The adolescent collie...

Clodagh said:
Sorry, they were just my muzings. I really didn't intend to offend and I know he is your first dog.
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I’m perhaps a little over sensitive. I do appreciate people taking the time to add their thoughts, even if I don’t always agree with them.
 
gunnergundog said:
All driven dogs need to learn to have an 'off switch' on command.....I want to stop and talk to someone, dog needs to be able to switch off from whatever he was doing previously, including hunting, and chill by my side.

Can go into how I do this later if you are interested/think it appropriate in your case. My scenario is however gun dogs.

I am soooooo not a collie person....never owned one, but have seen a few work with them/been involved in helping re-home some failed pet acquisitions. One was turned around by giving it an outlet for its herding/chase instinct as follows. Six large inflatable balls all grouped together....owner kicks one....oh bugger mate, you've let one of them escape! Dog runs out and 'herds' said ball back to group. Repeat ad infinitum. Dog thought it now had a job in life and so long as it was allowed to work its balls every day, it became very compliant in other walks of life and stopped chasing cars etc.

You need to think border collie I would suggest.....and not just plain old dog. He was bred to do a specific job, so give him a job to do. He thinks he is doing the right thing running off after the 'escaped' bird or whatever. :)

I hope you get some responses though from those on the forum that work their collies.
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I would really appreciate that, thanks very much. He’s pretty good at looking like he has switched off and is chilling out, as in he isn’t being a pain in the ass messing about whilst I chat to people or have a drink, but equally I’m aware he is still very aware of surroundings. So advice on this is helpful.

I have heard of the gym ball type games, now I have a field to play in that might be a great idea! I will try to think more collie!
 
amymay said:
BB do you do agility?
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I don’t, they do do it at the dog training place I was going to (not as a proper club but every session included a little agility, a little obedience, a little scent work, some trick work). I haven’t been able to go back for months as I’ve had a heart problem so we have been missing out on that bit.

The field that we have just bought is right next to another field that has a full agility course set up. The occupier has said that when we finally move there she is happy to help me with some training, which will be great.
 
Obv not a collie but Millie is a 3-ish year old lurcher and she never goes off the lead now unless it’s in a secure dog field. It’s meant I’ve had to start running again just to wear her out!

Last week I felt sorry for her, she had been going stir crazy at home winding up Marty and she was (to be anthropomorphic!) desperate to go for a run. So I let her off on a well known route.... she ran ahead a little then stopped, looked round and waited for me. I had her in my sight.... I glanced down to walk around a muddy puddle... and when I looked up again she had vanished. She was found by a lovely couple out walking a mile and a half away, she had clearly found the scent of a deer and had also crossed a road from one area of the woods to another. I am never ever feeling sorry for her again!

You sound to be doing really well OP so stick with it!
 
you sound like you are doing a good job and he is getting plenty of exercise which is better than lots of dogs who are only walked on a short lead and never allowed to run free. i would also be cautious about letting him off if there are nearby roads or livestock and i have had dogs for over 50 years so dont think you are doing a bad job. each dog is different.... my young terrier was happy to ignore me calling him so i decided to try a whistle instead of using my voice...a couple of short bursts of the whistle seems to override his wish to run off investigating other things and he is now really good and it is rarely necessary to put him on a lead. i would try a whistle with your collie and give him a really tasty treat when he come to you.., he is still young and i am sure you will get there in the end. good luck
 
You seem to be doing very well with him and a sensible owner,the long lead is the best way to keep him in control.I wonder what triggers his behaviour when caged and sees you with the horses .? Does he want to get out and round them up possibly.! What is he like being left at home alone for a short time.? Anxiety can cause problems if the dog is not conditioned to being left alone and as a result cannot let the owner be apart ,even though in sight but not accessible.
 
All dogs are different and no two are the same, even in the same breed (or litter come to that). You are doing all the right things in teaching your dog to learn to focus on you and keeping him safe. He is looking absolutely gorgeous by the way.

I have very little experience of show line border collies, having only had working collies, but it sounds as though your boy has bags of chase drive which you can harness to your advantage. There is a book that goes along with this article, but the article is a good starting point (the author also runs various seminars on this subject throughout the UK).

https://www.dog-secrets.co.uk/how-do-i-stop-my-dog-chasing/

A friend who had show line collies said hers had the chase drive but none of the brainpower of the working dogs, so are less easy to train. I don't know how true that is across the board but you need to find what motivates your individual dog and work on that.

I do also agree that dogs (especially higher drive dogs) need to learn to settle, to just be a dog ie sniff and mooch on walks, as well as enjoying fast and furious interaction with the owner. It sounds like you are incorporating training, play and "just being a dog" time in to your routine so I am sure you will get there - it just takes a little longer for some dogs than others. We have a young collie that is generally well behaved but just yesterday lost his head when we weren't watching him for a few moments and he took off into the field by the cottage and was rounding up some very pregnant ewes - aargh! Lesson learned, he won't be trusted again for a while. So it is not just the inexperienced owner that can be caught out or who has to take a longer time in training a young dog.
 
Mister Ted said:
You seem to be doing very well with him and a sensible owner,the long lead is the best way to keep him in control.I wonder what triggers his behaviour when caged and sees you with the horses .? Does he want to get out and round them up possibly.! What is he like being left at home alone for a short time.? Anxiety can cause problems if the dog is not conditioned to being left alone and as a result cannot let the owner be apart ,even though in sight but not accessible.
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He’s good left alone at home, I have dog cameras and he just sleeps and uses the licky mat/Kong I leave for him. But he used to be a lot more anxious so I think there is that underlying element to his behaviour with the horses, part anxiety and part sheer frustration at wanting to chase.
 
Moobli said:
All dogs are different and no two are the same, even in the same breed (or litter come to that). You are doing all the right things in teaching your dog to learn to focus on you and keeping him safe. He is looking absolutely gorgeous by the way.

I have very little experience of show line border collies, having only had working collies, but it sounds as though your boy has bags of chase drive which you can harness to your advantage. There is a book that goes along with this article, but the article is a good starting point (the author also runs various seminars on this subject throughout the UK).

https://www.dog-secrets.co.uk/how-do-i-stop-my-dog-chasing/

A friend who had show line collies said hers had the chase drive but none of the brainpower of the working dogs, so are less easy to train. I don't know how true that is across the board but you need to find what motivates your individual dog and work on that.

I do also agree that dogs (especially higher drive dogs) need to learn to settle, to just be a dog ie sniff and mooch on walks, as well as enjoying fast and furious interaction with the owner. It sounds like you are incorporating training, play and "just being a dog" time in to your routine so I am sure you will get there - it just takes a little longer for some dogs than others. We have a young collie that is generally well behaved but just yesterday lost his head when we weren't watching him for a few moments and he took off into the field by the cottage and was rounding up some very pregnant ewes - aargh! Lesson learned, he won't be trusted again for a while. So it is not just the inexperienced owner that can be caught out or who has to take a longer time in training a young dog.
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It does make me feel better to hear that even experienced people have the odd issue. That’s a really useful article. People have told me similar before but Ive struggled so far to build a toy drive in him, certainly one that exceeds the predatory chase drive described in that article. I’ve bought the book now so will go back and start from scratch.

I certainly don’t think being kept on a long line is particularly detrimental to him right now, he can still get up some speed (especially if I run with him) and can still hang out and do sniffy doggy things. He only really is affected if he tries to launch off at rocket speed and doesn’t stop when i say. I have the bigger challenge of reeling the line in and out, jumping over it and running along with his jog trot, but I’m getting quite adept now! The worst part is thinking what the long line has probably been dragging through.

So I’m now armed with a few new ideas thanks to you all (including a big purple gym ball!). I think we will definitely get there. (And I would say your friends description of show line is pretty accurate for him, he’s a great dog but with an extremely high chase drive - more than my working line collie in fact- without her sense of logic and reason about what she was trying to accomplish.
 
BPP I started both of mine off with trieball, one more nervous than the other and there are steps to get them pushing smaller things first and building up to the gym ball- if you know this already the next just ignore me but if you'd like to know then I could pm you after tomorrow when I am not on ancient iPad and iffy hotel wifi.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
BPP I started both of mine off with trieball, one more nervous than the other and there are steps to get them pushing smaller things first and building up to the gym ball- if you know this already the next just ignore me but if you'd like to know then I could pm you after tomorrow when I am not on ancient iPad and iffy hotel wifi.
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I’ve bought an ebook for Treiball, but I’m definitely happy to hear extras. Haven’t read any of it yet so all I did then other day was hide a little bit of chicken under it and he was pushing the ball out of the way to get the chicken. This probably isn’t the right way! He isn’t at all nervous of it, I just have to make sure he pushes it rather than wrestled with it.
 
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