Someguyjoe

Oh yeah and she’s not house broken yet.

D’Elle, thank you for the reassuring and insightful post. I’ll stay the course and see how we do. Gentlelake, yes there is a reason: we live on a working farm with three small children. As much as I want to have her out with us, it simply is not feasible or safe for that matter. Like today, I had to adjust her schedule this morning so that she was out for 2.5 hours, in 1, and out 2, so that I could ted the hay this afternoon. We have a small herd of sheep with plans in place to grow to 100 ewes to help supplement our grain operation. We have border collies in the hopes that they will help us with that aspect of the farm. To be honest the real reason she is on the schedule mentioned in the post above is that I was having to wake her up to get her out if she was in less then 3 hours. Now, she could probably go back to two hours in because her naps are shorter, and maybe I should do that. I know the ideal is to spend as much time as possible with a puppy and I’m doing that as best as I feel I can. I hope that answers your question adequately, and I hope it doesn’t sound too defensive.

Hello, wanted to do a puppy behavior check with you folks. Pep is my second puppy and she is nearly 12 weeks old. Wren was my first, she’s about 20 months old now and she’s turned into a great dog. So Pep’s behavior is what I wanted to check with you all about. I’m not sure she and I are bonding well at all – I got her when she was just over 8 weeks old. She’s basically on a 2 hours out, 3 hours in schedule with her crate and she sleeping 7 hours a night (I’m very thankful for that). So the behavior question: I’ve got her trained (with treats) to sit, lay down, and to come and stay. She hates laying down but will do it. However, if I don’t have treats she does not give me the time of day really. To be clear, I don’t expect her to be perfectly trained obviously, but I do expect her to enjoy my attention and want to interact with me, otherwise I have no idea how I will ever train her off treats. Her behavior toward me amounts this: when I crouch down in front of her and try petting or being affectionate, she will bounce around barking at me. To me it does not look playful, but more like she’s frustrated that I’m not entertaining her. She will come up to my wife and young daughters affectionately, though I noticed yesterday that she started the bounce/bark with my 4 year-old a little. I haven’t mistreated her, to my knowledge anyway, and I’ve kept a close eye on her with the kids. So do you all think that this is “phase”? Something that if I maintain the course and stay patient with her, she will grow out of it? Thank you. Joseph

I have an 11 month old female, Wren, pure bred border collie. What a great dog - smart as a whip, super friendly, very very sensitive/responsive, and showing herding inclinations. She has the classic border collie look - black and white, brown eyes and longish hair. I'm not getting her spayed for the time being because I want to explore the possibility of breeding her down the road. However, a few months after a brought her home, it came to light that both of her sire's parents were out of dogs with the blue merle gene. At least one of them was not showing, otherwise i don't think they would have been bred together. Her sire is on the big side - ~50 lbs - red and white, longish hair and brown eyes and healthy at nearly 3 years old. In Wren's litter (7 puppies), there where no puppies with the blue merle coloring - they all were black/white, black/red, or tri-color. There was one that was mostly white who ended being deaf. So my question is: should Wren be bred? Is she a "carrier" for health problems or could she develop health problems down the road? Thank you for any insight, joseph

Hi folks, Thanks for all the help on my last post. Wren is doing a lot better and I feel like our bond is building. However, I'm kind of getting lost on games to play with her. Right now it's almost exclusively me kicking a ball around the house for her to chase and also playing tug of war. Both activities that I've read aren't the best for BCs and we are both getting bored.... She is learning names of her toys to bring to me and she is learning to wait until I tell her to go after the ball, but there has to be other things we can do. I've searched and read of ideas on other threads, but most seem geared for older puppies (Wren is almost 14 weeks). Like hide and seek? Not sure we have the bond yet where she wants to find me or maybe it's just her attention span is still so short. I've been looking into the smell games and I may yet be able to get her to engage in those. What did you all do with your puppies at 14 weeks? Thank you!

Thanks for the re-assurance folks. And for helping me adjust my expectations. Two things here: first, one of my motivations for posting originally was to adjust my expectations (since it became obvious to me early on that mine were off) and to provide context for my puppy. You all have done that wonderfully. Second, I think I would have more accurately expressed what I was asking if I would have replaced the word "command" with "games". Meaning, ways to bond while still working her brains. Thanks for not being too hard on me. I don't think the head ducking is "hand shyness" since its always in the context of playing and/or hyperactivity. Much of it really seems to depend on her mood. You and at least one other poster have mentioned the "scent games": I'll definitely be looking into those. Really, I guess I need new ideas like that on ways to interact with her, since tug of war only seems to go so far. She's been easier today and since I'm not all doom and gloom in response, I can say that she'll tolerate petting but really doesn't seem to enjoy it. But based on many of your responses, that doesn't seem uncommon and in itself, doesn't indicate that I've ruined her in some way. Again, thanks for the reassurance. We will keep building.

Hello, first post here. I've been lurking for a few weeks and since there seem to be so many experienced people here, I thought I'd see what you all thought. I've got a 10.5 week old puppy, Wren, we've had her for 3 weeks and She's our first puppy, but not our first dog. I live on a farm with my wife and two young daughters (she seems to really like our three year old) plus an indoor cat. Well I'm worried that I've ruined Wren. It seems our only positive interactions are food and play. She knows sit, come, lay down, and to wait while I give her her food and at the door to be let out for potty (she hasn't had an accident for about a week). She only obey's those commands when I have food or a toy and she doesn't really react at all to "good dog" or similar praise. Play consists of basically tug of war or me rolling a ball for her to chase. Unless she is in very specific mood or just tired, she will duck under our hands when we try to pet her and/or try to mouth them. Like her only association with our hands is "a thing that holds a toy". For mouthing we will hold her muzzle and say "no" and that usually gets her the message for a few minutes anyway. She does understand "no" but only when she wants too, like when the cat is around, forget it. She really doesn't like being in her crate despite me trying to build up a positive association with it by feeding her in it and giving her a treat or kong toy whenever she goes in. She's in there about 2 hours at a time (except night of course) and then she gets 1.5-2.5 hours out. Have I been describing what you would see as normal puppy behavior? I've tried to get her to "fetch" i.e. bring me toys back when I throw them, and after making progress, she now only loses interest when the toys go away. I feel like we haven't really bonded, probably because I have been a little heavy handed to her a handful of times: like early on, when she came up and pulled my beard when I was laying on the floor and my reaction was to smack her nose. I know that's taboo and I understand why; it was a reaction in the moment and not my training "method". I guess I'm asking for new command ideas to try to occupy her mind and training and I'm looking to see if most of the above is normal puppy behavior at this stage or if I have a long long road of remedial bonding to travel. Thanks for you input, joe