How to Keep Your Border Collie Entertained

Border Collies are working dogs. To be entertained they need a job to do. If you don't keep your Border Collie entertained, he will find his own work, such as herding your kids, or chewing your house apart. Bored dogs turn to destructive behavior to amuse themselves and to get your attention. Luckily, there are a lot of fun ways you and your Border Collie can spend time together. That's right, before you bought that Border Collie, you hopefully factored in a lot of free time to spend with him!

Sheep herding

Border Collies are born sheep herders. Often, Border Collies will try to herd children or other dogs by nipping and growling. Part of your Border Collie's training should be to teach him the appropriate behavior to use around children and other pets. If you and your Border Collie begin sheep herding, he will be smart enough to learn the difference between sheep and children, and still get to use his natural herding instincts.

Training your dog to herd sheep will be difficult, but rewarding for both of you. You will have a happy dog that is very responsive to many commands. When you are getting started, you may have a friend or local farmer who will let your borrow a few sheep to practice with. Before you start working with sheep, make sure your dog is well trained in other basic commands. If you get into sheep herding as a sport, you may end up buying your own sheep! You can buy books and DVDs to learn about training your dog to be a sheepdog.

Agility

Border Collies are born champions in agility trials. Agility requires that the dog run an obstacle course. Obstacles include weaving between poles, jumping, climbing a see-saw, and running through tunnels. Border Collies are fast and intelligent, making them perfect candidates for this sport. Agility will keep you in shape, along with your Border Collie, as the owners run alongside the dog in the game.

Agility requires a great deal of communication between owner and dog. The dog will not know which order to approach the obstacles in without human direction. However, the human handler may not touch the dog or the obstacles. You will have to train your Border Collie to respond to voice and gestured commands only.

Flyball

Flyball is a team game for dogs. There are four dogs per Flyball team, and the game works like a relay race. The dogs have to run to a box that holds a spring-loaded tennis ball. There are hurdles in the way that the dog must clear without errors. When they reach the box, they must operate the mechanism to release a tennis ball. The dog must catch the tennis ball, then run back over the hurdles to the starting line. When the dog crosses the starting line, the next dog on his team may go.

Flyball is fun and competitive. It will give your dog a chance to stay in shape and be a champion! To learn more about the rules and how to find a Flyball team, visit www.flyballdogs.com.