[plumseverywhere]

Thanks In the Hills - I have that book by my bed as I  picked it up from Amazon when I was considering buying a BC. I shall study the section you mention later! We've just spent a lovely hour in the field enjoying the sunshine and wind (!) and soon as I found a log to sit on to enjoy the view, Murphy is laid at my feet gazing up, very cute.

[happygolucky]

Arhhh, its always hard to start but persistence pays off, I find it very funny that our oldest Lab never ever pulled and neither does her daughter but Rhum the Chocolate does not pull more like get glued to a place or slowly tries to get ahead so we have to occasionally check her...but do pursue it as its not good to have a pulling dog..unless you have a sledge!!!!
Our washing machine is in the garage were I feed the dogs, ROhan my yellow lab is very quick to steal any sock, pants or tee shirt so I have to keep an eye on that as that's her thing!!!
If I did not have my dogs I would be fatter (yes) and not so happy as they bring me more than any money could!  xxx

[plumseverywhere]

And now we have bottom nipping and a Murphy who wants to round the children up...Thank goodness for Barbara sykes book! this dog is definitely more collie than terrier!!

[Lesley Silvester]

But hopefully he has inherited the terrier lack of shedding his coat everywhere.  Sounds like a great dog to have.

[jaykay]

When we were kids we lived on the coast. Whenever we were walking on the beach, the two collies would circle round and round us, especially if some speeded ahead and others lagged behind - not tidy 

As far as bottom nipping goes, if the victim turns and shouts 'no' in his face, he will learn not to do it. The other thing the older ones can do is accompany the 'no' with a nip of his ear, like his mum would have done.

Oops, edited to remove ipad typo 'improvements!'

[plumseverywhere]

But hopefully he has inherited the terrier lack of shedding his coat everywhere.  Sounds like a great dog to have.

I wish! Tony and I were only discussing last night how much black hair there suddenly is EVERYWHERE!! is that a collie trait?

As far as bottom nipping goes, if the victim turns and shouts 'no' in his face, he will learn not to do it. The other thing the older ones can do is accompany the 'no' with a nip of his ear, like his mum would have done.

will try this today...need to tell all the children what we need to do, lots of 'no' and yelps for a while. When its just Tony and I (or even just us and the eldest) Murphy is so quiet, just follows us, lies at our feet - we forget we have him! but add the 8 and 6 yr old to the equation and we have chaos. I've been putting him in his quiet place to calm down when he starts getting nippy and yappy, not sure if that is the right thing but its like he feeds off of their energy and vice versa.

[happygolucky]

Its like any human, if you are around excitable people you  become agitated or heightened and visa versa, around depressed people, you too can feel depressed.
We had a lovely Rottweiler cross and he would get over excited if children ran etc but he never growled or nipped as I was doing Foster Care, I just made sure he was not off lead around screaming running children...they do have a bad press but bless him, he was a lovely dog.
Its best to keep the atmosphere calm around him, when people take their dogs to agility or competitive running type trials, they do wind the dog up to get them going full pelt and often they will nip in excitement. At Murphy's stage in development.....I would play that excitement down.
Strangely my daughter had a busy and very noisy excitable household and had terriers and a lurcher but they were fairly calm, I suppose if its around them all the time they get used to it........!!
Now  I am confused myself...my stupid Gemini traits

[plumseverywhere]

   we'll see how he progresses - think he'll do well at agility, the classes i'm hoping to take him too (when their land has dried out!!) also run agility lessons. Be good for him to have something to really get into.
Right now he is asleep on my feet, soon as I get up to go out he'll be by my side. He sits in the car happily - he's perfect just a few tiny things to work on. Keep forgetting he's only 6 months old as he's so mellow and easy to train!

[plumseverywhere]

and here he is circling the sheep and keeping them in one place (!)

[jaykay]

 

Yeh, second the "keep things calm around him', lots of dogs, especially youngsters, will get hyper and nippy if all around is hyper. I think you've got good instincts re putting him in a quiet place and him feeding off the general energetic mayhem 

[SallyintNorth]

I'm enjoying reading about Murphy's progress 

My instinct was to put the younger kids in a quiet place - but then I've always had dogs and never had kigs 

It's pretty common and not specific to collies that the pup relates to the younger children in the family as he would his siblings - and puppies play rough, fighting, nipping games with each other.  In my experience it is best that he not think the kids are his siblings, rather that he knows he is bottom of the heap and has to do what everyone tells him.  Which can be hard to achieve because of course the kids love to play and rough-house with him... 

You'll have read it already, I'm sure, but now the relationship with between the children and the pup has reached that stage, read again the section at the end of the Barbara Sykes' book, "Kids, Collies and Misunderstandings."  She makes it pretty clear and puts it much more eloquently than I ever could.

[plumseverywhere]

Well he's certainly calmer at the moment  - he's been to the vet for 'that' visit and is currently sporting a lampshade on his head. He has adapted to it quite well but spacial awareness is lacking and he's pretty much removed my knee caps and throws the kids over regularly. great fun

[Mammyshaz]

 Poor Murphy  He'll be back to normal in no time and a much happier dog lacking the frustration some entire dogs have. No health worries as he ages either with prostate problems and other hormone induced problems. 

Those collars should come with a hazard warning     Did he just get 'done' today?

[plumseverywhere]

He was 'done' Friday Mummyshaz, in my (daft) wisdom I thought that being done on the friday would mean we could watch him over the weekend but what it actually meant was there is an extra 5 pairs of shins and kneecaps to be whacked into what with everyone being off of school/work!!
He's struggling to drink and I've tried all sort of bowls so he can get his lid over them but hes freaked out by it! I take it offperiodically for him to eat and drink now. He's being checked over on monday (tomorrow). He's still found a way to lick his wound dressing with the lid on!!

[Mammyshaz]

He can get infection by licking the site and the healing process will be slowed which will mean longer with the hood     Choose a pair of old shorts from one of your girls and cut a hole for the tail. Keep them on around the house but remember to take them off for outside otherwise he'll wee his pants  and his street cred will be straight out of the window if he sees another dog 
You can also add some cardboard to the collar m to lengthen it to stop him getting past it.
It's a pain I know but only for a week or so if you can stop him getting at it.