coalchaser

Hi everyone. My pup Lily is nearing 8 months old. In the summer (when she turns a year), I am thinking about getting her evaluated to see if she has any potential in herding. I am very interested in herding, but entirely new to it, so I'm really not sure what to expect at all. What sorts of things would Lily be tested on by the trainer? What sort of personality is necessary for a good herding dog? Are there any signs I might be able to notice beforehand, or is it impossible to know until the dog has been exposed to sheep? Any info/advice would be great, thanks!

She's too naughty to be trusted with the run of the house yet. I feel safe leaving her alone in the living room for awhile because there's not anything for her to get into, but upstairs I really need to keep an eye on her.

Hi everyone. My puppy Lily is about 7 months now. The majority of the time, she is in our family room. However, sometimes I would rather be in my bedroom, bringing her in there with me as company. But any time I try this, she just sits at the door and obsessively whines, and cannot be distracted by toys or bones. She voluntarily enters the room, but wants to leave almost immediately. I assume she doesn't feel comfortable in it (even though she has been in here many times). How can I fix this behavior? The same applies to the bathroom as well, although that's not really an issue since I don't need her in the bathroom.

Just as an update, according to my friend, when I leave the house, Lily will not stop barking no matter how hard they try to distract her. And apparently she acts unruly as well (I can't say from my own experience, since obviously this only happens when I'm not there). When I'm leaving for class (or going anywhere and no one else is at the apartment), I put Lily in her crate, and she is silent while I'm gone. But if I just want to run to the store and my friend is home, I would rather leave her out. But with the barking issue, maybe I should be crating her even for these short periods?

My pup Lily is just over 4 months now, and she's actually pretty great about listening to me for the most part, but not when it comes to barking. When I first got her, she used to bark at meal time when I went to get her food, which took a couple weeks but I broke that habit. However, there are still quite a few things that trigger her to bark (and it's a ear-shattering high pitched bark), and I am having difficulty getting to stop. First, when someone leaves the house (mostly me, but occasionally other people as well), she barks at the door. I have been going to the door and getting between her and the door, and then snapping my fingers at her, which makes her leave the area. But unless I physically go over to where she is, she will not stop barking. However, when she needs to go out, she goes to the door and gives a short bark or two, which is useful so I do not want to eliminate barking at the door entirely, just barking at someone who has left. Can she discriminate between these two reasons? How can I successfully stop her obsessive barking without accidentally discouraging the barking to go out? Second, my best friend (whom I am living with for my last school year) has a cat. Lily and the cat have had very little interaction, because the cat is scared of barking, and of course all Lily does is bark at her. I am not too concerned with them becoming best buds, since this is only temporary, and they both have their own separate areas of our apartment. However, the cat likes to sit on the living room table, and when Lily realizes she is up there, she will go over and start barking. She ignores me telling her to stop, and when I go over to where she is, she will run to the other side of the table out of my reach and keep barking (and will continue moving so that I can't get close). There are other times she barks, but right now these are the two biggest issues I want to handle. Thanks in advance for input!

I may have time to draw you something if you can wait a day or two. Will shoot you a PM if I do.

Thanks for the input! I have just been ignoring her when she starts barking so that she won't think barking gets her attention, although maybe I should have been correcting her after all? What is the best way to correct for barking? The few times I've tried any sort of correction ("No," shaking a coin can, etc.) she hasn't seemed to care and just keeps barking. Separation anxiety or being a brat - either way I'd like to nip this in the bud!

I am beginning to think my 14 week old BC mix has separation anxiety. She actually is doing alright being left in her crate, but when she is out and about and someone leaves the room, she goes to the door and barks like mad, and will keep it up for a good while. It doesn't matter if the person goes to the bathroom or leaves the house, her reaction is the same. It also doesn't matter if there are other people in the room still, all it takes is one person leaving. I am concerned that she is driving the neighbors (as well as us!) crazy. I am doing my best to never come back into the room while she is still barking, but waiting til she's calm doesn't seem to be clicking for her. Has anyone dealt with separation anxiety before? What's the best way to tackle this?

Thanks for the welcome and the advice, everyone. Lily's now just over 14 weeks. We've been to a couple training classes and I'm using a clicker with her. She's doing great with the commands I've taught her so far, she's pretty quick to pick things up. Anyways, I have a couple more questions! First, she's getting a bit aggressive with her play biting (not actually aggressive I'm sure). Her bites are pretty hard, and I'm not sure how to deal with this, since I've been trying to avoid negative training techniques. What's the best way to handle it? She's getting great at loose leash walking, and I'm happy to take her on long walks but I'm not sure how long is appropriate for her. I just took her on a half hour walk and she didn't seem tired at all even at the end. Any suggestions on walking frequency/duration? Thanks!

I adopted a border collie / coonhound mix puppy a couple weeks ago, and Lily is just over 11 weeks now. I don't know much about coonhounds, so I'm not entirely sure which traits are due to which breed! I've grown up around dogs, but this is the first time I've ever raised a puppy myself. So far, she is house trained for the most part (although if I take her upstairs where we have carpet, she sometimes has accidents - not sure she understands what carpet is?), and I've been putting her in her crate at night and for short periods of time while I leave the house. A few things I'm looking for advice on. She does bark a bit any time I walk outside and leave her inside (getting things from the garage/car/etc.), and sometimes when I am in the kitchen making lunch for myself. I've just been ignoring her barking with hopes she'll realize it doesn't get her anything, but I'm not sure if there's a better way to handle it. She play bites quite a bit when she gets wound up (which is just a general puppy thing of course), and any advice on how to best deal with this would be great! My brother's bulldog is currently living here and Lily often tries to get him to play by barking at him and biting his ears, jumping on him, etc. He is clearly not interested in playing and mostly just ignores her, and occasionally growls or snaps when she starts nipping at him, but she doesn't get deterred in the slightest. Any suggestions on how to prevent this behavior? I play with her whenever she does this, but I am concerned that she will try this on other dogs whenever I start socializing her, and I am worried that those dogs may not be so tolerant. Other than that, I have been working with her every day on getting used to a leash, and so far she is doing well with the commands sit, come, and down. She has her first obedience class on Saturday, and I am excited, although not sure how she will act towards the other puppies (back to the nipping/barking issue). She is so adorable though and I am thrilled to have her!