New owner

[Sox owner]

Hello all

to start don’t get me wrong I love my dog and have never put my hands on him!!!

but I rescued him in June 19 and he was 6 months old. He was doing well with house training but regresses every couple weeks with chewing my couch or occasionally going to the bathroom in my basement. I don’t understand other than change of schedule. I travel for work and now he goes with me. Any advice

[Eileen Stein]

The reason you haven't gotten any replies is that "ASK AN EXPERT is a forum for questions about training dogs to herd livestock ONLY.  So I'm going to move your posts to the GENERAL BORDER COLLIE DISCUSSION forum.

In the meantime, I assume your dog has chewed your couch when you were not present, or gone to the bathroom in the basement when you were not present. If so, the most likely explanation is that your dog does not yet know that he is not supposed to do these things EVER, even when you are not there.  Dogs often associate learning with particular places -- just because he knows not to go to the bathroom in the living room doesn't mean he knows not to do it in the basement.  What measures have you used to try to make him understand this fully?

At this stage I would not give him access to the whole basement when you are not there -- just to a smaller enclosed area where he is less likely to think it's okay to go.  And I would not give him access to the couch when you are not there to correct him if he starts to chew it.  Does he chew other things you don't want him to chew?

It's easy for people to assume a dog understands something if they think it's obvious -- like you should not go to the bathroom in the house.  But really, why would a dog know this without thorough training to get the point across fully?