My 5 month old border collie bitch has just been diagnosed with metaphyseal osteopathy. I have been advised to keep her quiet, no exercise or fetch and no rough and tumble with her pals until shes about a year old!, any advice on this subject would be appreciated and if anyone has any ideas of how to keep a 5mth old collie occupied calmly! that would be great.

I use to give a cage rest borzoi pup a kong (large) with treats  in the mornings after their ablutions . Then the large balls with treats have entertainment value .Large dried out smoked marrow bones could be a treat for a quiet time . You could do a small amount sit and wait training ,on the spot , walk round her, side step from her, but don't call her in , or teach HOLD taking  light toys or objects off, say a chair ,and that will lead to her knowing  what hold means when you want to do more work later ,teach 'seek' and hide things under a rug or cushion in a small area .If you teach calmly and quietly , after a year you can easily jazz up training sessions as she improves.

Thanks for the advice, its so hard as she thinks shes ok, she rests during the day while im at work but when i get home and first thing in the morning shes hyperactive! She s throwing her toys at me, charging round the house and the garden if she gets chance. AS a collie she has alot of energy anyway and at only 5mnths, but as shes not allowed to go out she seams to have ten times more. we are doing some focused training like leave etc but even thats difficult for her to focus on with so much pent up energy.

Hide and seek is a exercise that can be done geeing her up ..... then go onto the calmer stuff. Are you a  calm person....as you say you are at work (but not how long) do you have a pop in  who looks in on her , or is she bursting , waiting  for you to come home.....

Am at work 9 to 5 Mon to Fri and yes i have someone that comes in for an hour at lunch time to play and feed her. Yes i am a very calm person. Hide and seek do you mean hide her toys and get her to find them? Im going to read up a bit more on the condition as well, i cant understand how a gentle walk is more impact on the bones that her charging around at every opportunity she gets. Shes always been a bit 'manic' and 'obsessive' since about a week after we brought her home i guess thats just her nature. having said all this she is such a sweet thing and very pretty and she is loved very much.

I am sure you love her ...ditsy as she may be ! I recommend a dog has a toy box, not toys ad lib all over the floor. that way she  can have one out and you hide it under a rug , encourage her with 'seek' and point the first time , she will soon get the hang of it . I keep the box usually out of reach . She then can be taught to 'drop' the toy back in the box , and choose another , and hide that under , say a cushion  on the sofa , if you don't mind her seeking there .Do read up on the condition and find out about how bones grow.
You ought to be able to play gently enough to take the bounce out of her.Be patient. People tend to over walk pups , take young babies miles , do the school run with them. I see pups far too young out bounding around . The skeleton has to grow first , the muscles build up , then body . You have  a garden ? you can do a scent line.Put a row 6-8 old teacups or mugs that she can't get hold of/pick up easily , put them in a straight row   well spaced out and have someone hold her in a sit , on a lead , looking away from you or cover her eyes .You place one special treat(half  a sausage ) under one mug. Take her on the lead down the row stopping at each mug, telling her 'FIND'.
When she scents it let her have it , praise her (usually we have what 's called a party) , but she has to be kept reasonably calm.Take her back to the top and try again.I will continue in another post.

Fun Scent cont. You can add your car keys to the next bit of sausage . Then take the food away and see if she finds your keys . If she will hold them ,lots of voice and encouragement, take her back to the end of the line , ask her to 'GIVE ' and reward her there.This is a fun version of scent cloths , which you can read about and progress to . Another day you can teach her 'away' to lie on a  piece of  her bedding or your old coat , in a square of 4 upside down cups..we usually start in a corner of a room, so the dog doesn't go through the square .have her on a lead , point to the corner and her bedding , run with her , saying 'AWAY' then 'down' if she knows it, or 'sit' Count her there quiet to 5 , you can increase it over time.Theres a whole world of fun things you can do with her providing she knows the basic commands.

Just to say Jess had a check up today and the vet is pleased with her progress she has xrays in three weeks time so fingers crossed, she is still not allowed out for walks as yet and is still 'manic' but she has put on another 2 kilos. Starting puppy training classes on Saturday hopefully this will give her something to focus on as well.

Try teachingher to cross her paws. Heelwork to music trick. Dog needs to be lying down and I push a paw away from their body and drop a treat by the paw. When they bring the paw back in I click and push it away again. Dog picks up to bring paw back in then withhold click when dog really good at it and dog will almost bash paws together trying to get your attention, paws will accidently cross/touch click and reward that only and eventually add a word. Takes aaaaggges with some dogs others are so slick at this. One of my lot had it in 30 seconds, others are still trying to work out why I keep moving their paws!! Tires them out, send aways to a toy as well as you can govern the movement. Covering eyes with paws is another close up one to teach very cute too!! So sorry to hear she'spoorly but glad she's doing better. Collies are my breed luuvvv em to pieces.

Bit of a new added problem - i just tried to take Js on a short walk around the block and she completely 'freaked out' at a passer by, i lost my grip on the lead and she ran off down the road, thankfully she got stuck so shes ok but my worry is shes become completely un socialised, she even was barking and growling at my neighbour. Im taking her to some puppy training in the morning so i really hope she gets on ok there. Shes also become more aggressive in her play with me which i am correcting but its really not good for a collie to be cooped up for so long! Im starting to get very concerned about her!