Introducing Duddley

[brihop]

Hello,

My name is Brian and I am new to this forum. This is my new 10 week old puppy Duddley ( named by wife and daughter although its growing on me). I have had border collies before but not from puppy age. Just want to say hello and ask is there any advice? I would like to start obedience training ASAP. He seems to sit naturally whenever I approach him. Should I just reinforce this as though it is part of his training? Nips at my heels and slippers when walking by him. Should I stop this now? Any how the list goes on and I can ask for more help as time goes by.

He came from a farm with working parents. He has been home with me for 4 days and is sleeping through the night 11-6:30 without complaint and after a couple of initial accidents only toilets outside. Practiced leaving him alone for short periods in kitchen and he is fine with this. I do put him in a closed den to sleep. Is it a good idea to keep him confined overnight? Seems to be accepting it fine.

Having problems uploading photo. Will try again next time

[D'Elle]

Hello - and welcome!

Reinforcing behavior that you like is a great way to train. If he is sitting as you approach him, watch him closely and just a  second before his rump hits the floor say "sit". Then, immediately that he is sitting, reward him in whatever manner you have decided to reward. Here is where a clicker, if you want to use one, comes in very handy. Click the minute the dog sits and give a treat. The dog will learn what "sit" means in very few repetitions. Always praise the dog for sitting each time until he knows the cue very well. This can be applied to almost any behavior that you like that the dog does naturally, and this approach is called in clicker training "shaping". You can look it up. Highly effective way to train.

Definitely stop the nipping immediately. Any behavior that you permit becomes very quickly something the dog thinks is appropriate to do, and this one could escalate and land the dog and you in big trouble. I would probably deal with this by saying No (firmly, quietly, not with anger) and then picking the dog up and putting him into the crate or in another room for 5 minutes alone. Most dogs, especially border collies, don't want to be isolated, so if that happens every time they nip they will stop doing it. Make sure there's no one in your circle or family who is in any was enticing the dog to nip or chase, and don't play chase or flirt pole games with this dog until the heel-nipping is a distant memory, and possibly not at all.

This forum is a great resource for help and support, so make use of it as much and as often as you like.

Don't forget the photo....

 

 

[brihop]

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated. I will follow up on Shaping. I will keep trying to upload a photo. System keeps telling there was an error uploading.

Thanks again,

Brian

[brihop]

Managed to get photos from my phone to upload. This is Duddley

[D'Elle]

quite the cutie you got there. I love me a freckled dog.

[Baderpadordercollie]

He is so freaking cute oh my GOSH.

Positive reinforcement is the way to go, especially for puppies. Some super awesome (and free) resources are Kikopup and Simpawtico dog training on Youtube, Nancy Tanner, Eileen and Dogs, and Awesome Dogs on Wordpress, and The Other End of the Leash blog. 

With obedience, IMO you can certainly start teaching it but I wouldn't expect him to focus in a distracting environment at this age. Socialization is the most important thing.