Border Collie owners come hither..

[LST]

What do you keep your borders stimulated with at night that doesn't involve lots of noise..

Shamelessly bumping..

Mine are out 3 nights at week at agility but that can be noisy

Generally though my guys have learnt that evening time is chill out time and not a lot goes on.

They have busy days so are pretty knackered by evenings.

Border collies will demand attention and do have to learn when it is appropriate to play etc. So clicker training calm in the evening will encourage them to relax which is as important to them as being busy.

I can't wait until he can go agility or fly ball.. He's only 6mo though so a little young yet. I brought him a treat ball.. but that, being hard, does not go well with laminate flooring and a sleeping baby

How many do you have cue?

Mine is old and knackered now but when he was a pup he had a kong thing.

He's never been massively manic though.

Sorry.

TBH. He's not that bad.. he has a burst every night lasting about 2 hours.. (just when I want a snuggle )

i have a half border collie he is a bit ARGHHHH in the evenings aND i do some training with him he is 9 months old so just a toddler really sigh sometimes he has a time out in the hall he can be in your face, I do matt training sit stay come lie down but he get distracted with dds sleeve

and we are going to take him to agility but i think they have to be over a year old he is too young --and daft- to go

strike out fail

c. So clicker training calm in the evening will encourage them to relax which is as important to them as being busy.

how do you do clicker training I think mine could do with it is their instructions anywhere so i could learn

have a look for karen pryors books on clicker training to get started on clicker trainjng

I have 4 collies LST and a few other fosters in the mix plus other dogs.

Your pup is too young to do the full agility training but he is more than ready for the preliminary training.

Totally agree that he needs to be taught calm and the clicker is the way to go with collies.

Collies are full on BUT they do learn to chill really well. People think they are on the go all day but my labs/spaniels are much harder to teach to chill.

Teach him to target with his noise. Get a plastic pringle lid when he touches it with his nose click and treat- this can be done with you sitting on the sofa. This will help him to understand his agility contacts. Teach him to stand on a step with two back feet on the step and front feet on the ground.

Teach him to spin to the left and to spin to the right - this will help with directional commands when doing agility.

Get him used to running with you - run in a large circle with him outside of you -
Then run in a circle with him on the inside much harder!

Teach him to wait so throw toys etc play with a tuggy by yourself and he has to wait until you give him a release command before he can get it.

Do not ignore him when he is calm. - click and treat the down position as many times in the day as you can.

If he has had interaction with you during the day, exercise, training etc then he does need to be taught calm. It may be a six months that he does need lots of little bursts of training but once he has had that he must learn to relax.

Collies are fab dogs, so bright, so empathetic, so up for most things - the more you give to your lad when he is young the more you will get back over the next 16 years - they are a joy to be with.

Also rather than the treat ball you can just hide food around the house that would not be so noisy - they find nose work very tiring.

At 6m mine was a lunatic. I had serious regrets about getting him.

But he calmed down soon after. He was also neutered around then - so that may have helped too. We wear him out with a good run around off lead in the afternoon, he usually has a long nap after that and still gets a bit of a half hearted mad half hour late evening, where he likes to chase and play with the other dog.

At 6m I also found he tended to get over-tired much like babies/toddlers do - sending him to bed often worked and when he got up after a sleep he was much nicer.

He is 18m now and such a lovely lovely dog - so cuddly and loving and obedient and makes me really proud He is a massive mud magnet though, I have fine splatters of mud all over everything.

karen pryors books on clicker training to get started on clicker trainjng

thank you i will have a look and start

I sometimes scatter new dogs dinner round the house we have wooden flooring it is easy to clear up slobber, mine is a rescue and he was just left to fend for himself in his last home basically to bring himself up,

My collie-cross puts herself to bed at 7 and doesn't like to be disturbed until the morning! We don't know what she's crossed with but I think it must be something anti-social calm.

Mine love playing hide and seek for food or toys.

A hamster in a cage he loves him watches him for hours he is 10 years old now but still a lovely fun pup.

We have 10 and they all settle down at night at `the moment one is on the floor in ds bedroom two stretched out by the fire two o the sofas and the rest are around the house all sleeping quietly

My 2.5yr old rescue collie WAS lovely and calm in the evenings until very recently. He has discovered that if he holds the tail of his Kong Wubba, and shakes his head, he can beat himself around the body with it! everyone stands back and waits until he has worn himself out. We must get extra insurance on the TV!