alligande

I agree stay away from the ball launcher, I have a ball obsessed border collie and it would fry his brain. Repetive activity of any type is usually a bad idea for border collies. Teaching a settle and quiet behavior is the most important thing, my dogs are lucky they come to work with me, some days they get lots of breaks and others they just hang out, I might occasionally get a nose jammed in my ribs, or fall over one, but they have learned that as long as we are together something might happen.

Mine don’t really seek shade. I live on an island in the Mediterranean and it’s definitely hot in summer. I do limit walks but when we are out they don’t seek shade. Both long coated Tris

It’s all a balance, not over doing it to protect their bodies so they have a long and relatively injury free life, and getting in all the skills they need. Some things you never do until their growth plates are closed like weaves, but basic handling on the flat can start much younger.

Totally misses the reason, I used to live next door to a Belgium bred German shepherd who was a bomb dog. She was gorgeous, straight backed excellent hips and worked until she was almost 11, you never see dogs like her in the US. I might never have got a border collie if GSDs looked like her.

My boys focus was always agility and the huge amount of training that requires, they also have a bunch of fitness tricks as well tricks learned when they were puppies when I was teaching them the skills to learn. They have the skills I think are important, great recalls, flying downs, stay when I ask, have excellent house manners and can fly round an agility course with running contacts, have proven that they are sheepdogs by learning the foundations of working sheep but have horrendous leash manners as I just never focused on them. But the most important thing is they are my friends and companions

Totally depends, I am also a clicker style trainer, as well as a committed agility competitor. I use treats to teach new tricks, I use treats all the time when doing conditioning exercises and in agility I use a treat and train machine when I need him to think. Treats are always part of my dogs lives.

I don’t often disagree with D’elle but most agility dogs start training much younger than 2. Their foundation work usually begins when we get them, learning to play, learning to chase, the real work starts at 6 months, nothing extreme but learning some basics, at 12 months they can start to do more, most organizations allow dogs to compete at 18 months but today most serious competitors don’t start till around 2 as there is so much to learn today. I would find a local agility trainer and ask if you can come along and watch, maybe audit an online foundation class to learn the moves, so much of it is timing and learning where you dog is going to be. Its a sport I love, have fun once you get your dog

My older boy who is 12 is a tri, and over the last few years I have noticed reddish brown highlights. We do live in a sunny climate so I always assumed it was that

It’s not an exercise I have ever done in agility, but I use commands that make sense to me not ones that instructors use. I would not use “come by” as my dogs are occasional recreational sheep dogs and would not want any confusion. I do have 2 commands that sound very similar and only realized when my dog took an of course in training and that is tunnel and turn (which is a rear cross wing wrap, I don’t use left and right with jumps) luckily it’s extremely rare that the obstacles would cause confusion

In general I train mistakes, in competition I carry a toy (our rules allow an unseen toy) and will train and reward then leave. A fault is the same as an elimination as far as I am concerned so choosing to be eliminated I think is good for the future. There are exceptions to this I have running contacts and generally have no idea of their success so don’t train them in competition. in training I always repeat a mistake, either his or mine

I am a big believer in never slowing a dog down, you might never get the speed back. I had a similar issue with my older dog as he got more confident aka faster he was coming out between 10 and 11, watching it back on video we realized he was getting faster through the poles as he went and basically couldn’t make the last turn and popped out. What solved it with him was using V weaves which the facility I trained at happened to have, it helped him figure out his footing. The two things I would try are opening up the last 2 poles a bit, or adding guides. I use a treat and train aka manners minder extensively in my training, I train on surfaces were thrown treats are a bad idea, plus I don’t like my dogs looking at my hands. I use it when I want my dog thinking and mastering a skill, once he has the skill down we switch to a toy, and with my current competition dog this also adds the speed, when we work with food he isn’t as fast, but that’s his choice and I know he his thinking about the puzzle.

I totally agree with the above advice, I currently have one overly friendly border collie, who thinks the world is his best friend, and another who really only plays with his brother, he ignores other dogs and just wants their human to throw something. I have also found border collies to be breed snobs especially with breeds that have a more physical play style like labs and bullys. I am also not a fan of dog parks, I like D’elle’s description.

Just another game you can play with your dog, as others have said despite using the terms that are used in working sheep it’s just another game. I would have no problem having a go for fun but I would not use herding terms as my dogs do occasionally get to work sheep recreationally and understand come by and away.

For mind games, stupid pet tricks are excellent they are inconsequential so if he doesn’t learn it doesn’t matter. Break out the clicker and start shaping silly behaviours there is an endless supply can he cuddle toy put the rings back on a kids toy ride a skateboard pick up toys and put them in a box climb in a box. One of our border collies had not been taught to think as a puppy and 10 minutes of learning a new trick would exhaust him. He was also prone to nipping and it was about mangement, keeping strangers away from him. Muzzle training is an excellent suggestion a friend with a border collie with a bite history was heart broken when she had to start using one, but it was a positive experience as she relaxed on walks as her dog could do no damage, and her dog relaxed. you have invested so much time and energy and you have clearly made progress, if you really have reached the end of the road then re-homing is the right choice but reading your comments it really doesn’t sound like you are ready to give up.

When my dogs have been on sheep the shepherd has handled them, especially when they were really starting to get a feel for sheep. Both my dogs are agility dogs and are used to watching my body and arms for signals, with the shepherd they focused on the sheep and the commands. Once they had a decent understanding of what was happening I started to be able to work them, new skills he would start them always.

We have always loved having 2 dogs. And for the last 17 years we have had 2 border collies, plus some fosters. Having 2 we find our dogs don’t rely on us as much more for their entertainment etc. on walks they check things out together, they run together sniff together. At home if they are bored they will interact with each other if we aren’t interested in playing. My older dog was an only dog for 2.5 years and he became very needy during that time, totaly reliant on us for his entertainment. We got the youngest as puppy, but it was 3 weeks before we all got home (long road trip and vacation to get him) initially he just ignored him but by the time we got home they were playing together and 5 years later they still are, and the older one was clearly in a better place mentally. I am slowly starting my search for border collie number 3, I compete in agility and my dogs are 5 and 12 so its time to add my next team mate… l do think 3 will be a bit made

You have been given excellent advice so far. Regarding using that highly intelligent brain, get the clicker out and teach stupid pet tricks, they have no consequence if they go wrong. One of our rescue border collies had never been taught to “learn” and 10 minutes of track training on a cold New England day would exhaust him more than a 10 mile walk. My current 2 we got as puppies and both started clicker training as babies and it doesn’t have the same effect on them but it does settle them down and we all have a bit of fun doing something pointless. Another consideration is exercise without fetch, my older boy is obsessed with anything that can be thrown, so on walks we simply don’t throw things for him, we want him exploring and sniffing, being a dog, at the end of those walks he is much more relaxed than if we thrown toys for him. He is 12 now and it’s the same as when he was 2.

Sorry to read this Geonni, I used to enjoy reading about your activities together.

All our border collies have preferred our company to doing their own thing. I am currently in my office and have a border collie asleep under my desk and another out of sight but will move as soon as I do. At home they go off to their favorite spots but they always know what we are up to, go hang the laundry out and we have helpers although are useless using pegs. Our last foster dog (my jealous boys have stopped me fostering) had the choice of 2 homes, one living in a flat with a single women who wanted a constant companion, going for coffee, going on runs etc... or a country property where they talked about how much space he would have to explore. I chose the single lady with the flat, he is a very happy boy and they have a great life together, he needed a companion not acres.

My old man is 12, in his heart he think he is 3, I retired him from agility just before he turned 11, he has mild hip dysplasia in one hip and he was showing stiffness in his hips which is why I retired him, he was no longer fully extending when jumping but starting to slightly bunny hop so thought it was time (we don't have reduced heights in Spain if we did, without Covid I would have continued) when playing ball or on walks he is still the same, we have to to end the game. His recovery is longer but after a few hours he is ready to go again. I have started to see some changes but with covid limiting our exercise last year, and this year I ruptured my achilles I suspect some of that is simply a lack of fitness, I am horribly out of shape so I reckon my dogs should be as well! Our first border collie we did not know how old he was, we got him as an adult and had him 10 years we suspected he was around 3/4 when we got him as he had none of that young immature dog thing going on. He never really changed until the last 3 months of his life when he was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, he had given us no clue he was ill and then he had a seizure. I would also suggest a vet visit, at 7 a border collie is in the prime of their lives all mine at that age have had the same drive and love of life as they did 3.

My friends dog as well as the rest of the litter are all agility dogs, my friend had a similar experience he thought she had just over done it, (she shares a house with 2 other border collies, and 4 other dogs so it’s busy) but when her litter mate had the same symptoms he had her checked out. They were the only 2. She had the keyhole surgery and the recovery was very quick, and she is well on her way to becoming an agility dog, the surgeon was not concerned about her future as it was caught so quickly.

I would definitely contact a rehab pro, a friends young border collie had this surgery done last year (in her case it was genetic as a litter mate also had it) and she was never under full crate rest, she had restricted activity.

The only thing I would disagree is this. I grew up in Yorkshire with a farming family and most sheepdogs I knew/know roamed the farm yard or today would ride the quad when not working, they are generally not put away if they are regular farm dogs. A trainer/breeder with a lot of dogs will do that, but a farmer with one or two isn’t likely. The other thing not mentioned is sheepdogs on hill farms don’t work everyday they have a lot of down time, they are bred to work hard but be able to chill as well, a hill farmer doesn’t want a dog that will be a total pain when not working.

Sorry I am late to the thread, I know you have already signed up to some Denise Frenzi classes. I follow her on Facebook and she has posted about her work with Dice her young Mali, I think you could find a lot of ideas from her journey. It’s been really interesting to follow and see her techniques in action

I hope you like them, we have modified how we use them which doesn’t make them as safe but we feel will still be effective in a crash, particularly with 2 larger border collies who weigh enough to make the seat belts work properly. What we have done is rather than have the seat belt feed through the back of the harness which keeps the dog secure to the seat but really restricts their wriggle room, which would be fine of shortish trips but not 14 hour ones. We use a short loop of rope that is called a soft shackle and link that through the back of the harness and seat belt, it gives them an extra 6/8 inches of movement, means they will move on impact but will be pulled up before slamming into the front seats and certainly can not become airborne. The shackle is a speciality piece of kit used on racing sailing boats and came of a 100ft boat so is certainly strong enough to restrain a border collie. They are comfortable and relaxed in the car, safe in the passenger compartment, and acting as faux body guards for me.