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Training

Dog Finder

Raising and Starting a Puppy

Part 1

Beverly Lambert

      I have raised and/or trained about 20-25 Border Collies during the past fifteen years.  I have found that the early parts of their up-bringing and training follow pretty much the same pattern with variations depending upon where I happen to be living at the time (I have lived on four different farms during this period).

     The young dogs I have trained have fallen into two basic catagories, those I raised myself and those that were either returned to me or I otherwise acquired after they were over a year old.  I have found an enormous difference in training the two types of dogs with the dogs I have raised being much easier to train then the dogs that I have gotten from other people.  I have, however, found very little difference between the pups I bred and raised myself to eight weeks and those I got from other breeders at eight weeks.

I know that there is a great deal written these days about how important it is to get young pups well socialized.  My experience has been that there really isn't any personality difference between my pups that I really work to socialize and pups I get from other breeders who don't bother.  Still I don't believe it does any harm to spend time with the young pups and according to all of the books I have read it can make a real difference.  But I believe that it is more important to socialize the pups after eight weeks.  It really takes very little time and effort to bring up an easy to live with, well socialized Border Collie starting with an eight week old pup, pretty much regardless of how the puppy was raised up to that point.  The only difference I have found is in the house breaking.  Pups that are raised in really filthy surroundings can be very difficult to housebreak.

     A young, well socialized dog is infinitly easier to train then the type of pup that is raised in a kennel and gets very little handling until it is ready for training.

     I try to only have one young dog at a time (although I frequently end up with two).  I have a full-time job so during the day I keep my young hellions in an outside kennel where they can dig and chew to their hearts contents and not cause too much trouble.  In the morning and the evening the youngsters run with my Border Collie pack.  For me this is usually six or seven mature dogs.   These are house dogs that have the run of about two acres of fenced yard when I am home.  The pack teaches the youngsters to come when they are called, not to fight over food and to behave properly with other dogs.

     This last lesson is very important for me.  I am seeing more and more dogs at trials these days that don't get along with other dogs.  Such dogs are always trying to pick a fight or growling and barking at other dogs.   Youngsters need to learn not to fight and not to try the patience of their elders.   There is no one better able to teach them this then an older dog.

     I like to spend a lot of time playing with and petting the young pups.  This is an important time in their lives, its when they decide how much they care about people and which people they care about the most.  I like a dog that really likes people and wants attention. I use this craving for approval and my good judgement all through the dog's training.  I believe this need in the dog is developed during its first few months of life.

     I get my young dogs to a lot of different places during their first six-nine months of life.  I take them dog trialing, for car rides, to parades, walks in the park, visiting other farms and local fairs.  I want them to see it all while they are still young. I have found that many young dogs are very shy and frightened by a lot of the strange things I take them to see.  I reassure them and if anything bothers them too much.  I don't make a big deal out of it, we just leave it behind and ignore it if we can. Border Collies are born shy and most of them grow out of a great deal of it.  I have never had much luck trying to make a pup not be scared of something that they were freaking out about.  A scared puppy is not a reasoning animal. 99% of the time they just grow out of their fears.  A good example of this is grooming.  Some pups are really afraid of being brushed or washed.  This can become a major fight. I have had puppies freak out and go into major panic attacks over being dipped for fleas.  I have never had a pup not outgrow this fear.  So I have learned not to bother spending hours trying to "desensitize" puppies.   Just ignore the behavior, do what you need to do and the puppy will grow up just fine.

     I don't spend much time teaching my dogs any obedience when they are young.  I think they would benefit from it, but I find it boring and consequently I don't have the time for it. I do teach them to come.  This is very easy.  Any young pup will come when it is called. I reinforce this behavior with a few coming lessons rewarding correct behavior with a little chicken or cheese.  This assures me that the puppy knows the command.  Then we practise it at least once or twice every day with me calling the pup when it may not want to come and then releasing him as soon as he comes.  At about 10-16 weeks they will suddenly decide they don't need to come if they don't feel like it.  The first time the puppy fails to come when called we have a few more chicken/cheese lessons with me being very firm if they fail to obey.  I usually use this training opportunity to teach the down.  I teach the pup to down and reward them by calling them to me and giving them their treat and then letting them go.  Occassionally I have had to let a pup drag a 20' line for a week or two so I could reinforce the lesson while they were out playing.  But after this there is almost never any more problem with coming.  I think the trick here is getting the pup while it is young, not waiting until they have failed to come 20 or 30 times and it is a habit.  The first time they don't come get right on it and keep on it until it is fixed.

     My young dogs begin sleeping in the house in the fall when the weather starts getting cold, or when the kennel doesn't keep them in any more (usually as the result of a major tunneling operation).  I prefer to have them sleep in a crate for the first few months they are staying in the house at night, just to keep them out of trouble and it also teaches them to stay in a crate.

     My puppies are around stock all of the time they are growing up.  I try to keep an eye on them and make sure they aren't going to get trampled but most pups will stay with the adult dogs so this isn't usually a major problem.  When I have a pup that can't be kept out of the stock I just start training them (more on that next time).

     By the time my puppy is six-eight months old I like him to come when called, lay down if told to, ride in the truck, know about being chained up at dog trials, get along with other dogs and have seen a bit of the world (even if he doesn't necessarily like what he has seen).  The pup should be sleeping in the house, housebroken and interested in gaining my attention.  Most of the early "training" I do with the dog is aimed to foster the dogs interest in me.  I want that puppy to care about me, to want me to pet him, to want me to talk to him and to care for my good opinion.  Raising the pups with the other dogs some what takes away from their focusing their attention on me (they are usually more interested in the other dogs) but it increases their competition for my attention.  Also they quickly tune in to me exclusively when the other dogs are not around so this is not a real problem.