DavidT

Thank you all so much for the input... certainly some interesting points and to be honest... a lightbulb moment for me thanks to Dinkle. Dinkle, you said "To me it would seem that your boy's problems are rooted in this. Your boy has been pestered and bothered by the pup and you've allowed her to do this (by the sound of it) to the point where he has lost all faith and trust in you. He's had to start assuming the leadership role in the house as he didn't see you as doing so. He even objects to you telling her off now as he sees it as his job! He's at an age, just approaching maturity, when he's very vulnerable to any changes in the pack dynamic." That to me is a lightbulb moment... and could be a major instigator. When the other dog was a puppy they are so cute and jumpy and mouthy and bitey... but cute and you think it's all in play... but Kobe may not have seen it this way and now his behaviour is taking a leadership role. Thank you so much for that insight... really invaluable. P.S... no, not from the UK, I'm from Australia. jami74, you mentioned taking him away or taking the other dog away... this is happening. in 2 weeks we are taking him for a "weekend away", and we are looking to send the other dog to relatives for 2 weeks. This will give us a much better idea of where we stand. Sue R, you mentioned vet check, yes we have done this, had all is blood tested, thyroid etc looking for abnormalities but all came back normal. Eye sight has been checked and all ok. Denice, we have been in touch with the breeder and also the owners of his brothers and sisters and none of them are having the same issues. Again... thank you all so much for your advice!!!

That's what makes this very confusing and my hesitance to do anything of drastic action. They mostly get walked together... ocassionally separate, but mostly together... this is both on leash and off leash (except for the younger one, her recall isn't good enough yet)

Thanks to all that have responded. Some additional info that people have asked. We have had him since he was 8 weeks old, he is crate trained and has been since day 1 of having him. He is fine going into his crate and coming out he is ok as well, no major dramas. Outside of the house he is a very very different dog. Taking him on walks he is calm and sedate, plays well with other dogs and wouldn't think he is the same animal. When he was younger we did do a lot of "uh uh's" and "no biting" along with time out when this occured and it curbed a lot of it when he was a pup. Smalahundur asked what consequences there are for his actions as I hadn't mentioned that... yes, there are certainly negative consequences, the training isn't all rainbows and fairy floss. Once we are able to distract him out of his "phase" for lack of a better term, he is secluded outside, or crated, depending on the situation. I understand what all of you have said about sending him over the rainbow, but it just breaks my heart to do it knowing that outside of the house (whilst on walks or out and about) he is an amazing dog, yet in the house environment he is fearful and anxious.

Hi all, I'm hoping you can help me as we are running out of ideas, patience and bandaids. We have a 16 month old male BC who has been desexed. Over the last 4 months we have been having a terrible time with his aggression and behaviour. I will break this down to his triggers and what we have been doing. His triggers vary greatly from not letting you open a cupboard door, not let you open the baby gate, not let you pick anything up off the floor, not let you near him when he's around food. He's resource guarding anything from toys, to food, even to guarding a space. There are times when he will simply corner you in a room and if you move he will jump, lunge and bite. All of the above results in him jumping and nipping / biting having drawn blood a number of times. These bites are often with intent and force. This is regardless if it's myself or my wife, however he tends to attack me more often. This is a daily occurrence to both of us. We have had to put in a second baby gate to stop him coming into the lounge room otherwise he would jump at the tv, barking at it, nosing it and scratching at it and if we step near him to get him down he will bite. He ignores all our commands when he is in his "zone". Is currently on 2 different types of meds following multiple sessions with a behaviorist (which the meds were recently changed as the others weren't doing anything), we also have a force free trainer who has been working with him for about 8-10 weeks and whilst he is ok with her, she has been bitten a couple of times, however I think he views her as the lady that come occasionally and always brings treats. If she does something he doesn't like, he will lunge and bit as well. We also have a 7 month old female lab x BC that contributes a lot to his behaviour. They are friends and play well together (generally... there have been a few fights) but she is always at him, barking, pulling on his scruff, all in a playing sense. If you go to tell her off or take something from her, he will lunge and bite. He does get frustrated with her though when he is trying to have a sleep or rest and she's at him, I think this adds to to anxiety and stress levels. We are at a loss, every day we are confined to spaces of the house out of fear of being bitten... again. Any help, advice, experiences or the likes with anything similar are welcomed. Apologies for the long rant, we are just at our wits end... the last thing we want to do is re-home him (if that's even at all possible) or even worse..... we won't go there. Thanks all.

Hi all, Hoping for a bit of help, guidance.... anything really. We have a 14 month male desexed BC (Kobe) and we are having problems with what seems to be aggression and biting. In the family is also a 4.5 month old Labrador (Millie). There are some things we have noticed with Kobe in the past few weeks and change in his behaviour… not for the good though. He is becoming a lot more territorial and aggressive when entering a space he doesn’t want you to go in. Examples, of this are as follows; Going to change their water bowl. If he is there he wont let you get near them, even if they are empty. If you try to get closer he will jump up and he will snap at you (generally the hand), his lips will flare and he will bare his teeth. We tell him no and try to distract him with something else. If this doesn’t work, we have been walking away and coming back later. The same things occurred when getting his food bowl to put dinner in it, he will have the same reaction. He will do the same thing if we tell Millie off or try to go to Millie to take something from her. He will also react in the same way even when we are simply standing in the kitchen as an example and we go to walk from one of the kitchen the other, he will jump up and attempt to bite hands. He does show aggression, his teeth are bared and lips raised. The other night this occurred and he was about 1m away from me. I took a step to the side and jumped at me and bit my hand, the skin wasn’t broken, however there was reasonable force behind the bite, he then had another one or two bites of my leg. A similar thing happened to my wife the night before, however he bite her leg (no attempt at hand) however thankfully this was over her jeans so there was no damage, however there was force behind it. What we did notice last night is that Millie was have a bark and snarl at him if he tried to get a toy, or come under the coffee table so he would back off and almost back himself into a corner and stay there. It seemed he was too afraid or too anxious to move as he was afraid of being snarled at again. I’m not sure if the above points are him lashing out because of this? We are now at a stage where we are frightened to do certain things, or are very very weary and cautious of doing / interacting in certain ways because we are not sure how Kobe is going to react. The generally play well together, a bit of rough play, sometimes it gets a bit more rambunctious and "heated" however that only lasts for 5 seconds or so and they go back to playing again or going their won separate ways. We have engaged the services of a dog behaviorist and she is currently working on a plan, however I just thought I would see if other people have advice / experience on this as we need to get sorted before anything worse occurs. Thanks all.

My boy had both floppy ears till about 5 months, then one up and one down. He’s now 11 months and we still have one up and one down for a lot of the time, otherwise they are floppy... but more so when he’s tired.. and it’s oh so cute!!!

Hi all, thanks for the great responses. I'll answer some of the questions asked in point form. - He mainly reacts this way when there is an object that he wants or thinks is his. The other night I was wiping off the filter of the heater and the clicky noise from rubbing the cloth down it made him jump up a few times trying to grab it and in turn bit me on the side. The same when cutting branches outside, he wants them so jumps and bites. The other day I was wiping water off the floor with a towel spilt from his water bowl and he walked on it and declared it his and when I went to go and take it he attempted to bite my hand, no contact made, but attempted none the less. - I generally tell him off in a loud stern voice and say "NO BITING" and maintain eye contact, he generally is submissive and lays down on the ground and then turns his eyes away, knowing he's done something wrong. If severe enough I will grab him by his collar and put him outside, whilst I have hold of his collar and pulling him outside he is trying to bite at the same time. - I do not think this is neurological, It's more behavioural. - He has been desexed. I have made contact with a behaviouralist and will look at the options to train this out of him as I will not accept it. Thanks again for everyones comments.

Hi all, i have an 11 month old male bc. in the last 4-6 weeks he has started biting and reasonably hard, enough to break the skin and cause pain. He does this generally as per the following; - when you try to take food or the likes off him (understandably) not that I regularly do that but if he takes food he shouldn’t. - cleaning a window he will jump at you and bite. - clapping your hands he will jump at you and bite. - Cutting hedges or plants outside or emptying the lawnmower catcher he will jump and bite to get what you have or get to what you are doing. Any help on this would really be appreciated as I cannot have this occuring. Thanks in advance for your help.

I currently have a boy and the new addition is a girl. anyhow... we brought her home and the two seem to get on well. chasing each other, playing and touch wood no biting, snarling or baring teeth. happy days. lets see how day 2 goes tomorrow. oh, and here’s my new girl... introducing Millie... Labrador cross border collie.

Hi all, we have a 10mth old border collie and will be introducing a new member into the family, a 9 week old border collie x Labrador. What is everyone’s advice or techniques or ways to introduce them and ideas for the first few weeks to allow them to get to know each other and become the best of friends... hopefully... fingers crossed. Thanks in advance.

Thanks all for the info. Input and opinions are always valid regardless of how much you take from it. So an update... we pick our girl up on Friday. Just need to work out the best way of introduction to our current boy. oh, and a here’s a pic of my current boy and the soon to be new girl.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Some people have taken offence to me using the term "Borador", apologies. I only used this term as I thought everyone would prefer as opposed to me saying a Border Collie x Labrador, or mutt by any other name. People are talking about pounds etc for these type of dogs, the girl we are in fact looking at is a rescue pup from farm.

I have a 10 month old smooth coat border collie and we are looking at getting him a friend. We are potentially looking at a Borador, Mum is a black lab, dad is a rough coat border collie. What are people thoughts on the Boradore? What are they like with shedding? My BC boy isn’t too bad and being a short hair, the Boradore is a short hair as well. Any info or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.