TravelerBlue

No signs of infection in Paxton's urinalysis. Which is good ... although that would have been an easier problem to fix.

I wrote the following in my initial post: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (2) .... a couple of times a week he's just going on as usual and all the sudden, no trip to the door, no whimper, and all the sudden he just decides to pee right wherever he is. The frequency of this happening doesn't seem to be on the decline at all. What to do? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It just happened again, so I'll describe it exactly: Paxton was lying on the sofa, fully awake, interacting with me when I interacted with him. Then all of the sudden, without even getting up on his feet, he pees right there on the sofa, and THEN stands up and jumps down from the sofa. This doesn't seem right.

Good point, thanks much.

I would think I've avoided that by giving him enthusiastic "good boy"'s every time he pees outside.

I might try the bell. On the other hand, Paxton loves his squeaky toys, I think he might just have fun ringing the bell all day long, lol. But it might be worth a try.

I need help with two things, but first, how the training has gone so far: I brought Paxton home at 9 weeks - that was early January. If I wasn't able to be aware of what he was up to while inside (mostly, while I was away), he stayed in the crate. Anytime letting him out of the crate, I immediately led him to the door and outside, where he would promptly pee. Good. I took him out often enough that mishaps in the house weren't really all that common (though they certainly happened), AND he would pee first thing when he went outside. Good! A habit forming. If I caught him IN THE ACT of peeing inside, I would loudly say NO (a word he knows), pick him up, and set him outside. If I just found a puddle, I just cleaned it up without drawing any attention to it (fortunately there's not much carpet in the house). Things have progressed far, the way they should. But I have two issues: (1) - When he needs to pee, he'll go to the door (GOOD!), and he'll verbalize (GOOD!) --- but his verbalizing is just the slightest little 2-second whimper. Often I'm close enough to the door that I hear him (my desk is nearby). But if there's music in the house, I don't hear him. If I'm in a different room, I don't hear him. And if I don't hear him, a puddle eventually happens. How can I get him to make a more noticeable request when he needs to go out?? (2) - Although he mostly remembers that this shouldn't happen in the house, and he does his whimper at the door routine, a couple of times a week he's just going on as usual and all the sudden, no trip to the door, no whimper, and all the sudden he just decides to pee right wherever he is. The frequency of this happening doesn't seem to be on the decline at all. What to do? He's now over 5 months old. Peeing at night is not an issue, he's good at holding it until I let him out in the morning. I'm home most of the day, and I rarely make him go in his crate anymore. Thanks for advice!!

Thanks for the responses! As to the mouthing issue, I wasn't sure I agreed with the initial comments, so I appreciate the back and forth and further explanations from all.

I've been looking for the right Border Collie pup for 8 months(!), and Monday I'm picking him up and bringing him home!! I looked through past threads and didn't see one like my question, so I thought it would be good to ask: "What tips and bits of general advice do you all have for the first few days and weeks with a new BC puppy?"

Is there anyone soon to be traveling from Amarillo Texas, or through Amarillo, heading east? And willing to pick up a puppy near Amarillo to bring east? I'm in Columbus Ohio, but willing to drive if you can at least get the puppy, say, east of the Mississippi River for me!

Liz P, I'm sending you a PM now EDIT: Oops, can't message you. Yes, Please message me.

Liz P, **thank you** for posting. Just to make sure, you're talking about the breeder who owns the mother (Sweet Izzy) of the pups I'm interested in, in Palestine Texas?

On whether the dog will feel stuck in a box: Mine usually slept on the floor next to my bed, but occasionally chose to sleep in his crate. Dogs instinctively like closed in spaces. If I was working at my large L-shaped desk closed in on front and sides, he'd curl up there in the darkness under the desk. But to make sure my dog saw his crate as a nice place, when I first brought the crate home, I set it up, brought the dog in the room, put a steak bone with a little meat left on it inside the crate and showed it to him, he walked in, and then I closed the crate for a while, while he chewed on the bone. He always liked his crate. I'm really not sure how much the bone had to do with it, but making it a positive experience from the start seems really valuable. My cousin leaves both his Brittany Spaniels closed in crates in the basement every night. I don't like it, but the dogs seem to like it just fine. He takes great care of them. Personally I want to have a pup trained asap so I can leave him free in the house overnight and when I'm out for the day. But then there's that puppy chewing stage. I'm about to get another pup, and he might be crated when I'm out during the day, during that chewing stage.

Correction, due to miscommunication somewhere. The sire works cattle and has won awards in several *local* cattle trials. I don't have livestock, I'm just looking for a pup that will have good drive and be eager to learn things. I think this pup has reason to justify an educated guess that he'll be that.

The sire is "Do We Win", Quinlan Texas. Anyone know of that dog? Anyone see good or bad indications in their ancestries? Dam's papers (The blacked out name and address of seller is my doing; just thought it maybe better not to post up info and name the person outright) Sire's papers

Thanks for all the responses, opinions, and counsel. Very helpful. For some reason my computer was not allowing me to load this page all day yesterday! A little more info: The owner has two females, and goats on their property that the dogs work with. Both the two females currently have litters, by the same male. That sire belongs to a different family, and is said to have two national herding championships. The owner of the two females says that one of those females doesn't have a good off-switch, and that's her basis for thinking those pups might not. From reading your comments, it seems somewhat likely that she just hasn't known how to teach that dog an off-switch -- or unwittingly actively taught her not to have an off-switch. The pup I'm interested in turns out to be from the other female, who does have a good off-switch. The owner says another pup that I like the looks of from the same litter is always the first to go diving in to anything. The one I'm interested in usually sits back and watches before diving in. Not sure if 6 week old behavior a predictor, but there is that.