Can someone advise me on how I can stop Bailey (6 month old border collie) from jumping up, biting - in fact chewing our hands, and will he ever calm down?  We take him out for at least a 2.5 hr run off the lead every day ( for which he behaves very well and is excellent at call back.  He also has at least two walks on the lead (he is a nightmare at pulling - we have tried choke chain, but he still pulls!

We don't want to give up on him, but he is making our life such hard work.  We are not new dog owners, having had retrievers and german shepherd dogs before, but they have never caused so much havoc!!!

Please is there anyone out there that can help us.

Ann

first of all what food are you giving him, some may predispose dogs to over the top behaviour.

secondly, a dog of this age should not be going out anywhere near 2.5 hours a day, let alone the other lead walks; this is far too much as his growth plates will not yet have closed and it is putting him at risk of future health problems.

If your dog is jumping up and biting just remove what he wants ie your presence and he will soon learn that inappropriate behaviour will result in the absence of reward therefore there is no point in doing it.

If he is pulling either train him not to or invest in a head collar or harness which will make the pulling more manageable

hi !
id sugest,cutting back on his walks.its too much for a growing BC. instead play games with him & try to get him to use his brain!! :D & do some training!!!!.

teach him an instant down,so when he jumps up for attention you can tell him to down then give him tons of attention/ttreats/games on the floor.

walk him on a harness ,or head collar. my collies seem to prefer the action of the GENTLE CONTROLLER (not G.-leader).
collies are rather prone to pulling.

get carol prices book ,understanding border collies, its great funny easy to understand

border collies are the best dogs in the world,but rather challenging at times!!!!!

also if he is still on a puppy food, it may have too much protien in it for him. lots of collies do alot better on a low protien food

Michelle, what is a gentle controller ? I need to get something for my boys but dont like the halti

Claire :)

http://www.naturaldogfoods.co.uk/

thanks thome!
ive tryed haltis & Gentle-leaders prevoiusly & the GC is much much better

I use a harness on my youngest SWD, he still pulls not nearly as much as he used to.  Have to say that this last week he has all of a sudden found his brain, but he is 2 years old though !!  THere was I worrying that he'd never mature and all of a sudden he's come into his own, so much so that I'm thinking of doing gundog work with him as in the last week he has started searching etc.

Not much help I know, it will come, but each dog is different and the other posters have advised you well.

Typical, another website I cant access from work

i have two 7mth old blue merle boys and the one of mine nips my hand and jumps up alot ive learnt to take his toys from him when he does this and in a deep commanding voice say no when i know hes going to nip or jump and this seems to have worked and he knows now if hes going to jump or nip he gets told no and toys taken away but when hes good his toys are rewarded back to him,as for the pulling the other one does that alot i bought harness for both and they have been on them for a week now and the pulling has gradually slowed down,walking mine are taking out 3 times aday for a 10min walk this seems to be enougth for them as for the rest of the time they have a huge garden to run around in so i know they are both getting plenty of exercise good luck

Instead of physical execise this dog needs short training sessions. A border collie need s to work his mind more than his body. Two 30 minute walks a day is probably the maximum physical exercise i would give him and then give a few short training sessions during the day. Mental work is more tiring and less likely to over excite the dog. I personally find clicker training fun and the dog finds is fun too. Finally have you taken him to training classes? THis is another way to teach you to train and to help give the dog a new outlet for his energy.