Driving Me Crazy!!

[Gloria Atwater]

Today has been so much better, every couple of hours I take Grace to the laundry room where she calms down and takes a little nap, I try to calm her down before she enters just so she knows that she isn't going in there because she did something wrong. It may not be exactly every couple of hours but she is calmer today than she has been since I got her. I just didn't know how to make her calm down correctly. I can't thank you all enough. I have a lot of great advise from you all and I can tell you that I will implement them. What a difference today has been. It's been like night and day. WOW!!

 

 

Fabulous news! And OMG, she is ADORABLE!! What an imp of mischief in those shoe-button eyes.

 

So glad to hear you are already making progress. I'll say again, down time is one of the most important things they can learn and I'm delighted that it's working for you. The comparison to a toddler is very apt - just like kids can play themselves into hysterics and then scream themselves to sleep, so puppies can run themselves into overload. By giving her time out, you are helping her relax and unwind. Keep up the good work!

 

Also, those kiddie gates can work well to fence rooms or hallways off-limits or help keep her out of the Chi's space. Keep us posted how she goes!

 

~ Gloria

[teresaserrano]

I always compare kids with pups, and teenagers with teen dogs. I still remember these conversations I had with my older daughter, when she was about 12 yo. Go take, a shower, I would say. But I took one this morning! No, you haven't. Well, I had a shower yesterday! Actually, you didn't either. Then I had one the day before! I'm not sure if you did, but even if you did it's about time you had another.

Then some time passed and our conversation would be more on the lines of me saying, But surely you don't need to take three one-hour-long showers a day!

More time passed, and she finally setled into a normal routine of a shower a day.

Dogs are the same, you spend their infancy teaching stuff, and just when you think they got it, puberty hits them and they forget everything. But the beauty of it is that they do grow up and suddenly all that work you had pays off and they remember everything again

[Roxadee]

The nap time has been a game changer! At what point will she not need to be separated from us and put in the laundry room. Training her is easy except when my husband who just loves Gracie tells me "she's just a baby" and contradicts my rules. Jumping is a problem, I don't know how to stop that. Any suggestions there?

[urge to herd]

Get the cable tie-down installed. Give her a few days to get used to that as an alternative to being crated. Then you start this.

 

She's laying calmly. You approach. She starts to bounce and her front feet leave the ground. You step away and turn your back, go sit down and read a book. Or leave the room entirely for a minute.

 

When she's calm again, approach again. Bouncing dog w/feet off the ground? You leave again.

 

Repeat. It shouldn't take her too long to make the connection between her bounciness and you leaving.

 

When she's reliably calm while on the tie-down, for a few days at least, then try approaching when she's not on the tie down. Turn away if she bounces, leave the room with her behind a closed door if you need to. Likely she'll pick up the connection between 4 on the floor and your presence or absence more quickly.

 

As for training the Husband, explain to him that the training is in aid of Gracie becoming civilized. It doesn't mean that she never gets to be a crazy dog, which can be adorable and fun. It means that the Humans set the time and place for crazy dog behavior. And that if she bounces around and knocks a visitor over/does someone an injury/ruins clothing, he'll be on the hook for costs.

 

Sounds like things are going well for you and Gracie, hope Hubby gets on board soon. Well done, Roxadee!

 

Ruth and Gibbs

[Roxadee]

Get the cable tie-down installed. Give her a few days to get used to that as an alternative to being crated. Then you start this.

 

She's laying calmly. You approach. She starts to bounce and her front feet leave the ground. You step away and turn your back, go sit down and read a book. Or leave the room entirely for a minute.

 

When she's calm again, approach again. Bouncing dog w/feet off the ground? You leave again.

 

Repeat. It shouldn't take her too long to make the connection between her bounciness and you leaving.

 

When she's reliably calm while on the tie-down, for a few days at least, then try approaching when she's not on the tie down. Turn away if she bounces, leave the room with her behind a closed door if you need to. Likely she'll pick up the connection between 4 on the floor and your presence or absence more quickly.

 

As for training the Husband, explain to him that the training is in aid of Gracie becoming civilized. It doesn't mean that she never gets to be a crazy dog, which can be adorable and fun. It means that the Humans set the time and place for crazy dog behavior. And that if she bounces around and knocks a visitor over/does someone an injury/ruins clothing, he'll be on the hook for costs.

 

Sounds like things are going well for you and Gracie, hope Hubby gets on board soon. Well done, Roxadee!

 

Ruth and Gibbs

Thank you so much for explaining it in detail, I needed that. One more problem, I want Grace to get used to brushing, she freaking hates it. I don't do it hard and I make sure she sniffs it, I give her something to chew on, I do it a little here and a little there just so i don't overwhelm her but whenever it is done, she tries to bite it. I can't sneak up on her with it, it's a brush!

[Solo33]

Reading this with a smile. I have a 14 week old .. I know how it is! What I am most grateful for is my puppy's breeder. She has been invaluable in solving the issues that come up and I worry that I am not handling it right!

[Roxadee]

There she is on one of the walks with my husband and myself, she loves walking around there because the leash is off. She walks right with us and if she gets ahead she stops until we catch up, it is adorable, so much so my husband picked her up when he noticed she did it, big softy

[Roxadee]

Reading this with a smile. I have a 14 week old .. I know how it is! What I am most grateful for is my puppy's breeder. She has been invaluable in solving the issues that come up and I worry that I am not handling it right!

My Breeder is also a huge help if I needed her. I remember when I brought her home and switched her dog food from blender raw chicken to kibble, runny mess is what it was,my breeder was extremely instrumental in helping me there, her and well these people. Grace today is fine, it lasted for a minute and now her stool is fine. I know that I changed the kibble and the runs started again so back to the original kibble she went. I have learned so much from this group of people I can't even begin to tell you! They are a wealth of information. Couldn't and wouldn't live without them. I appreciate them more than they will ever know.

[chene]

Thank you so much for explaining it in detail, I needed that. One more problem, I want Grace to get used to brushing, she freaking hates it. I don't do it hard and I make sure she sniffs it, I give her something to chew on, I do it a little here and a little there just so i don't overwhelm her but whenever it is done, she tries to bite it. I can't sneak up on her with it, it's a brush!

 

Aed was just never into the brushing thing when he was that young, he did all the same things. I worked a bit with him to make him tolerate it but he didn't need brushing until he was older anyways so I let it be and when he grew up he had no issues with it anymore. But if you want to be sure and make it work now then this is how I would go about it:

 

A clicker is really useful for this kind of this, so if she's not clicker trained yet, I'd recommend it. If you don't want to clicker train, just praise and treat instead, but you really have to time it well which is why it's harder without a clicker. Anyways, get a bunch of treats she really likes and the brush. Show her the brush. She'll probably sniff, bite, paw, etc. Just hold it, don't react at all, until she looks at anything other than the brush. Click and treat. If she looks back at the brush immediately then wait and do the same thing, keep doing it until she isn't looking at the brush anymore. If she's really interested in it then treat a few times while she's looking away, spaced out as much as you think you can to keep her attention. Same thing if at any point in this process starts purposefully looking at the brush then away because she knows it'll get her treats.

 

Anyways, next step, put it behind your back. Bring it back out. It's now new so she will probably approach it again. Follow the same process until you can take it out from behind your back and she barely gives it a glance. Then do the same thing, but take it from behind your back and reach towards her a little bit. Not a lot. When she's not reacting to that, reach a bit more, then a bit more, then a bit more, until the brush is right at her back. Then put the brush on her back. Don't move it. Just rest it there. Then moving it just a little bit, lightly. Then a bit more, and a bit more, until you're essentially brushing. When she's comfortable with that I'd give her a kong with peanut butter and settle down and just brush her back lightly for a little bit every day, until she associates seeing the brush with settling down for a yummy kong. Eventually you'll have to desensitize other parts of her body, if you want to brush the legs and tail and stuff, but it's exactly the same process as it was getting the brush on her back. Go really slow, treat every single time the brush does something and she doesn't react,

 

Obviously all of this is the kind of thing you do a little bit every day for a few weeks until she's comfortable. Don't try to go too fast. Again, the older she gets the more likely it is she'll be okay with the brush on her own, so it really depends if you think putting in the work is work it.

[teresaserrano]

Tess was the same at your pup's age, objected veememtly to brushing. Then at 5 mo she went blind, was diagnosed with congenital chataracts and had surgery, so a few months passed where I just didn't brush her. When I tried again she was 7 or 8 mo and had no problems with it.

But if it wasn't for the surgery my plan was to train it much in the way chene said.

[LauraV]

For brushing, try putting peanut butter on a spoon and see if she will let you brush her and she licks it.

[Roxadee]

Once again you all have done an awesome job at explaining how this process should go. No one knows Border Collies like you all do, no one!!!! I'm in complete awe at the knowledge and level of compassion. If you haven't heard me say it before (I would surely think you have heard me say this and if not then it's worth repeating) I'm forever in your debt and I appreciate you all so very very much. Maybe I sound a little much, however I believe that you should let people know how important they are to you instead of one day wishing you had another opportunity to tell them.

[GentleLake]

For grooming fidgety dogs and even for nail cutting, the rescue I adopted Wink from smears peanut butter on the side of a fridge. It keeps the dogs distracted (and rewarded!) while you're doing whatever you need to be doing and keeps your hands free for handling to dog instead of the PB. And the side of the fridge can easily be cleaned afterwards. Ingenious.

[Cass C]

There are a few options for brushing. For points when you have to brush the dog and have no choice it's good to have another (calm) person help you restrain the dog to get out a mat or whatever the urgent grooming is.

 

To work on desensitizing I start by getting the dog to lay down and then brush one stroke. The dog doesn't get a release until I get one brush with no nipping at me or the brush. Then Reward and release the dog to be free. An hour or so later I repeat. Then after a week I double the number of brush strokes before I give the treat. It usually takes a couple months of this before the dog will lay quietly for brushing. I also always try to use the same place like a bed or a mat, so they know they have to lay on their bed/mat whenever they get brushed.

 

Lily started out hating it and throwing a fit, but has come to accept it, even enjoy it, and actually starts to fall asleep while being brushed. Lyka doesn't necessarily enjoy it and will pout the whole time, but she does accept it without a fight.

[BCjetta]

My last puppy was the same! She would not stop or calm down in the house unless I put her in her x-pen. Its like she wasn't capable of relaxing if she could be doing something wheras my first one would lay down and sleep in the house when she got tired after playing. She actually spent a lot of time in the x-pen for the first 4-5 months because my oldest dog would randomly attack the puppy or the cats if they came within 5 feet of where she was laying at times - and my old dog was there first so she got priority. So, if I wasn't actively engaging the puppy then she was in the pen so she wouldn't get bitten in the face and wouldn't get into trouble. She had a bunch of toys in there and really didn't mind being in there. She'd entertain herself for a bit and then sleep. We spent a lot of time outside as well. At night she was in a crate in the bedroom to keep her contained (and the old dog slept beside my side of the bed). I'd say it probably took until she was 1.5 before she would actually lay down in the house if she was loose (instead of pestering or playing). She's 5 now and is only ever crated if no one is home. She was also a brush biter. All my dogs have been as puppies. I generally don't do it often when they're quite young and start brushing more when they're a little more mature.

[Bcbex]

For brushing, try putting peanut butter on a spoon and see if she will let you brush her and she licks it.

This is exactly what I do to brush Nalu! ha. Works like a charm. Otherwise, he thinks the brush is a chew toy.

 

My BC is about 5 months old now, so I feel your frustration. So much good advice on here already given though. Great stuff. The crate training down time/naps were a game-changer for me. Helped a ton.

Also, I know that there are some people that aren't a fan of his, but I recently listened to Cesar Chavez's (the dog whisperer) book "Cesar Milan's Short Guide to a Happy Dog" on audible. I got a lot of good insight out of it...mostly for my own behaviors. One thing that I took away was his Balancing Equation--exercise, discipline, and affection, in that order. And he says this is for the owner as well as the dog, to keep things balanced.

I know as a puppy, Grace's exercise needs to be puppy-appropriate, but I have found with my pup, Nalu, that if i give him play time and let his energy out a bit, then do tricks or other training, and afterwards show an increase in affection, he tends to me more well-behaved.

[Roxadee]

I like the Dog Whisperer, he is right when he says that we as humans need to change our behaviors. Gracie is a challenge for me, at the moment she is terrorizing our home by running around acting like a maniac, I know the rain is causing her to stay inside where as we usually take her out on walks around our property. I keep telling myself....she is a puppy, she is a puppy. I can't get her to stop biting, nipping, she is jumping on everything which is going to come to an end because I will not have that behavior, it is unacceptable! The lady who told me about how to stop her from jumping is going to be another game changer for sure!!! I love how she explained it, I haven't started it yet but I can assure you that it's on the top of my priority list! I have no doubt that it will work, what a great idea!!! On another note... Do you have more pictures of your puppy? I love the color, I don't think I have ever seen that color on a BC before, on any dog for that matter, how beautiful!