turid Rugaas really interesting/useful. I don't personally think that dogs really use the signals to deliberately calm other dogs beyond a fairly superficial level (maybe some do, but its pretty rare). However, I think it's the best book for learning to notice the things they do that say 'I don't like that, I wish she'd stop doing that'. Walking around a training class with her ideas in your head is a very interesting experience.

About uni, at the moment I'm doing linguistics (just started yesterday), last yr I did philosophy, and over Summer an Animal behaviour/handling subject. Next yr vet school (can't wait). I didn't have the score I needed to get into vet science from my previous degree (like lots of teenagers, guilty of only working as hard as I needed to) so had to do 16 units (8 courses) to get a new GPA.

No there has been nothing about a stand on +ve or -ve reinforcement in NDTF so far.

I like to look at all possibilities and methods - I start Puppy Preschool next week and the girls are Delta trained so will be listening hard. I'm always open to learning stuff!!

NDTF seems to come from a point of view of addressing the cause of the problem and tools such as the gentle leader used to help whilst on the way to train/retrain the dog.

I think I've been to Dogwise - shall check it out again! And CASI - wonderful what you can find on the computer!!!

One thing I read last night was that the clicker method of training was more popular in America than in Europe. I don't know if that's correct or not but I thought an interesting observation if true.

I too had wished to do vet science after school but sort of gave up on the studying. Had the problem of everyone telling me how hard to get to the course and how hard the course was (including the vet I was working for) and was really discouraged by people. No one told me that I could start uni in a different subject and then transfer (including older brother). So life took me in another direction and it's been interesting and I've enjoyed it!

So now some ahem years later I'm back to the dogs!!!

Do you get any credits for past subjects? Linguistics in English or another language? My daughter is doing Japanese at uni (in her 3rd year) as one of her subjects - this is her last semester and she says "thank god"!!!

No, no credits, alas. Being a mature aged student is such a different experience (for me at least) than my other degree. Compared to then, I have so much more self-belief, focus and commitment.

I've had in the back of my mind that I would go back and do vet sci (and become a vet behaviourist) for years, but it's such a big deal to go back to (very) full-time study as an adult (for 5 yrs - course has no flexibility) that I never got around to it. Then when my dog died about a yr and a half ago, I had that restless energy you often do when you're grieving and said to myself 'Ok, so what am I going to do with my life now?' and I realised that I was actually really going to miss dealing with the internal medicine vet who'd been treating her - that I found that stuff really really interesting - so I decided to go for it. I obviously tempted fate though, cos Wal then got sick :-( I'll be quite disappointed I think if I end up in general practice (there's only so much interest in desexing and vaccinating, I expect) - although I might love it and change my mind - I really want a career in which I can work on the cutting edge. And IM appeals because they treat a lot of chronic conditions - so you have long term relationships with ppl and their animals, unlike oncologists, surgeons etc usually. And I love ppl who love their animals, but think dealing with ppl who don't want to put in money or effort for them like you see in general practice would get old real soon.



I think with NDTF (obviously I haven't done the course, this is from noticing trainers who've done it) that you don't have to be *anti* punishment although you could be, but it's pretty much expected with Delta. If a trainer wasn't Delta wouldn't be a good fit.

Karen Pryor who (sort of) invented clicker training is American, and that's were its got the biggest numbers still. But there are some amazing Europeans using it. I'm sure you realise, clicker training is really just a way of marketing some universal learning theory principles, so ppl like BF Skinner and the Brelands/Baileys *really* 'developed' (discovered might be a better word?) it, and it had been used for a long time to teach zoo and theme park animals, but Karen IMO did domestic animals a huge service when she started promoting it to pet owners.

Can't wait to hear what Paxy thinks of puppy class. Are you going to one at a vet or at a training school?

Paxy graduated from Puppy Preschool on Tuesday night!!! 5 nights altogether, first night without pup, 4 nights with. We didn't have any special tricks to show off on the night unlike the mini foxie who jumped through a hoop!! But we'll get there!

Paxy I think is finally starting to get the message about nipping or at least I have found a way to get the message across to her is probably more correct. I have been "yelping" a lot more when she nips/bites so I think this has helped, initially she just bit harder when I yelped but I have to find the right pitch - v high - or she doesn't take a lot of notice. So it has been an interesting learning experience for me to figure out what really works out of various methods. I think she is now more in the "normal" range of puppy biting/nipping. She still plays tug of war with my clothes but generally "off" works and she leaves it.

But get this last night she was tired and I picked her up to have a cuddle (yes I know a little bit too big for a lapdog!) and after a couple of wriggles and no attempts to pierce my ears (as usual) she relaxed onto her back while I stroked her, she rolled on her back and fell asleep! The first time she has relaxed completely like that while holding her!!! She even changed position in her sleep!!!

With training I tried the clicker but I am really just so unco-ordinated with my timing that it's not funny! My brain goes - Oh she did it, that's good. Then I think oh I'm supposed to click! Oops! Anyway am now using verbal reinforcement with "yes" and it's taking hold!

She is very good at sit, she drops when lured but not dropping on command yet, stands when lured. But she is learning to "wait" especially for her dinner or bones. We are working on "touch", "on your mat", and getting in a box! Also bought some buckets today (they were 89c each!) to hide stuff under for her to find. Also took her for a short walk up our street today where she met the man whippersnippering and was actually all over the whippersnipper!! (he did turn it off but she was quite keen to go over before he did so!) She was a little shy at first but a little bit of food soon won her over! The biggest distraction was Tammy who decided to accompany us for part of the walk!!

Also learning stairs (we have a two storey house), up is better than down!

But tell me do koolies spend most of their time with their nose on the ground? I'm starting to think of training Paxy as a sniffer dog (!) as she spends more time with the nose on the ground than her head up. I don't know if it has any relationship to her vision or if this is normal behaviour!!!LOL. It does make it hard to get her back on course with food though!! Scents are much more interesting!

We just had a play with the buckets - a great new toy to carry around - maybe I can get her to help with the washing soon!!

That is great news Bluedog. With the sniffing Ceejay puts her nose up in the air and sniffs around and hones on in when something catches her attention. But you would think that if you throw a ball and it gets lost she would find it...oh no totally loses it, so nose is on ground bum up and her tail goes like mad in circles.

It is also good that she likes to cuddle and relax, once you have done that pick her up and hold her face down or up until she stops wiggling and reward her for that, then start walking with her holding her. This helps with the trust factor. Ceejay is great with it, I pick her up and carry her over things and she does not wiggle and totally trusts me. And don't worry I still pick her up and have cuddles. (I used to do this with my last dog all 25kg of him). Loved it.

I am glad Paxy is getting the idea with the nipping. Patience and persistance is the motto when it comes to dogs. The clicker comes in with loads of practice, but the bridging word "YES" is great.

She sounds so special.

CT really challenges the trainer, I think, to be as good as they can be rather than expecting the dog to be the 'smart one' in the interaction, this is especially an issue for Delta-influenced trainers (IMO) as we're discouraged from using 'free' shaping and periods of confusion while the dog is learning are seen as a problem. That can be a real problem if (like me) you really worry about making mistakes - we end up punishing ourselves for not being perfect. Something Susan Garrett says in crate games really opened my eyes on this - she talks about laughing at mistakes. (I knew in my head that one thing about CT is that you can always change things - it recognises that behaviour is in a constant state of flux - but I'd never really been able to put it into practice). Now, I'm coming to accept that periods of confusion are ok, normal, part of learning - for dog and person. (So now, I'm much more prepared to put my training, mistakes and all, out there - a few months ago I wouldn't have let anyone see what I'd taught until it was perfect, now we're on youtube lol.)

Bob Bailey has a famous saying about training being a mechanical skill, it gets easier with practice. He also says in his dvds that coordinating a whistle to a behaviour is more difficult than a clicker, but I found my timing got instantly better when I started using a whistle. The clicker is a lot further from your brain, I think, than your mouth.

Don't know whether other ppls Koolies are really sniffy, but Wal is. It can be due to stress - a displacement behaviour, I suspect it's that with him. Perhaps you can use it as a reinforcer?

I think ppl who do tracking usually like to start when they're pups. Maybe that's her sport. If you wanted to do competitions with her, I guess that would be the sport in which her eyesight is least important.