Pip's mum

Not quite snuggling up to each other, but close enough (excuse the mess in the background )

Hello again :-) Our backyard backs onto a reserve, so there're always some rustlings in the bush, possums on the tree, or wondering neighbour cat. My 8 month old border collie (male) doesn't bark excessively, but when he's outside, he would sometimes bark at these, mostly at dusk. He would stop if we tell him (by saying 'No'), but sometimes will start again when we go back inside. It is currently not a big problem, just a bit annoying. I would appreciate any idea on how to train him to ignore these noises. Thank you.

Thanks again for the advice. I sometimes felt a bit overwhelmed about the whole thing, so specific advice and areas to work on are really helpful I've been taking him inside, tethered to the cat post. And he's been able to chill for a good duration (until he saw a bit of carpet hanging on the cat post and got too interested in it :-)). So I'm happy that he's able to be inside more. In the mean time, I will concentrate on teaching him calm behaviour. Here's a picture of the (lovable) rascal :-)

Thanks everyone for the responses. Much appreciated. I have scrapped the idea of getting another puppy, at least until I'm happy with his level of training. But I am still considering the idea of getting a mature female BC as my puppy's playmate. Would he benefit from this? I like the idea of them tiring each other out. I considered sending him to doggy daycare, say once a week, but it's quite costly. I think my wanting to get a second dog is partly because I feel bad that my puppy spend a lot of time alone outside by himself. I will concentrate on training him to be inside. It feels overwhelming at times, as he would counter surfing, grab my toddler's toys, etc. Although he now knows to leave my cats alone. I can't wait till he can just potter around the house calmly. @juice he used to come inside and stay in his crate or playpen when he was smaller. Then he got too big for the crate, and started to jumped out of the playpen

Hi, Apologies if this topic has been discussed before. I would like to get some advice on the pro and cons of having two dogs versus one. We almost got two border collies puppies at the same time...thankfully we dodged that bullet :-) My male puppy is now 7 month old and we still have the deposit for another puppy with the breeder, so we have the option of getting another one down the track. But I’m happy to forfeit the deposit if having just one dog is the right decision. These are my pros and cons: Pros: - He always looks so happy when he gets to play with another dog (puppy playdates, offleash areas, etc.) - He'll always have another dog as company/friend, especially when we are not home or able to spend time with him. - Two dogs = twice the fun/love :-) Cons: - More work (especially training?) - My current puppy is not fully trained to the level I'd like him to be, but has improved a lot. - Cost (setup cost and maintenance cost) - The hard work of raising a puppy is still fresh in my mind :-) Our current arrangement: Hubby works from home 4 days a week. I work 3 days a week (possibly 4 next year). We have a 3 year old toddler. At present, I manage to take him for a walk most morning, ~30 minutes on my work days, and longer on my days off. We also take him for walk some afternoons. I also try to do a couple of 10 minutes training sessions a day. Currently he is mostly outside dog, and get supervised inside times. Our aim to train him as an inside/outside dog (integrate with the family), but at present he gets too excited when inside. Though he has improved. Would my dog benefit from having another dog? My head says 'one dog', but my heart says 'two dogs'.

Thanks for the replies! Yes, so many different words I started using 'drop it' for letting go of things from his mouth, and 'down' for lying down. Then I noticed my friend's dog responds to 'leave it' and 'drop' for the above. Since he (my friend) will be my puppy's babysitter when we're away, I thought I'd better use the same words. And I use 'let's go' when I want him to stop sniffing around and continue walking, while hubby uses 'come'. I think I'd better sit down and list the words I want to use...

Thanks for the advice. I will have to get another tug toy that's not so exciting for him to train this He goes nut with his current tug rope. I looked up the video for It's Yer Choice. Impressive dogs (credits to the handler, of course).

Hi, I am trying to train my 7 mo puppy the following behaviour: - If he has something in his mouth, eg. rope when we're playing tug, I want him to let it go when asked - If there's something on the ground/bench/etc. that I don't want him to touch, I want to be able to tell him that Should these behaviours be trained with one command, eg. 'Leave it', or should it be two separate commands, eg. 'Drop it' and 'Leave it'? Thanks.

Thanks again for the replies. It's a good idea about using destination that's 5 minutes away as training. What I would like to have is a dog that I can take for a pleasant walk. I don't mind him sniffing around as long as he doesn't pull my arm out of its socket

Thank you for the replies. I watched the video, and there're a couple of things I'm not doing right: - Currently I let the dog walk in front of me instead of beside me. - I do one long-ish walk/training (30 minutes) instead of a couple of short sessions of few minutes session I have some questions: - Does this mean I shouldn't take him out unless it's for a few minutes training session? - The video is showing heeling(?) How do you incorporate a more relaxed walk where he can sniff around (but without pulling on the leash). KobiD, yes, I have had some 'what did I get myself into' moments. This is my first puppy as an adult. My other pets are two cats (indoor), and they are so easy compared to my puppy

Hi, I have a 5.5 month old border collie. We've been taking him out for walks since he was 3 months old. We would take him when we're going to the park, etc. I feel he wasn't doing too badly (not pulling much). However, in the last month he's gotten a lot stronger and started to pull really hard on his walks. So, I stopped taking him for 'a walk'. Instead I tried to focus on training him: taking him out, then stop whenever he starts to pull. I think he's starting to get the idea(?). He automatically sits and wait until I start walking again. Am I doing the right thing? Another bad habit of his is he would start biting the leash in playful manner (as if to play tug). Or he would start to have a go at my shoes. I'm not sure what to do in these situation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We're not doing so well on house-breaking, either. But that's another topic