Samson

thanks for the suggestions everyone! If anything, it looks like I'll get a lot more exercise if I have to run with him every morning

So I've been fetching with Samson for a little less than a year now and he's just started something that is kind of annoying. Whenever I fetch with him now, he is all excited, runs after the ball, but then lays down where he finds the ball. He doesnt bring it back and when he does it's hesitantly and usually doesnt bring it back to me but takes it near me and lays down. I like fetchin with him cause it gives him his exercise, but it doesnt do much now because he runs to it once and then doesnt bring it back. if he does, I'll throw it again and he'll do the same routine and lay down where he found it. Has anyone experienced this before? Any suggestions? i'm thinking maybe he's just bored with fetch but he always seems really excited when he see's me with the chuck'it. Thanks

Does anyone have any good online sources for tricks you can teach a dog? After watching Dazzle's video, I was inspired to try to teach my pup some more tricks. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Liz, Thanks for the great tips! Samson is a little over a year old but I think strangers giving him treats might be a good option. He also does better when people ignore him and gives him the chance to initiate the contact. Thanks again! Brian

Are there any tricks or ways to build my BC's confidence. He's getting a lot better around cars, but he tends to be really timid around new people and his tail is typically between his legs whenever we go for walks. He seems happy but his body language doesnt convince me when we are out walking

Hello! just posted this message to someone who was looking for ways to get their BC to fetch. What I did to remedy the situation was I made a slit into a tennis ball so that you coul squeeze the ball to get a treat into it, but then when you released the pressure of the ball the hole closed and the treat would stay in the ball and when you threw it. Put one of her favorite treats in the ball and close it up - make sure she smells the treat in the ball and get her excited about it before you throw it. When you do throw it, she'll be more inclined to pick it up since there's goodies in there and then praise her to come back to you. Do this a couple of times and even reward her with a treat the 1st couple of times she brings it back to you. After she gets the hang of it you won't have to use treats and you'll have a fun and simple way to tire your BC out. I was very suprised how short of a time it took Samson to fetch and return the ball to me. It took him about an hour to learn fetch wtih this technique. Good luck and get better! Brian

Hello! I had the same trouble, but Samson would not even run after the ball. What I did to remedy the situation was I made a slit into a tennis ball so that you coul squeeze the ball to get a treat into it, but then when you released the pressure of the ball the hole closed and the treat would stay in the ball and when you threw it. Put one of her favorite treats in the ball and close it up - make sure she smells the treat in the ball and get her excited about it before you throw it. When you do throw it, she'll be more inclined to pick it up since there's goodies in there and then praise her to come back to you. Do this a couple of times and even reward her with a treat the 1st couple of times she brings it back to you. After she gets the hang of it you won't have to use treats and you'll have a fun and simple way to tire your BC out. I was very suprised how short of a time it took Samson to fetch and return the ball to me. It took him about an hour to learn fetch wtih this technique. Good luck! Brian

I'm sorry to hear about your floor. Samson has chewed a number of shoes, furniture, etc. Once we started crating him and really exercising him in the morning, afternoon and night we don't have to worry about it. Tire him out and he'll be less inclined to mischeive. Hope you're feelin better

I'm not too sure what flipped him out, but the new crate looks like it is a little small for him. It doesnt look like he can stand up straight unhibited. Maybe that's why he doesnt like it. Or, maybe put a blanket over it so it seems more enclosed like that other one was.

I'd recommend either Purina One Adult Food - Beef or Chicken or Eukenuba adult dog food for medium size dogs. My pup loves both of them and was having similar issues when I tried feeding him other food

Samson use to be very obsessed with squirels and whenever I'd take him out for walks when he was a puppy (3-7 months old) I'd actually kind of encourage it until it got to the point where I'd tried riding a bike with him and he'd pull me off the bike because of the squirels. The way that I got him to stop (he's almost a year old now) took a little while but whenver we'd go on a walk and he'd see a squirel and start to crouch down I'd give the leash a quick snap and say HEY or Stop or something along those lines. After many weeks of doing so (quick snap with a HEY or STOP) he got good enough to where now I don't have to have him on a leash when we walk and if he see's a squirel, as he starts to stoop low (or even before) I give him a loud HEY before he can get into his squirel zone and he snaps out of it. If I dont say anything he'll still try to chase them, but only if they are really close or they run right out in front of us, but whenver I say HEY or STOP, he does and comes back to me. So moral of the story is to associate some sort of discomfort (quick snap of the leash) along with a verbal command, even accompanied with a treat if you use them whenver you see him start to get zoned into a squirel. Eventually he'll get the idea and will not get too obsessed over them but it takes a month or two before it really works. Hope this helps!

I use these too and Samson loves them. You don't have to throw them hard and they bounce/go a long way. $9.99 at most stores that have them

Frontline - went on a hike with Samson not thinking he'd get ticks, sure enough he was full of them, so I got some frontline after the fact and they all fell off

For your viewing pleasure.

Thanks for all the great info. He's about 11 months old and is eating Purina One adult dog food - 26 protein and 16 fat. Does that sound about right for a dog his age

Samson only really eats in the morning when I put him in his crate before work. I put food in his bowl when I get home but he doesnt touch it until the following morning. He still goes #2 at least 3 or 4 times a day. Is that normal that he only eats once a day? His food is in his crate (which he's not 100% fond of yet) so I'm thinking that maybe that is why he only eats once. I dont know. Nothing serious, just curious. Thanks

I'd suggest getting a treadmill too. It works them out mentally and physically. If you can find one on ebay or craigslist for cheap, It would be a good investment

In Northern Virginia, check out [deleted]. That's where I got my pup and she has at least 2 litters a year

I crated Samson at night for a couple of months and had to wake up at least 2 times each night to let him out. As long as I didn't feed him or give him water he'd be fine for at least 3-4 hours before needing to go out. After about 4 or 5 months I'd have him in my room sometimes on the bed, sometimes on the floor in the corner uncrated. It was similar as I'd have to wake up at least 1 time a night to let him out but around 5-6 months he was good through the night. Now he always sleeps uncrated on the floor at the foot of the bed. As a lot of other people have said already, the hard part is during the day. After exercise, I trust him for an hour or maybe 2 uncrated, but even with a lot of exercise, I don't trust him uncrated for more than 2 hours (he loves to chew anything that has my sent on it). Best way for night time crating/uncrating is to not give him any water after 9pm and let him out at least 1 time at night until he can go the whole night without having to go

Hello everyone, We've recently started crating Samson after for the first time (he's 10 months old) after he's been use to being able to roam the house freely when we were not home. We had another dog in my last place of residence so we let the both of them play all day uncrated. With my new place we decided to crate him. It works for short times. An hour or two max before he starts getting crazy. He's found a way to unlatch the crate and squeeze out of the space at the bottom or top of the crate. I started putting locks on the crate to prevent this, however, tonight when I got home (he was crated for about 3 hours), he didn't get out but he had a decent size cut on his nose from trying to get out I'm assuming. What am I suppose to do?? We really do need to crate him since we just bought new furniture and we don't want him chewing but I really don't want him to continue to hurt himself trying to get out of his crate. I'm frustrated and worried about him. Any suggestions?

Thanks for everyone's feedback! I really appreciate it. He's still somehow chewing at the cardboard box that we have under the crate/pet bed we have in the crate. Some how he gets to the cardboard that is at least 1 ft outside of the crate. Not sure how though. Hopefully these great ideas will help Samson get adjusted to his new "home." Funny thing, last night we crated him for a little longer than we had expected to, but to our surprise, when we got home, he some out got out of his crate!!!!! I have no clue how he got out since both of the doors were latched shut. Guess it just goes to show how smart these dogs are. I might have to start calling him Houdini.

Thanks for all of your great ideas. To give you a better understanding of what I do, every morning I take him out for a short walk then fetch with him for about 30 minutes. He's pretty tired when we get back so he lays around while I get ready for work. About 30 minutes later I get him in his crate around 8:00am. I have a dog walker who comes to my apartment around 12:00pm and takes him out for about a 45 min-1hr walk/fetch before he brings him back to my place and puts him back in his crate around 1pm. I get home around 5 to let him out. I have a kong in there along with some chew toys, bones, etc but when I come home they are all pushed to the back of the crate and it doesn't seem like he even plays with or chews on anything he has in the crate with him. The place that I lived before, we had another puppy about the same age and a small fenced in yard so we let them run around and play during the day so I didn't need to crate him. Once he got old enough, he was able to jump out of the fence so I had to find ways to keep him from doing so. We recently moved at the beginning of December and gave him full run of the house until about 2 weeks ago when we got tired of coming home to something else being chewed on. Is it too late to try to start crating him after he's had over 8 months of a non crating atmosphere? Am I keeping him in the crate for too long, even with all the exercise I'm giving him? When I was at home for the holidays, I kept him in the crate for up to 3 hours with another puppy crated next to him and he was fine. I will try to get a piece of sheet metal or something he can't chew on instead of the wood so that he doesn't swallow anything. Thanks for everyone's help and I hope he can start getting comfortable being in the crate. I'll try and get a picture up soon for everyone's viewing pleasure

I just wanted to say hello to everyone as this is my first posting on this site. I've looked and read several of the posts and have gotten some good tips. I have a 10 month old border collie named Samson whom I can't get enough of. We recently started crating him and it's been an adventure. Does anyone know where to get a metal crate tray that is 48" X 30"? I made the mistake of buying a larger crate from Pets Mart without doing research and seeing that they have larger crates that include the large metal trays. None of the one's I've seen online fit the dimensions of my crate. Any other suggestions? He chewed up the plastic one pretty good so now I have a piece of sheet wood in there that he's chewing, but at least he's not chewing the carpet or anything. I'm excited to be on here and share all of my collie adventures! Brian