based on 20 reviews
0474 003 314
The Bordermeade Border Collie Puppy Owner Guide
My Border Collie Puppy Owner Guide has everything you need to help your puppy grow into a happy, confident and well-adjusted family dog.
Bringing home a puppy is exciting, but there is also a lot to learn. At Bordermeade Border Collies, I believe my responsibility doesn't end when one of my puppies leaves for their new home.
I've created my Border Collie Puppy Owner Guide to share practical advice about raising your puppy, from those important first few days at home through to socialisation, training, travelling, living with children and understanding your Border Collie's behaviour.
Whether you already have a Bordermeade puppy, are waiting for your puppy to come home, or are simply considering whether a Border Collie is right for your family, I hope you'll find these resources helpful.
Bringing Your border collie Puppy Home
Those first few days with your new puppy are exciting, but they can also feel a little overwhelming. A new home, new people and a completely different routine are a big adjustment for a young puppy. A little preparation and patience will help make the transition much easier.
Preparing for Your Puppy
Having everything ready before your puppy arrives makes those first few days much easier. A comfortable bed or crate, food and water bowls, collar and lead, safe toys and a puppy-proof area are a good place to start.
Your Puppy's First Week Home
Your puppy's first week is all about helping them feel safe and secure. Keep life fairly quiet, establish a simple routine and give your puppy plenty of opportunity to sleep and settle into their new surroundings.
Sleeping & Crate Training
Puppies need a lot of sleep. Providing a quiet, comfortable sleeping area and introducing a crate positively can help your puppy learn to settle and give them somewhere safe to retreat when they need some downtime.
Border Collies & Children
Growing Up Safely Together
Border Collies can make wonderful companions for children, but a safe and happy relationship begins with teaching both children and dogs to respect each other's boundaries.
Young children need to learn that dogs need quiet time, personal space and the freedom to walk away when they've had enough. Simple rules such as using gentle hands, leaving sleeping and eating dogs alone, and never climbing on or hugging a dog can make a huge difference.
I believe children should learn from an early age that a dog is a family member to be treated with kindness and respect. With good supervision and clear boundaries, children and Border Collies can develop a wonderful friendship that lasts a lifetime.
Babies & Puppies
Introducing a puppy into a home with a baby or very young child requires a little extra planning. Safe spaces, close supervision and teaching calm interactions from the beginning help everyone adjust comfortably.
Games Kids Can Play With Puppies
Children can be involved in lots of fun, positive activities with their puppy. Simple training games, finding hidden treats and supervised play can help build a wonderful bond without encouraging rough or over-excited behaviour.
Raising A Confident Border Collie
Building Confidence From the Beginning
A confident Border Collie isn't a puppy that is never worried or unsure. It's a puppy that has learned how to cope with new experiences, recover from uncertainty and look to their family for reassurance and guidance.
I start preparing my puppies for the world long before they leave Bordermeade. From an early age they are gradually introduced to different sounds, surfaces, objects, people and everyday experiences. I use Puppy Culture principles together with Early Neurological Stimulation and early scent introduction to help give each puppy a strong foundation.
Once your puppy comes home, that learning continues. Socialisation isn't about exposing your puppy to as many things as possible — it's about providing positive, age-appropriate experiences without overwhelming them. Sometimes simply watching something new from a comfortable distance is far more valuable than being encouraged to interact with it.
Helping Your Puppy Become Confident
You can continue building your puppy's confidence through simple everyday experiences:
• Introduce new places and experiences gradually.
• Allow your puppy time to watch and investigate.
• Never force your puppy towards something they find frightening.
• Reward curiosity and calm behaviour.
• Introduce different surfaces, sounds and environments.
• Let your puppy meet a variety of friendly people.
• Provide plenty of rest between new experiences.
• Remember that learning to relax is just as important as learning to be busy.
The goal isn't to create a puppy who is afraid of nothing. The goal is to raise a puppy who trusts that they can cope when something unfamiliar happens.
Puppy Socialisation
Socialisation is much more than meeting other dogs. Your puppy needs positive exposure to people, places, sounds, surfaces and everyday life while learning that the world is a safe place.
Understanding Body Language
Learning to recognise when your Border Collie is relaxed, uncertain, overwhelmed or needs some space will help you respond before your puppy feels they have to escalate their behaviour.
Learning to Settle
Border Collies are clever, active dogs, but they don't need to be entertained every minute of the day. Teaching your puppy how to switch off, relax and simply do nothing is an important life skill.
Want to see how confidence building begins at Bordermeade?
👉 Learn more about my Puppy Culture program
TRAINING & EVERYDAY LIFE
Living with a Border Collie puppy is rewarding, entertaining and sometimes a little chaotic! Puppies are learning from everything they do, so everyday routines are wonderful opportunities to teach good habits that will stay with them throughout their lives.
Puppy Biting, Chewing & Other Mischief
Chewing, mouthing and exploring with their mouths are completely normal puppy behaviours. Puppies aren't being naughty when they chew — they're investigating their world, relieving discomfort while teething and learning what is and isn't appropriate.
Rather than trying to stop chewing altogether, give your puppy plenty of suitable things they are allowed to chew. Rotate toys and chews to keep them interesting, and keep tempting household items out of reach while your puppy is learning.
If your puppy grabs something they shouldn't have, try swapping it for an appropriate toy or chew rather than chasing them. Chasing can very quickly turn stealing things into a fantastic game!
Remember — puppies don't automatically know the difference between their toy, your shoe and the corner of the lounge. We have to teach them.
Toilet Training Your Puppy
Toilet training is one of the first things you'll work on with your new puppy. The good news is that puppies generally want to keep their sleeping area clean, and with consistency, supervision and plenty of opportunities to get it right, most puppies quickly begin to understand where you want them to go.
Want more toilet training tips?
👉See how I start toilet training my puppies
Puppy School & Training
Training your Border Collie should be about building communication, confidence and trust — not simply teaching commands. Border Collies are intelligent and quick to learn, which means they can pick up the things we don't intend to teach just as quickly as the things we do!
A good puppy school can be a wonderful introduction to training and provides an opportunity for your puppy to learn around everyday distractions. Look for a trainer who uses positive, reward-based methods and understands that puppy classes should be about much more than puppies simply playing together.
Keep training sessions at home short, positive and fun. A few minutes at a time is plenty for a young puppy. Skills such as responding to their name, coming when called, walking calmly on a lead, waiting, leaving something when asked and settling quietly are far more valuable in everyday life than teaching lots of tricks.
Remember — every interaction with your puppy is teaching them something. Reward the behaviours you'd like to see again.
Keep Training Fun
Young puppies have short attention spans. Finish while your puppy is still enjoying themselves rather than continuing until they've lost interest. Several tiny training sessions throughout the day can be much more effective than one long session.
Reward What You Want
Notice the good things your puppy does without being asked. Calmly lying down, choosing not to chase something, checking in with you or settling while you're busy are all behaviours worth reinforcing.
Adventures With Your Border Collie
Life with a Border Collie is full of adventures. From car trips and walks to holidays, cafés and days at the beach, introducing your puppy to the wider world gradually can help them grow into a confident companion who enjoys going places with you.
Travelling With Your Puppy
Getting your puppy comfortable with car travel from an early age can make life much easier. Start with short, pleasant trips and gradually build up to longer journeys. Make sure your puppy travels safely in a secured crate or with an appropriate vehicle restraint.
Some puppies may initially drool, become restless or feel carsick. Keeping early trips short and avoiding a large meal immediately before travelling can help. Give your puppy regular opportunities to experience the car without every journey ending somewhere exciting such as the beach or puppy school — sometimes a drive can simply be a drive.
A puppy who learns to relax in the car makes travelling together much more enjoyable for everyone.
This is Sasha as a puppy during our seven-month trip travelling around Australia in our caravan. Starting young helped her learn that travelling, new places and changing environments were all a normal part of life.
Walking & Exercise
Border Collie puppies don't need hours of exercise to tire them out. Their bodies are still developing, and more exercise isn't always better.
Short walks, sniffing, exploring, gentle play and age-appropriate training all provide valuable physical and mental stimulation. Allow your puppy plenty of opportunities to stop, sniff and investigate rather than thinking every walk needs to cover a certain distance.
Try to avoid excessive repetitive or high-impact activities while your puppy is growing, such as prolonged running, repeated jumping or constantly chasing a ball. Your puppy also needs plenty of rest and time to recover after activity.
More exercise doesn't necessarily create a calmer Border Collie — sometimes it simply creates a very fit Border Collie who expects more and more exercise!
Let Your Puppy Set the Pace
Rather than concentrating on kilometres or trying to exhaust your puppy, think about the quality of the outing. A short walk where your puppy can sniff, explore and calmly experience the world can provide far more enrichment than a long, fast-paced walk.
If your puppy is slowing down, repeatedly stopping, lying down or appears tired, it's time to finish.
Exploring the World Together
Taking your puppy to new places is an important part of helping them become a confident, adaptable dog. But an outing doesn't need to be busy or exciting to be valuable.
A visit to the beach might involve exploring the sand, paddling in the water and listening to the waves. A café visit might simply mean relaxing beside you and watching people go past. Even sitting somewhere new and quietly observing the world can be a valuable experience for a young puppy.
Your puppy doesn't need to greet every person or dog they meet. Give them time to watch, sniff and investigate at their own pace, and pay attention to their body language. If they're becoming tired or overwhelmed, it's perfectly okay to call it a day.
Quality experiences are far more valuable than trying to expose your puppy to everything at once.
Sasha, Scout & Archie enjoying a beach adventure — exploring different sights, sounds, smells and surfaces together.
Keeping Your Puppy Safe
Puppies are curious, quick and remarkably good at finding things we never expected them to find! A little preparation and supervision can prevent many accidents while your puppy is learning what is safe and what isn't.
Puppy-Proofing Your Home
Puppies explore with their mouths, so keep electrical cords, medications, cleaning products and small objects safely out of reach. Check your home and yard for anything a curious puppy could chew, swallow, climb through or become caught in.
Remember that as your puppy grows, things that were once safely out of reach may suddenly become very accessible!
Gates, Doors & the Great Escape
Border Collies can be quick and surprisingly clever. Make sure gates and fences are secure and teach everyone in the household to check where your puppy is before opening external doors or gates.
Your puppy should be microchipped and wear appropriate identification. A reliable recall is enormously valuable, but it should never replace sensible management around roads and other hazards.
Food, Heat & Everyday Hazards
Many ordinary household items can be dangerous to dogs, including some foods, medications, plants and chemicals. Keep anything potentially harmful safely out of reach and contact your veterinarian promptly if you think your puppy has eaten something they shouldn't.
Never leave your puppy in a parked vehicle in warm weather. Cars can become dangerously hot very quickly, even when the temperature outside doesn't seem particularly high.
Water Safety
Not every Border Collie is automatically a confident swimmer. Introduce water gradually and never force a puppy to swim. Supervise puppies around pools, dams, rivers and the ocean, and make sure they have an easy way to get out of the water.
If you're boating or spending time around deep or moving water, a properly fitted dog life jacket can provide additional protection.
More Bordermeade guides & resources
There's always more to learn about living with a Border Collie. I've put together a range of guides based on my own experience raising, breeding and living with Border Collies to help you understand your dog and give them the best possible start in life.
Border Collie Temperament & Traits
Learn what living with a Border Collie is really like, including temperament, intelligence, energy levels, trainability, family life, grooming, health and the everyday needs of this remarkable breed.
Temperament & TraitsHow I Feed My Border Collies
Good nutrition is an important part of raising healthy dogs. See what I feed my own Border Collies, the ingredients I use and why I've chosen this approach for my dogs and puppies.
How I Feed My DogsWhat is Puppy Culture?
Discover how I use Puppy Culture to give my puppies a strong start through early socialisation, enrichment, confidence building and age-appropriate learning before they leave for their new homes.
What is Puppy Culture?Border Collie Health
Learn about Border Collie health, the health testing I carry out on my breeding dogs and the steps I take to give my puppies the best possible start.
Border Collie HealthLifetime Support from Bordermeade
Bringing your puppy home is just the beginning.
I love hearing how my puppies are growing and becoming part of their new families. If you ever have questions or need guidance along the way, I'm only a message or phone call away.
My support is there for the lifetime of your Bordermeade dog.
And please keep the photos and updates coming — I never stop loving the puppies I've bred just because they've gone to their new homes.