Boader Collie Pup

[Cassie030]

i have a new addition to my family and his name is michael and he is a black and white boader collie pure breeded he is very active and very happy he has fitted into the family very well we are just starting to tech him tricks but he loses interest very quick or he see shadows and he is off we r trying to get him not to growl when we walk pass him and he has a bone or if we brush pass him when he eats but we are lost and dont know what else we can do lol my partner says to put him pound as a threat to but i know he will never do it lol so any help woul be great thanks for reading this oh and i have a baby on the way how do you introduction a newborn to him without him trying to bite and jump.

 

[laramie]

Many members here have border collies, so they will be of much help to you. Before anyone can help you, there are some questions. How old is he? Is he neutered? How often do you exercise him? Where did you get him?

If he's still a puppy, he won't have the attention span to be able to focus on tricks. Start with the basics like sit, lay down, and stay. Work on them for a while. He's still discovering everything and chances are, you're not as interesting as everything else.

As far as threatening to put him in the pound, he's a dog. He doesn't understand threats and you would be an irresponsible owner for doing that. If you mean a fenced in kennel thing in your yard, he's still not going to understand why he's in there. You have to teach him what to do and what not to do. Leaving him to himself WILL NOT solve any problems. It will simply create more. Make sure he gets lots of exercise a day. At least an hour. Play ball or walk him, don't just let him run around and do his own thing. Tire him out.

If he is a puppy, I very strongly recommend getting him neutered when he's around six months old, especially with a baby in the house. He is much less likely to be aggressive if neutered.

 

[fly30]

Your border collie is a normal border collie : he has a strong herding instinct and, for the moment, he's herding shadows. This is what we call a toc and if you don't teach your dog to control his instinct, this can turn to a nightmare. A border collie is an intelligent dog and, if he doesn't use this intelligence for someone and at work, he's use it for himself. The best activity that can help him and you for that is herding. There are professional who organise herding lessons at weekends. We started herding with Fly at the age of 8 months (no point going earlier).

Teaching tricks to a puppy should not last more than 5 or 10 minutes by session. If he's not interested in food, try playing with a cloth for him to pull. Game is also a reward. I have much more motivation from Fly with game.

As laramie said, it would be good to know what is a typical activity day for Michael. A border collie needs physical and mental activity everyday. At least two hours outside playing with him (run, play ball, meet other dogs etc...) and daily tricks session is ok. But think of long activities at weekends.

We are glad to have such an intelligent and lively dog, but we have to adapt as much as the dog adapts. Though he can be a wonderful family dog, the border collie is definately a working dog.

 

[sara]

As to the food aggression, NEVER take anything away from him. let him feel secure in not having his food taken from him. feed him by hand for a few weeks, then sit on the floor, with his dish between your legs, drop a couple of pieces of food in at a time, let him eat that, then drop a few more. work your way up to a handful at a time, then when he's good that way, put his whole amount of food int he dish, but while he's eating, drop in really yummy treats like hot dogs or raw meat. so he learns that your hand near the dish is a wonderful thing.

Trade him for bones. get those really good treats out, call him to you give him the yummy treats, pick up the bone while he's eating the treats, then give it back to him. do this often, he will leard that you have yummy things when you come near the bone.

I promise his food aggression (if you're consistent and do this often enough) will go away... It took 4 weeks with my newly adopted, 6.5 year old, severely food aggressive Dachshund. and now he has absolutely no issues with me or anyone else around his food or bones.

 

[Cassie030]

laramie michael is about 5 month olds and no his not neutered yet and he get walked every morning for about 30 mins to an hour and plays with my daughter every afternoon till he is wiped out or has had enough of her lol we got him from a couple just around the corner from us when we went to look at the puppies there was 5 and michael was the quite and lonely one all the others were jumping ang biting and playing but not michael he just wanting pats and cuddles and i fell in love with him then and there and he has the most beautiful brown eyes ever.
fly we play ball with him but he doesnt bring the ball back and when he does he quickly snatches it back up andd runs with it so he chase him around which he loves but it wear us out quickly then him i think he feels sorry for us and comes back and hands the ball over and as for herding he does a pretty good job with the chickens and the duck we have it just getting him to stay and down when he has them in the right position the put them awayand i agree with all of you guys he is a smart dog and just a little spoil lol but how can you not spoil a pup like him lol.
sara thankyou for that tip i will be trying that thankyou i will keep you updated it how it going cheers guys thankyou for all your help

 

[fly30]

Cassie, Michael has a joyful life. However, he's missing mental activities, education and control. He likes playing ball so why don't you teach him to play with you ? Start in the house in a small room so he can't go away. Have food with you. When he gets the ball, try to have it in exchange of food (or anything else he likes). He'll start doing it for food, then for you, and then he'll play with you. Teach him simple things to start with like sit, stay and down. This will be useful for day to day life and will start teaching him control. As for herding, don't let him freeze in front of ducks, that's not controlling instinct but reinforcing his obsessive instinct. Keep him moving around them when he starts staring at them.
You said he was the quiet one amongts his brothers and that's a real luck (Fly was in the same situation). So he's not trying to be the leader and that will make things easy. However, he needs to know who is the leader. This does not mean you have to be severe with him, just be fair and constant. This will reassure Michael and you'll find the situation improves. Positive education works very well with border collies. They are not very common pups and understand very quickly.

And if you want to know, I have a spoiled little Fly , but I am clearly her leader, even if I have never shouted at her.

 

[laramie]

I completely agree with fly. He needs something that gets his brain going. This trick is a little more advanced than basic commands, but I'm sure he'll do a good job when he gets to the point to learn it. It's a great thing to do to make Michael think. You can start out with your hands or a flower pot, plastic cup, etc. (just make sure he can't see through it). Put a treat under it and encourage him to find it. When he paws the cup or hits it with his nose, let him have the treat under it. Keep doing this until he understands the word you put with the action and he knows that you want him to find it. When he gets this down, add another cup and hide the treat under one. Let him see you, because he's not a pro at this yet, and tell him to find it. If he picks the cup that doesn't have the treat, just keep encouraging him to find it. Then switch it up so he's not just picking one cup and not the other.

When he gets good at this you can add a third cup, mix the cups up, or don't let him see you put it under the cup. When you advance this trick, make sure he understands that you want him to find the treat so he's not just randomly picking cups until he finds the treat. This works great for my border collie and it tires her out as well.

If he's uncomfortable with you around his toys or food, teach him that you aren't going to take away something and not give it back. First, I really recommend you making him sit and wait before you put his food in front of him. If you need someone to explain this, then just say so and we will. First teach him to drop it. It starts off a lot like what fly explained. When he has a toy, trade him for a treat so that he knows that letting his toys go isn't' bad. Then, like everything else, put a word to it when he understands.

I'm not sure if this applies to your situation, but I imagine it could. I know it might be fun for you and your daughter to chase him, but it might cause a problem later. For example, if Michael has something in his mouth that he shouldn't and you run at him to try to get him to drop it or to get it out of his mouth, chances are that he will think you're playing and run away. This could be deadly if he's not taught something different. Or, say he was near a road and you were calling him, but he wasn't listening to you (not saying he wouldn't listen, just an example). You have to go after him because he won't come to you. If you have to chase him or come at him, he might think you're playing and run out into the road. I'm not saying you can't chase him, but just be careful that you think about things like this. I recommend teaching him a command like "stop" (stop whatever you are doing and lay down) which Fairley knows, and it's been really useful. Or, when you teach him to stay, make sure you teach him to stay in all circumstances, like you coming quickly and directly at him.