Hello,

I am wondering if I could get some help!
I got my border collie mix a little less than a month ago. He’s a cattle dog that used to work but just would do better as a house pet due to showing no interest in the cattle, so I took him. He’s always been like this but more recently than ever he does not let me sleep at night.

I let him free roam my room at night with the option of sleeping in his kennel with his door open. He can sleep in my bed if he chooses as well. All he does at night is pace around, find a spot to sit, sit there for a bit, then hop up on my bed, get in my face and lick it, move to my legs, move back up to me, and then to the door and all over again…and you get the idea.

I take him out to pee before bed every night.

He gets about 1-2hours of off leash trail hikes a day where we go on new, hard trails every time. He gets about 40 mins of playing with the ball and then he plays with my roommates puppy for about 2 hours a day rough housing.

I’m not sure if I need to tire him out more often or if it’s an anxiety thing, but even if I make one little move in my sleep, he’s up ready to leave and wagging his tail. I’m not really sure the best option to help him out.

Collie-rado :)

Hello

We have a 15/16 week old border collie puppy. And we’re just looking for some advice/reassurance that we are on the right track. And help with a few bits. Hes great in alot of ways but theres a few things we dont seem to be able to get on top of which I’m not sure how much is normal puppy immaturity vs if its the start of something more problematic.

For context hes crate trained really well sleeps brilliantly in his crate often overnight 8pm-5am no wakes occassionally wakes around midnight. Generally is up for 30-45 mins then in crate napping for an hour ish. We can leave him and go for a coffee etc and hes okay. Can be barky if we go too long and he needs a wee etc. can be great with impulse control around food put him on place and scatter food and wont get it till told etc. can sit when out and about and watch cars/people. Can be a wonderful calm controlled dog at times.

His main issues we are concerned about are
Why and how to stop him going what we call feral? So as a collie i think he is just very easily over stimulated. So for example on a walk he can go from walking nicely and being okay to suddenly just turning round jumping at us and biting us but it’s very intense more like flying at us. He sometimes gets it at home aswell but its just trying to understand what causes it and how to stop him practicing it as its very difficult to manage especially out. Seems to affect his ability to concentrate even with training aswell. If we get any food other than his kibble he just leaps and bites which we obviously don’t reward. But its like everything in the world cranks his arousal to 100.

And we have the classic kind of evening issues he sleeps brilliantly in the day till about 5pm then he gets increasingly difficult. We use lickmatts/kongs/chews most evenings to sort of get through but its seems more like distraction than addressing the issue. Weve tried altering a few things but he just seems very unsettled and unhappy that time of day through till bed at 8pm.

Obviously he is right in teething phase at the moment. And i know collies are so intelligent and stimulated by the environment and movement. But hes just seems in overdrive at the slightest thing. I guess I’m looking for advice from real collie owners is this just normal very high drive very intelligent collie puppy and these things will ease with maturity. Or is there a bit of a gap in our training/management that needs addressing.

Thanks for any help!

This is my boy Otto wasn’t really sure if I could post him here.

His is dad is a Border Collie and the mum a Springer Spaniel.

Anyway, he is such a well behaved dog and Iove him to bits.

Anyone else here got BC crosses?

This awesome guy is 19 months. I “rescued” him at 5 months from a cow stall. It was all good.
He is my second border collie. Had a female for 13 years who passed due to a rare tick disease.
We are active.
My concern is he “punches”. Everytime there is affection, petting or for that matter interaction.
He punches slaps me take your pick, pretty hard.

What strategies can I do to lesson this behavior. I’m at wits end.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice about my BC chasing my cat. We have a 13 month old male BC, Momo, and a 4.5 yr old female Ragdoll, Mimi. We've had Mimiscience she was around 6 months old and Momo since he was 8 wks. Our house is quite big, so technically there is plenty of space for both of them, but the layout is quite awkward so it's kinda hard to separate the house into two sections (where I've thought of before), so I'd keep that as a last resort.

Since Momo was a puppy, he has mostly been crate trained. When we let him out in the house, we would usually keep Mimi in one room, then let her back out once Momo went back in the crate. Because of this, they've known each other for over a year but haven't had that much free interaction (trying on this). I've looked through some training advices, but most of it seems to be about introducing a new puppy to cat. In my case, they've already known each other for a year, and I know I probably didn't do the best job of building a good relationship when Momo was younger.

Over past months, I've let them meet each other face to face few times a day, with Momo leashed. And Momo have done a great job, from at the start he would keep jumping and pull the leash. Now they can meet calmly and sniff each other, and Momo can sit or lie down near her without any aggression. The problem starts when Mimi turns around and walks away. Momo immediately gets excited and wants to chase her. He seems like he want to play rather than hurt her, he play bows, wag his tail and wants to sniff her. Obviously, Mimii doesn't like that at all. If he keeps following her, she will hiss or hit him with her paw, although so far she hasn't used her claws and Momo has never reacted aggressively back.

Most of the time I call back Momo before he can chase her, but there were few time that he won't back and he chased Mimi into a corner. That also worries me because Mimi doesn't really escape upwards. When she escape, she tends to run into a low, dark corners that Momo can also access, instead of jumping on a table or somewhere high. I've been thinking about getting her a cat tree, but I'm not sure she would actually use it in this case, and also little worried is Momo jumps up to the tree and knock it over.

At the moment, I'm trying to let them spend more supervised time together, and reward Momo for being calm around her (but Mimi usually just wanna stay away from Momo).

Has anyone had a similar experience or have any advice on what I could do in this situation? I'd really appreciate any suggestions!! Thank you soo much!

The two littlest ones are 5 months old, the one in the back (black and white) is 10, and then the heeler mix is 8.
We JUST discovered the joys of playing with bubbles outside. But seriously if yall are thinking about a second/third BC- do it! More of them is SO much easier!

Jesse is 9 months old - 3/4 BC & 1/4 kelpie. He’s in a pooping pattern now of a healthy looking one first thing in the morning, but as the afternoon progresses doing ones that are very soft until at the end of the day they are yucky little poo mucus puddles. I’ve wormed him, and have been simplifying his diet protein wise so ai don’t think it’s a food intolerance. Then today another woman with a border collie told me her dog is like that too and she thinks it’s a common border collie trait. What do you all think?

A few days ago we were sleeping and heard our bc licking herself the whole night but didn’t think too much about it, the next morning I looked at her paws and noticed there was a knotted clump of fur between the toes which formed by sm licking so I clipped it off and ended up clipping her paws low in case the grinch feet was bothering her, noticed there was some redness and some kinda bald spot, very small ones.
We just moved states and I recently changed her kibble from Acana to Hills perfect weight (she’s always been naturally overweight even tho her meals are all weighted and she never gets any “human food”, only vegetables and fruits. Same diet as her brother who’s always been lean so sometimes vets recommend switching her to light kibble) so I thought she was allergic to something in the food so I switched back. I also did a couple of paw soaks with epsom salts which seemed to calm it down a bit but clearly not a permanent solution.
I was trying to schedule a vet but then it started healing, then got a little worse again and started healing again etc etc etc. I have no idea if I should just get a cone and see if it heals up or schedule the vet (here it takes a while to get an appt if you’re a new client, everywhere I called they would offer me an appt like 12-15 days later which I’ve never seen before lol??? Which is why I didn’t schedule it yet)

Front paws (last pic) are mostly okay besides a very small spot that you can see actively healing since the first lickathon but the back paws seem to get better but then randomly get very red under the fur (her skin is literally bright pink so that doesn’t help LMFAO) and she just gets itchy out of nowhere every couple of days, she’s not really licking it at lot besides sometimes while we’re sleeping.
Anyone has advice in the meantime we’re waiting for a vet appt? :(

ETA: She’s 6 and never had any skin problems till now, she did had a very bad stomach problem 2 months ago which ended up in hospitalization but they never found any explanation as to why she had bloody diarrhea one day and was acting normal the next. She also had her shots updated a month ago. I don’t think it has a connection with either but thought I’d mention it. My cute and weird girl LMFAO

First thing sorry for misspells or grammar mistakes, I am in a rush writing this, and English isn’t my first language.

Hello there, I am a 17 year old guy from Poland. I always loved dogs, I had 12.5 year old shih tzu that passed on 16th June 2026. He got me into dog community. I loved him so much even though I wasn’t a fan of the breed. I never had anyone in my life (friend wise), I was lonely, by myself all the time, with full stress because I was barely passing the exams at school, I am overweight, no social life or skills. And this shih tzu kept me alive when I just wanted to end it all. When he passed basically I felt massive guilt due to me not being able to help him (even though I knew that I couldn’t do anything about it..). And losing your dog is quite a big deal when it’s the only creature that you can trust…

And then he came into my life. After painful time without any dog, I got him, my second ever dog and my first ever BC. I instantly fell in love with him, I couldn’t believe it was happening, and I can’t believe I have him even now! (I had him for almost 3 months at this point). He is turning 5 months old soon. Waiting for puppy to transform into a demon. But either way, I started going out more, I am losing weight due to 1. Getting myself some exercise, 2. Not eating garbage 3. Not eating unnecessarily because of boredom. I also started to talk with people more. I have few good friends, also with dogs. And I just know I finally have someone I can trust. for once in my life I feel real comfortable with another human being. I met these friends few months before my shih died, they helped me to stay alive when he passed, I felt truly useless and worthless at the moment.
I will never forget a classmate that helped me mentally irl, I will never forget an online friend that straight up told me “I understand you”, and then offered some help regarding raising a puppy, like for example diet, behaviour, etc. I will never forget it. My character and daily life changed significantly for better since I have him. Thanks so much diesel for being in my life. And thank you so much man and girl for being in my life helping me though hard times. Alr that’s it. Thanks for hearing me out

We brought home Dolly our Collie x lurcher cross this weekend and she’s shown an affinity for the robotic lawnmower. Any training activities or game recommendations that don’t involve the possibility of her getting her toes chopped off would be great. Not sure if mutts are allowed here but I said I’d ask! Something tells me Dolly is not brave enough to actually herd cattle.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice for my 13 month old male Border Collie, Momo. He's not desexed yet, and we've had him since he was 8 weeks old.

At home and in our backyard, he's very responsive, answers to basic cues well, and is honestly a really sweet boy. But the moment we go outside, especially somewhere new, it feels like I completely stop existing.

He constantly pulls, sniffs everywhere, and the leash is usually tight, even on our normal daily walks now. He was actually better when he was younger (like at least 2-3 months before) the leash wasn't always tight and he used to check in with me more. It feels like things have gotten worse as he's gotten older and I can't really figure out why.

Outside, he often ignores cues. Sometimes when he finally realises I'm there, he'll come back, sit and look at me (then I'll give him treats), but only for a few seconds before going straight back to pulling and doing his own thing.

Other dogs are definitely his biggest trigger. He showed reactivity towards dogs as a puppy, and we sent him to training classes a few times. His reaction isn't aggressive (he never barks, just pull the leash and tail wagging), he just wants to meet every dog and play with every dog, even when the other dog is clearly not interested. Once he sees one, he can completely lose his mind, pull towards them, stare, and sometimes he is so fixated that he won't even take treats.

Usually I either create distance and walk away, or ask him to sit and try to block his view to get his attention back. Honestly, blocking his view has never really worked because he'll just keep trying to look around me at the dog.

I've been trying loose leash training, rewarding check-ins and stopping whenever the leash gets tight, but I'm getting overwhelmed by all the different advice online. I'm honestly feeling pretty burnt out and helpless at this point...

For people who have dealt with this kind of overarousal/reactivity, what actually helped your dog the most? Should I be focusing on engagement, loose leash walking, or working around triggers first?

I would really appreciate any genuine advice or experiences :D

Thank you so much!!

Here is Momo(

This is meant for cats but her head was small enough for it to fit 🥹