# Mental stimulation ideas for my border collie pup



## CaliDog (Jun 3, 2012)

I am looking for some good ideas to mentally simulate my 8 week old border collie pup 
we play games in the day just like throwing balls round ect but we cant take her out yet as she hasn't had all her vacs 
i have got her a toy you stuff with treats but its not a kong toy but she doesnt seem to get it and just barks at it lol


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## bertlovesedi (Jul 18, 2010)

Hi, you will need to enourage her by putting something runny in the kong like toy, something like fat free yoghurt, not too much, just enough to give her the idea. once she's got it you can put treats in.
you could get her a treat dispensing ball or put treats in a small closed cardboard box and let her rip the box to find them.
Try hiding treats around the garden to find.
Also, its never too early to start training, and this is the finest mental stumulation you will find. if you look at the Dogs trust website, they have an article called beating boredom which is really good.
hope this helps


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## CaliDog (Jun 3, 2012)

i will look at that dog trust thing now...we are training her too she knows "sit" and "give me your paw" she has picked them up really quick only had her 6 days the kong like toy is strange infact only like a kong cause you stuff it haha heres a pic of it


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Doesn't need to be runny, just something that's really easy for her to get out. I started my dog off with a few little cubes of cheese and garlic sausage in a Kong. They just dropped out when he moved it so he quickly learned to nudge it and pick it up. Once he'd gotten that he had to play with it to get food out I started making things a bit more difficult by freezing stuff into it or adding a bit of grated cheese and nuking it in the microwave (be sure to let it cool properly before giving it to the dog!).

You can do short training sessions with her, carry her out and start getting her used to all the things she'll need to deal with in her every day life, get her used to people, if you have friends and family with healthy, friendly dogs who are up to date on vaccinations there's no reason she can't be introduced to them.


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Do the treats only come out of those little holes on that toy? If so you might need to start her off with something a bit easier than that until she gets the idea.


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## CaliDog (Jun 3, 2012)

she has been carryed around outside to get her used to noises and been introducing her to different people
i didnt know that i could introduce her to up to date vacinated dogs all our family have dogs so will be trying that this week
the toy has like a long slit at the top and a star shaped slit at the bottom.


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## Jenna500 (May 27, 2012)

I have a collie x jrt who needs a lot of mental stimulation as well as physical!

For her, I hide treats and she has to go and find them. I use cat biscuits because they're small and dry and easy to hide! I started off putting one somewhere just out of sight while she watched, then letting her go get it, and gradually increased the number, and now she's not allowed in the room (or garden) until I've hidden loads. She'll then spend literally ages hunting them down, and when she thinks she's got them all she'll come and sit by my feet for me to do it all over again!


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## CaliDog (Jun 3, 2012)

thanks for all your ideas i bought her a kong before and put peanut butter in her normal dried food little dried sausages from the pet shop and a few chicken treat also from the pet shop and she figured it out straight away she loves it! and wont stop licking it now its all gone lol


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## Bobbie (May 3, 2008)

I think thats the secret with collies to keep them busy they love it.


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## Beverage (Mar 22, 2012)

Be careful teaching paw too much as you could end up with a boxing dog like my newf. He will keep smacking you with his paw to you give him the treat 

I might be exaggerating a little :001_rolleyes:

The kong idea is pretty good. Also hiding from him calling him getting him to use hearing and smell will stimulate him as well. Hiding treats and letting him find them by smell. 

You can start training him going in and out of crates, car and putting the lead on and off. 

Sit and Stay (which is really hard mental exercise for a dog)


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## CaliDog (Jun 3, 2012)

shes really good with her training we have taught her sit, paw and lie down using clicker training which i am really pleased with shes a clever little pup i am in the middle of teaching recall to her hopefully wont take her long to learn


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