PUPPY TRAINING FOR BORDER COLLIES
I'm the ONLY ABTC-registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist who specialises in collies in the UK, meaning that you will be getting the best help possible, backed up by the latest scientifically proven theories and methods.. I'm located near Spalding, South Lincolnshire, and I really enjoy helping owners with new puppies.
My puppy training for border collies sessions are for puppies from 8 weeks to 12 months. If you are a breeder then we can start even younger than 8 weeks. I travel to your home and help you and your dog in person, or I can help by video call if you live further away.
These sessions do not replace puppy classes, which are important for your puppy to meet other puppies and learn some basic obedience. My puppy sessions are more to cover anything you are having issues with and are essentially your chance to ask me anything you need to know about raising a collie puppy specifically. Many puppy training class trainers do not have the knowledge or experience to be able to give you collie specialist advice.
What training do I cover?
Anything at all that you are having issues with!
Topics usually covered in collie puppy sessions are:
- Puppy biting
- Sleep isses and helping puppies to settle
- Management - pens, crates, fencing off chewable items
- First walks
- Socialisation - what this should look like
- Introductions with other pets
- Chewing things
Preventing car chasing
The sessions will focus on typical training for puppies that will help them to grow up to be loving family pets.
How to book:
You can book a single session for £70 or 3 sessions for £200 (plus travel costs if I visit and you live more than 40 minutes away). This training is an excellent start for your life together with your puppy. The sessions are either online by video link or in-person at your home if you live in the Spalding area.
It's REALLY IMPORTANT to start training in the right way while collies are very young. Puppies are learning ALL THE TIME, even when you're not "training" them. Book a session now!
Why Is It So Important To Start Training Your Border Collie Puppy?
People often ask how often I train my puppies and my answer is ALL THE TIME! Not official set training sessions, but in everything I do with them, every minute of the day.
Border collie puppies learn extremely quickly. This is great while they are learning what we want them to learn, but sometimes they start learning the wrong things. This can lead to behaviours that cause owners big problems as the dog grows upand most puppies won't "grow out" of such behaviours. Knowing what to teach and how, along with ensuring that all the family has the same rules and are consistent, will ensure that your puppy grows up to be a loving, loved member of the family.
Remember: invest in training now for a lifetime of happiness.
1. Resolving your concerns
Our first step is to cover any problems that you might be experiencing, such as:
- Play biting (collies can be like little velociraptors)
- Inappropriate chasing (cars, people, shadows)
- Issues with recall
- Not settling in the house
- First walks
Once these problems are resolved, we will move on to teaching basic life skills.
2. Our puppy training program
For border collie puppies aged 8 weeks and over.
We'll guide you through teaching your puppy basic life skills such as:
- Loose lead walking
- Recall whenever called
- Instant drop
- Stay/wait
- Settle calmly on a mat
All taught in your home through video call or in-person.
3. Ongoing training
Finally, we will offer advice about ongoing management of your collie puppy as he or she grows, how to avoid her picking up bad habits and how to break any that develop. What ever age your dog or stage of development, we'll always be here to give you support if you need it.
As puppies grow they can exhibit challenging behaviour, particularly around the "teenage" adolescent stage, and collies especially need a job to do. If they don't have one they will find one! I'll be there to help!
Without the right management and guidance, border collies frequently, through no fault of their own, turn into uncontrollable delinquents, frequently resorting to the following behaviours to keep themselves entertained:
- Biting & rough playing
- Car Chasing
- Aggression with other dogs, adults or children
- Recall problems
- Evening hyperactivity
- Chasing runners/cyclists
Once these behaviours are established they become a habit that is VERY difficult to break. This is why it is much better to never let them begin in the first place. Good training and management is the best way of reversing early signs of developing any of these issues and we can help with this. It's ESSENTIAL that these problems are nipped in the bud within the first few days of them starting to develop in order to set your border collie puppy back onto the right path.
Border collies are within the top ten breeds of dogs that are most likely to end up in rescue in the UK. Why is this?
Border collies have been bred for many generations to herd sheep and cattle. They are hardwired to control movement; to run towards the sheep to the opposite side of them to the handler, in order to keep the sheep contained. When the sheep don't move away from the collie naturally, they will use their teeth to nip at the heels of the animals in order to get them moving. This creates the following problems when border collies can't do what they were bred to do:
- They will chase cars but are unable to get to the other side of them, they will keep trying, leading to high levels of frustration
- They will chase people, other animals, cyclists and children
- When people, animals and children refuse to be herded, collies will nip in an attempt to bring them under control
- Being bred to herd sheep all day, they have high levels of energy, and puppies find it very difficult to learn to settle quietly
- If they are not given a "job" to do, they will find one, usually not one that the owner wants them to do (eg. "guarding" the home or chasing shadows)
Additionally, border collies have been bred for many generations on quiet, remote hillside farms, in outdoor kennels, where they see very few humans, traffic, cyclists or prams. This gives them a tendency to be fearful of anything new and, if the first few introductions with people, traffic and other new potentially scary items are not managed well, collies will become afraid. This fear can manifest into fear aggression, very easily becoming a major problem where the dog is a hazard to itself and others.
Whenever people ask how often I train my collie puppies, my answer is always "ALL THE TIME". Puppies are always learning whether we want them to or not.
They learn that when they whine a bit, people look at them and react, so they learn to do it more and more, whenever they want something. This quickly becomes annoying but because it has been so reinforced, it has already become a habit that is difficult to break. Similarly, when puppies are being housetrained and they have an accident inside, they learn that some owners will turn into scary, shouting monsters who get really angry. The puppy has no idea that this is because he went to the toilet inside the house. He just knows that when he went to the toilet in front of his owner, bad things happened. He therefore makes sure that this happens as rarely as possible, including when he is out in the garden with the owner, and it is freezing cold and raining. The puppy can already sense that the owner is angry so the last thing he is going to do is go to the toilet in front of him. So housetraining starts to become an issue.
Trying to think like a collie puppy will help you to work out what to do and what not to do - always try and see things from the puppy's point of view.