--> Is your border collie a pup (8 weeks - 1 year old)?
No. Knowing what i know now, about dog-aggression, i'd never ever get a puppy, as with a puppy, you can not detect if the pup is going to have the dog-aggression gene. (aggression, and shyness, do NOT always show up in the parents, meeting the parents tells you not a lot)
I'd only select a dog over 9 mos old, so i can SEE what type of dog he is. Puppies are mystery.
--> Is your dog under two years old?
No. We now believe he was one year old when we first got him.
--> Is your dog 2+ years of age?
Yes.
--> Do you crate your dog(s)?
No. When we first rescued Buddy, he was used to a cage, and so we did buy a crate, left door open, and he could go in if he wanted to. He did now and then, but, overtime, used it less and less, and we put it away.
--> When you aren't home, do(es) your dog(s) get free rein of the house?
Yes, and we've NEVER ever had one problem, ever. We did specifically train him to leave the trash alone, and he has never touched it, ever, after learning he should not touch it. He is very good dog, and ohhhh boy, the enthusiastic greeting we get upon return, is almost a reason to leave him home alone, ha ha!
--> Do you live on a farm?
No, but, we do have a very large fenced in yard, and do live right by woods and fields.
--> Do you live in a town or city?
I live in a suburb, on outskirts of a town. Our neighborhood is set into woods. and half of each and every block, is woodland.
--> Do you work from home?
At my home, there IS usually someone home.
--> How many tricks do you teach your dog to do in a day?
My dog usually gets one new trick or cue each week. Some tricks take a day or two to learn, some many days to learn, and sometimes, a trick may take week or two to get. We do trick training 3 or 4 times a day, somedays, only once or twice.
--> What do you do to keep the dog entertained while at work?
When we leave Buddy home alone, we walk him a good long walk prior, and we do set up several things for him to work on while we are gone. We turn on tv set, on a news channel, to reduce chances there will be screaming or animal noises in the show. We set out toys he hasn't seen for a while.
I make puzzles out of plastic containers and plastic water bottles (my dog does NOT eat plastic, some dogs will) with treats inside. Some of the plastic water bottles will have holes punched into them to allow treat crumbs to roll out. Usually, these 'puzzles' are one-time use puzzles.
IF IT IS NICE OUTSIDE, we leave his doggie door open, so he can in/out at will.
--> Is/are your dog(s) ever left alone for more than 4 hours?
Rarely, but occasionally. I personally would never leave Buddy home alone more than 7 or 8 hours tops, if his doggie door was NOT open.
--> Do you own more than 1 dog?
No, my dog is dog-aggressive, so he is lone dog. Plus, we take Buddy with us EVERYWHERE we go, and it's okay to visit pals with one dog, but, multiple dogs might be too much.
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I think the key to having a happy border collie, is excercise and mental training. Our Buddy usually gets almost 8 miles of walking a day, (4 mile walks, two times a day----but about half or less in winter and bad weather).
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We also take Buddy to places he can RUN full speed off leash, almost every day.
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Wintertimes are difficult, as we have severe winters here, so we do up the training more in winters to help prevent him being a BORED collie, ha ha. We bring his agility equipment indoors, (after cleaning it all off) and do agility INSIDE the house, ha ha, we DO!).
We've noticed, for *our* dog, he CAN have a boring unactive day every now and then. Some days, in severe weather, he only gets about a mile walk total.
He WILL do laps around the house, on such days. We do not mind his doing full speed laps around the house, we enjoy it, and encourage it.
BUT, he can't have several boring days in a row. On bad weather days, even taking him to visit someone, or to Petsmart, or to visit my sister in a nursing home where everyone fawns over him, SOMEPLACE, anyplace!!!! etc, helps satisfy his need to do *something* on a boring, bad weather day.