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Hello, We have a 13-week border collie, and we're having trouble getting him to hold it through the night. At about 11 weeks, he slept through the night (11:30p-7:00a) numerous times, but recently, he has been waking up at 4:00a, 5:00a, or 6:00a everyday and needing to go potty - usually first a pee and then 15-30 minutes later a poo. Then he has been whining when he gets back in the crate (even though we're very careful not to make nighttime potty outings fun). We feed him dinner at 5:00p and we take away his water bowl at 9:00p. Is this timing okay? One idea I have is that we aren't tiring him out enough in the evening. It's tricky though, because he usually sleeps (outside of his crate - he chooses to sleep) from 9:00p or 9:30p until we wake him up for his before bedtime pee. If we wake him up at 11:00p, then we have 30 minutes to tire him out before bed, but then he can't pee again right before bed because it's too soon. We've tried waking him up earlier (10:30p) so he can pee right before bed at 11:30p, but we can't keep him up for the full hour because he's so tired. Any suggestions for how to handle the evening schedule so we can tire him out but he can still pee right before his bedtime at 11:30p? I hope this isn't a silly question. I'm just new to puppy routines... Thanks for your help! Sarah

Hi all I'm new here, but have been reading through a lot of this forum. I guess, the main thing I need to know is if there are any "quick fixes" for bc's? I mean, any specifics I can do to get good results quickly.... Let me back up and give some background. My bc mix, Brick, was a craigslist puppy. Met him, he played nicely with the kids (9&3) right off the bat and claimed him. (I knew nothing about border collies at the time. Wrong of me, I know. I was "licking a wound" getting a dog and didn't take the time/effort into going about things properly. Lessons learned). The original owner was going to keep him for the six weeks between my finding him and us moving to the family farm from our apartment. A week and a half in I got a call saying that he had been hit by a car and his leg was injured. When I asked when they were taking them to the vet I was told they would not and that I needed to pick him up asap. I picked him up immediately. He was not putting any weight on the leg, even though he was in good spirits. Got him into the vet the next day- two breaks in the leg. Missed the growth plate, barely. The vet made it very clear (ortho surgeon confirmed) that the injury was not due to a car and I could consider him a rescue from an abuser. She also mentioned his anxiety level (and the fact that he had already attached to me) being something that was going to be a challenge. It has been. I had to move to the farm ahead of my family, with Brick, due to the apartment landlord not giving any leniency given the circumstances. Being a "family" farm, that meant all the work for getting the place ready to live in, was on me (something i was not expecting. Wouldn't have gotten any dog, at that point, had i known.). Its initial state of being has lead to potty training issues with Brick. The previous tenant had let cats and dogs use the whole house as potty grounds. I had to pull all the carpet out (I sealed the floors for health matters). I do wonder, inspite of sealing, if this play any part in potty-training trouble. Another factor is that we live with my father-in-law who has some sort of small mix dog that has never been potty trained. He constantly marks corners and anything left on the floor. My fil has made it where if I complain about his dog, ask him to clean up after him, etc., he threatens all animals being gotten rid of... He also has no "animal behavior" sense, so to speak. When his other male dog was still alive, he would freak out on Brick when Brick would sniff/lick at his dog's genitals after urinating, calling him a "sicko" and "perv". I explained to him why dogs do that, but he isn't the kind of person to listen to reason. Also, Brick will be calm as can be, even sleeping on the floor, and the moment my fil comes home, Brick goes crazy. It's like he senses my fil's energy (high and not always positive) and runs with it. I can't change my fil, so trying to train Brick to sit/stay whenever he comes, instead. (Not sure if that's the right thing to do!) Basically, between my lack of training him with everything else on the plate (that I did not expect to have to take care of when looking at getting a dog) and the issues with other animals and people in the home, i'm in a tight spot. My fil and husband are at their limits with Brick and threaten weekly to make me rehome him. I can't honestly say he's a bad dog. The separation anxiety (extreme salivating, diarrhea, crying, pupil diallation, metal crate destruction, etc) is a huge challenge. Although, I am a stay at home mom and only gone a few hours one or two nights a week, if I'm not home, he causes trouble. I can be home for several days in a row with no bathroom incidents, leave Brick at the house for an hour with my hubby and kids and he will defecate indoors. He likes his crate, so long as the door is open and he can see you. He sleeps in it at night and goes in on his own accord or with a "go to bed". I did read the post about Patricia McConnell's book, I'll Be Home Soon!. I've read that and intend to crate train as she directs. He is a car chaser. I know. Bad. My solution was to not let him outside off lead. My thinking was that we needed to allow enough time to go by, without him having the opportunity to chase, to allow him out of the habit. We live in the country. We get a car ever 2-4 hours, maybe. No consistency. Not sure how to "train" with that being the case. Brick never left our property prior to lead restriction and never "ran off" (other than when after a car). Since restriction, if he "gets out" off lead, he bolts and there's no getting him back. (for some reason I knew this would happen, but just hoped it wouldn't. not sure why I thought that, but here we are). I think the main challenge I'm running into is Brick's personality. He's smart. Definitely meets the bc standard there, but he's got a lazy streak in him like i've never seen (we think he's mixed with basset hound based on dwarfism in legs, huge paws, floppy ears and temperament). He lays down to eat, refuses to do more than 2 or 3 chases of a ball for fetch, and once his tongue can't reach the contents inside a kong he's done with it. The one time my husband took him on a run he laid down in the middle of the road and wouldn't budge until he was good and ready. (hubby came home saying, "never again".) This makes keeping his attention on anything positive (like described in the book) a challenge. It makes training sessions challenging (trying to end on a good note is baffling!). It makes exercising his energy out of him a challenge. Just need some direction on dealing with this, in general. I know I need to be more consistent with training. Fixing me and how I'm handling him is the main thing. I get that. I'm willing. I just don't know how, especially with this lazy streak attached. It's not been all for loss. He's great with the sit command. He came with resource aggression and that was the first thing I tackled, involving both my kids. My 3 yr old son can walk up to him and take any toy/treat from Brick without any sign of aggression from him at all. He used to plow the kids over going down the stairs. He now sits at the top and waits for their release once they are at the bottom. He is not allowed in or out of the house/car until we are through and he is called. He is not allowed out of the door on his own without a sit/release (prior to lease restriction and still). He goes to bed when told (usually). He, now, gets off the bed when told. He still jumps up, which I'm not a fan of, but at least he gets down right away now, once told. I used to have to shove him off with the command, in order for him to budge. My heart was Brick's from day one. With the rough start and challenges ever since, my husband does not care for him one bit. I have never rehomed a pet for any reason other than necessity and have no desire to do so now. Sorry for such long post. Just wanted to "get it all out there." Any and all advice, positive criticism, etc., very welcome. Pics from when we first met him (5 months old we think)

Hello, I currently have a 14 month old BC(that we purchased as a puppy) and just purchased a 14 week old puppy. With my first puppy, we got especially lucky and only had two accidents in the house, both of which were directly our fault. He would always come to the door and bark/scratch to be let out. We do have a dog door, but our cat will go out through it and venture the neighborhood, so the door is only open when we are not home and the cat can't get to the door. With my new puppy, if the dog door is open he will go right outside to do his business. If it is closed, he won't do anything to let you know. No scratching, no barking. He will just stand there until he can't hold it and then use the house for a bathroom. This puppy is very quiet in general and I don't really want to encourage him to be boisterous, but he's not picking up on needing to let us know he needs to go out. Furthermore, when he is outside and wants to come in, he just sits there. My other dog will go out and play, come to the door, bark once and wait to be let in. I'm just not sure what to do with this. The puppy is technically potty trained and won't go in his crate and doesn't want to go in the house, but he won't give us any cue that he want to go outside. I understand that a puppy needs all eyes at all times which is why we haven't had many accidents, but the few he has had are because of this. Any advice? Thanks in advance.