# Struggling to Control a 1 year old border collie



## xemzsx (Feb 10, 2013)

In November we fostered a Border Collie Puppy, she is now 1 year old and we have decided to keep her permently. She took a little while to settle in but then remembered her training at least part. To begin with the first few weeks we had to re doing house training, but shes fine with that now. We just have some behaviour issues now. 

1) She doesnt Come when we call her ( she will look at you but wont come back, this is in the house and off the lead, if we say 'here' or 'come' she just looks at us like we're stupid)
2) Whenever the front door is opened you have to grab her by the collar to stop her from getting out, we have a road in front of the house with a field the other side which we take her on regularly, she just runs out of the house straight on to and over the road to the field and lays there waiting for us as soon as we get near she then runs away from us.
3)She still jumps up even though perstiantly saying no and pushing her down
4) she still tries to steal food off plates and out of peoples hands
5) when sitting down on the sofa, she will come sit on you (lap, shoulders basically anywhere she can)
6) Alot of barking all the time over nothing, ( our old dog didnt bark at anything but strange men and the door, the new puppy just barks and barks at nothing
7) has destorys plants, plant pots etc in the back garden
8) wont stay all the time, she will she 70% percent of the time but wont stay
9) she wont drop anything she picks up, she just wants to play tug of war, even with balls just anything
10) she can changes moods in a click, for example she'll be nice and calm then suddenly jump up trying nbiting hand and arms you lift them up and she'll lunge then she calms down and a mintue or two later she starts back up ( did this 5 times today for atleast an 30 mins - and hour each time
11) still struggle to walk her on a lead, we have now brought a harness which helps alot but still yanks and wont heel or walk remotely nicely at all.
12) still chews everything she can tissues, wii controls, mints, socks just anything and everything.

These are just a few problems i can think of at this moement 1:20 in the morning!! because shes been doing the biting thing again. i think we are finding her so hard since we got her when she was 8 months allready (sad story behind but will explain if need more background) we have made a lot of progress with her but not as much as we'd like!! And before people say she just needs more walks which people keep saying shes getting atleast 2-4 hours of walks a day normally two walks one in the morninga and afternoon, tbh most the time she gets more but at least 2 hours. and plenty of play time eg tug of war and fetch, but things are starting to get to much as she is a handful!! shes a lovely puppy and everyone loves her to bits just hard at times, we had our last dog since she was 8 weeks old so no stranger to puppys but they are very different to each other, any help would be much appricated 

Emily


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## Twiggy (Jun 24, 2010)

To be honest that sounds pretty normal untrained year old collie.

Basically she needs training and to learn your 'house rules'.

It's not about increasing her walks because you can't tire most collies out, it's more about mental stimulation and giving her a job to do.

Have you thought about finding a decent local dog training class, where you will be shown how to teach a solid recall, sit and down stays etc.?


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## nickmcmechan (Aug 1, 2009)

You have lots to train there.

I think you need to find a good training class. Look for one that uses kind, rewarding techniques. You should sit in and watch a class before joining.

In the meantime there are two books to get you on the right track

Before & After Getting Your Puppy by Ian Dunbar
The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson


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## GermanShepardOwner (Aug 20, 2012)

xemzsx said:


> In November we fostered a Border Collie Puppy, she is now 1 year old and we have decided to keep her permently. She took a little while to settle in but then remembered her training at least part. To begin with the first few weeks we had to re doing house training, but shes fine with that now. We just have some behaviour issues now.
> 
> 1) She doesnt Come when we call her ( she will look at you but wont come back, this is in the house and off the lead, if we say 'here' or 'come' she just looks at us like we're stupid)
> 2) Whenever the front door is opened you have to grab her by the collar to stop her from getting out, we have a road in front of the house with a field the other side which we take her on regularly, she just runs out of the house straight on to and over the road to the field and lays there waiting for us as soon as we get near she then runs away from us.
> ...


For the re-call you need to keep her on a lead, for her safety and others. Use a long line and you can practice on that, she can still have freedom but if she doesnt come back you can reel her in. Id use a whistle start in the house, whistle, treat and keep repeating. Then when you blow that whistle she should come straight away as she associates it with a high value reward. Then you move to garden etc with more distractions, but then if one time she doesnt come back or listen you need to take a step back. Time and practice will work, but there are many ways to teach re-call. Make sure its high value treats your using, keep throwing treats at her while on works to keep her motivated and excited, also use toys, whatever else motivates her. Look on youtube, there are some great training videos on there. And also, she may well not know what come or here actually means.

You say she runs out when you open the door, have you taught her to stay and not go out the door without a lead on etc? If she goes out that door when being taken for walks she wont know the difference if you havent trained it. You need to get a clear stay, make a imaginary line, and when you tell her to stay she doesnt cross the line when off lead and you open the door. She has to know the command to actually do it.

With the jumping up, alot of collies do this. When you walk in a room, dont interact with her too much, if she jumps up, turn your back, cross arms and say a command such as off or no etc. She does it again i would remove her from the room for 20-30 seconds and repeat. Again there are many methods to stop this behaviour. Alot of people accidently reward the behaviour without even realising aswell, you may be saying too many words, facial expressions, body language, things you are doing.

Most dogs will steal food if they get the chance, they need to be trained to not take food. Make sure all plates and food are out of reach, dont set her up to fail. Start off with a piece of food on the floor, get her to leave the food and after just a few seconds give her a treat, (high value), then you can increase the time she leaves it for and again give a treat.

If you dont want her on the sofa you need to make sure she understands that and train a off/stay command.

Some dogs will just bark at nothing, although you need to remember dogs can hear alot better than us and can hear very small sounds. Some dogs bark for attention and stress.

Dogs which are stressed will reguarly destroy things,but also will do it for pure fun and out of boredom. Make sure you give her enough toys/and are not rewarding the behaviour.

All these behaviours IMO can be changed with training, it doesnt sound like shes had alot. The pulling on lead can be trained with time and patience. I would definately get some help from a trainer and behaviourist because i dont think you can sort all these problems on your own. All the behaviours are fairly normal, this dog just needs training and understanding.


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## xemzsx (Feb 10, 2013)

When we got her, we were told she'd done all her puppy training etc Which i dont think she's had, we got paper work and everything. We did all our own training before, but now its alot harder because everyone in the house lets her have different rules. And for the recall bit across the road we have a caged area we can take her in and shut so we can pay ball and she cant get away. This is where to do alot of the re call training and training in general. I found that when we have treats she'll do what ever you want but as soon as you start to take the treats away slowly thats when she goes back and this keeps happening. The lead training has got so much better you can walk her now without getting pulled over. And she has toys everywhere, then on top of that she has loads of bottle which when we got out we put some treats in and give it to her and it will keep her occupied for hours, so its not like she doesnt have thing sto play with / do.


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## Megan345 (Aug 8, 2012)

Our collie was a lot like yours sounds when we got her at 6ish months. With consistent training, we're getting there, and you've got/will get great advice here.

I just wanted to add, with the whistle for recall, we introduced it at feeding times. Obviously she was around my ankles when I fed her, because she knew what moving the bowl meant. I got my OH to take her into the next room and close the door while I prepared the food, then open it when I did the chosen signal (three short sharp blasts). She'd barrel in as soon as the door was opened and go straight to her bowl. 

We did that for a week or so then tried it outside on a long line. She immediately 'got' it, so quickly it was like it had been hardwired into her! We always back it up with a squeeze from a tube of Primula cheese, that we ONLY use for recall. She's only once had a failed recall (when I've had the whistle, she doesn't really respond to our voices, I think they're too 'normal') once in nine months now, when she found a dead catfish on the beach 

Bit long, but I hope that helps. If I could only train one thing, I'd want it to be recall!

Oh - and we don't use the whistle to recall at the end of a walk to put her lead on.


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

One of the first things I teach a pup, is to wait for its food. Helps to have two people doing this to start off with, one to hold th e pup back and one to put the bowl of food down. Make the puppy wait until you give the word and hand signal that it can go and eat. I feel this gives you some respect from the puppy right from the start. The pup will go from staring at the food to watching your face intently waiting until you say the word like fetch it or something similar. Once you have that initial respect it's easier to continue, but I could be talking absolute you know what's and I've never lived with a lively young collie.


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## Wiz201 (Jun 13, 2012)

xemzsx said:


> 1) She doesnt Come when we call her ( she will look at you but wont come back, this is in the house and off the lead, if we say 'here' or 'come' she just looks at us like we're stupid)
> *Use a treat or toy to make yourself more exciting? Use a long line for outdoors if you've not got control over her at the moment*
> 2) Whenever the front door is opened you have to grab her by the collar to stop her from getting out, we have a road in front of the house with a field the other side which we take her on regularly, she just runs out of the house straight on to and over the road to the field and lays there waiting for us as soon as we get near she then runs away from us.
> *So put her on the lead? Use a house line or keep a very short lead on her*
> ...


Collies are different to other dogs, perhaps consider doing agility or more training classes with her that work on her mental stimulation.


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## Twiggy (Jun 24, 2010)

xemzsx said:


> When we got her, we were told she'd done all her puppy training etc Which i dont think she's had, we got paper work and everything. We did all our own training before, but now its alot harder because everyone in the house lets her have different rules. And for the recall bit across the road we have a caged area we can take her in and shut so we can pay ball and she cant get away. This is where to do alot of the re call training and training in general. I found that when we have treats she'll do what ever you want but as soon as you start to take the treats away slowly thats when she goes back and this keeps happening. The lead training has got so much better you can walk her now without getting pulled over. And she has toys everywhere, then on top of that she has loads of bottle which when we got out we put some treats in and give it to her and it will keep her occupied for hours, so its not like she doesnt have thing sto play with / do.


I don't understand why you've stopped using the treats if they work?

That's really the same difference as you and I going to work and not being given a salary cheque at the end of the month. A pat on the head from my boss and a "good girl" certainly wouldn't do it for me.


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## Megan345 (Aug 8, 2012)

Twiggy said:


> I don't understand why you've stopped using the treats if they work?
> 
> That's really the same difference as you and I going to work and not being given a salary cheque at the end of the month. A pat on the head from my boss and a "good girl" certainly wouldn't do it for me.


True! People call it bribery, but I just think, 'Hey, whatever works!' That way, the one time I absolutely NEED them to recall or whatever, and don't have a treat, they'll still do it.


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## Wiz201 (Jun 13, 2012)

yeah my two retrievers still get payments in treats for whatever we want them to do. They don't need them all the time, but a bit here and there certainly helps.


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## WhatWouldSidDo (Nov 17, 2012)

Sounds just like any other untrained dog. You need to read "The Culture Clash" and you will then understand your dogs behaviour and what to do about it


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## Owned By A Yellow Lab (May 16, 2012)

Just to add that I would urge you to get some sort of dog gate or baby gate fitted to stop your dog running out into the road. 

Keep going with the recall - it took ages to get a halfway decent one with my Lab, who was also a rescue. But the more work you put into it, the more you and your dog will bond and that will make all the other training easier too.

I agree that 'The Culture Clash' would be a great book for you to read - personally I think it should be compulsory reading for all dog owners


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