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Dog Vs Dad

2K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  Dawnben 
#1 ·
Hi all, newby here.

I have a 18 week old Border Collie who we are struggling a bit to House break.
He has been mostly dry during the day since we bought him, however during the night He is very hit and miss.

The dog has the run of the kitchen of a night time as we did not want to crate train him, He was fine at first. Although he would have a few accident's they were always on the pads / paper which was down for him.

Recently though he is going everywhere and anywhere in the kitchen at night, as well as chewing the wall's and shredding every bit of paper he can get as well as shoe's and washing.
We play with him before going to bed so he is tired and let him out to go to the toilet just before we go to bed.

So the dilema is, do we try to reduce the kitchen size he has to play in (i.e. extendable / flexi dog gates) or should we crate train him and have him in the bedroom where we can keep an eye on him?

We know he can go through the night when he wants to but i think there may be too many distractions for him when the lights go out!!

Thought and suggestions would be greatfully received.
 
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#2 ·
Hi all, newby here.

I have a 18 week old Border Collie who we are struggling a bit to House break.
He has been mostly dry during the day since we bought him, however during the night He is very hit and miss.

The dog has the run of the kitchen of a night time as we did not want to crate train him, He was fine at first. Although he would have a few accident's they were always on the pads / paper which was down for him.

Recently though he is going everywhere and anywhere in the kitchen at night, as well as chewing the wall's and shredding every bit of paper he can get as well as shoe's and washing.
We play with him before going to bed so he is tired and let him out to go to the toilet just before we go to bed.

So the dilema is, do we try to reduce the kitchen size he has to play in (i.e. extendable / flexi dog gates) or should we crate train him and have him in the bedroom where we can keep an eye on him?

We know he can go through the night when he wants to but i think there may be too many distractions for him when the lights go out!!

Thought and suggestions would be greatfully received.
Crate training would be best. Also, at 18 weeks, the puppy is way too young to hold it all night. Someone is going to have to wake up once or twice during the night to let him out to go pee. Yes you might think he should be able to hold it, but that is still a tiny bladder. Prowl needed nightly bathroom breaks until he was 6 months.

Also, he's a border collie. Playing with him does not wear him out. Borders need more than just physical exercise (and they need a lot of that), they need mental stimulation and a job to do. With borders they will need at least 2 hours of physical exercise a day, at least as much mental stimulation, and it really helps if they can get out and do something with a purpose. Otherwise you'll end up with a bored border and bored borders make their own entertainment as you've discovered. Don't get me wrong, I love border collies and they are everything I want in a dog, but they are also a lot of work and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply!
The exercise is not a problem as we are quite active, he get's a minimum of 3 hours exercise( normally 2 hrs in the park every afternoon).

At the moment we are still training him so he gets lots of 'mental' stimulation as well as puppy training once a week.

We don't seem to have any issues of him being bored during the day, just at night.
I will look into some other fun things for him to do!!
 
#4 ·
I also think that crate training would be useful. He can't chew things he shouldn't if he's in there but he can chew whatever you've provided for him. I got vet roll for the crate and it's warm and soft but takes some chewing to get through. And he always has a couple of toys he really likes in there with him.

He's also unlikely to soil his bed - so long as someone is getting up during the night to see to him. But if he's just got a space to wander round in, he'll find a space to be his 'toilet' and use it.
 
#6 ·
You have a border collie :) these dogs require MUCH more than just physical activity and normally do not do well in homes without a job. A BC needs lots of mental stimulation; herding, food puzzles, flirt pole, etc. I would actually look for herding training classes bc if you can get into that its a world of fun!
 
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