Bracken

Hi Lja1302!! I just finished looking at your post for my pup sleeping outside, looks like we're almost at the same place with our border pups. (mine is just on 9 weeks). The advice from sheena is spot on, it's how I got my other border to sit with distance. I just worked on Duration, Distance and Distraction (in that order) and now she can sit and let me walk to her kibble box, get her food ready and put it on the ground and then still not go for it until I say 'ok'! Ziggy can just sit for a second looking cute :D And good on you for teaching your BC his name! I still haven't managed that with Zig, she just looks at me like I'm crazy... Then she tries sitting!

Thanks Lja1302! Ziggy seems to be doing better already, not much barking on the second night (or I slept through it, either way that seems an improvement to me ) I'm not going to start counting my chickens yet though, I'm going to wait for 3 good nights in a row before I say that she's adjusted to being outside!

Thanks for all the responses! Ziggy (the pup) has been crated in my bedroom to sleep for the last week, which both her breeder and another Border collie breeder I'm in contact with thought was perhaps a little to long. (I was just too much of a softie to put her out ) She has been good inside, and has learnt that the crate is her bedroom, she's probably more confidant with us because I had been visiting the litter regularly since they were 2 weeks old, so no first night dramas! For her outside arrangements, I connected her crate to a smallish playpen so that she can get herself up and toilet on the grass, but not do midnight zoomies! I guess that she's reacting normally then! It sounds like she may be barking a bit longer than some, but I guess that is because I got her used to being inside. It sounds like Kate39 and I are going through it at the same time! Although you managed a more normal bed time for yours, Ziggy goes to bed at about 10:30-11:00!! (although she will stay in her crate until 8-9 in the morning, so I guess we're just on different schedules I have been ignoring the barking (or rather, not responding to it. It's very hard to ignore!) And I guess it's just a case of pushing through and being consistent. It's good to be able to get onto the forum though, when you've just had a 3.5 hr nights sleep it feels good to share!

I finally picked up my little girl a week ago, and she's been an absolute dream! Very calm disposition and took very well to crate training. I've had her sleeping by my bed for the first few nights with hardly a whimper, only making noise when she needs to toilet. (ok, brag over) I want her to be partially an 'outside' dog, like my other Border (who I got as an older dog, so have no experience training puppies). She can come into the house during the day, but at night I need her to sleep outside. Last night was her first night out on her own. She slept quietly for the first hour or so because she was really tiered but then woke up at 12:30 and barked and whined solidly until 2:30 or 3:00 (I felt so sorry for her ) Either she stopped or I managed to fall asleep at that point, then I woke up to her barking again at 6:30! I waited until she stopped (7:00) then got her out for breakfast. By 8:00 she was drooping again because she hadn't had a whole lot of sleep either so I filled a kong with the rest of her breakfast and popped her back into her outside area. 20 minutes of barking later and she's sleeping like the baby she is... So cute when she's sleeping So basically, as I've had no experience with this before I wanted to check that this all seemed normal. And ask if there is anything anyone else did to help their puppy transition to sleeping outside. And I've also put in the obligatory photo's of the puppy

As far as I know she is only shouting, and mostly only at her own dog. (and I'm not even going to start with that dog's issues!) But she has a REALLY loud, harsh and shrieky shout, exactly the sort that most dogs would hate (and my dog came to me with some nervous issues to begin with) so it just scares her a lot. So the source would almost certainly be the neighbours voice. I don't think she would be 'cruel' to my dog on purpose, she doesn't even think she's being cruel to her dog when she shouts at it. Also, I just can't imagine her being bothered to spend the money to buy any device! *Sigh*, She's getting pretty old, so I guess we'll just have to wait for her to downsize to an apartment or something... I've desensitised my dog to most of her fears, she just won't get over this one! I imagine it's a bit like the fear some dogs have of thunder

okay, I'm not sure if there's much to be done to solve this problem but my dog is freaking out right now so I felt like writing about it. My dog often goes into doggie hysterics when she hears our next-door neighbour. Not barking hysterics but heart-pounding, leg-shaking, ears-back and eyes wide hysterics! We think it's because the neighbour has shouted at her at some point, or because she's picked up on how mean they are to their own poor dog. But anyway, almost every week we have an extra bad episode. And Gwyn runs inside, or flings herself at the door if she can't get in, and either hides in a cupboard or tries to climb onto us for protection. When she's doing this, you can sort of see in her face that she's 'out of reach' she's just too panicked to listed and calm down so you have to let her work through it. It's so annoying that the neighbour has got her to this point, because otherwise Gwyn is a fairly calm Border, which took a few years to achieve! When we first got her she was VERY nervous about lots of things! Anyway, I just felt like having a gripe about it, and now I have so I feel better Does anyone else have a dog with phobias? If so, what are they and how does your dog react?

Well I didn't end up choosing my pup today, they were all just too cute!!! But when they are 5 weeks old I'll get first choice of the girls!!! Here are some of the puppies. They're so small!!

PUPPY!!!! Very cute Simple! I'm going to meet my breeder and choose my pup today!! Can't wait to figure out which of the little scruff-balls in all the photos will actually be mine!

What a pretty face he's going to be so much fun! Only 3 more days before I can go and pick my pup! My cousin brought his new husky pup over today after picking him up from the airport, and so now I'm getting serious puppy excitement!

Love All the Photo's!! Here's my girl when I caught her eating my noodles... I walked out to find her stuffing her face... When she released she'd been caught she tried to give me the 'innocent face'. But the cup stuck to her nose!!

So true! I'd better just take a chill-pill and calm down!

:D good point! Basically, I'm just being a neurotic first-time puppy owner. Also I read a thread about bitches killing each other and scared myself silly a few days ago

I'm getting a pup around the end of December, and my current dog is the same as yours! Some dogs she barks at and growls and, being a border, even tries to herd which is a bit embarasing . But others she turns into a big pup for, bouncing around and trying to get them to play, which is very cute. I'm doing the same as you when I introduce them, and I might use some DAP spray around the area I'm going to use. Just incase it'll make a difference with first impressions.

how much is the normal cost of DAP? I've seen the 'air freshener' style ones on ebay for about $40, and the spray ones for a bit less. I'm thinking I might get the spray so I have something on hand just in case (does DAP have a long shelf life? I might not use all that much of it all that fast). I was thinking it could be helpful for when I introduce my current border to the new pup, Just spraying it in a room in advance so that they (hopefully) are in a calmer frame of mind during the first introductions.

Excellent, It's good to know for sure that it'll be the right size. They're a bit expensive for me to be buying a second one simply because I didn't get the right size to start with! Thanks everyone! :D

EXACTLY THE SAME ONE!!! *high five*

Yea? That's good then! Thanks I'm getting one off ebay, which is great price-wise, but I was having a little trouble envisaging whether it would actually be the correct size. I shall now add it to my 'to get' list!

Hi all, sorry if there is already a topic about this! I'm looking at getting a crate for my Border Collie pup, and I'm not sure what size I should be getting. I need it to be the right size for a full grown border (I'm planing on her using it for quite awhile!). The 'large' crate is L:90cm, W:60cm, H:65cm. I'll also be getting a divider to make it puppy-sized at the beginning, but does that seem about the right sized crate? I'm a complete novice with this because my current girl wasn't crate trained when we got her and as she's always been fine in the house we never bothered with one. But I'm thinking it would be a verrrry good idea to have one for the pup!

Mine Too! And she has a nice fuzzy nose-warmer

I can go see the pups on the 18th, and I think I'll be finding out then! Went out and looked at some doggy stuff today, so far I've only got a playpen and I just had her name-tag inscribed

lol, he can share the name-sake rights with Bowie! And yay for adoring Labyrinth! It's fun to watch at any age. We're all 18/19, so we watch it mostly for Bowie and his rather interesting pants :D

Yay! That makes the name even more awesome, she shall be Ziggy of the victorious paw! hehe, I really chose Ziggy because I love David Bowie She's going to have Ziggy Stardust sung at her CONSTANTLY! And I think I'll be inviting all my friends over to watch Labyrinth with her

Raising the crate up next to the bed sounds like a good idea, makes it easier to spot at 2 in the morning! I was a little nervous about having the crate near my bed, incase I bumped into it when I dragged myself up and scared the poor pup. Hmm the first week is going to be verrrry interesting by all accounts! I've planned it so that I'll be getting the pup during my uni break, so I don't need to worry too much about sleep deprivation! :p All the same, here's hoping the little one will act a bit like Hoover!

Ok, So just work through the first few days then. I wouldn't want to get my puppy addicted to chemicals after all! hmm.. I think I'll be camping out in the sunroom with the pup for the first few nights! I'll try putting on an audiobook I guess. If I let her listed to something by Alexandre Dumas or Dickens all night then she should turn out to be a very cultured and civilised dog I hope she doesn't scream ALL night! What did you do with Elbie to stop him crying? Or did you do the things you just listed until he settled in his own time? (I love all the little videos of him by the way, I keep stumbling across them all over the place!)

So, I'm going to be getting my first ever pup in about 2 months and I was looking into what I should get for her. I've read about a product called DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) which plugs into the wall like an air freshener and releases pheromones which can help to calm dogs down in stressful situations such as going to a new home. I was wondering if anyone has ever used a product like this, and if you found it useful?