Raising a puppy (1st time dog owner)

sheramber

Border Collies have very sensitive  hearing which is probably why she is reacting to sounds.

All my pups have been taught from the start to go to their  beds while we eat.  They do not come near the table nor get any food from the table.

Do you eat at a table or from a position that she can access? 

Train her to go in her crate while you eat- give her a chew or a filled kong and close the crate until you are 
finished,

She doesn't listen to you because  she is being allowed to ignore you.

You have a very intelligent breed. She needs her brain tired out, not just physically.

Consistency and routine and if she doesn't listen then  find a way to make her listen. Get her attention  and persevere until she listens.

She is like a toddler. Would you let s toddler ignore you?

Using food is fine but she should not see it in your hand- that is bribery not a reward. Keep it hidden or in a box at the side of where you are.

there are no magic solutions- only hard work.

Dobbibill

I agree with lots of other comments here - Perfectly Imperfect Puppy is another good book and recently read it when a close family member had a new puppy (Collie) even though I have an older dog (Whippet) and look after my other family member's dog (Lab) a few days when their shift pattern dictates it.They are all loving, caring, well behaved dogs but extremely different personalities. 
The crate training is important as they need quiet time as well as lots of stimulation as they will keep going and going as bred to do. There are treats that are quite easy to break in half so it is a little taster to reward good behaviour. 
There isn't an overnight fix but hard work will pay off in the long run with your new addition who will soon become your best friend & companion.

dekaspace1

Have 2 weeks off for Christmas now so time to research, her personality seems to change every few days, just as she can have a few days of excellent toilet manners then days where its pretty much all accidents just like days where she can nap more, days she can have next to no zoomies (or milder ones i.e ones that are easily controllable)

She now no longer follows me everywhere, she wants to explore on her own or stand on sofa and watch me go into kitchen or hall, she also in past 2 days has decided to lift corner of my rug and try and bite the label off under it, she up until now only bit edge of another corner, no idea why now its so desirable to her.

For last 2 days when she goes into garden she often refuses to go into the front part (the back part she always wants to play) and instead wants to go for a walk and even when she first wakes in morning she goes outside, does nothing and comes indoors and poops on the sofa (which I today half blocked with her crate)

Shes also getting very vocal when wanting attention

A strange thing I noticed is if I go into bathroom she seems very relaxed, and lies down and even tries to nap even in daytime, I don't know if its because the flooring is one of those plastic ones as its a wetroom.

Shes biting feet less as I have been feeding her when I am barefoot, she now only really bites if shes overexcited or I am lying in bed and feet aren't under sheets.

I eat on my armchair so she jumps on it and my legs I can distract her if again I use treats for a few seconds but its hard to do so.

If I stand up and eat that way she just barks a lot at me so stressful for me.

And no, have never fed her off my plate, my parents when we had our collie growing up would bin anything collie licked/ate from if it was ours.

I should teach her to settle better, I normally let her lie/sit on rug next to me and say good girl/yes and drop a piece of food down, and repeat 1-4 times a minute, this can often make her settle in evening long enough for her to calm, and sometimes even nap beside me.

That is a big issue I have, when she naps, be it daytime, afternoon, evening or shortly before bed, a simple creak of my chair is all it takes for her to wake and be full of energy, and back to the toilet behaviour again she often instantly runs to the sofa and wees and except shortly before bed once shes awake shes won't nap again, and sometimes even has more zoomies.

sheramber

She has trained you well to feed her treats when you are eating.  She barks when you stand up again as she she is not getting her own way.

You need to take charge and take preventative action to stop these situations arising.

Eat at the table or at a breakfast bar etc.

Train her from the start that she does not approach you when you are eating there- you have already established the scenario of eating in the armchair and giving her treats so that is no longer an option.

Train her to go and lie in her crate , closing the door of necessary, while you eat. Give her a filled kong with some of her daily ration in it to keep her occupied.

Take her out to toilet on the lead. Put your coat on if necessary. Don't communicate with her. Just let her wander around  until she goes.  Follow quietly where she goes. If she stops then encourage her to walk on slowly. Use a cue word  when she goes and give her a small treat at that place.

If she starts to go when she comes in, immediately scoop her up and take her outside telling her 'no , outside ' not in angry voice but  a firm voice.

By allowing her to practice unwanted behaviours these  will become established behaviours and much more disruptive when she is fully grown.

dekaspace1

I should be clear I already use a lead with her as I live in an upstairs flat (not a block of flats) so my only entrance/exit to house is next to a road, a very quiet road but I don't want her to run away and front garden is not fenced off so I use lead with her.

Originally I used back garden when I got her but I was trying to get her happy to go there so I used to take her out multiple times a hour and play with her after she did her potty so she didn't think it was a negative experience but ended up teaching her that the back garden is for playtimes and as it was so dark in evening I took her into front garden, also thought it would be better for neighbour in case she barks they wouldn't hear her and theres a streetlight right outside and added the front garden is bigger.

I noticed she has a main spot and 2 secondary spots but gradually changed to the main spot, her secondary spot was at the middle fence (the one between front and back, around the edges as its muddy and has stones there, she only ever did it elsewhere when she had a bad tummy once.

But now shes just refusing to go to her spot and wants to go either straight to back garden, (to play) or on walk or straight back indoors if I walk with her she stiffens her body so I don't want to drag her along.

For eating I have no table to eat off, I have a mini desk I have beside me I use to set things down on or laptop if I am WFH.

Stupid me, when I was thinking of food in kong I was thinking it had to be full else she would eat it in seconds.

I put natural yogurt in her kong, if I put literally a few biscuits in one and a lot of yogurt would that be ok,

For going outside, so often she would jump at me trying to grab the lead and bark if I don't give it (I don't due to what I said about being an open garden) which is why I have a single piece of dry food I give to her to distract her and most times that works unless she sees a neighbour, notices a vehicle arrive, hears another dog or animal make a noise.

For giving her treats, I literally have only just started doing this in last few days and even then I don't mean its treats every few seconds its like I give her one when her face is right in my food to distract her, eat what I can and once more if she does it again, or I tell her "off" and when she does give her treat and eat what I can, the rest of the time I just eat with food close to me as I can and say "no" or "off"

elsien

Try freezing the kong with yoghurt or banana in it. Take her a lot longer to get it out. 

Depending on what she eats, you can look at a kong wobbler to make her earn her food as well. Mine has dry kibble but I put some bits of ham or cheese in as well so it smells more interesting. 

sheramber

You can also use cream cheese in a kong.

Rather than reward her with a treat when she puts her face on your food throw a treat for her when she sits back and waits quietly.  'I want doesn't get.'

Reward what you want, not what you don't  want her to do.

cannugec5

I have a 2 year old collie - or perhaps more accurately she has us! 

I relate to so much of what you say. I was a first time dog owner , having never lived with a dog before. Although Hubbie was more familiar and experienced. 

I found training very hard in those early days, but boy, the hard work has paid off. I totally agree with everyone who says consistency is key. Yes, in the early days she bit my ankles. But by demonstrating my upset she stopped. She chewed the rugs and furniture but we told her off and she stopped. She pooped indoors but we told her that was not acceptable, at the same time taking her out very very often until,it only happened outside. When she had a rare ‘accident’ indoors her tail was down, ears  back - she knew it was not acceptable. She WANTS to please. 

She used to be unbearable with attention seeking behaviour when I was on the phone . I simply shut the door between her and me. That stopped it. 

Right from when we got her at 8 weeks we have done increasingly long walks . Certainly over 2 hours per  day, but on a good day 3 or 4 hours. ( A pit pat is good for measuring this) . Much of this is off lead as we live in a remote and rural area. 

I am so proud of my well behaved dog, that I can take into any dog friendly pub or restaurant and trust her to behave appropriately. She is affectionate and friendly and loves people. 

I also got her a ‘doggy doorbell’ and was so proud when earlier in the week she needed to go out, before we were up in the morning. She ‘rang the bell’ - ie touched the sensor with her nose- to let us know that she needed to go out .( My husband and I are both deaf so don’t hear her bark from the bedroom - it’s not an issue during the normal day) 

so.
please don’t give up. 

Train. Train. Train. 

Repetition is key. 

Your dog will want to please you. It is down to you to help the dog understand how this can be achieved. 

Good luck! I feel I have to include a picture of my dog, so I will try here. 

ladyholly

We have just adopted a 6year old Collie. He is our third and in character every one has been totally different although they all have had the sensitivity of collies. We had a friend who was a vet nurse and dog trainer who always said they arent dogs they are collies.and many owners say the same thing. They are sometimes too clever for their own good but in our experience they all need absolute consistency and routine. I would add that our latest is the most testing as although he is great in the house he is a nightmare outside as he appears to have had no training or socialisation. He has only been here 3 weeks and has been neutered in that time. He is very vigilant to anything that moves. Birds flying, dogs, cats etc and is constantly turning and twisting on his lead, walking from side to side, barking and generally trying to trip us up or wrapping his lead round our legs looking for them. We are working with him but he has so much to learn when out and about it feels like constant correction at the moment as well as being physically exhausting from the pulling. The only warning we had from the rescue was he pulls on the lead and then when we were putting him in the car to bring him home they casually mentioned he chases birds. We assumed this was ones on the ground which many dogs do but no his bird chasing is the ones in the air which is much more difficult to deal with as we are consantly trying to spot them to distract him from them and as we live is a coastal area we get a lot of seagulls which fly quite fast and appear from nowhere.

Good luck to OP training will work if you persist and remember you are the trainer not the dog.

dekaspace1

Hi, some good and bad news.

In past few days she is beginning to react to me saying words like "off" "no" etc when having her zoomies.

The bad news is I tried today to block access to the sofa she goes on, and I thought I had success as she didn't have an accident until about 6.30pm (after last going to potty around 10am) then did it on edge of the sofa as she found just enough space to hang off the edge.

Then a hour later she did it on the floor in front of the sofa, and a small amount another 30 minutes later.

I wonder what makes that corner special for her, shall I move the sofas and use some cleaning solution behind them in case its the smell? I have already used attachment of my carpet cleaning machine on the cushions.

If I had a bigger living room I could move the sofa but I don't sadly, and I would buy a replacement one but no point of she goes on that one too, its a shame as despite being second hand I only got this sofa in summer.

Shes great at socialising at least when not in a home setting, when outside if she sees a person on own she is likely to either sit down, jump and want attention, or roll on her back, if theres more than one person and/or they have a dog with them she just lies down or rolls on her back, she has been a little unsure at times around other dogs who are right in her face but most times she touches another dogs nose with her own and even rolls over for it.

I am wondering about her feeding pattern, I currently feed 3 times a day and this means she wants to go out in middle of night and she normally poops in evening and rarely during daytime (apart from first thing in morning and 1-2 hours after lunch)  Today she had her food at 4.30 as I wanted to see if she went earlier but she still went in her normal timeslot i.e between 8-9pm)