Roscoe217

I put an overall update on Roscoe but in case people who added advice are following this thread, thank you! It is working, he is no longer constantly biting and is doing really well! He is a great dog and we have learned so much from your advice! He is much more confident and has learned to bark once at the door if he needs out or sit in front of us and bark once if he wants something instead of biting. It is only rarely he nips if we aren't getting the message. We are utilizing all of the suggestions in various situations. Especially the crate and positive reinforement. He is still not food or treat motivated unless he thinks we are eating it but he is doing well with learning commands. I would say the areas we still need to work on are his anxiety around traffic and pulling on the leash when he gets excited. We are in obedience classes now so I'm hoping that will help but most of our commands and negative behaviours seem to get worked out during play. He gets to hang out with our friend's 4 border collies at least once or twice a week which has been super fun and the most helpful. Thank you again for all of your help. I am always looking for suggestions. Thank you all again, Lisa

It has been a while since I have logged on to the boards which I guess in itself must be a good thing! Roscoe is now just over 4 months old and he is doing so much better! There are still moments where he uses nipping to communicate but now it is obvious that he needs something in particular and we are just not getting it. He has become a much more independent and confident dog thanks to the advice here and his pack time with our friend's dogs as well as a few obedience classes under our belt. We have been going for long casual daily walks/hikes, most of which he is able to go off leash and swim in either the river or some large ponds close to our house and boy does he love to swim! He obeys very well while we are away from the house, he knows basic commands both verbally and by hand signal and he loves to play fetch (all the time!). All of this he has learned through play. We are not using him as a working dog but he loves to be involved in everything we do so we give him "jobs" to do while we are doing our daily tasks and he thrives. I am so thrilled we were able to learn from our mistakes. He is still not very good or treat motivated unless he thinks we are eating it. Thankfully, we have managed to teach him not to come to the table during meals. We use his crate for breaks and rest when needed and he is now willingly accepting that. He has had a couple of nights where he has refused to sleep in his crate in our room, he barked comtinuously until we let him out and one of us slept in the family room with him. He fell asleep immediately on the floor and slept all night with one of us on the love seat. Is this normal for this age? lol It is a real question but seems silly to ask. They were warm nights which may have played a part in it despite us having a fan on and his crate next to the open window where it always is. While it is a full time job it is no longer stressful like it was in the beginning. He is a social butterfly and super smart. Thank you again for all of your feedback. I'm still always open to suggestions!! Thanks, Lisa

Where do you buy or find duck necks? I live in a pretty rural area with very few options for shopping, I'm even having difficulty finding turkey necks. I may have to take up hunting lol If only my dad were still alive... My pup was born on his birthday

I am also following this as we are having a similar issue with our pup, also sporadically and with people in a very excited manner hoping for some attention but with cars he is lunging with loud barking and what appears to be fight or flight response. This is fairly new and we are not sure why. He doesn't do it all of the time but it is getting worse and it scares me as we live on a fairly busy rural street. I have tried to have him sit when I see cars coming and get him to relax and not react but this does not seem to be working.I will try offering him a treat as suggested for his other behaviors to see if this helps.

Thanks! I'll keep checking this for new feedback as well. Rocoe has had raw food in tiny amounts all along with his kibble and I do utilize his Kong with frozen food as well, he loves sweet potatoe, banana, apple and berries. Our butcher charges basically for the packaging of the chicken necks, it was less than $2 for about 20 of them. I only tried him with one this evening after reading a post on another thread that people here have used them along with the other research I've done. He took about 15 minutes to nibble away at it going between his ball and the chicken neck. When I asked the butcher about turkey, he said he can never seem to get the turkey parts in. I have not asked at other places so I will ask for turkey or duck. I hasn't considered the larger parts of the chicken but I will absolutely do that. Roscoe is only 13 weeks old and thus far is not a gobbler of food, we have recently been utilizing the treats and a variety of foods more to encourage him to refocus on positive things and discourage him from biting. So far (thanks to many of you) it is working most of the time, although he is outsmarting me with new things every day. Thanks again! Lisa and Roscoe

I am new to BC as well and have taken a lot of information from other dog owners locally who do a lot of whole food meals. My puppy eats Royal Canin dog food but I also feed him frozen mashed sweet potato frozen in an ice cube tray or frozen in his baby sized Kong as well as banana and any berries we have on hand. He loves fruit. I also give him raw knee caps or knuckle bones to chew on and I just asked in a new thread about chicken necks as I have read that they are good as well. The variety has kept our puppy busy and entertained he is almost the exact age as yours and a handful at times. We are doing better every day though. I don't give him meals at certain times he has food in his bowl all the time and never gorges himself. At times he is curious about what we are eating but I give him his Long when we eat dinner to play with and that entertains him so we can eat (for the most part)

I am new to BC as well and have taken a lot of information from other dog owners locally who do a lot of whole food meals. My puppy eats Royal Canin dog food but I also feed him frozen mashed sweet potato frozen in an ice cube tray or frozen in his baby sized Kong as well as banana and any berries we have on hand. He loves fruit. I also give him raw knee caps or knuckle bones to chew on and I just asked in a new thread about chicken necks as I have read that they are good as well. The variety has kept our puppy busy and entertained he is almost the exact age as yours and a handful at times. We are doing better every day though. I don't give him meals at certain times he has food in his bowl all the time and never gorges himself. At times he is curious about what we are eating but I give him his Long when we eat dinner to play with and that entertains him so we can eat (for the most part)

I have been reading about a variety of treats to try and came across several articles and forum columns where people use chicken, turkey and duck necks as treats for their dogs. All feed raw and most frozen necks. I can't find turkey or duck necks here but I have seen frozen chicken necks. I've never heard of this but I am curious what you all think or if you use them? Our local butcher said he sells a lot of them but he did not know what people were using them for and was hesitant to recommend them especially for a puppy. Roscoe is 13 weeks old and I'm trying to find new things to keep him both entertained and focused. Thanks! Lisa

This is what my vet gave us for our puppy and it has works great. I am careful to check him carefully after we are out in long grass or the woods as a precaution more for us now that he is treated for them. One dose a month and he is protected. I have found a few dead tics so I know it is working. He eats the medication without any issues at all. It's a terrible year for tics in most areas that have them.

Thank you all again. We managed to find two X-large X-pens on a yard sale site and we have been utilizing them throughout the day. Things are going much better now and both the puppy and I are much more relaxed. Using more treats to help with the leash and other training areas by decreasing his negative behaviors and changing my behaviors to better suit the situation. There have only been a couple of minor incidents as opposed to daily biting issues and constant chaos and the chewing has also decreased. I even managed to get out of the house for dinner Friday night without feeling guilty. We still have a ways to go but it is looking much more manageable now! Thank you all again! I am sure there will be many more questions as we go! Lisa and Roscoe

Wow this topic is moving fast, I offered my experience and came back to see much, much more. Rush fan it sounds like our puppies have a lot in common both have very strong will and are very focused on their own thing. I have to say one of the best pieces of advice I have received from people on this site, aside from using more treats to get my puppy to stop biting is more time in his crate. I have been using it every time he has been biting intentionally and he has been chewing on the things he is not supposed to be and it has absolutely helped both him and me. He has 3 crates in various parts of the house so it can be done immediately and we have a much better relationship. I am less exhausted and he knows he can have a time out when he needs it and we are both happier. I have also been leaving him alone in his crate for 30 minutes or so each day so we get a break as well. He had not been left alone prior to the suggestion of utilizing the crate more. I can't thank those of you who suggested it enough.

Hello, I am also a new BC owner and not one that will be using my dog to herd or compete. I think I understand your need to have a benchmark and I understand the reluctance of others to give you a human age to compare to. I have been having struggles with my puppy who just turned 14 weeks yesterday with some biting and behavior I can't understand. However, I have received some extremely valuable feedback from people on here that has already helped and we will keep working on it. Thus far Roscoe has learned some simple commands like sit, lay down, he can fetch a ball, catch it (sometimes) and he throws it. I do a lot of things with his toys that he has to figure out himself to keep his mind busy, like puzzles. I let him choose his own toys out of his toy box. He has a wide variety of things he can choose from so he does not get bored. On his own he has learned to put them away when he doesn't want to play with them anymore. He puts back the one he is finished with and takes out another one although sometimes there are several sprawled out on the floor. He has an incredible memory and he tries to imitate things he sees us do such as use tools to retrieve his ball from under the couch when he can't reach it. He is doing well with house training he has accidents now and then but not very often. One of the issues we were having that I didn't understand was he was biting when we were putting on his leash. It didn't make sense to me because he loves to go out for walks and to go out and play but every time we would attempt to attach the leash to his collar he was biting our hand sometimes so hard he was drawing blood. Thankfully, with the suggestions I received on here that has been almost completely solved. We now offer him a treat and very slowly attach the leash and he is much more calm. There are days he is like a 2 year old and other days he is like a teenager and sometimes he is like an infant. I never know what I will wake up to. He is a mixed bag of tricks that is for sure. I hope you find a way to understand where your puppy is so you can relate. It is a challenge but when it is good it is amazing. I'm so glad I found this site for support and information.

Thank you for the warm welcome and the feedback. I absolutely know I am part of the problem and I am willing to do whatever it takes to help Roscoe be happy and healthy. As an adult I have always adopted older dogs and trained them so this has been a challenge. I have tried the things you have both mentioned but as you have said, CONSISTENCY is definitely the problem because I get completely warn out by evening and I can see by reading what you have written I am not using his crate nearly enough. Looking at how things have been, I have been using it more when I have been too exhausted to repeat myself rather than when he needs correction in the moment. I have been very inconsistent with it when he is doing things and it's not helping him learn to change his behavior it's just teaching him I can be as unpredictable as he is. (Revelation!) I have the ability to do this, he has three very large crates so that they are available in all areas of the house for immediate use. I just need to utilize them. Also, I have not used treats as much when putting on the leash because I have not found anything as of yet that he is excited by. He is not very food motivated except for banana and I read that they should not get that too often because of the sugar content. My friends with the 4 BC said the person who did their agility class used chicken weiners but I wasn't sure that was a good idea either, he does like them, he had two tiny pieces and they did work. I swear he would be a vegetarian dog if he could. I would love suggestions for that as well. I have bought at least a dozen different vet recommended treats and he could care less about them. He does love verbal praise and affection but it's not always enough to get him to continue his positive behaviors because he is always getting attention. I will try what ever treats suggested. I will leave it at that for now, I will keep the leash on him if needed and absolutely do the very slow treat motivated leash training and consistent crate use and see how things go with that. Thank you very much for the feedback it is very welcomed. The more the better, I feel like I am failing him. I have a background in psychology and I don't know if you can apply that to dogs, every time I think I have it figured out he throws me for a loop but what I THINK I am realizing is he has not had an opportunity to be independent (in a safe way) and has come to rely on me (us) for everything including his entertainment and he gets that by the biting and chewing since he has never been left alone to occupy himself. I may be wrong, again I'm grasping. (Last paragraph added 3 hours after starting the first part) I will say just since reading your suggestions from earlier this afternoon we have had four successful leash experiences and he has changed his mind about biting my foot three times with just being walked to his crate. I am feeling slightly more optimistic already and looking forward to tomorrow instead of worrying quite as much. Thanks! Lisa

Hello, we are new to the border collie breed and thought we were prepared however, we are out of ideas. Roscoe is almost 14 weeks old and when we are not laughing at his incredibly outgoing personality, he has us bleeding and scared and second guessing everything we are doing. He is super smart and he can be really sweet and then turn on a dime and viciously bite. There are some clues as to why he does this at times however, they are not acceptable behaviors regardless of the reason. He only tends to do this at home when he is in a familiar setting, not with strangers or away from home (or a familiar environment). Some history on him is he came from a breeder who is well known in the area and has bred many champion herding dogs in the past but he no longer uses his dogs for herding he is now just breeding. After having Roscoe for 8 weeks I have realized some of the things I wish the breeder would do differently such as keep the pups for longer than 6 weeks so they had more time to learn correction from their siblings and mom. That said we have had him since he was 6 weeks old and here we are today. We have realized he often bites when he needs to go to the bathroom, however he also bites when we put his leash on. Either way, we are being bit every time he needs to go to the bathroom and this makes it extremely difficult to make it a positive experience. We give him a ton of positive praise for everything he does do well but when he bites we have tried doing everything we know or we have researched. We have tried distracting him when he bites, making growling noises at him, saying no loudly and softly, time outs in his crate, a soft muzzle for less than five minutes, walking away in the other direction to igrnore him, walking towards him to show him dominance. I don't know what else to do, he is drawing blood daily and his biting is now getting so hard it is bruising as well. It has been a challenge to endure this on a daily basis but he is so smart and so sweet most of the time. He obeys commands when he is "on". He can sit, lay down, he will fetch a ball and throw it, he comes when he wants to, walks on the leash, he loves to play and he loves to work in the yard. From his first vet visit the vet could tell he would be a handful. While in the house he is chewing on everything he can, walls, furniture, our clothing (while it is on us), shoes, despite our efforts to give him a very wide assortment of toys, he has a toy box that he can pick his own toys from including chew toys, balls, squeak toys, plush toys, ropes. I have tried all kinds of frozen Kongs (filled with varied treats such as sweet potato, home made apple sauce, small amounts of peanut butter etc.) ice cubes knee caps,marrow bones, antlers etc. we have tried the all natural repellents like bitter Apple spray but he likes them. Outside he tries to eat everything including rocks, sticks, and every plant. We had a scare the other day when he ate rhubarb stalks and we caught him eating a leaf which can be toxic and cause kidney damage. Thankfully, we realized it immediately. He has our attention ALL of the time and gets long walks every day, has contact with people and other dogs and does well with others. We have friends who have 4 border collies and when they are available he gets to do a long 3-5km walk off leash with their dogs and that is a great experience for him as he gets the pack peer experience and exercise. Their dogs range in age from a couple months older than him to 3 years old (one of which is a half sibling of his). We are hoping for any advice about the biting, we can't have a dog that is biting like this. It is not the puppy nipping, we are cleare about the difference between the two. We can deal with his chewing on things and understand that is the puppy phase and we will continue to look for alternatives for him to chew on but his growling and biting can not continue. We are desperate at this point and we are really hoping there are some solutions. We are going to put him in a training class that starts in a couple of weeks but that is mostly a socialization class which will be good for him but we are in a fairly small isolated area and I don't know of any real good dog trainers that could help him. His breeder was a trainer for sheep dogs which may be an option but he doesn't do training or shows anymore he is mostly just breeding. One last minute thought my boyfriend just reminded me of, we have noticed he is often more like this when the weather is bad has anyone else noticed a connection like that? I get migraines during low pressure systems or weather changes and we have had rain storms weekly and that seems to be at the same time as his behavior has been worse... Just trying to find reason to his behavior. Or grasping at straws. I've attached a picture of our beautiful Roscoe and some of the damage he has done to my right hand. My left is the same as well as my leg. If anyone can help I would really appreciate it. Sorry for the long rambling post. Thank you! Lisa

Our puppy is just over 13 weeks old now but a month ago our vet put him on NexGard, an oral flea and tic medication that kills fleas and tics when they bite. We have a really bad tic problem as well. Our cat has the topical AdVantage. We have removed 3 tics from him which we caught as soon as we came back from long walks but they would have died prior to infecting him had they been deer tics, thankfully they were wood tics. Still gross though.