Going to get a collie pup, any tips?

[thndrdancr]

OMG, the neighbors dogs has a litter of nine pups three days ago, and I have one reserved for when she is weaned and ready to leave home.

I am so excited but its been AGES since I have had a dog. All we had when little were little lapdogs as we lived in town, so all I know is how to possibly housetrain and basically thats it, and even that is fuzzy, mom did the majority of training as I was about 8 last time I had an actual puppy! So several decades ago, lets say.....

I am excited and havent seen the pups yet, but I hear collies are very smart dogs, I need one to help keep the stupid australian shepard next door from killing my chickens and to help me around the place, etc. Since I have become allergic over the years, she will be a mostly outside dog, but still would like to potty train her for the minus 10's we have now and then in the winter, so she COULD mind her manners in the house.

I cant watch youtube training videos as my sound is out, darnit! So everyone chime in about collie dogs and what I might need to know. This is exciting and a bit scary, as this is a serious commitment, whew! Last dog we had lived 16 years and cat was 23. Dog will prolly live longer than us.

 

[Widget]

Well it has been a while since mine was a puppy. Starbuck (aka Caibor's Darn You Daggit CD RN) turns 11 in May.

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With collies I think it depends on the bloodlines. I've seen some strictly conformation show collies who were afraid of their own shadows and wouldn't know a sheep from a wool sweater. Then I've seen collies who were bred with the idea of keeping the 'working' part of the breed intact. Starbuck comes from that type of bloodline. His breeder wanted good looking dogs who could still herd or do anything requiring a bit of intelligence. Starbuck's relatives have been involved in search and rescue, tracking, herding, obedience, fire safety, therapy, ring sport, agility and probably a few other things too. I've done obedience, tracking, therapy and herding.

Of course that intelligence comes with a price. A very, very smart dog who can and will outsmart his or her owner. And get into all sorts of trouble both funny, exasperating and dangerous. On the advice of the breeder I began training Starbuck in a regular obedience class when he was eight weeks old. The other dogs were five and six months. He was hard-headed, very active and a quick learner. By the end of the six weeks he was the best dog there. But there is no doubt that he would have ended up in a shelter if someone not ready for a dog like him had bought him. I worked very hard to train him and the breeder was very good about helping when needed.

Do you know if the people are going to do eye checks? Or if the parents' eyes have been checked? Collies are prone to eye issues.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Watch the "Dog Whisperer" on Animal Planet. He Knows!

 

[thndrdancr]

Thanks guys.

These are from working stock outside dogs but I didnt know about the eye issues until I was reading last night, so thats a ? I will ask the owners.

Yea, I have been watching videos, man they can be smart dogs, unreal. Always wanted one as a child when I read all of Albert Payson Terhune's books on Lad and all the others he had.

 

[pardygwyn]

Congrats! I'd be interested to hear more about the dogs' working abilities as you learn more. "Work" means different things to different people, so I couldn't tell you much just from hearing that they work and are collies... however, if they're loose-eyed multipurpose-type dogs, you might look into the American Working Farmcollie Association. They've been a great source of information for me over the years, as has the Farmcollie mailing list on UVM's server.

In my experience, Collie Eye Anomaly hasn't been as big of a problem in recent generations as the skin problems. Those seem most common in a specific and very largely represented bloodline which is unfortunately being bred to farm-type Collies, as well - ironically, for the purpose of improving eye checks. I doubt you have much to worry about, but it's something to be aware of. If your breeder knows the CEA lingo, make sure they know the hereditary demodex and discoid lupus lingo, too. If they just plain don't know about any of them, well... PM me some pedigrees. I'll try to help.

Also, if you haven't already looked into the MDR-1 mutation, check it out. Important stuff there.

 

[sweetshoplady]

I love my collie! She's great with the animals. She's 8 months old and herds the ducks for me. The lady I bought her from was into obedience, and her dad and others are titled in obedience, so I don't know if that made a difference. I told the lady I wanted one that would be a good farm dog. The ducks are "her" job, to put them away at night. She will put them to bed at 9:00 am too, (they don't like it, but I let them right back out)

I plan to get her sheep. Yes, they are a great dog. Very smart, very loving. Just like a real-life Lassie should be. And so so pretty. Make sure to brush them on a regular basis, that part right behind the ear can get matted very quickly (if you're getting a rough collie).

A really neat collie thing, is that you can actually dry them off. They dry very quickly after being in the rain or having a bath, don't stay damp after towel drying like a German Shepherd does.

The eye thing, I believe if they don't have it as a puppy they won't have it. My puppy was checked as a wee one by a doggy eye doctor and got a certificate of health. I think your responsible breeders do their best to not use dogs for breeding that have the eye thing, and have them checked prior to sale.

Congrats! Are you getting a boy or a girl?

Widget, how do you get into doing therapy with your dog? Please pm me with any help you can give me.

 

[Crazyland]

I am not going to say anything bad about cesar millan, but I will say don't buy his junk.
There are better, REAL trainers out there. TV is more about hype.

A good book to read is The Power of Positive Training.
I also like the Monks of New Skeet.
Practicing NILIF (nothing in life is free)is also a very good. Although I don't believe in all their beliefs like you HAVE to go through a door before the dog. NILIF is behavior modification but works wonders when you raise a puppy with it. You can google it and will find many free sites with information on it.

Congrats on getting a new puppy. I bet you can't wait to find out who is the lucky little pup.

 

[thndrdancr]

Yes, I am excited and am reading training tips, etc.

Everything I have read so far encourages me, I like the thought of positive reinforcement as training, everything I have read bout collies is to NOT discipline by negative stuff, other than harsh tone, etc. Well most of ya know what I mean.

When I was growing up, our animals ALWAYS knew mom was boss, funny looking back on it. They wouldn't even think of having an accident in the house.

My sis is 18 years older than me, and a few times she took in these same cat and dog while we were moving etc for a few weeks and you would never have even known they were housetrained. Sis is a pushover and they pushed the envelope all the way with her.

I fondly recall our cat that was adopted as a pregnant young adult as folks had her in the trunk of their car on the way to dumping her, she tested mom to the very end of her rope. The very final straw was her peeing in the bed, after numerous attempts at correction...she very well knew what she was doing too by that time.
I remember the cat going around and around in the living room somewhat like that boy that turned to butter nursery tale, with Mom screaming profanities and chasing the cat around the living room swinging the flyswatter madly (and she never did engage either-fast cat.)

Us as children finally took pity and opened the front door.

That caT was super intelligent, never had a litter box, would sit at the front door when she needed out, and was the most lovely ornery critter you could have ever wished for, and thereafter lived with us another 22 years very much loved. We had a dog problem with killing our cats, but once we got her, no longer. She got chased by them once, then afterwards would let them chase her up a tree, go out on the branch, drop on them, dig her claws in and ride them like no tomorrow. They never harassed her again after she did that to each of them. She had uncanny intelligence.

But I got offtrack, sorry. I have been blessed with some lovely critters in my time on this earth.

 

[Windrider]

Quote:
Yay! Another collie owner-to-be!

Good for you, looking into the positive reinforcement training methods. I have worked with collies for years and will tell you that it is the only way to go with this breed. Saying they are a "soft" breed is an understatement! They are NOT hard-headed or stubborn, just a biddable breed - all they want to do is please and if you do give them even mild corrections, they are just crushed and may become unwilling to work (because they might make a mistake). My current agility collie knows when she does something wrong on the course without me saying or doing anything; at home a gruff "uh uh" is usually enough. One thing many collie handlers will tell you is that if you repeat exercises over and over again after the dog has already done it correctly (as happens in many obedience classes), the collie assumes that it must not have done it correctly the first time and starts "making things up" - we trainers would say the dog starts "offering behaviors" trying to figure out what you want. Leads to some funny things! LOL

You don't say whether your collie-to-be is a farm collie or a "real" collie (sorry Pardygwyn, I don't know how else to refer to AKC Collies - perhaps I should say "Lassie collies"?!). Though related, they are not the same. Pardygwyn is more into farm collies than I am and can tell you more about their temperament. Among the "true" collies, there are not truly separate lines with "show" and "working" dogs, as there are among border collies and to a lesser extent the Aussies. I am a member of the AWCA (American Working Collie Association). In spite of not being worked for many generations, we have found that many show lines still retain the herding instinct. The collie has the distinction of being the breed the AKC lists as having the largest percentage of dogs with performance titles that are ALSO breed champions! There are breeders who specialize in working collies, but those collies were originally show stock, unless they are farm collies with the blunter head.

In all the Herding Instinct testing I've seen and done, I have yet to see a collie that was afraid of stock, as Widget claims to. The most common reason for a collie to fail its instinct test is offering "play" behaviors such as play bowing to the sheep instead of wanting to push them around. This is not a bad thing for backyard chicken owners! As a breed, while they may have a considerable "chase" instinct, there is likely no other breed with such an inhibited "bite" instinct. Teaching a herding collie to "grip" is sometimes difficult - they are too polite!

Sorry for the long post - collies are one of my passions! For good info on the MDR-1 mutation (which is a VERY serious thing you need information about) go to the AWCA site, they have a great print-out for collie owners to give to their vet:
http://www.awca.net/

 

[RiverOtter]

If I could make sure that every puppy came with an instruction manual it would be THIS BOOK; http://www.amazon.com/Puppy-Preschool-Revised-Raising-Right-Right/dp/B002HJ3J7I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265825559&sr=1-1

And a more formal training book by the same trainers; http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Talk-Training-Through-Canine/dp/0312117787/ref=pd_sim_b_1

These are good, easy to read books that do NOT just promote fads or ONE aspect of living with a dog (everything is NOT about dominance) AS far as I'm concerned, these are the dog training Bibles.
Congrats on your new pup! Since they're so close, we get to see growing up pictures, right?? <nudge nudge>