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Please Help? I Am Worried Sick? Is My Border Collie Ok?


Neigh55
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Puppy pre-school... Go to Jean's Puppy Pre-school in Niddrie. It's not too far and she is a trainer (not just a vet nurse who has been asked to run a puppy class), she will be able to offer good advice and runs a well structured puppy class that provides good safe socialisation for the puppies as well as teaching the owners some good basic obedience and puppy problem solving information. My 2 went to her and it suited us really well, also I know of about 8 other puppies that have been there and it has been great for them. Google it and you will find details.

In terms of an obedience school, have a look at Sunbury obedience but I would also suggest going to have a look at Keilor Obedience Dog Training Club (which runs in Airport West/Niddrie), there are also others in the area they are just the ones I know about. go and watch a class and speak to committee instructors before signing up, you need to be happy to what you are signing up to!

Thankyou for the detailed response. This will be so helpful. I really truly don't like leaving the poor thing in the laundry. In fact, I feel absolutely awful, but if I can take him to classes I will feel alot more confident about how I am raising him. Once again, thankyou very much for your help!!! :thumbsup:

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Thankyou for the detailed response. This will be so helpful. I really truly don't like leaving the poor thing in the laundry. In fact, I feel absolutely awful, but if I can take him to classes I will feel alot more confident about how I am raising him. Once again, thankyou very much for your help!!! :thumbsup:

If you were not doing everything well enough, you would be talking differently.

Your questions would be why does my puppy bark all the time, scratch the door and why is my puppy not happy.

But you have told me ( and the others) about the hard work you are doing to make sure Puppy is fine.

For his age, he is doing the normal, good puppy things you want him to do.

That is great for you, and for his future. Some people just buy a puppy & think it can live outside or be ignored.

You are asking for what to do to make life great for him. That is a caring, loving parent. Keep asking to learn, and to have even more fun.

:love:

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For the mental trick training, there is a method called "Shaping" which means you reward a dog for steps that progress towards the trick you want - like what kikopup does..

here's a list of tricks to try - building on a dog's natural behaviours and offerings...

http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2009/02/idea-list-for-shaping/

And dogs are good at it too, especially the brighter more intense breeds like herders... and small terriers... and small white fluffies... dammit - all dogs are good at shaping and the cuter they are and the more you want to shower them with love and kindness (aka spoiling them) - the better they are at it.

http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2009/09/whos-shaping-me/

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Thankyou for the detailed response. This will be so helpful. I really truly don't like leaving the poor thing in the laundry. In fact, I feel absolutely awful, but if I can take him to classes I will feel alot more confident about how I am raising him. Once again, thankyou very much for your help!!! :thumbsup:

If you were not doing everything well enough, you would be talking differently.

Your questions would be why does my puppy bark all the time, scratch the door and why is my puppy not happy.

But you have told me ( and the others) about the hard work you are doing to make sure Puppy is fine.

For his age, he is doing the normal, good puppy things you want him to do.

That is great for you, and for his future. Some people just buy a puppy & think it can live outside or be ignored.

You are asking for what to do to make life great for him. That is a caring, loving parent. Keep asking to learn, and to have even more fun.

:love:

Thankyou for being so encouraging. It makes me works harder to provide the best environment due to the circumstances. I really do feel like a puppy parent. No, I can't spend time with him during the day, but I will put the effort into providing snuggles, warmth and love. I can't wait for this beautiful dog to spend the rest of his life with me. I was so stressed before about his health and safety, but I didn't stop to think that everyone needs to work, everyone needs to leave their dog on it's own now and then, but that's ok, because I will love him so much, unconditionally :)

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For the mental trick training, there is a method called "Shaping" which means you reward a dog for steps that progress towards the trick you want - like what kikopup does..

here's a list of tricks to try - building on a dog's natural behaviours and offerings...

http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2009/02/idea-list-for-shaping/

And dogs are good at it too, especially the brighter more intense breeds like herders... and small terriers... and small white fluffies... dammit - all dogs are good at shaping and the cuter they are and the more you want to shower them with love and kindness (aka spoiling them) - the better they are at it.

http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2009/09/whos-shaping-me/

Thankyou for all your help and references to good websites to help train him. I will definitely be coming back to this and I will spend hours upon hours researching and finding amazing little training tips :)

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Update - I would like to thank absolutely everyone that has put in a statement encouraging and helping me with Bobby. I know I've said this a billion times, but I'm fully aware that my circumstances aren't fantastic, and I got him at a young age, and I will be leaving him alone for long periods of time. But it's taken this forum to make me realise how lucky he is to be in a loving, caring home. Like many people have said, compared to the neglect some dogs get, my puppy will be raised in a nurturing environment. I have been told by some relatives that he was a 'mistake' or an 'impulse buy' and it's absolutely torn my heart apart because this dog already means so much to me. Thanks everyone for contributing and even reading this (almost 2,000 views :eek: ). I hope everyone has a wonderful night. If you have any tips about preoccupying him during the day, toilet training, mental/physical stimulation, purchases that will benefit him or any random tips, feel free to comment on this forum :)

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The best thing that will help with house training is getting the yard fixed ASAP so he can start spending more time out there to develop a preference for going out there. Otherwise a good general rule with a baby is take the out as soon as they wake up (and I mean as soon as you see them stir), a short time after eating (10 mins or so - depends on the puppy), after vigorous play and every hour in between or any time you see them looking unsettled. If he looks like he is running around searching - he probably is so it is the time to quickly get him outside. Reward him for eliminating outside when you take him out and once you know he will ge pretty quick when you go out there you can even add a command. Hurry Up is what my girls get as a command.

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I think since you can't leave him inside, setting up a limited space with a comfy bed, that's warm, maybe with a talk back radio playing... people noises... and somewhere it's ok to mess up because he's not going to be able to hold on long enough when he's so young to last while you're at work.

I think I was getting up twice between 10:30pm (last pisstop) and 6:30am until my puppy was about 14 weeks and then she could hold on all night... and I was very vigilant during the day about taking her out. I think you might need to train an ok to pee inside here spot.

one time - and one time only - my dog peed in the floor drain in the shower - which I could get that again...

It does help to supervise peestops - on lead - with a command word from very young so you can take the puppy out - give the command - and they will do their very best to empty... instead of puppy that's used to going whenever it pleases because it's outside all the time or has a dog door.

Dog star Daily has a lot of info on how to set that up since it's more Europe/ North America / Apartment / snow in winter / dog has to be inside more of the time kind of website.

For toys to keep dog occupied - kongs stuffed with frozen food, if you can't get home for the midday feed this might help. I think you can get auto dog feeders that operate on timers. My dog likes a bob a lot - which I like better in the soft sided crate - tho she dug through the bottom of it playing with the bob a lot - it's very noisy on hard surfaces.

cow hooves work well for us, but bones do not. What will work will depend on what your dog does with the toy or food - you don't want to leave anything he might choke on when you're not home (why we don't get bones or chicken wings)...

crate training is fantastic for helping with toilet training and also for limiting the opportunity for destruction. You could also use a large play pen - tho with a BC it won't be long before he can jump out if he wants to.

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We use the Bunnings garden waste cages to fence part of the family room off from the pups. I find that they object to being fenced in, but are fine about being fenced off from the leather couch :-) As he grows, he will need more space than the laundry and boredom could become a problem, so if you can safely give him part of the family room, it will make a big difference. The panels are also very useful for reinforcing fences. There's a new kong out - flat and sort of star shaped - that keeps pups busy for hours. I also downloaded an app that plays all sorts of sounds.

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Please get Health insurance for him and keep it going year in year out. Not like me wanted to change companies as mine nearly tripled in one year I got busy and forgot about it then found a lump on my GSD,s leg (cancer)lets just say we will never add up the bills (as I may have a heart attack) but the health insurance would of helped a lot.

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