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Hi all! I'm curious, has anyone else heard of/taught their dogs "Sheepballs"? Our trainer recommended it for Bailey to help him improve his focus, and i think he'd really enjoy it. Although he'll fetch his stuffed toys at home, he doesn't like to return/fetch a ball when out, but seems to prefer to just be a goalie and stop the ball then move on to another one! I've posted the link to the inventor below to anyone who is interested! https://www.learningaboutdogs.com/welcome-sheepballs/

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

It's hard to believe that Cricket is coming up on five months old! He's turning out to be, as my husband likes to say, "a good little pup". I'd say about 95% of the time we can correct his over-exuberant interest in the cats with a sharp "ah-ah" or "eyes on me" command, his mouthiness is decreasing, and he's calming down considerably. He will now have periods where he actually lies on his bed in the kitchen while I cook, or while I work at the kitchen table and we are SO happy to see that. He was a perpetual motion machine for so many weeks (we brought him home when he was 8 weeks old) that I despaired about whether he would ever learn to calmly flop around like our old dog did. One current issue we have: our closest friends have a three-year old male dog who is roughly the same size as Cricket. They love to play with each other, but Cricket just won't quit when it comes to playing. He constantly engages the other dog, pulls on his ears, leaps onto him and, as of our last visit (they were over at our house), will mount the dog! He makes himself a complete pest. The other dog won't separate himself from Cricket, and while he will growl at Cricket, his tail is still wagging while he does it. We put Cricket in his crate for about an hour and a half so we could have a peaceful dinner on the porch, but then when we let him out he was right back at the behaviors. We love to hang out with our friends, and we'd love for Cricket and their dog to also be friends who will play AND chill out together. Is there anything we should be doing, other than crate time? Will Cricket eventually calm down in this dog's presence? He has been socialized with other dogs in terms of being exposed to them, and on walks he behaves pretty well, all things considered, when he encounters another dog. Also, we correct him for mounting, but obviously this is embarrassing behavior and we don't want it to become a habit. It seems connected to his heightened excitement level when this dog is over, or when people he doesn't see often visit. He tried it on my father-in-law last weekend when he was visiting. Very awkward. My FIL just sat there and looked amusedly on while he did it, which was frustrating, but understandable, I guess. I told Cricket "ah-ah" and put the leash on Cricket straight away and took him out of the room. Do we just keep correcting and hopefully this behavior will disappear as he matures? Thanks! Oh, and here's a recent photo of our little guy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XMeMYzWMjxbHdpOC0td0pDMzg/view?usp=sharing

I adopted an older border collie a couple of weeks ago and was hoping some folks here may be able to help answer some questions... A bit about Joe: he's approximately 8 yrs old, a bit overweight, very friendly with people, (almost too friendly... He'll basically go with anyone that calls him... even if they haven't met yet). Also does well with other dogs. Vet check is clear he's really a healthy senior other than being overweight. From what the Humane Society says, he came from a ranch here on the central coast California, owners fell into financial difficulty and could no longer keep him or their other female BC. He's fairly well trained in terms of obedience, sits, stays,lays down, comes, actively responsive to his name. He seems to be the laziest border collie I have ever met. I realize that he needs some time to warm up... and he's at a house not a ranch so I expect a bit of time before he adjusts. Does not acknowledge toys of any sort. Walking/hiking and dog parks seem to perk him up a bit, but when I take him outside to do some minor training or try to play he seems to be waiting for me to shut up so he can go inside and lay down. toys are nonexistant in his eyes and treats are sortof a side note to him. I'm trying to find ways to interest him... but I'm just not sure what does it. I know he's bored, but what's his cure for boredom? Are there any ways of flushing out what gets him excited? What makes him tick instead of flop? He loves attention, being close and being rubbed are working to help make him feel safe... but I feel like if I could find what it is that he really really likes, I'd be able to use that to make him feel more confident with our family and entice him to get him off his butt and run a little . I imagine scenarios that might explain the behavior... maybe he was working on the ranch until his family lost their animals... he sat around without work, got fat, and eventually financial decline got to the point they couldn't afford the dogs either. IDK If that's the case, I don't have animals for him to herd so I'm out of luck there... I also don't want to stress his joints too much since he's getting older and currently overweight. any advice is appreciated... I've never encountered a low energy BC. Thanks!

Quick question about free time in the yard. I am lucky enough to have a nice sized yard for my 11 week old BC to play in. Many times I will do 2-3 hours at a time out there, which is also really wonderful. Usually I will start out with a 5-10min training session on the basics using the clicker and then just release her for her own free play. Every 10-15 minutes I'll join in for a tug game or throw the frisbee (which she either does not get or grabs and runs off with). My question stems partially from me being a worrier and a doer, so when I see her romping around in the bushes, chewing on all kinds of stuff and generally showing zero attention span I wonder if all that free time is good for her. Part of me thinks that of course she will need time to develop her sense of independence, but I definitely do not want to squander opportunity to help her develop. Thoughts? Thanks!!

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