Do you live with an adolescent Border Collie? Adolescence is the age range where most Border Collies are rehomed or are put into rescue. It can be a challenging time for some. As the cute innocent puppy grows and their body develops they become stronger and more physically able. Then hormones kick in. For some this is an easier ride than others. Many develop cloth ears and lose their recall. They may have sailed through puppy class but this is why training should not stop. Hormones change and can make them braver in investigating the environment and their person becomes discarded from being their puppy safety net. Some may experience further fear periods as they try to make sense of the constant changes in their body's becoming sensitive to novel items. They may suddenly change from a sweet and innocent puppy to having BIG feelings about... well anything really. For some car chasing may start during this time. Just like teenagers their sleep patterns may change and let's face it no one is pleasant with lack of sleep. And let's not forget the Collie eye that develops later in some than others. Sensitivity to movement can become heightened and this along with cloth ears and bravery can lead them into trouble by chasing inappropriate things. Girls with have their first season and boys will become more interested in girls. With hormones raging sniffing may become of even more interest and frustration type behaviours show aplenty. Owners can now feel totally overwhelmed as their sweet innocent companion becomes a velociraptor. Frustration can creep in on both sides of the relationship which helps no one. To survive adolescence don't be afraid to use management. In fact I actively encourage it. If you don't have a solid recall put a long line back on so they can't practice running off and getting into trouble. Just like teenagers there is no point shouting at them to go to their bed or room otherwise you risk ruining your relationship. They are much more likely to shout back and stand their ground. Remember they may look more grown up but they are still a puppy just in a more adult looking body. The truth is if you can get through adolescence then your dog usually returns to the sweet temperament they had before as long as you haven't allowed them to practice unwanted behaviour. I choose to actively ignore certain behaviour and not become reactive myself. One bad walk does not make a 'bad' dog. Next time I will observe and see if this is a problem that I then need to set up a situation better for. Keep up the training but work with the dog in front of you. If you feel they are giving you a hard time then they are likely having a hard time themselves. If in doubt play with your dog. Games of tuggy can release any frustration and within the game you can teach necessary skills like impulse control. Play will help build and maintain your relationship. Never underestimate the power of play. With my present adolescent Border Collie Beau I have mostly had to work on his movement sensitivity with impulse control work and focus on me. We have mostly rewarded this through play. There have been days where he has been sensitive and lacked confidence but I know that inside there is a wonderful loving dog. Have patience with your adolescent. Work out what they need. Work out how you can help them navigate this time so they can come out the other side and shine. And if all else fails there is always wine 🍷 and chocolate 🍫

5 Common mistakes made when working with reactive Border Collies. Here I have taken a previous blog about dogs in general and added in the relevance to Border Collies. 1. Using no measurable data to know if you and your dog are improving or not. With out tracking your progress you will not know whether to continue with the training as it is or whether a change is needed. This is relevant to all dog breeds. 2. Working at too close a distance to the trigger so the dog is in a state where he can not learn. He is also practicing the unwanted behaviour here and thus getting 'better' at it. This can be difficult with Border Collies as they have been bred to detect movement at up to 900 metres away and so just increasing distance may be difficult to get enough distance. So if your Border Collies reactivity is due to movement sensitivity then just increasing distance may be difficult. 3. Working on the dog's most difficult trigger first. This is the same for all dogs. 4. Not knowing your dog's most valuable reinforcer to use in the training. Ignoring the fact that herding type behaviour is reinforcing in and of itself will set you up to fail. A food scatter will never over ride herding 5. Becoming a reactive owner. This is the same for all dogs. To successfully help our reactive dogs to transform from reactive to relaxed we need to be strategic in our approach. 1. Keep a diary/record of data. Rather than just looking at whether your dog lunged and barked include factors such as intensity and recovery as well as frequency. By breaking it down you will be able to be reinforced by seeing the progress you are making which will motivate you to keep up the training. 2. Learn how to read your dog's body language so you can gauge the distance you need to be able to work at so that your dog can learn from the training in a positive way. This will also help you from working at such a great distance that your dog is well within their comfort zone and so no change is made. If your Border Collie's body language tells you there is herding behaviour driving the reactivity then you won't be using counter conditioning as a training approach. Instead focus on impulse control training. 3. Know all of your dog's triggers and work on the easiest first. This will make learning easier for you and your dog and as your dog builds confidence this will also make it easier to work on the more difficult triggers later. 4. Understand what your individual dog finds reinforcing so you have an effective reward to motivate a change in behaviour and a change in emotional response. If your dog won't take food or play with a toy then you won't be able to use them to train so will need other options. 5. Be the calm and confident one in the relationship so you can pass confidence to your dog. If you are feeling tense and clutching the lead each time you see a trigger before your dog then you are passing a message to your dog that all is not well and it is something to worry about.

Being able to get eye contact from our Border Collies is a really important part of our general dog training. Dogs that are happy to look to their owners for permission to do things are easier to train and handle in every day life due to the connection they have with their owners. But, for our Border Collies eye contact can be difficult. This is because Border Collies are bred to control livestock and use the 'Collie eye' to intimidate, move and control. And when working on sheep they will not be expected to look at the shepherd although they are still expected to respond to their cues. So it is not a natural behaviour for a Border Collie and may in fact cause them to feel pressured and uncomfortable. Some Border Collies are reactive to people and other dogs when being approached from head on or if they are being stared at. This is totally understandable when we appreciate what they have been bred to do. We can work with our Border Collie's though to help them feel more comfortable in giving eye contact. Below is an exercise to develop the skill. Step 1 Scatter 3-4 treats on the floor Step 2 Pause and deliver the next 3-4 treats more slowly Step 3 Pause again and wait for the dog to lift their head from the floor. When they lift their head use a marker of either a clicker or a marker word like a 'Yes' and place the next treat on the floor Step 4 Repeat step 3 but wait for the dog to look higher than in step 3. Step 5 Repeat until your dog gives you eye contact. They may get stuck for a while at your hands if you have treats in them but wait until they look up at your face. Step 6 Once your dog is offering eye contact then you can add a verbal cue. First place the treat on the floor and just before they look up use your new cue. Step 7 Repeat until your eye contact is on cue Some other tips to help your Border Collie feel comfortable with your eye contact is to blink while looking at the dog. Looking away and slightly closing the eyes are also ways which will soften your eye contact and help your Collie feel more comfortable. If you would like to learn more about the Border Collie then check out this course Understand Your Border Collie

Border Collies are bred to be working dogs and so if they are given nothing to do in a pet home can become troublesome and destructive. To lead a full and happy life a pet Border Collie with not just need regular walks but also mental training. Many Border Collies excel in sports such as agility, flyball, obedience, hoopers and disk dog. Trick training is also great for mental training and can be fun for both owner and dog. But, when not at a training class what other jobs are suitable to give your Collie something to do? Here are some suggestions Collecting the post Bringing you your shoes or slippers Opening and shutting cupboard doors Taking out the recycling Loading and unloading the washing machine Finding lost items like your keys or the TV remote Giving your dog jobs to do will help satisfy their busy brains and can be part of your everyday life. By involving your dog you can both have fun together. Here are some examples of people giving Collies a job to do. One young Collie was difficult in her behaviour each time the dishwasher was emptied. She anticipated this happening and would run around barking in anticipation and potentially could also nip too. The owner decided to teach her to help as part of her behaviour modification. She taught her dog how to open the cupboard doors so the items could be unloaded from the dishwasher and put away. As any good Border Collie would the dog took her job seriously and calmly and quietly opened and shut each of the doors when the owner asked making it a fun job while also changing the behaviour. Other family members also showed more interest in emptying the dishwasher too now that it was fun with the dog helping. Another young Collie was taught to collect a bag of crisps from the bar in the local pub as a surprise for the Dad in the family who had been working away. This was fun for all the family and gained many fans in the pub too. What jobs could you teach your Border Collie? Interested in trick training? Then why not check out our fun trick training course

Border Collies are naturally higher energy dogs so it is important to understand how to meet their needs and give them a happy and satisfied life rather than allow our environment to become stressful for them, which then encourages unwanted behaviour and inappropriate outlets. Make sure your Border Collie gets enough sleep. This may sound silly but imagine an over tired child having a tantrum! Over tiredness can effect us all and lead to unhealthy behaviour and habits. If your Collie is over tired then it may be more inclined to nip as a puppy or be less able to think and respond to you in later life. Teach your Border Collie an off switch. It is really important that our Border Collies know when it is time for work and when it is time to switch off. Border Collies are working dogs and find herding intrinsically rewarding. This means that it makes them feel good and so they will keep going. As a working dog they are bred to be independent and solve problems. If you aren't clear in what you want your Border Collie to do they will find their own work like rounding up children or chasing cars. They may even train you to play with them all evening which can be exhausting. Our busy lives and visually stimulating environments can also make it difficult for a Border Collie to switch off if they are always on alert and feel they need to control everything and anything that moves. Mat work is a great way to teach your Collie to calm. Teach your Border Collie to be flexible in their arousal level so they don't get over excited and then struggle to calm back down. Teaching them to switch between play and calm will pay dividends. A short game of tuggy and then some mat work in between focussing on calm can work really well. Learn how to work with your Border Collie in arousal so they can still respond to your cues when excited. This will help your recall if they love to inappropriately chase Meet your Collie's physical needs. Most Collies need to have time to run off lead to be happy and satisfied. A lack of physical exercise can cause unsettled or destructive behaviour. Teach a solid recall so you can give your dog more freedom. Meet your Border Collie's mental needs. Border Collies are extremely intelligent and need mental stimulation as well as physical exercise. Trick training is great fun for both dogs and people. Mental training can also be just as tiring as physical exercise so find a balance in both A happy satisfied Collie can be a dreamboat to live with if they are given correct training and are understood. If you want to learn more about Border Collies take a look at our course Understand Your Border Collie

15 things I have learned from my Border Collie Unconditional love Joy can be found in the simplest of things It is a privilege and not a right to earn a dog's trust Challenges are opportunities to train Progress is never linear Live for the moment It's not always appropriate to want to control everything Love your work and you will want to keep doing it Play like no one is watching It is possible to have someone obsessed with you, even if that is a dog Training doesn't stop when you have learned something, maintenance is required to maintain the skills Life does get easier after adolescence Dogs share freely their hair, muddy paw prints and nose dabs, you will miss these when they are gone If you don't like something pee on it and move on Dogs don't live long enough

Are you considering getting a dog and wondering if a Border Collie could be the breed for you? After all when you see Border Collie's performing on TV talent shows and in sport they look like fun, trainable companions. They look easy to train. And, the reality is they are very intelligent and trainable IF you know how to train them. Their intelligence and independence can have equally it's pros and cons. It is important to remember that Border Collie's were bred to herd livestock, to control the movement of animals bigger than themselves. They were bred to work at a distance, be independent and think for themselves, to keep going all day, have amazing vision to see the flock at several hundred metres away and have acute hearing too. So what does this mean for a Border Collie living in an environment where they don't herd livestock each day? It is possible for Border Collies to thrive in other homes but they do have specific needs to be happy and fulfilled dogs. They need plenty of physical exercise but with a balance of also teaching them an off switch. If you try and make a Border Collie better behaved by taking it for longer walks before you know it you will have an athlete that needs even longer walks and when you want to relax of an evening they will want even more attention. Mental training is of equal importance. Border Collies do not come fully trained. If you don't enjoy dog training then don't get a Border Collie. If they are not mentally stimulated they will happily find their own jobs to do and self employed Border Collies can become a nightmare to live with. They may herd the kids and nip their heels, control the movement of the hoover or even try and control the TV screen. When walking they may chase cars or react to other dogs that stare at them pulling your arms and making walks far from enjoyable. Border Collies are not bred to be hugely sociable dogs so may not appreciate meeting other dogs or having strangers come into the home. Their eyes detect movement more readily than ours and so busy environments can be a struggle and cause over stimulation. Some Border Collies are noise sensitive due to their acute hearing so again can struggle in more urban environments or households with young children. Border Collies find herding intrinsically rewarding. The eyeing, stalking and chasing things comes naturally to them and if this doesn't control the movement then a nip will follow. Nipping is a common unwanted behaviour seen in Border Collies with inadequate levels of training. They are after all bred to stand up to animals bigger than themselves. Compulsive behaviours can also occur with Border Collies who are not having their needs met or those that are finding life stressful. Shadow chasing is an example of this. Unfulfilled Border Collies can also become destructive in the home. So if you work all day don't expect your home to be as you left it on your return. So if I haven't put you off just yet let's look at the good side too. If you are an active person who want to share your life with an intelligent companion to share adventures with. If you want to train your dog daily for either sports or tricks as well as for life skills. If you are patient and kind. If you are willing to understand the breed and appreciate they were bred to be a working dog and not just a pet dog. If you are willing to accept their herding tendencies , embrace it and train so they are under control. Then a Border Collie may be the dog for you. If you would like to find out more about Border Collies then check out our online course Understand Your Border Collie

Not all Border Collies need to herd sheep to live a happy and satisfied life BUT they do need an appropriate amount of physical exercise and mental training to be happy and healthy dogs. Herding is inbuilt into the Border Collie and the eye, stalk, chase herding behaviour is both what makes them brilliant and can get them into trouble. If you don't understand what makes them tick then their brilliant brain which makes them learn quickly can start to entertain itself. Inappropriate herding of children or cars may occur or they may try to control the movement of other dogs in the park or even the people they live with. If eyeing, stalking and chasing doesn't work then they may nip. Life can in fact become really stressful for a Border Collie who has no idea what you want them to do. Often their 'unwanted' behaviour is just genetics informing them of what to do. But needing to control movement of everything in the vicinity is a high pressured job which can make them anxious or out of control. Not all Border Collies need to herd sheep to be happy and relaxed but they do need to know what they should be doing instead. The clearer communication you have with a Collie the happier and more relaxed they will be. They love to use their brains and that is why they make good sport dogs using both their bodies and their brains. Mental training can be just as satisfying for a Border Collie as running and so it is important to find a balance in both. Relentlessly chasing a thrown ball can cause over arousal for a Collie and create an adrenalin junkie. Thinking you can exercise them enough to wear them out may just create a fitter dog that can keep going for even longer so the right amount and type of exercise and training is important to consider. A lack of physical exercise and they may become frustrated and destructive and too much and they may become obsessive. You will never remove herding instinct from a Border Collie and neither should you want to. Instead put it under control and work with your dog. Train your dog, not for the sake of training but for the sake of your dog. If you are an owner who doesn't herd livestock with your Border Collie you will need to be inventive in your training. Agility, obedience, trick training, canicross, scent work, man trailing. The list of activities you can do with your Border Collie is larger now than ever so pick something and enjoy your dog. If you need help training your Border Collie and want to join the waitlist for the DingBatt to Dreamboat Collie Academy then sign up here

5 Common mistakes made when working with reactive dogs. 1. Using no measurable data to know if you and your dog are improving or not. With out tracking your progress you will not know whether to continue with the training as it is or whether a change is needed. 2. Working at too close a distance to the trigger so the dog is in a state where he can not learn. He is also practicing the unwanted behaviour here and thus getting 'better' at it. 3. Working on the dog's most difficult trigger first. 4. Not knowing your dog's most valuable reinforcer to use in the training. 5. Becoming a reactive owner. To successfully help our reactive dogs to transform from reactive to relaxed we need to be strategic in our approach. 1. Keep a diary/record of data. Rather than just looking at whether your dog lunged and barked include factors such as intensity and recovery as well as frequency. By breaking it down you will be able to be reinforced by seeing the progress you are making which will motivate you to keep up the training. 2. Learn how to read your dog's body language so you can gauge the distance you need to be able to work at so that your dog can learn from the training in a positive way. This will also help you from working at such a great distance that your dog is well within their comfort zone and so no change is made. 3. Know all of your dog's triggers and work on the easiest first. This will make learning easier for you and your dog and as your dog builds confidence this will also make it easier to work on the more difficult triggers later. 4. Understand what your individual dog finds reinforcing so you have an effective reward to motivate a change in behaviour and a change in emotional response. If your dog won't take food or play with a toy then you won't be able to use them to train so will need other options. 5. Be the calm and confident one in the relationship so you can pass confidence to your dog. If you are feeling tense and clutching the lead each time you see a trigger before your dog then you are passing a message to your dog that all is not well and it is something to worry about.