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Strax our border collie (8 months) is taken to bicycle free off leashes a couple of times a day, the third time we walk him leashed in a off leash unfenced park to help him to be less reactive to bicycles, he is fine when they are close, but his collie eye catches anything over 30 meters away & takes chase, thankfully I have a loud voice & yell asking the biker to slow or stop. Strax's recall is perfect & will drop/stop even in chase, We noticed the take chase mode a couple of weeks ago & have leashed him in this park since & he is understands the leave it command anytime excepts he sees bikes at a distance. Is there anything I'm missing doing in this situation? To be clear he has shown no interest in scooters, skateboarders, runners only Bikes.

Hello all! I'm new here and wanted to take the opportunity to introduce Bailey! He's almost 6 months old now and growing every day! We've had our share of trials and tribulations and it has been a steep learning curve, but with the help of this group we are learning more and more and seeing improvements He's a happy chap with a mischievous streak, and falls asleep with his tongue out! Some of his favourite things include: Chasing leaves, his brother Buster (one of our cats), his squeaky ball, making friends!

Hi all! I'm hoping for some general advice from BC experts on helping us do right by our puppy Bailey (currently 5.5 months) and raise him to be a very good boy! I'm a first-time dog owner, whereas my partner grew up with BCs - but Bailey is our first puppy. I'll admit it was a shock to the system and a steep learning curve, but we're getting the hang of it now! Unfortunately with the pandemic we've only managed to go to a couple of puppy classes so we've been watching youtube videos/following advice online, but we don't know if we're doing it right or if there are things we're missing or doing to cause bad habits! I thought it might be helpful to post our daily routine below in case there are any glaring mistakes we're making - any advice really would be greatly appreciated! I'll apologise in advance for the long post...! We've definitely had our ups and downs but feel like we're through the worst of it now! It's still a work in progress, and reading the forums on this group has been amazing, but there are some specific essential things we're having real difficulties with and would love some help: Recall - I know he's only 5.5 months old, but he is terrible! We think this is largely our fault for giving him too much freedom too young - we let him go off lead at the park from ~12 weeks old until these last couple of weeks where he's back on his training lead. Our reasoning was that with the pandemic we had no opportunities for him to meet other dogs (we've been in lockdown for most of our time with him, so no-one can come round etc) so for the sake of socialisation we let him run around and play with some dogs we see at the park daily. It's great because now they are like his pack and he loves it and is super friendly and sociable with people and dogs, but perhaps too friendly as he is very easily excited and distracted and now won't (can't?) listen to us. His recall at home is great but with other people/dogs it's impossible - he has absolutely no interest in treats no matter how high value, nothing is better than charging about with another dog. We've been practising on an extendable/training lead while on walks and he's pretty good, but we feel like we should be doing more as other puppies around his age that we've met are miles better. Will he get better with age or what else can we do? Cars - He's ok around our cul de sac, but on any busier road he pulls and lunges at cars. We think it's a fear response trying to chase them away, or maybe herding? Either way, it's dangerous for both him and us and has to stop, but we're unsure how. We're working on exposure, making him sit, wait and watch with lots of praise/reward, but it doesn't seem to be improving, and might even be getting worse What can we do? Exercise - are we doing too much? We've heard the whole 5 minutes per month of life but that seemed ridiculous to us with such a high energy puppy - we would have lost our minds with him! We try and stick to only 30 mins of high intensity/running once a day, but are more relaxed for gentler on lead walks. But I'm worried that we're damaging his growing joints - how would we know? Should we be sticking to a max of 30 mins twice a day (even on lead)? We love our little dude to pieces and he's so funny, we just want to do right by him and raise a good, happy & safe pup! When he's older we want to do some agility or flyball etc (not competitively, just for enjoyment), but for now we just want to make sure he's happy and healthy, while also maintaining a lifestyle that we can manage! Thanks so much in advance! ------------------- General routine 7-7.30am - Bailey gets (us) up, cuddle, toilet 7.30-8.10am - Playtime at the park chasing a ball/running round with his doggy pals (~30 mins running) Focus on socialisation Previously off-lead, now back on a training lead as recall is impossible and he's turned us trying to get him into a game 8.15-9am - breakfast (puzzle toy), toilet, settle 9am-1pm - settle time while we work Usually crated ~9-11am, then toilet break, then settle in the room with us Usually a 5-10 min play/training session during this stint 1-1.45pm - lunchtime walk (~45 min walk) On lead, stretch of legs/sniffing 1.45-2pm - lunch (puzzle toy), toilet, settle 2-4pm - crate settle time while we work 4-5.30pm - Bailey is a pest time Theoretically this would still be settle time, but he kicks up a fuss being crated after 4pm. He may chill a bit in the room with us, but usually wants to play Self-entertainment with toys, kongs, chew, lickimat etc 5.30-6pm - Energy release (excited play time/attention from us) 6-6.30pm - Dinner (puzzle toy) 6.30-8.30pm - Focus on Bailey time Playtime with us, training time (obedience or scent games) Evening neighbourhood walk on lead (~30 mins) Lickimat or chew to help him settle (/distract him while we cook/eat) 8.30pm-bedtime - settle time No more play with us (self play is fine), cuddles, chews or lickimat Falls asleep on the sofa with us until being crated for overnight Weekends follow a similar pattern, with a slower start from us and trips in the car for nicer/longer walks.

Got a Border Collie yesterday, (Friday 18th Dec) and noticed his tail is really short, called up the ex owner and asked him about it- he laughed and said his tail is short because he’s a puppy I didn’t know what to say so I just said oh okay and tried doing my research into this, it really doesn’t appear to be docked or anything because like the whole tail is there it’s just tiny- does anybody know why or how? The only thing I could find is that this may be genetic? The websites I went through are a decade old I’m not sure what to think- either way him and his tail are adorable.

Okay, so, I have a female BC puppy who is 26 weeks old, and she weighs ~31 pounds. With that being said, she is a tad overweight due to a smoke problem where I live and she couldn’t go outside and exercise for about 2 weeks. She also suddenly hit a growth spurt and is very tall! We got her at 10 weeks and she was an estimated ~10 pounds. Her mom (working lines) is VERY tall, but thin so I’d have to ask how much she weighs. Her dad (show lines) is on the smaller side, and average BC weight for a show male (Id have to ask for specifics) Everyone told me that she is was on the small side when we got her, but could this just be her big growth spurt? (yes she does need to lose a pound or two, but she’s not obese) Thank you

Hello! So i have quite a huge trouble with biting behaviour. My puppy is really ultra energetic(even for border collie) and AS soon AS I get her out of her room, shes starting playing which consist of 99% biting my legs and feet really really hard with her sharp teeth and that hurts a lot. Yelling with pitch voice, telling her to not to that, trying to get her attention with toys doesnt work at all, and i really dont know how can I trach her that is wrong behaviour. I can not igonre it aswell because id start bleeding in 5 mins and She thinks we just have a good fun. What should I do?

Hello! I’m a newish member of the board, interested in adopting a border collie puppy. I’ve been lurking for a while reading up on information available on these forums. It’s been a while since I’ve had a dog, and I’ve really missed having a canine family member. I’m now in a position where I’m able to consider getting another dog (perhaps eventually two), and am starting a more active search. I’m hoping to adopt a border collie as an active companion. Temperament and health are priorities. Ideally I would like to adopt in the next year or two, but am willing to wait for a caring and responsible breeder and a great, appropriate companion pup. There are a number of recommendations to attend local trials to speak to border collie breeders and enthusiasts, and I was hoping to be able to do so this summer. However since most or all of these events in my area are not proceeding due to current circumstances, it appears I won’t have the opportunity this year. I’m hoping you can help me with some recommendations of reputable breeders or knowledgeable people to speak with who might be able to point me in the right direction. I am in Ontario, Canada (city but large fenced yard and access to open lakefront property in summer), but willing to travel within a reasonable geographical area for a good breeder. In addition to other attributes of a responsible breeder, ideally it would be someone who could offer ongoing advice such as recommending good obedience or other appropriate training classes. I haven’t ruled out rescue, but it appears that few young dogs actually come up for adoption in rescue in my area. I am interested in any event in options for getting a pup from a reputable breeder (there are some breeder names I have seen recommended in other threads, but many of these are from several years ago and it would be helpful to get current / additional recommendations). Any recommendations or leads appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Hi. I'm technically a first time BC puppy owner (I guess having one as a family pet when I was 7 doesn't really count as I wasn't exactly involved in the upbringing). He's lovely when he's not tired and had plenty of exercise and fed well etc. My problem is knowing how to tell the difference between him being nuts because he's overtired or being nuts because he actually needs more activity/stimulation. He's about 14 weeks old and doesn't have his second set of jabs until this Friday as the farm we got him from didn't have him vaccinated and he was about 10/11 weeks when we got him, so garden play, training and deliberate stress (getting him to do a few stairs which he's terrified of etc) are how we try to wear him out. He often goes totally crazy (runs around like a lunatic, digs, chews, nips, barks) which in the end I put down to being overtired, but it does take some considerable time for him to get it out of his system and settle down. Does anyone know how much sleep he should have as "naps" during the day? I go out to work for 2 hours and he is allowed to sleep in the living room, which I am assuming he does as nothing appears out of place when I come home. Other than that, he just crashes later at night and we end up having to wake him up for his pre bedtime toilet. Sorry for the ramble. Any help appreciated. (This is exactly like having a toddler - I often lose the will to live )

Hi. I'm technically a first time BC puppy owner (I guess having one as a family pet when I was 7 doesn't really count as I wasn't exactly involved in the upbringing). He's lovely when he's not tired and had plenty of exercise and fed well etc. My problem is knowing how to tell the difference between him being nuts because he's overtired or being nuts because he actually needs more activity/stimulation. He's about 14 weeks old and doesn't have his second set of jabs until this Friday as the farm we got him from didn't have him vaccinated and he was about 10/11 weeks when we got him, so garden play, training and deliberate stress (getting him to do a few stairs which he's terrified of etc) are how we try to wear him out. He often goes totally crazy (runs around like a lunatic, digs, chews, nips, barks) which in the end I put down to being overtired, but it does take some considerable time for him to get it out of his system and settle down. Does anyone know how much sleep he should have as "naps" during the day? I go out to work for 2 hours and he is allowed to sleep in the living room, which I am assuming he does as nothing appears out of place when I come home. Other than that, he just crashes later at night and we end up having to wake him up for his pre bedtime toilet. Sorry for the ramble. Any help appreciated. (This is exactly like having a toddler - I often lose the will to live )

Hi Guys, I need some help please I have a 7 month old Border Collie Named Misty. She’s always had an appetite and got excited at meal times however the last few days she has been leaving her food. Right from the moment we brought her home she has had the same food. Her food is a custom blend from tails.com which is formulated for her breed, age and weight. She has 2 meals a day, 1 in a morning of just dry food and 1 in the evening of dry and wet food mixed. She has always eaten both meals happily. But the last few days she has started to leave food. Her morning feed she tends to eat most of it but leaves a little. But with Her evening feed she has started to leave over half of the food. She’s no longer excited at meals times and when I put her bowl down she doesn’t want to eat straight away. When she eventually does she will have around half the food then walk away. I’ve tried reducing her portion sizes but she still leaves half. Other than her food she had a Dental chew and that’s it. Shes fine in herself, she’s still drinking and playing. She still goes for her walks and has plenty of energy but she just won’t eat her full meals. I’m just worried that she’s not eating enough and I really don’t know what to do. Is this normal? How can I encourage her to eat?Could there be a medical problem? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hello all, thank you for taking the time to read my post. I recently acquired a Border Collie puppy. He is now 16 weeks and I am concerned that he is displaying aggressive behaviour. The lady I got him from could not handle house training him or training him at all as she was on her own with two young children. Why these people get a dog is beyond me! Sometimes he is sweet, placid and very obedient; others he is growling, curling up his upper lip and even biting. These “aggressive” behaviours usually take place in the following circumstances: If he is asleep and we NEED to move him either (I wake him calmly and gently). He used to just growl and now he will show his teeth and even snap and bite. He is not food aggressive with myself or my partner, but he did try to bit my mum when she was near his food. He also seeks out my sister’s dog if he has food and really goes for him! He will also jump up and bite us if he feels he’s not getting enough attention...he walks for at least a couple of hours a day, spread over two walks; plays fetch in the garden and has interactive toys. He is not left on his own for hours. We do not shout at him and could never hit him. I’m very aware that this behaviour needs to be nipped in the bud quickly. Any advice, or insight would be great. I have never had this behaviour from any of my previous dogs, I am understandably concerned and getting rid of him is not an option for me...he is my baby! Thanks everyone!

Hi there! Thank you so much for the add and I’m so excited to be a part of this community! I have an 8 month old border collie puppy named Luna and she is my third dog and first puppy that I am raising on my own. She is not a working dog— she is a companion dog. We live in RI! A little bit about Luna— she is very sweet and more on the submissive side. Her parents are family pets, her father from working lines and mother from non working lines. We are still trying to figure out her personality as it seems to change every now and then. I’ve read that female dogs tend to be much more stubborn and independent, which I can definitely see in Luna now. We believe she has medium to higher drive, although she rarely nips or demonstrates any heavy herding behavior. She just loves chasing frisbees, is always alert and also gets very hyped up when we move around a lot, such as running or crazy dancing. One thing I wanted to ask about is Luna’s constant chewing and gnawing on bones and toys. She is crate trained and is generally very great with sleeping and resting in her crate. However, she is sometimes disobedient and runs away when we tell her to go in after playing. We usually leave her dog bed outside of her crate in the living room so she can have a place to rest away from our furniture (she still jumps on the couch and beanbag occasionally, especially if she is being told to go into her crate). When she isn’t running around the house with her toys, she is very calm and chewing away at her benebone and antler. However, she is never not chewing. It’s either calmly chewing nonstop or running around the house with her other toys. Is this normal? In terms of exercise, we play frisbee frequently but not every day. We have also been playing a lot in indoors since COVID-19. We are trying to stay away from public places for now since we live in the city. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts! I am very open to advice and thoughts as I am learning how to raise a good dog! Sometimes I worry if I’m not doing enough or doing the right things. I just want to give my pup the best quality of life possible. Thank you!

Hi all! Looking for some guidance on potential crate anxiety. We are first time dog parents to a four month old Border Collie mix. We have had him a little over a month now. I work from home and, truly, I think this has done him a bit of a disservice as he is rarely crated. The first two weeks we had him, I would try two hour crate naps but it became such a chore to get him in the crate that I stopped (my issue, I know!) He would whine and cry to high hell at night so no longer sleeps in the crate at night and does perfectly fine sleeping on our bed or our floor. No destruction or bad habits. Unfortunately, the whining and crying to high hell is present any time we do try to crate him. He is crated for 30-60 minutes each morning as I workout at home too and if he is out of the crate, he sees my moving limbs as toys and attempts to play, making my own workouts useless and they take twice as long. So, in the crate he goes. We have a VERY large crate, with plenty of room, and his bed, food, and a few safe toys are in it. He will go willingly into the crate because his breakfast is set down in there, but once he realizes he is locked in he bites and paws at the crate, cries, and barks for the entire duration. He never really settles, and I am right in front of his crate the entire time. When we do crate him to leave the house, we have gotten to the point where we have had to force him into the crate. Not something I ever wanted to do, because the crate isn't punishment but I think he sees it as such. He whines, cries, and howls immediately and there have been times we have come home and still heard him crying from outside when we pull up (worth noting that we live in an apartment and have had a neighbor say something). I've come home to him having completely moved the crate by throwing himself against it, and he also managed to drag in a blanket and a toy that were not in the crate when I left. The first time we left him alone in the crate for an hour, he threw up, presumably from anxiety. We aren't gone for more than 2-3 hours a time, as we are mindful that he should be taken out to potty every 3-4 hours. We have been told this is due to energy and boredom, but it feels like a bit more than that to me. He is taken for walks daily, played with in the house, we practice various trainings to stimulate him, and we have a fenced in dog run at our apartment that he goes to several times per day to run off leash. On the evenings or weekends if we are going somewhere dog friendly he always comes with us for socialization and training practice. I'm open to any thoughts, suggestions, or tricks you all may have. We know his puppy months can be really formative to his adult years, so we want to do best by him now so he doesn't grow up with any anxiety issues. The thing we have yet to try are calming treats, but I almost feel bad having to medicate him that way? However, I'm still open to information on that as well! Thanks!

My border collie puppy has been going on walks every day. On my days off we go for a 1 hour walk up the forest where she roams free - general, sniffing around, no ball play). then in the night we go to the park. After work I take her for a walk Around the park, where we play fetch with her ball which she loves for about 30 minutes. She would go on for longer if I let her but it’s continuous fetch which can’t be good for her joints. Then we make our way home. Then I had a week off work, Chance was very ill with a bug and I spent all week looking after her. We went on a short walk occasionally. Then the trouble started when I went back to work. On our way home from the park she has now started to pull on the lead when we try to walk home. If I walk off, she jumps up on my back and legs which hurts like s*** and I get really annoyed. I try telling her no. I’ve ignored her only to start walking and she does it again. point is she’s NEVER done this up until about two weeks ago. I feel so pissed off on the walk back home I feel guilty because she’s my baby. I adore her, I give her the world. But this new bad behaviour is ridiculous. Can anyone help/provide advice please? TLDR: puppy has developed bad walking behaviours after playing fetch for 30 minutes in the park. Tugs on leash, jumps up. Never done this before until two weeks ago.

I have a 7month old female border collie. When i take her for a walk and JUST a walk it goes well. Shes at the point where she walks well enough, meaning, she still sometimes pulls and tries to lead but thats about it. Walking on leash has improved but still more area to improve. I take her to this large public park everyday to play frisbee. Shes getting REALLY GOOD! I have her on a 30ft lead just because i dont completely trust her in a public park yet with people, children, and other dogs. She does very well on the long leash and if she gets to nosy and starts to wander i can stop and let her know thats, "too far" and, "comeback". 90% of the time the frisbee is more fun and entertaining then everything else. The PROBLEM comes in when its time to leave. I wrap up the long lead and switch her over to her shorter leash for the walk home (real close, 1min30sec walking). She goes nuts, biting and jumping at the leash, things she doesn't do when we just go for a walk. I try to use commands we've taught like "leave it!" and tell her to "walk". She'll abide but only momentarily. Sometimes i can get her to stop jumping and biting at the leash but she runs furiously to and fro up and down while on the leash the whole way home. Not sure if i should just be patient and chalk this up to her being amped up from play and being a puppy, or its her just not wanting to stop play so she throws a tantrum. Is it something im doing that I could change? It just makes this wonderful and enjoyable experience we have end in frustration in the short walk home. Please lend me any advice and wisdom, thank you!

So, I've had my puppy for a week and a half, and she is 12 weeks old today. She's very intelligent and has no trouble learning new things (she picks up most new behaviours within the space of five minutes). But when it comes to housetraining, she seems to be doing no progress at all. Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon, but I've never had a puppy before so I don't really know. When I see her squatting down to pee, I say "No" and take her outside straight away. Once she does her business outside I prasie her to the skies and sometimes even give her a treat, but it doesn't seem to be working. At all. In fact, she seems to be having a lot more accidents lately. Again, maybe this is normal and I may be expecting too much too soon. But I don't know. Then there's recall training. She follows me around in the house and usually comes straight over when I call her, and I know she knows her name because she looks at me every time I say it. But in the garden, she NEVER comes when I call her. She used to look at me and just stare as I called her over, but now she doesn't even look at me. The only way to get her to look at me is to say her name in a wierd voice/accent that she has never heard before. But I'm Running out of ideas how to say her name, and she still doesn't come anyway. I always try to sound as happy and excited as possible when I call her, I run and jump and even try to bribe her with a toy; but it just doesn't work. When she does come (and she always comes in the house), I always prasie her, no matter how long she takes. But this is just getting frustrating. Tips?

It happened a lot sooner than I expected, but oh well. She's unregistered from a farm, both parents are working dogs. And she's perfect. I went to pick her up today, she slept for most of the car journey (2 and a half hours). She's super sweet, seems really friendly and fearless. I'm calling her Pixie. She's a white factored smooth tri, but the tri is a bit hard to see. Not that it really matters. Hopefully I'll get some better pictures tomorrow

Dear community, I address to you with a concern I've got going in my mind. I've got an 8 month BC male pup and we go on regular walks to our local hill. There are some cows and some small animals around, he doesn't bother them much but my concern is that I find him often rolling on the dirt like from side to side. Just rubbing his back on dirt and sometimes cow shit. I haven't found any ticks or fleas on my dog and initially thought he might be rolling to scratch his back. Although I now think as I haven't found fleas or ticks it might be something that dogs do for some specific purpose? Maybe someone here has the same problem or has seen his dog do this. Thanks for your help!

My good boy Mac is almost six months! He’s still such a good boy. He’s done teething finally and he’s sitting at 36lbs. His ears have still not decided what they’re gonna do. We do between 3-5 miles a day of just walking, we got him a gentle leader for pulling and it’s been great! He only needs it about half the time (it gets put on when he pulls, otherwise it’s harness). Then we do hiking or dog parks 3-5 times a week. He has 100% changed my activity levels which is a positive for me personally. However, even with that consistent exercise a third floor one bedroom apartment has been less than perfect for us. He occasionally gets zoomies inside and out neighbor below us gets mad every time with out fail (not that I blame them at all!!) He isn’t destructive or anything fortunately but it bums me out when we go for walks and all he wants is to roll in the grass! Plus it makes me wary to do indoor play like tug, for fear of disturbing the neighbors. Fortunately we are moving to a 3 bedroom house with a yard in 22 days!! I would call our apartment experiment a failure personally, but it might just be because we’re on the third floor! I certainly wouldn’t bring a BC puppy up like that again. However, I did see a lot of people mentioning that bringing up BCs in the city can go poorly and I haven’t experienced that at all! If anything Mac has been exposed to so much at this point he’s barely perturbed by anything but children (and we’re working on that!! Parents don’t let your small children grab random dogs!! )We’ve also taken like five very long car trips and he’s been such a champ!! It would be insincere to say we don’t still have lots to work on! However it feels like he’s on the path to be a really well adjusted boy! Also his smarts still amaze me. Even when he’s using them to cause chaos! (Like opening doors) Thanks again for everyone’s amazing dog info on the boards. It’s been a fantastic resource for me while making my way through the puppy process!

Hello I am having some negative and unsettling experiences with my 6 months old (neutered) BC male, and I was hoping you guys might have some insight.. This is my second BC, a spirited male from strong herding lines. He’s mostly very well behaved and very sweet. Obedient, a quick learner and has great focus during training. So far we have mostly been doing obedience and some scent work. I got him at 8 weeks, and he learned quickly that play biting had to be gentle, and the play biting on people was phased out entirely somewhere between 1-2 months ago. He still gets to play and bite on appropriate things, but doesn’t mouth me (or other humans) anymore. The main issue that we have been working on is that he has a strong urge to chase cars. I have gotten help from a professional dog trainer, and he has been getting so much better. It is all positive, training focus and contact with toys and treats. I have been sitting down with him, holding him gently and praising and rewarding when he looks at me instead of the passing cars, while gently holding him back/preventing him from running after the cars. He used to bark and lunge at the cars, ignoring everything else around him, but now he is so much calmer and usually sits calmly and looks at me again a few seconds after the car has passed (or doesn’t even look at them if I have a toy out). He has improved so much, however today a car was passing on a road we have walked quite a lot on (and we have had many cars pass us here). And so I was sitting with him, just petting him a little and kept a hand on his collar just in case as the car passed. But suddenly he started pulling, growled, started pulling towards the car and bit my arm when I held him back. Not just a nip, but a proper bite. He’s never bit me this hard before ever, his teeth broke the skin even through a thick woolen sweater. My arm is swollen and turning blue. I was caught entirely off guard, and for the first time he has actually scared me a little. I am quite shaken, and even though he is still just a puppy, I worry something might be wrong. About 6 weeks ago, I discovered a very odd behavior in him as well. Everytime we cross a road, I would have him sit next to me, tell him “over the road” before we cross the road. It was never a problem, and I cannot recall any situations where he seemed scared or agitated while doing this. But one day it was like something just clicked.. I was walking him and I had him sit before a crossing and when I said “over the road” he just started screaming. It sounded like I was torturing him. And then he started growling and lunged at my legs. I had never seen him behave like that (it didn’t seem like playing at all). And since then, any time I say “over the road”, no matter where we are, he would freak out entirely - growling, screaming and attacking me. Whether we were by the road, in the garden, in the kitchen or the bedroom.. Even if I said it quietly and calmly, while petting him or when he was relaxing. So my trainer told me to just not say those words again, and just drop it. And he hasn’t had any episodes like that again since. Crossing the road was also not a problem at all as long as I didn’t utter those words. I just find the behavior to be very strange, and paired with what happened today, I find myself a bit concerned for his mental state.. I suppose I’m just hoping someone can tell me that this is all normal puppy stuff and that it will pass, and maybe hear from someone who has seen similar behaviors in their dogs who can reassure me a little? I apologize for the long and messy post, but I could really use some help. I offer up this photo of the cute lil goblin in exchange for advice

Hi I need some advice regarding my 6.5 month old collie please. He's been doing so well and I can walk with him off lead almost anywhere, he is very responsive so I can't fault him there. The issue I have is when we meet with my friends dogs (two collies too) and my dog is OBSESSED with the younger of them (they are all males btw), if we are throwing a ball for them he will only chase and copy the other dog, circling/ herding him and nothing can break his focus. I've tried all sorts...running around manic to get his attention, having his favourite toys, favourite treats, loud noises etc. NOTHING will break his focus and he just will state at this dog and constantly run just behind him (or weave Infront). Any advice how to prevent this, and what he's doing? I'm assuming herding but it's only with this dog, and the other dog ignores him but starts growling after a while. It's annoying for me as I can only get him to follow me to leave with his lead on and he pulls against me to break off, then when the other dog is out of sight...he goes back to bring good as gold! Thanks

Im buying a BC tomorrow, the only thing is one of his testicles hasn't 'dropped' yet and they tell me that if it doesn't drop the dog won't be able to register his future puppies in the Kennel Club. Its not a major concern not to have the Kennel Authenticity for future puppies, im more concerned about the well being of a dog and the problems it may bring. Im fairly new in the dog world so i haven't encountered this situation before. Ive done some research and the longest it takes is 6-8 months for the testicle to go in its normal place and some never do. Any one got any experience in this subject with BC's? Thanks, Sebastian.

Hi, I am glad that I found this board, it has already been so helpful and I love reading the posts. I hope that you guys can offer some reassurance and advice based on some of my worries, concerns/questions Background: I live in a village with my husband, close to woods and not too far from the Lake District. My husband and I love going on local walks and enjoy going for hikes in the lake district. We have always said that we'd like to get a dog, and a border collie is my favourite breed, so when for health reasons I decided to take a long career break, we decided to get our puppy - I have lots of time to be with her and train her. We bought our black and white border collie puppy home on Saturday (9 weeks, now 10 weeks), from a local farm. Initially I wanted to do lots of research and carefully select a breeder but when we visited this farm, owned by very welcoming family, we fell in love with our puppy and generally got a good feeling about the place. Unfortunately, although she was chipped, flea and wormed, their vets advised against giving these puppies their first vaccination (as they had with previous litters) until they went to their new homes. I was told that this was due to different vaccine strains. Also having lived in a barn with her litter mates and her mum, seeing very few people or traffic she has had very little socialisation. After a few days of settling in, I took my girl for her first vaccination on Monday. It wasn't a good experience for her because she was scared due to the traffic on the way in, scared by a large dog that came too close in the waiting room, causing her to bark, and then because she was so spooked she barked at the vet aswell. Overall a stressful experience, and one that I so wish had gone differently for her. Generally I have been amazed by her, at how fast she has seemed to settle with us and how quickly she is picking up toilet training. I have a crate for her, so at night (or during the day when she's tired/ needs to calm down) I place her in it, close the door and cover it over with a blanket. I leave her with a night light, and although I feel now she could go through the night, I do get up at about 3am to take her out for a wee. I wouldn't say she is "crate trained" as she doesn't go in there of her own accord to go to sleep, but I do feed her in their for positive reinforcement and when placing her in I always reassure and praise her. Putting her in her crate is met with some whining now, but she soon settles down. In the day time, over the last few days, I have tended to spend most of my time with her. At the moment she is confined to one room, and I have a blanket that I have placed at the foot of the settee where she plays either by her-self or more often than not with me. She has soft toys, chew toys and he odd ball, but I tend to only allow a few toys out at a time and rotate them so shes not bored or over-stimulated. When I feel she is calm I do some basic command training like sit and down, with treats, which she has picked up quickly, and we have a good routine for toilet training, where at the same time I'm teaching her to sit on a mat to wait whilst I put my shoes on, and not bite the lead when I attach it. She is doing really well. My worries/anxieties are first her lack of socialisation, especially with other dogs (I have had people over to meet her and she has been really happy and affectionate), and cars. I have started carrying her down my quiet road every day, giving her reassurance but she does get very scared as we approach the main road. Is this normal for this age? Also I'm not sure how much time to spend with her. She goes in her crate when I am not there and have to do other things for myself and chores in the house. I feel that the crate gives her a safe place to be when i'm not there, and she can't be destructive when not supervised, and also at times I feel that she does get abit overstimulated so I feel her crate is good for calming her down. When I'm not giving her attention, she has started to push the boundaries and chew on things she shouldn't - like chair legs, and furniture. I tell her No firmly, or say down and place her down. I do also distract her with something else but its like its something that's stuck in her head that she wants to repeat again and again to test me. Is this normal, and am I doing the right thing with preventing her from being destructive? I would appreciate your advice going forward. I love her, she is a lovely pup, I just want her to be happy, and grow up confident with good manners. Thanks

Hello everyone, myself and my husband have just got ourselves a red border collie at 10 weeks old. We call him Copper. He is a delightful little pup, loves attention, loves to be held and have human contact, he communicates with us in his own ways and is proving to be an extremely clever little boy! It is intended that he will be a worker dog with our sheep (we live on a farm). However we are complete newbies at this and frankly, we don’t have a clue what to do! My husband feels confident in training him and is planning on training him for his sheepdog duties in a few months (is this correct timing?) but we aren’t sure how to treat him as a pup. Of course, we do know how to look after a puppy (we both had dogs in our parent’s houses) but we have been told that if we over indulge our new pup and treat him as a “pet” e.g. let him inside the house (he has a lovely space in our garden and shed to run about in!), carry him etc we will ruin the work ethic and he will evidently fail at being a sheepdog He stays in a big kennel and shed in our garden and has plenty of room, my husband goes out to see and talk to him or walk him around the house every hour. Copper is finding separation very hard and will cry for a few minutes when my husband walks away. Also, I am trying to keep my distance from the pup (which I am finding so difficult as I am very fond of him) so he can build a good relationship with my husband for training. Is this also the right thing to do? Are there any basic rules or “dos” and “donts” we need to know when looking after a stockdog pup? I understand this is a long read but I would greatly appreciate any help or advice! We are based in Ireland Many thanks

Hey!!!! i just got my first border collie a month ago, his name is Triple. I’ve had many dogs, and currently have another 2 (10 year old Jack and 1.5 year old mutt). Ive always wanted a BC, but had to wait until the right time. Triple is the Easiest puppy I’ve ever had, and I’m accrediting that to his border collie brain. He is 3 months old, smart, sweet and oh so funny! We are going through the Great War chafe right now, so every day it’s a surprise as to what we are going to wake up to! Up? Down? Sideways? Who knows! I’m hoping to do agility and dock diving for fun with him, and maybe dabble in some hearding. We’ll see!