Puppy survival tips for bringing home a female Border Collie

[estrogone]

After losing our old boy last year at age 16, we have taken the plunge and will be welcoming a new pup home soon.

As its been so long. I hsve completely forgotten what those first few months are like. We are getting a female Border Collie

Looking for puppy survival hacks please 🙏 .

For border collie specific, @Struckbylightning has one so will be able to advise!

On puppyhood more broadly...the one thing I always suggest is train, train train. If you're got a biddable, or intelligent, breed (as you will do) then training them early is such a good way to exhaust them and to build a bond.

Lots of people try and use Kongs and LickMatts for stimulation, but nothing builds a bond between dog and owner or indeed tires a puppy out like 15 minutes training 3-4x a day. It's what I always advise people who buy puppies from me, and I do it myself, and it's a lifesaver. Things like: 'sit', 'down', and 'paw' are what most people typically teach their puppy. But if you've got a smart one, or even a motivated/biddable one, you can easily teach 'stay', wait, recall by name, 'leave' and dozens of other commands before it's 12 weeks old with a bit of effort - and that makes first walks much easier (particularly if your girl is food motivated, as she'll already associate you with commands and food - which is always good) and as I said, added bonus the little landshark will be tired and sleep!

Other thing is to socialise in a sling (please don't carry the puppy in your arms - I see too many people do this and suddenly puppy has wiggled free and is on the floor) before vaccinations. But take the puppy to cafes, pubs, parks etc and just let her see the world. Get her used to being with you going past bin men, men in hi-vis vests etc.

My only other piece of advice, and it's a mistake I see too many people make, is when you get to first walks please remember it's not socialisation, its acclimation. The goal is to have a resilient enough puppy that nothing phases them or if it does they bounce back quickly and a puppy that can walk past anything and not really be interested. Dogs do not need to greet everyone or every dog. And there is merit and benefit in having a dog that can greet other dogs, but really just wants to focus on you. The risk with letting your puppy greet too many other people or dogs on walks is she starts associating them as 'fun' - they play with her, excite her, overstimulate her, encourage her to jump up...and you have to correct that. And people will be arseholes and encourage her to jump up, or ignore you if you say you're training her. Advocate for her. Everyone thinks a puppy jumping up is cute, everyone think a puppy chasing around their dog is funny, no one think's its okay after about 6 months old - and the sudden 'change' in tolerance can be really hard if your dog isn't as well trained as she ought to be, and you can find yourself at the end of some really harsh conversations. That's obviously not to say don't let her say hi, but just be mindful of the consequences of over-socialising.

Finally, the mouthing will be hard and it will be painful and it may even look aggressive (one of my dog used to lunge and curl his lips). But puppies don't mean it. It's just how they're used to playing, and collies are nippy by nature...so it might well be even worse. But it does get better (and is infinitely more managable if you tire your dog out well and enforce naps when they are exhausted).

I'm probably teaching you to suck eggs, but the above are the things I think people overlook when they get a puppy as it's so easy to get wrapped up in the excitement and not think about long-term consequences.

Best of luck! And sorry for the loss of your old boy.

Thanks for the tag @TheHungryHungryLandsharks,though I’m not entirely sure I should be advising people! I thought this pup was going to be the death of me!
@estrogone sorry about the loss of your old boy, and congrats on the puppy. We also lost our old Border Collie and got a new pup the same year. I won’t lie, it has not been easy, I think I had forgotten about the puppy years, either that or our old girl was unusually easy.

I agree with LandSharks, training is key and it needs to be often and consistent. Until her big teeth came in, the biting was really hard to deal with. I was covered in cuts and scratches, she sometime went completely manic and even launched at my face a few times. We did start to wonder if she was some kind of psychopath. People recommended frozen carrots, towels etc but honestly nothing much helped in our case. Cow and pigs ears in the evenings did help to distract her in the evenings.

One thing I wish I had done earlier was enforcing naps. Puppies need 18-20 hours sleep a day and she wasn’t getting anything like that at first. So I taught a ‘settle’ command, sometimes using a houseline to enforce it. And that helped.

Being a BC, she is horribly intelligent so I looked up lots of brain training games as well as the basic commands mentioned by LandSharks. Look up Vito’s game on YouTube, it really gets them thinking. There are also games to teach self-control. One example is - take a handful of treats and show them to the dog. If they move forward to take them, close your hand. Wait till they stay seated and look at you. If they do that, give them a treat with your other hand. Honestly I thought I would lose my fingers, but she got the idea so quickly.

As I’m sure you know, you have to be very careful with BC’s ‘herding’ and chasing traffic, bikes, children etc so make sure you safely expose them to all of these things early on, but desensitise by offering food or a toy and let them know that they should look to you first before doing anything. You basically have to make yourself the most rewarding thing in their life.

I do recommend the Dog Training and Advise and Support website and Facebook page. Their guides are invaluable for non-adverse training methods and tips. I picked up lots of good advice from there.

It’s all very exhausting, but mine is just over 1 year old now and I’m totally in love with her. She is by no means perfect, but she’s definitely getting there and is great company.

Let them out every 30 minutes/leave the door open to get them used to the idea of going to the loo outside!

Mine were food-oriented, so were sitting on day one (because they knew that they would get a small treat), and lying down not long after. Once they were vaccinated, I had them sitting at the kerb so that they weren't trying to bolt across the road (usually on seeing another Collie, because they are clearly a superior breed, in their eyes!). Separation anxiety was a thing with mine, so expect things to get trashed (one ripped up some lino by the door, and another redesigned a chair leg), but only nip out briefly to start with, to get them used to being left. Take them out to get them used to travelling in the car, introduce them to all and sundry when out and about, and enforce good manners like not jumping up, because while it might be cute as a puppy, they'll be big dogs one day. Teach them not to shoplift if you take them to the pet shop (no joke, one of mine picks what she wants off the shelf and puts it on the floor so that I can take it to the till!). Oh, and if you live somewhere fairly rural, everyone will want to stop you to chat and tell you all about the Collies that their grandparents used to have! Collies are also quite possibly the cutest puppies and attract a LOT of attention. You also get a lot of people viewing them as having a bad reputation for being snappy or something, but I suspect it's more how they are raised, and their environment. Oh, and when mine were having hyper moments, they calmed down if I put One Man and His Dog on YouTube... but mine were from farms, and were later trained as working dogs. They also like watching animals on TV, so happily settle down in front of This Farming Life or something.

If you get one that generally has a laidback personality, you're very lucky (my eldest is like this). If you get one that is like a rocket, it's harder work, but they're very loving dogs and generally easy to train.

I've had two Collie pups, plus one of another breed, one year after the other, and they're brilliant girls (now aged 6, 5 and 4).

Do you have a name for yours yet, OP?

Teach the collie pup a settle and down from a very eary age- day 1!

People thingk collies need lots of stimulation and physical work - they dont - they need to practice chilling out and doing nothing.

Go carefully and slowly on socialisaion. Do not let people touch and approach the puppy whilst you are holding them. The puppies have nowhere to go and collies will learn to nip quickly if they want things to go away.

New things can freak out collie pups so put the ironing board in the garden, put the wheelbarrow upside down - get them used to seeing things in odd situations and it helps them to accept new things.

They need way way way more sleep than they let on. If they are nippy puppies they are knackered overstimulated puppies.

Clicker training is a great way to go with collies as there is a very clear marker and no emotion in the reinforcement. Great for when you get to that 4 month age where the puppies shoulders go up head goes down and they herd everything that moves. Clicker training a calm response around cars joggers etc stops this getting out of hand.😊

Use ever meal as a training opportunity. Dont just put the puppy down in front of the bowl.

Remind yoursef that at least you do not have a mad labrador puppy - they are way worse than collie pups

Enjoy it - puppy days go way to quickly. Collies are fab dogs and mature pretty quickly.

Our boy is 5 now, 100% agree with all of the above. The land shark era nearly broke me, I'm the 'spare' in our family and felt like I was his sole target! Enforce naps, unfortunately weve ended up with a car chaser, he has quite a strong herding instinct which does take some managing. We live quite rural which suits, but I can see him struggling if we go to a busy town. But I wouldnt change him for the world .... enjoy every second OP!

I have also been teaching herding games. Mine came from a farm too and she has very strong instincts. I really didn’t want one of those collies who is totally ball obsessed, but of course, she does love her ball. So I tried to use more constructive games than just chasing. For weeks I felt like a complete tit standing in the park yelling ‘come by’ ‘away’ etc but it has been so useful in focusing her in a constructive way. There is a woman on the internet who does a program called Collie with Zen. I didn’t sign up as she charges £££ but I picked up enough tips from her video clips on the Socials to create my own version.

We have probably all heard someone say - if you have a working breed you have to give them a job to do, if you don’t, they will go self employed. You really do not want a self employed Collie in your house! So on walks mine has a toy to look after. I sometimes throw it for her to chase, but more often I tell her to ‘wait’, throw it in the long grass then release her to go and sniff it out. Sniffing is really beneficial and she loves that game. If I don’t take a toy, she will find a stick and look after that instead.

Hi OP
You have had lots of great advice already but I wanted to echo what @TheHungryHungryLandsharks said about not over socialising. I made that mistake with my Labrador puppy and it’s taken me months of consistent and daily training to try and get him to behave in a more neutral way around people and dogs. He’s doing very well now, but as mentioned above everyone loves a cute puppy jumping up at them but soon change their reactions when the puppy gets bigger, heavier, muddier etc!

Thank you all. Such great advice! I have bookmarked this thread.

I have a clicker on order. A sturdy playpen, crate and bed crate. I have also got a baby gate for the laundry. I am intending on very structured days. She is from a companion line - her Mum and Dad are calm adults and there are assistance dogs in her line too. So fingers crossed her herding instinct won't be too full on.

I really hear the advice about calm, bonded approach to the early days. Its going to be hard as she will be going to work with me and I work with puppy mad people.

I will be getting a sling so hopefully this will help control her early interactions.

Here she is - her name is Dolly (4 weeks old & 3 weeks old in 2nd pic).

Thank you for remembering my old boy - I miss him so very much.

If anybody has any breed specific training resources (online) that you can point me to, that would be great too.

Bit late to the party here but I have a 1 year old BC, I also lost my old collie and got a new pup in the same year. Sorry for your loss! It really is devastating.

I think my old girl must’ve just been an easy puppy because my boy this time around was a real nightmare land-shark, he also went through a fun phase of attacking the lead when overstimulated, but we’re through that now. It passes and he is mostly a very good boy (with occasional adolescent frustrations)

I agree with everything said above the only other thing I think is helpful is if you use DTAS read “the lounge is for lounging”. Sally who wrote it has Border Collies and basically she never has toys/plays with them in the living room, keeps that space for resting and settling.

My old girl would play all evening if you let her, come back off her long woodland walk and pick up a ball immediately, whereas I’ve really encouraged my current boy to just chill and keep toys outside of that space. He gets plenty of fun elsewhere but in the lounge we settle. Makes for a much more relaxing evening for us both! Good luck! X
The Lounge is for Lounging

Thank you. That's really helpful and something I had not considered + the link too.

Sorry you lost your lovely girl. Its bloody awful, isnt it 😢. Sounds like your new boy is a goodun though.

@estrogone Dolly is beautiful, what unusual colouring!
I agree with @FromBarktoShark86 about the Lounge is for lounging guide, I really wish I had followed that advice from the start with my pup. My lounge is chewed to shit from the early days. Everything wooden in that room has tooth marks in it! My land shark took ages to learn how to settle.

The DTAS website has lots of links to games and training tips. I haven’t really found any other breed specific training, apart from that Collies with Yen woman I mentioned before. Or rather, there are some, but I am too tight to fork out for training programs. And maybe it’s not just tightness, I don’t want to pay for something when I don’t really know what it’s going to be. I have just done a lot of searching on YouTube and tick-tock for herding games for collies. There is a lot of rubbish out there but also a lot of useful things if you keep sifting.

Thank you for the advice. Definitely going with the lounge is for lounging approach.

Have attached some new pics of my darling girl. Six weeks in the pic where she is lying down. 5 weeks in the other pic.

She is a super calm girl. Handled expertly by the breeders 3yo. Can't wait to have her home on two weeks time.

She is gorgeous! I love her colouring. I’m biased of course but BCs are such special dogs.