Advice and tips on my new doggy please

[TheLifeOfRiley]

He is a 9 month (ish) old collie-cross called Finn.

Have brought him home to see how he and the cat get on, trouble is I can't walk him as immune system is low and hasn't had his jabs yet. Dog warden lady who came to my house said keep him in for about a week, then jabs, then wait a bit longer, then start walks. He is very excitable, jumpy uppy and fussy but he does sit calmly when I'm sat.

Have been playing fetch with him with a dog toy in the house to use some of his energy and letting him out in back yard but does anyone have any tips for me on house training, routine, etc?

Oh and I'd put a safety gate up so that the dog had a zone and the cat had a zone and he can jump right over it ike he's performing on crufts or something! Can you get tall doggy gates??? If I put it higher I think he'll just get under it and if I put it on stairs instead of current doorway I think ds will trip on it.

Meant to say I have been saying NO and turning my back with my arms crossed when he jumps up, and when he has stopped I wil then stroke him. Does that sound okay? Trouble is DS is a little wary and I also need tips on getting DS to be firm and less nervous with dog.

You can get tall dog gates, think I saw them on offer in Argos recently.

Hiding food/treats for him to find in the house will tire him out, as will interactive toys like a kong.

Clicker training is very good for mental stimulation too, so that would work on using up some energy.

Good luck!

Thanks for replying kid, I will look into tall gates.

Not heard of a kong toy, I'm off to google. He's very playful and love his toys so that sounds good.

DO most dog training classes use clicker training? I will look into this, he does seem very responsive to training so far.

I have been to a 6 week training class which has now sadly finished. We didn't use clicker training but I know some MNers use it and highly recommend it.

I have a ball that I got from Pets At Home. Its yellow and you put food/treats inside it. My pup has to roll the ball around to get the treats out. It keeps him occupied for ages which is great!

What area are you in?

i would thoroughly recommend. tiring him out mentally. lots of training for treats. don't over do it, he will get frustrated and bored. but 5/10 minutes every couple of hours and obviously everyday stuff, like when you go to answer the door, train him how to sit and wait, when making dinner train him to stay at one spot in the kitchen.

and get a kong.

oops. xpost.

also when he is jumping up. don't say 'no' or anything at all. just turn your back, fold your arms and head down. when he is sitting calmly, reward. if you say no when he jumps, he associates teh word 'no' with jumping so when you say it again, he will jump. IYSWIM.

wrt, your ds, the best advice i had with a nervous ds is to not let him have any training responsibility until teh dog is actually trained by you. your son will say and do things differently to you. his clicker responses wil;l be slower and clicks need to be really immediate when training a pup or he will forget what he did that earned teh click. so best to train your dog yourself so taht he is pretty sure taht sit means sit and down means down rather than getting confused. tehn when you are confident, start teaching yoru ds teh commands and how to do it, and reward your dog for calmness when your ds is around.

great advice booyhoo, i need to follow that myself as when my dog jumps up he gets a 'no' and a shove too! So, he will get confused because he is getting attention and contact too. He can be such a pain though and when he does jump up, he can nick food off the plates on the side.

Thanks for the tip I will stop saying no as I see what you mean, it's giving him attention for something I don't want him to do isn't it!

I definetely need to begin training and yes I think I will just leave ds out of the training for now as he is very anxious and not as firm as he needs to be.

Thank you all for the advice .