Bracken

My older dog Gwyn is very intense during cuddles. She'll walk up to you, stick her chin on your knee and stare at you until she starts getting pats. If that doesn't work she'll put a paw on your knee and beg for attention. If it's still not working she'll assume the human is faulty on that side and move around to their other leg to repeat the performance. Once you start patting her head she pivots around so that you're scratching her back above her tail (her absolute favourite scratching point). But she's not good at staying still or lying down for pats or cuddles. She always wants to know where other people in the house are so often jumps up to check. My puppy Ziggy is really good at cuddles you can pick her up and she's squiggling around in your arms and being jumpy and then you roll her onto the bed and she turns into floppy jelly. Just wants to drape herself over your legs or snuggle up to you and snooze. Her only bad cuddle habit is when we return home or people visit us, she shadows our legs as we walk up to the door (doing the full-body wag) and occasionally collapses across our feet for a tummy rub. So you need to watch your step! Overall she's the most lovey-dovey dog I've had out of my 3 (3rd dog was a golden retriever who loved people to go and sit next to her, or to just lye at your feet. But wasn't so forward in getting hugs)

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I've had an interesting time connecting with my new dog Ziggy. I was instantly attracted to her out of the litter of 6 when she was 2 weeks old, and then each time I visited (about once a week) I remained more interested in her and consequently spent about half of each visit with her and half with the others. By the time the pups were 8 weeks old this had impacted on Ziggys response to me in comparison with the other pups, as she would come over to me and just seemed to recognise me more than the others. Luckily the 2 people with prior choice to me didn't pick her so I was able to take her home :D I have felt that although I always had a connection with her, it has changed over the few months I have known her. Initially there was the instant connection. Then there was the connection through the caring role, as she was too little to really 'understand' me. I still loved her at this point, but for the first 2 months I saw her as very cute but that we would have a better connection when she was older. I didn't feel too bad for not having a super close feeling right away, as I had found this thread and I was pretty sure that the connection would come through Ziggy understanding commands and my noticing her body language more, which wasn't going to be happening strait away with my little ball of fluff! Over time as I taught her tricks and we just spent time with each other we've grown so much closer, and I now really recognise her personality traits. I think our bond has definitely strengthened through going to dog training classes and joining an obedience club. As we can now 'communicate' with each other a lot better. She's nearly 6 months now, so I'll soon be starting her with agility, as I think that the best bonds are built through working together... And food :p

I think no one can argue against the cuteness of a little border! (although mini dachshunds are super cute too!) of course, like so many others, I'm very biased when it comes to my baby!

Yay! I felt a bit mean for 'alpha rolling' her! I'm not too sure If I'm doing nothing in life is free or not. She usually only gets food for working, and I try to remember to have her sit before pats/entering the house but a lot of the time she just get's the hugs for free (although she then has to put up with being squished and kissed and having her personal space well and truly invaded, So I'm not sure if she always sees this entierly as a treat! ) I'm not too sure how to get her to see me as the leader, I've mostly just been using 'leave it' to get her to understand that, because I figured that if a dog understands it needs to give up it's food when you say then it probably knows your the boss. Is there anything else that would help incase she tries testing the boundaries again?

My old Golden retriever once got into a large packet of different coloured chalks... We had a very artistically decorated lawn for a few days afterwards

This isn't really a puppy problem, more of an experience sharing :D My little puppy Ziggy has just turned 4 months and, as predicted by our puppy school trainer, has started to hit the 'terrible teens'! If people have any stories or strategies that they used for their pup's teenage antics I would love to hear about them, as I feel that I'm going to need to gird my loins and be prepared for a few months of challenging times! So far, Ziggy's signs of growing up include; Starting to move further away from us when in the garden, and not always hanging around for pats if we've been with her for a while. Discovering her ability to bark And she's tried to test whether she has to follow instructions during training or not! That was actually very cute :D I was finishing her training session with some 'leave it' practice where I scatter the last of her kibble on the ground and she can only eat when I say 'OK' and then must stop and sometimes perform tricks (sit of paw or something quick and simple) when I say 'leave it'. Anyway, she decided to try just continuing eating... so I said 'leave it' once more and she still kept going with the kibble. So I picked her up and moved her a few feet away for some time out and she growled at me!! I know that sounds kind of bad, but it was a really funny puppy grow, think Simba in the lion king . So I kept a straight face, and even managed a slightly serious look as she got her time out and short monologue on proper puppy etiquette! I also held her by the top of the collar and scruff of the neck during this, As I wanted to really let her know that growing was not on (Does that sound ok to everyone? I normally only use clicker/positive training, but I felt that the behaviour was particularly worrying). It all seemed to work, because when I let her back to the food, she was responding to the 'leave it' command perfectly again. She's tried it once more since then, and I gave her the same treatment which again seemed to sort out the problem. So, what have your pup's teenage transitions been like?

Thanks becandcharch We're really happy with how well the two of them get along, Gwyn has even acquired the new nick-name of Nannydog as she is very good at minding Ziggy in the mornings when we want a sleep in

Ziggy finished her puppy school, Here she is carefully reading her certificate!

Aww, thanks ;) Ziggy is from a breeder in Mortdale, Sydney. The kennel is called 'Ingenue' and the breeder is lovely :p http://www.ingenuebordercollies.com/news2010.cfm

I feel like I should have given Ziggy a photo page when I first got her, but surprise surprise, an 8 week old pup takes up a lot of your time! So I'll just start it up now she's a few weeks older. First up, here's a video of her VERY FIRST play with my older dog Gwyn. It took a few days of gentle introduction to get them to this point. And this is Ziggy in her 'glamour shots' - she was asked to do a photo shoot. So that is a Ziggy's photo page started! With any luck I'll have the time to keep it updated, but I've got to run now.... It's Ziggy's dinner time!

Ah, I guess word of mouth must be the most common way then! You're Ziggy was behaving so well... or was he just being sneaky and being an angel while he knew someone was videoing! Must have been heaps of fun anyway Thanks Tassie, that is Gwyn in the avatar I've got a few photo's of Ziggy from her photo shoot in the BC picture thread, is there another BC thread over there that's not for photo's? or is that the BC thread? I can put a bit about Gwyn in here, because talking about my doggies always ends up as a brag anyway! I got Gwyn at a year old when she was being re-homed by a breeder, she came with quite a few issues which was a little unexpected (only spoke over the phone and hadn't seen her before the day she was brought to our house). Terrified of traffic, loud noises, people.... and vocally aggressive to men particularly (not biting, just doing the border collie herding thing VERY loudly! And she was only my second dog after my first, very docile golden retriever 'Bracken', so it was a bit of a learning experience for me! Anyway, 4 years on and she has hardly any fear issues! She's a real member of the family, which means that she often doesn't do what we say, sneaks into the house whenever she wants (she learn't to open our doors) and occasionally steals the biscuits when they're left out! But she also loves us unconditionally and looks to us whenever she gets into trouble or hurts herself. And no matter how much she embarrasses us by barking at the postman we always lover her And Ziggy is my very new puppy who I have massively socialised and who is unfailingly cute! At 3 months her tricks are; sit, down, stand, come, leave it, turn left, turn right, present left and right paws, target my hand and a piece of note paper and I just started teaching her to close doors today, so far she can nose the door shut a few cm at a time, but the door is probably a bit big for her to shut all the way at the moment! yup, I think that was all solid brag right there! I guess we all do it

Oh MY GOSH!!! So cool! and I liked the video of everyone with their dogs at the shoot How do you get involved in that sort of thing? Do you have to sign up with an agent or something? I'm a uni student and I've got some free time that I would love to use for this sort of thing. My little girl has been in one shoot, but the photographer approached me in a flower shop for that one, so I don't really know how to go about it. But it was so fun feeling like we were really working together! hehe, my puppy is called Ziggy too. Her brag is a little smaller than your Ziggy's, but I'm still super proud of her! She's learnt to (almost) reliably tell left from right in two of her tricks!! Without hand signals to help her!! She can: 'spin' - turn 360 to the left 'turn' - turn 360 to the right 'paw' - raise her right paw and 'shake' - raise her left paw! Normally I would use small signals, but I've just taught her to do it without them to help strengthen the moves... and she's only 3 month old!

So true. And often they don't even look at you, the owner. Just swoop by with a quick pat on the head and then they're gone... Ninja style!!

Sigh, people do judge dogs so very quickly. erinonthefarm, I feel you with the puppy thing! I've put alot of time into desensitising my pup from sudden people-movements (like the infamous SHP or Sudden Head Pat!) No matter how much people are told not to stick their hands onto a dogs head/face, they still do it! And often in a very unexpected manner as they walk past the dog! It can take quite a lot of time to get the dogs to the point of actually enjoying the SHP's so it's no wonder some dogs get caught off guard.

wow, this anonymous note thing seems more common than I had thought! I had a couple a few years ago with my border collie Gwyn. We were trying so hard to find out when she was barking, the notes were accusing us of constant barking day and night! We knew that she barked a little, but all we knew of was her 'normal dog' barking ie, an occasional possum/extremely exciting occurrence of which her amazement and general joy could only be communicated through a bark but only 2 or 3 barks per episode. Anyway, this brave note-writer continued sending notes about our barking dog and helpfully suggesting that she should be de-barked surgically etc. And we continued being unable to figure out when the barking was occurring. Eventually the note-writer (turned out to be a lady who lives a house or two away) apparently contacted the council (which she had been threatening to do, as she said she was sure the council would seize our dog) and managed to get a council member to visit our house with her while we were out! We were phoned later and told that what had basically happened was that she and the council member had stood outside our gate while Gwyn sat on the other just staring at each other! No barks or anything! (that was a little surprising to us as Gwyn normally does bark when people loiter around the fence) And that was still not enough to solve the problem, We were later contacted AGAIN by the council who had been called and told that for the last few days the lady had seen our dog running around our yard barking for hours and hours. Unfortunately her eye witness account was rather spoiled by the fact that on the dates she had given to the council, we were away on holiday with the dog! So the issue slowly dropped, everyone figured out that it was the border collie next to us, no one complained to it's owner and we were left alone again without having to de-bark our Gwyn p.s. Sorry for the slight rant, it's still a sore point with me! But yes, always do your best to be sure it's not your dog. We kept open and slightly frazzled minds about the possibility of Gwyn being the culprit until the 'eye witness' episode. And we always check what is disturbing the dogs if we do hear a bark.

If you do go for a harness, get a front-leading one. They help stop the pup from pulling by causing them to turn whenever they try to pull forwards. This makes pulling less fun for them as they are continuously being turned away from whatever they are trying to reach and can help teach them to look at things while standing on a loose leash. Maybe you could try using the front-leading harness on walks and at class to reduce the pulling there and then train with the flat collar at home where your pup will be less stimulated to pull.

"Peggy has barked at the postman but she wouldn't hurt anyone. She is only little," oh!! I see! Well if she's little then there's no problem is there! I've been chased (read charged) by a little dog when doing a pamphlet run at 12yrs old. The small size can make it a bit worse even, they are the ones which often get through the fencing. That particular dog got a decent swipe on the nose with a coles pamphlet and still followed me out of the street barking the whole way. Never delivered to that street again! I don't mind dogs barking at the fence occasionally, it's very good security for the people. It's just annoying when people don't admit that their dog is doing it! One of my girls came to us with some serious issues at 1yr old, and though greatly improved still guards the property like anything. So we put her around the back! And when we do have her around the front (at the moment we put her there to watch and play with the new puppy - we have been warned about puppy theft) we go out and check what she's barking about. And always let the postman know that they can drop things over the fence or leave them at the post-office if their worried.

Wow blue.amstaff, that's a really awkward position for you! Sympathies from NSW Not that I have any dog expertise, just putting my 2 cents in. If your sister in law is a good dog trainer (tested on her other dog) and has been doing everything she can including private training since the pup was 2 weeks old, and the pup has never had any really bad experiences to cause the phobias/barking (aside from being yelled at all the time), is it possible that the dog is a little sub-par mentally? I never really hear about mental issues with dogs, but I suppose they could exist . Did she get it from a breeder or a pet shop (could have been dodgy backyard breeding?). Anyway, just a thought I had. Hope it all works out for you

This isn't really a training success, but Ziggy managed to look so cute, and sooo good natured and sooooo generally adorable while we were out today that a photographer asked if she could use her for a model! (little did the photographer realise, ziggy was only being so good because she was tiered out from her outing! Oh well, she'll find out when we take her in for the shoot )

hmm, I'll see if I can wall her pen with that next time I try having her outside, Anything to stop the noise getting out! I'm hoping to get her gradually used to being out there, but I think that even just 15 minutes of solid un-muffled barking for a night or two would be too much for the neighbours, so a bit of sound proofing would probably be good.

Thanks GayleK, I'm not sure I'll be able to construct a soundproof area for her, but I might try crating her out the front, where my other border is tethered at night. That might sooth her a little when she does go outside again. OMG!! New shoes and headphones!! ;) Your dog has expensive tastes... at least you can tell people he's all refined like that! Poodlefan, I understand that dogs don't like it when you go away, but often it isn't possible to take them with you and especially in my BC Gwyn's case, putting her into a kennel situation would be significantly more stressful for her than having a friend drop by each day, due to unknown experiences she had as a pup. We don't go away frequently, but we normally ask neighbours how she behaved when we get back and so far we've never had a problem. (except for one time when a slightly funny neighbour reported her to the council for continuous barking over a few days, which was odd because the days she named as the barking days Gwyn was on the holiday with us!! Turned out to a dog in the yard next to ours) I do agree that for more than a weeks holiday people should really start looking into housing for their pets.

Nushi, yea, i'm going to be trying moving her more slowly now. Once again, this is the very first pup I've ever owned. So I guess I'm taking a week or two to adjust as well as her! The barking is in no way a problem yet, she has never barked during the day, and only for an hour or so at night, (generally a very good little fluff-ball) So I'm not getting too worried about it. Just moving her inside again. As for keeping her inside permanently, I've never had any of my dogs stay inside and there are a few reasons for that; The first is that our house is a bit of a warren, large, but made of many small rooms. So we don't really have a space that could be dedicated to the dog. the second is that I live at home and so must abide by house rules, my mum grew up on a farm and so she views dogs as outdoor creatures. She also doesn't like the build up of dog odour that you get from indoor dogs. The third is that having the dog used to being and sleeping outside reduces the stress for them when you go on holidays, as they can still stay at the home, outside where they are used to it, and have friends feed them. And the fourth is that burglars somehow seem to pass over our house and go to the people around us instead when we have a medium sized dog sleeping out the front! (Not that Ziggy will be a guard dog like Gwyn, I'm hoping to make her a bit more of a 'I love the world' personality!) Hmm, I probably didn't need to type all of that out. I was just figuring it out in my own head as I went along! Thanks so much for all the helpful advice people are posting!! :D

I know! That's what's annoying. Being in the wrong sucks! I'm going to talk to the breeder today, as I need to return some stuff. And I've got the first puppy school class tonight so I can speak to the instructor. We may need to move more slowly, have her sleep in my room until she can last through the night without needing to toilet then move her into the kitchen, then balcony, then try the yard again! I just want to get her to the point where she can sleep independently by March, when I go back to uni. Dyzney, your probably right, I should have done that. I did tell these neighbours that we would be getting a pup, and we took the pup around to a few of the neighbours to introduce them, but it's been a bit hard catching all the neighbour to tell them as a lot (I think 4 or 5?) are away on holiday and we're not sure when the'll be back. And I never did a formal letter, which on hindsight, I really should have.

Hmm.. Have reached a hitch in my outdoor dog training in the form of a complaint from a neighbour. So far, Ziggy has barked for 2 hours on the first night, 1 hour on the second and about 1 hour on the third (always starting at about 12:00 when she woke up and realised she was outside) The neighbour's house is over 100 meters away! (maybe 150? not very good at judging distances ) And annoyingly they were rather polite about it, so I can't feel rightiously annoyed at them Sigh, Ziggy is inside again until we can try to figure something out. It's just so hard to get a dog, or rather pup, that's used to being inside to sleep outside without it barking for a bit! People just don't like any noise that isn't a nice comforting car horn or train!