How to Raise Your Border Collie in a House Full of Cats

Border collies can be obsessive herders.
i Border Collie image by Scott Griessel from Fotolia.com

Border collies are avid herders and may attempt to herd cats. Although they don't typically mean to harm other animals, nipping and other herding behavior can injure cats. With proper training, however, you can prevent herding behavior and get your border collie and cats to treat one another as equals.

Step 1

Adopt your border collie while he is still a puppy younger than 12 weeks old. Dogs raised with cats when they are puppies are substantially less likely to display aggressive behavior, and if your puppy grows up with cats, he is less likely to see them as prey animals in need of herding.

Step 2

Socialize your puppy to your cats before he is 16 weeks old. Encourage him to interact gently and play with them, but if you see him nipping or biting at the cat, separate your pets immediately. Click your training clicker and give your dog lots of treats every time he interacts positively with the cats.

Step 3

Give your border collie plenty of daily exercise. Border collies are not only one of the most intelligent dog breeds, they are also one of the most hyper. Intelligence and hyperactivity can quickly get your dog in trouble if he's not getting sufficient exercise, and he may resort to herding your cats. Border collies need at minimum one hour of exercise each day, and puppies generally need much more than this. Several brisk walks or runs, rousing games of tug and games of frisbee can all help to calm your dog. Border collies excel at sports like flyball and learn to play them quickly when they are young, so consider enrolling your puppy in a flyball class to burn off his energy.

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