She is too smart

[laurenngl]

Help, my BC is 10 weeks old and of course she wants to play all the time. But at the end of the day she wont wind down often. She seems to do things on purpose to get attention, biting,barking etc. If I am firm and tell her to stop, she barks at me, I dont want to be mean to her,when my hubby yells, she gives him a dirty look and trots off. Thats as a last resort.She is very smart and understands alot already. Also, what kind of play is appropriate for her when she has to be in the house. She has several toys, but wants attention all the time. My other pets are Pebbles, a mini daschund and Snowy a 16 yr, old Maltese mix, and two indoor cats, Tiggy and Rastus. They all get along, but Magic does annoy them alot.

[skyborderline]

I think puppies are like children. My puppy would act up and be very naughty at the end of the day. I just put her to bed.

 

Kitty

[Pretzelkitty]

How much time are you spending with her? I am only asking because Border Collies need a lot of attention, all the time when you're home. I have a 15 week old pup...and she's deaf. She is a huge challenge because I can't even scold her when she is doing something wrong. I find what works best for us is to spend at least 2 hours a night with her. I play with her, take her to the dog park, or take her for long walks around our place. After that, I usually spend a little time trying to train her. I find that this usually tires her out quite well. She is also enrolled in puppy socialization and is going on to obedience in a few weeks.

 

As for the wanting attention all the time, that's a typical puppy trait. For mine, if I absolutely need to have a little peace, I will put her in her crate with a Kong or some toys. Interactively, indoors, we play tug or I throw some of her toys around and she brings them back.

 

As for other pets, in my house, Chloe is not allowed to pester the cats. If a cat approaches her and wants to play, then I let her. However, if Chloe just wants to torment the cat and the cat doesn't want it, I distract Chloe and get her to do something else.

[Tassie]

For the wind-down question, my thoughts too were - crate or x-pen, and stuffed Kong or something similar. One of the most important lessons a Border Collie in particular needs to learn is 'settle' and learn to spend time on your own. (Easier said than done when they're so darned cute.)

[bob d]

BCs are really different Lauren - although you've certainly figured that out by now. My wife and daughters spent 2 full years trying to convince me to get (for the wife) a BC - so we finally did... and within a month it was clear the new dog was MINE - simply because of the attention he needed - it all worked out with a happy 'ending', I mean I don't mind, I was ready - but it certainly was not what we had planned.

 

As a new puppy - our BC received 2 to 3 hours of play time (tons of running and thinking) each day (he still does) - and his responsibility was then to be nice (quite and calm) when he's not playing - and he is. We started with a routine that continues to this day (14 months later - Sparc is now 16 months old) - that requires he be calm in the evening - and he is crated over night. There was a little protest from him a first, but just a little - consistency is the key - they will know if there is a lack of that, and then you're in trouble. I'm nothing if not consistent, and Sparc has responded wonderfully - because he, like all BCs, is so smart.

 

I can not imagine how a BC could be managed if one did not have hours to spend with them each day - I enjoy the time with our BC, but thinking of 8-10 hour a day away from home working people, with BCs - it seems sort of sad for the BC - at least in my limited experience.. Every time I leave the house for more than a couple of hours, I am greeted on return as if he thought I'd NEVER come back - if this was daily, I think his heart would break.

 

Cheers,

Bob

[border_collie_crazy]

what I did with my girls is have set "nap times" basicly I had a pen set up and every day at 2 o'clock it was nap time, puppy went in the pen, which had a bed, and a few toys, pluse some newspaper in case of an accident, and she would be left in the pen for about 1 hour, I did not go in the room at this time as not to get her wound up. I also had a set bedtime, because I went to bed late, puppy would be put in the pen around 9 o'clock, again she would be left in the pen without me there so as not to distract her. both my girls are grown up now and they both know how to settle down and sleep while I am at school and around 9:00 they are generally sleeping lol now about the talking back? well that is normal! Happy talks back to be all the time, if I try to tell her to do something that she dont wanna do, she stars at me and barks whenever I try to say it

[tobesperson]

Tobe who is now six months needed naps when he was small or he would act up, just like a kid, Even now he takes a two hour nap every afternoon, just like a toddler.

[SQinAZ]

Originally posted by bob d:

Every time I leave the house for more than a couple of hours, I am greeted on return as if he thought I'd NEVER come back - if this was daily, I think his heart would break.

 

Cheers,

Bob

That is interesting, Bob. Beck does the same thing...and I thought it was just fear of being abandoned again.

 

Now, I just appreciate the fact that I get such a wonderful greeting when I come home after being gone for a few hours. It's so nice to be appreciated.