spaceapple

I have no advice to offer since I'm pretty sure my border collie was born knowing how to play fetch. In my experience it is all too easy to create a MONSTER. To Kate, any time is fetch time. Any time, all the time, 24/7 fetch time. "Will you throw my ball now? How about now? Ok, I'll ask again in 10 seconds. You look busy; maybe you could throw this ball for me? I'll put it a little closer so you can reach it better. Is now good? I'll put it right beside you. I'll put it on your leg. I'll put it right here in your crotch. Now I'll just stare at you until you throw it. Aaaand throw it. I'm still here, waiting for you to throw it. My ball. For me. One two three THROW IT." So...I guess my advice is: be careful what you wish for.

I second it. The day we picked up 8 week old Kate she was so horrified to see us that she peed herself. We did everything we could in her formative months to socialize her and help her overcome her shyness. She's such a sweet and affectionate dog once she gets to know you, but it takes her some time to warm up. I've discovered that she does need to be pushed out of her comfort zone a bit. For example, left to take things at her own pace she would never approach a stranger (including my mom and grandparents) but if I held her still for a little petting she would come back for more! Kate is a little over a year old now and has made great improvements. She's started taking agility lessons with a really great trainer, and that's helped her come out of her shell even more. I don't expect her ever to become the most outgoing dog in the world (I'll leave that to our Westie - talk about opposite personalities!) but we'll keep working on it. Best of luck with your pup - it can be hard work but it will pay off.

Neither of my dogs are big chewers, but for dental health I recommend raw meaty bones too. I give them each one for their protein at dinner - completely frozen so they can chew for more than a few minutes. We just took them to the vet for their annual checkup a couple weeks ago and he said their teeth looked perfect!

Thanks for the advice. Several sources I've read suggest leaving the puppy in a crate pretty much all the time for the first few days. Does anybody have input on that suggestion? I think I'd rather get started house training her right away and keeping her on a short leash attached to me.

Thanks!

Hi, guys! I've been lurking around the boards for a while, and since we're picking up our border collie puppy in a week and a half I thought I'd introduce myself. We currently have a Westie, and this will be our first border collie. It will also be our first time having two dogs in the house, so if anyone has great advice on introducing them I'd love to hear it. I've already learned a lot from reading the boards, but I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions down the road! Here's our puppy. Her name is Kate.