Chloe Marie

I again wanted to say thank you to everyone here for their advice and help. I also wanted to give an update over the past few days since we have originally posted. We tried the yelp like a puppy and that made her go nuts and do it more so we have scratched that one. We tried the ignore her when she comes for attention and only give it to her when we allow it and after making her sit which to me has helped some. We also tried the low growl of "UH HUH" which she responds to well. Anytime I see her act up I do it and she immediately stops. All in all I think things are getting better and we are going to have a great long relationship with her. I am still interested in getting her into agility (when she gets older) and would like some advice on books or websites with good info on training her to do these things. I have never done any kind of obstacle course, frisbee, etc training before so I am kind of dumb when it comes to it and I want to make sure then when we do start I know what I am doing and not going about it wrong. So if anyone as any advice on this it would help get me prepapred for it.

This all a lot of great advice. We definately want to get it under control now before it becomes to hard to make changes later, that is why I am so determined to find the best/proper way of handling her. Her nipping while running is a little better, but her biting while petting or showing her attention is getting old, we are trying the ignoring her and yelping techniques when she does it but sometimes she gets agitated at us and starts biting harder and more often to get the attention. Something else I notcied about her is that with us in the house she is not as hyper but as soon as someone else comes over (nephews, parents, etc) she goes spastic towards them trying to get their attention and affection. I am working with my boys though on how to deal with and handle her when she gets rough with them and again it is fun trying to train all 3 of them.

Thanks for the answers and help. We are new to the BC breed but are very eager to work with her, we already see a level of intelligence with her unlike any other breed we have had in the past. Its hard to get a 3 and 4 year old to not run when they are outside they are as full of energy as the dog is. I realize now though that we are training 3 animals (2 boys and puppy) and it is an interesting experience as they all 3 like to try your patience. I will work on the yelp it sounds like a good idea to try. Any suggestions on the focus and touch games? I have read posts about their BC loving to play tug, I notice this in our pup as well but in reading a couple of books on BC's was discouraged from engaging (mainly allowing my boys) in it so as to not allow dominance or aggression with them. Is this true or is it OK to allow it?

Our BC is 3 months old and we are having two issues. The first and more important one is nipping/biting. She will nip/bite some times while just trying to pet her or when my two boys run she likes to run with them but jumps at them at nips at them (left a few bruises on them). We tell her NO or NO BITE aggressively when she does it and when she is behaving try to show her postive reinforcement. Is there something else we could be doing to eliminate this issue? Is it just a phase of age and teething? The second issue is going potty. For the most part she is fantastic and has only a few incidents in the house. My problem is that when we let her out to go potty she will just sit on the porch and not go on her own she will only go if we go out and walk around with her which we do most of the time but there are some times when we have something else going on and can't walk with her. The few times she has gone in the house are because she would not go on her own. One more question not really a problem but rather some interest in the breed and training. I need some recommended reading or websites for building a obstacle course or working with her on agility training. She is very active and I think this might help with problem 1 above.