Help needed for Border Collie puppy PLEASE

mariaf24

Hi everyone,
My sister and her boyfriend (who currently hace no internet access) have a beautiful 12 week old female border collie. They got her when she was 7 weeks old, we saw her advertised in our local newspaper free to good home.
The problem is that she continues to bite and nip. She bites them all the time, fingers, toes, nips at everything and people who rub her. She has been doing it with a few weeks but it is getting worse. It is very sore now and she is doing it all the time, she just doesn't seem to understand 'NO'.
It is completely out of hand.
They have tried a few discipline options, walks, bought her toys etc. They are frustrated because they have searched the internet and have got very conflicting advice and opinions from people so i suggested boards

Please somebody help, We would appreciate any advice or suggestions as she is a very much loved puppy.

Thanks in advance.

ISDW

Unfortunately, because she was taken away from her Mother so young, she won't have learnt bite inhibition from her mum or litter mates. Has she had all of her injections yet? If not, she shouldn't be going out for walks until thats done.

If she's up to date with her vaccinations though, I would advise them to find puppy classes in her area, other pups won't put up with her roughness, and will tell her off, which should help her to learn. The humans in her life need to yelp loudly when she bites and stop playing with her for a few minutes. Hopefully she will soon learn that its not acceptable.

Best of luck to them.

mariaf24

Thank you so much for reply, I will pass this on. Yes she has had her vaccinations, They take such good care of her.
So it isn't too late to deal with it?

ISDW

At 12 weeks, definitely not too late. But they need to be consistent. The yelping and stopping play with her is to mimic what her litter mates would do. She could also be removed from them for a couple of minutes, into another room. I don't know if they're crate training her, but if so, don't use the crate for punishment, if they want to seperate her because of misbehaviour, just put her in a different room.

mariaf24

They will definitely try all this. Thank you. I edited the original post as my sister just told me she was actually 7 weeks old when they got her, i'm not sure if this makes a difference.

dudara

She's still young - remember that puppy mode can last a whole year!

Follow the advice given above. Be consistent. Simply saying "NO" or "STOP" won't be enough. There needs to be an associated action.

spurscormac

Giving a loud yelp and pulling back from interaction is the way to go.
As soon as she bites too hard, yelp loudly, stand up, pulling hands away, and even turn your back on the pup.

I'd start with that, give it 60 secs or so, then go back to playing normally.
Repeat as often as required for the dog to learn.

We did this with our pup, and deliberately man handled him in the mouth a lot to ensure we'd have no problems with checking his mouth and removing things he shouldn't be chewing.

If its still bad, maybe resort to placing the dog in another room on its own - but as said above, don't use the crate as punishment.

Sigma Force

I'm not sure I think that when a pup is taken at under 8 weeks is the only reason they bite/nip. Ok it's better for the pup and owners to have the puppy well weaned and with siblings for longer than 7 weeks.

But we got our pup at 12 weeks, he had 2 siblings and lots of other pooches to play with before we got him. He still nipped and bit hard for a couple of months and he still chances it now and then. It's normal you just have to be vigilent with saying a firm no once and handing a toy. At the end of the day it takes time, with teething they get worse before they get better and having various teething toys helps, incl. kongs and ice cubes etc.

Collies can be naturally nippy as well but perhaps enrolling in puppy classes will help with some of the basic stuff.

Deffo. not too late in fact this is totally normal for 12 weeks although it should be lessening by now collies are high energy plenty of excercise to tire the dog out as well obviously you don't want to over do it but a pup that age is well able for an hours rambling a day and a good long run around later on.

ISDW

Guineapigrescue wrote: »

I'm not sure I think that when a pup is taken at under 8 weeks is the only reason they bite/nip. Ok it's better for the pup and owners to have the puppy well weaned and with siblings for longer than 7 weeks.

But we got our pup at 12 weeks, he had 2 siblings and lots of other pooches to play with before we got him. He still nipped and bit hard for a couple of months and he still chances it now and then. It's normal you just have to be vigilent with saying a firm no once and handing a toy. At the end of the day it takes time, with teething they get worse before they get better and having various teething toys helps, incl. kongs and ice cubes etc.

Collies can be naturally nippy as well but perhaps enrolling in puppy classes will help with some of the basic stuff.

Deffo. not too late in fact this is totally normal for 12 weeks although it should be lessening by now collies are high energy plenty of excercise to tire the dog out as well obviously you don't want to over do it but a pup that age is well able for an hours rambling a day and a good long run around later on.

Sorry to disagree with that advice, but the general rule of thumb for puppies is 5 minutes for every month of age per day. So at 12 weeks, which is obviously 3 months, the pup should only be getting 15 minutes walking for the whole day. Over-exercising a puppy can have long term effects on their joints.

ghost_ie

As soon as she bites enough to hurt yelp, pull away, turn your back on her and refuse to play for 5 minutes. We had this problem with when our eldest - a lab/collie was a puppy and it worked. She was 8 weeks old when we got her (she was a rescue pup who had been abandoned at 6 weeks) and it didn't take long for her to learn not to nip using these tactics.

mariaf24

Thanks to everyone for the advice. They give her 20 minute walks which she loves and is well able for.