What to feed a collie?

Twee.

My pal has a collie pup, about 6-8 months old I think (I can double check if needs be). She's been very restless at night and getting destructive with her kennel. Friend is going to add in another short walk just before bed time to hopefully tire her out extra, but was wondering if better quality food will have an affect also. I think she's currently on Bakers. I'm a cat owner myself but from browsing the forum I've seen stuff like to check the first ingredient on the list, could someone elaborate on this please?

Many thanks!

smellslikeshoes

You say another short walk, how much exercise is she getting currently?

Twee.

Sorry, I worded that wrong! She will be getting another walk before bed time, but it will be a short one. She gets a walk during and is let loose in a safe place for a while during the day. I'm not sure on the duration of the day time walk, but from when I've been out with her it was about an hour.

smellslikeshoes

Sounds like a case of boredom rather than a food issue though the food isn't the best either. Collie's need a serious amount of exercise both physical and mental. The extra walk will help but maybe add in something like frisbee/throwing a ball and have a go teaching her some tricks and see does it make any difference.

Twee.

Cool, I'll pass that on. She goes to agility class once a week so maybe they could practice some more on other days.

anniehoo

At 6-8mths this is prime training time for Collies in every sense of the word. Your friend needs to step it up asap in terms of feeding, exercise and obedience training if she wants to have a healthy and well mannered adult dog.

Collies are notoriously both highly energetic and intelligent dogs.In the wrong hands this can lead to major problems down the line...and im talking about by this time next year.

Starting with nutrition, Bakers isnt great. My rule of thumb is, if there's different colours coming out of the box then stay away from it. Dogs couldnt care less whether its brown,green and orange (fooling us into thinking its meat and veg related) it only has colouring additives, with a high cereal content and low protein.

Obedience training should be consistent from now on. This is where so many people fall down on. She should try her best to have at a minimum 60 mins/day exercise both physical and mental at equal intervals. 20 mins morning, midday and evening and last pees before bed. It's all about routine and sticking with it as boring as it sounds. A Collie left for 8-10hrs by itself without adequate exercise either side of this is a recipe for disaster.

Crate training for the times she cant be with her is also an option, aswell as daycare/walkers during the day if this can't be done.

This is the perfect time for your friend to start researching and implementing all of the "right" things to be feeding and teaching her dog before it gets to the stage where she has to undo all of the early learned "bad" behaviour...which won't be the dogs fault but who will probably get the blame anyway

belcampprisoner

http://elkana.info/do/training/590-unwanted-border-collie-behavior-and-how-to-cure-it.html

Sigma Force

There's an amateur sheepdog training going on around carlow area they are on FB. But yeh does sound more like boredom although if you can afford it putting the dog on a better quality feed can help but it's not the solution. Collies need to go go go all the time, our collie is 13 and only in the past 2 years has she started to slow down to the speed of a regular dog.
If possible maybe bring her into the house at night she could be also getting anxious and want the company, collies need to be flat out banjaxed to sleep well they just can't help it they're on the look-out all the time.
Ball games will also help during the day in between walks, ball fetching can become a bit addictive to them so keeps their mind and body active.

Outkast_IRE

I own a collie all here will agree Bakers is a rubbish food.

I feed Lukullus available on zoo plus .
The vet visit last week confirmed it, the food works well the vet was really impressed with the dogs/ look /coat/ general condition.

Collies are really intelligent dogs, is they get bored they will look for things to do, only solution is to tire them out, also lots of people say bakers makes their dog hyper it seems to be the equivilant of feeding kids sweets.

Twee.

Thanks for all the tips folks! I shall pass the thread on