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Old January 14th, 2004, 03:03 PM
RDM RDM is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: British Columbia Canada
Posts: 32
I don't think there is a "Border Collie for Dummies" because frankly, no Dummy should own a border collie!

You've gotten some good advice here; I'm going to expand on it though.

Female border collies are NOTORIOUS for ranking up and being super-bitches In all likelihood, your female will most likely end up being dominant to your male dog. My female is the youngest, but she is definitely the "boss" of my two males.

Having said that, I also agree that YOU must be the figurehead above all social order amongst the dogs. Regardless of what they work out amongst themselves, you should always have the final say and the easiest way to do that is to remember this and make it your mantra: "Once Is A Habit For A Border Collie." Any behaviour you see that you do not want to encourage, nip in the bud *immediately*

With a dog like your female, who is making decisions about when and how your male can and cannot approach you, furniture etc. your best bet is to be a benign leader and disallow that behaviour. This is what has traditionally worked for me: If I am sitting on the sofa and one of my dogs is sitting near me getting pats, and another dog approaches and the first growls or shows teeth, I do one of two things: I either get up without a word at the first sign of display and walk away, thereby communicating to the offender that her bad behaviour has caused me to leave the scene; or I take the offending dog - without a word or eye contact, walk her to a remote part of the house, tie her to a doorknob and leave her there for ten minutes. No scolding, just a final and firm reminder that her behaviour gets her exiled from what she wants (ie, me).

Also, since your female is showing "dominant" tendancies, I would start her on a regime of working for attention NOW. That means she has to perform for me for everything she wants. If she approaches for attention, I want a rapid sit first. If she asks for pets, I first want her to lie down. Everything she wants she has to work for, and noting is free.

Furthermore, I would also - as someone suggested - stop the sleeping on the bed and climbing on the furniture things. Those are priviledges, not rights, and right now your female thinks it's her right. You're going to have some trouble on your hands if you don't change her perception. So in the future, no one should get on furniture or on the bed without being invited. The dogs should sleep in kennels or on beds of their own at night. Remember that the problems you are seeing now will not go away on their own, they will only progress. You are aware enough to see potential problems in your puppy now, so you should also be aware enough to do something about it before it becomes a bigger problem.

Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, make sure you make time for both dogs seperately each and every day for training. Even if it's just a few minutes, give them the opportunity to bond with you and work with you as individuals every day. This is where border collies excel, in their partner-relationships. Make sure you can get them out there working on their own with just you, so that they have the opportunity to develop strong personalities of their own as working partners.

Good luck

RDM
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