Thready

Lot of food for thought there Cap and a lot of it sounds a lot like both my attitude and Merlin's, I want him to want to please me but know that I can't make him want to, he has to get to that stage by himself but hopefuly with my gentle help and persuasion, I do think that Merlin is still quite immature but I can see gradual improvements and a gradual calming in his general demeanour, the day that he actually goes up and down stairs at anything less than full pelt will be a day to celebrate :-) I know that he is healthy and well looked after, believe that he is happy and I may not have got everything right but I am always looking to improve and the fact that I am here and looking for suggestions can only be a positive. You guys have been great x

Captain Jack - yep, I think you might be right. We had a struggle when he was little with him wanting to be all alpha, all of the usual deterrants [coins in a can, wooden spoon banged on chair arm etc] sent him wild and he just wanted to attack them, I've never seen him cower at anything and he has never cried or howled, even first night home and in a crate - Mr Independant is the best name for Merlin. Commands while on the lead are obeyed, but I maybe need to do some more on lead training? Nutty Mutts, I stopped games of tug and rough play as soon as I realised he was quite alpha, as all my reading at that time advised against it, but I'll re-introduce tug games now and see hoe they o.

Sorry, when I said repeat until he obeys, I really didn't mean just standing there and repeating, not reall a problem now but when he was still a puppy things like get down, if not obeyed would be repeated whilst putting his feet back on the floor etc, My error in knowing what I mean but not being clear in type

John, sorry, we cross posted, yes I use 'this way' rather than 'here when it's not an imperitive that he come, and often hid from him if he ignored me as a puppy, still do to a degree, but I worry about going to far in case he really does lose me and tries to head home. Believe me I have had some strange looks when I've been hiding behind trees at 6.00am !!!

Thanks for the replies. Just to confirm, I never recall him for negative things and as Captain Jack has suggested, when I see that he is going to ignore me I don't use the 'here' command as I don't want him to think it is optional, indeed no command has ever been optional, I very much believe that if I give a command, even the unintentional utterings we all sometimes make, if he doesn't obey then I stop whatever I am doing and focus on him and repeat the command until he obeys, so again, we don't have a history of him 'getting away' with things. He has started to 'check' and not run full pelt when I call no, but he doesn't halt completely and is still difficult to catch. I now recall him and clip him on the 10m extender lead [so he does have freedom to play] earlier to avoid him having visual clues as to when home time is, but he is a collie and has started bolting earlier. Ignoring him and heading away from him doesn't work either, 99.9% of the time he has found something to play with [back to the self gratification] and ignores where I am going until it suits him. We have just got back from our afternoon walk and he was perfectly behaved and came immediately and sat at my side when I called him, but tonight could be a different tale, As I say it is getting better and he is by far the most willful BC I have ever had. I really appreciate the replies and am finding them interesting.

Hi, This is my first post here and I am hoping someone will be able to empathise with and offer suggestions for my problem. My male BC is just 2 years old and is a pet rather than working dog. He gets plenty of exercise and is generally a happy and healthy lad. As I am not intending competing him I have kept his training focussed on the areas that I need him to have such as stay, wait, come, give, sit, down, over etc and we practice these on our walks and I have absolutely no doubt that he has these completely nailed down. However, he has a terrible willful streak and will sometimes choose when to actually obey. Predominantly this manifests itself when we are on our walks and he decides he doesn't want to come home yet - bearing in mind that this is often following a 2 hour off lead walk along the beach and cliffs with him running free, swimming, playing chase with other dogs, so I can hardly be accused of not exercising sufficiently. 95% of the time, when I call him to come, he will obey and I clip on his lead, the rest of the time he will just turn tail and take himself back down to the beach, or across a field. Obviously this is problematic and potentially dangerous, When he does eventually come back I have never reprimanded him but, although he isn't taking off as often as he used to, it is still too often. Throughout all of our walks I practice recall, sometimes clipping on the lead for a brief time before releasing him again [my way of re-assuring that recall does not mean the end of his fun] and until we are almost back to the car he obeys very well. My main observation is that he is totally disinterested in any reward when he is in this mood, I swear I could have a huge steak anf he wouldn't return for it and he doesn't appear to be motivated by pleasing me, when I do recall [or any training] he will take his treat but is already focussed on what HE is going to do next rather that what I tell him to do. He is as bad with fetch and give with his toys and balls, he will only give them when he want to, again, an open hand with a piece of chicken does not entice him to give, and when he finally does give the toy his focus is on it being re-thrown for him rather than collecting the chicken and being praised [all other times he is incredibly food focussed]. I know he is still a youngster, but really want to have the confidence that he will obey all of the time not just some of the time. I don't want to have to keep him on lead for our walks as that isn't fun for either of us and he won't get to stretch his legs and run free. Sorry for the length of this, hoping for some tips.