Mental stimulation for Collie?

After my long chat with the vet today about Tilly's behaviours he's advised that I try to mentally stimulate her more as it sounded like collie behaviour & she needs a job to do other than physical excercise which she gets plenty of. So I've read up about collie traits such as herding,nipping & living on nerves - she certainly does seem to live on her nerves & is ready to spring into action at any point - mainly on to our passing feet!
So what kind of things can I do please to metally stimulate? I do play hide & seek with toys which she sniffs out, she has a tug-a-jug but gets bored trying to get the biscuits out.

How many different toys does she have?

Teach her the names of them and them make her get them.

have you ever tried clicker training? Teach her some tricks.

try and find jobs for her to do. you could teach her to get the washing out the washing machine for you or to bring you the clothes pegs etc.

Teach her the names of your children and get her to take notes to them (oh, but is she allowed upstairs).

Think of your every day chores and try to involve her....if you imagine trying to involve a toddler, its probably not too dissimilar (except of course she doesn't have a pair of hands)

Thanks Hali - yes she knows the names of her toys (well some of them) if she gets near the washing going in or coming out of machine she steals it & runs off with it! I could try & teach her to take a toy to the kids, but not a note as she would eat it
Clicker training might be worth a try though be a challenge for me too I think!!

well taking a toy to the kids would be a good start.

I think you will enjoy clicker training. Must admit I don't use it because I tend to have them both with me - one has to lie down while the other is doing something - but I think they'd get confused if they kept hearing the click and not getting a reward.

We tend to do some mental training with Cassie when she's in that mood. Sits, stays, give a paw etc. OH will make her stay, leave the room, go upstairs and make her wait until he calls her to come. Down's etc. Just 10 minutes of these different things wear her out for ages.

Thanks - yes I still do that too, I usually get her to sit/stay in kitchen while I hide something in living room, but I don't do it every day. I will now make a concious effort to do things every day.

with mine they have to sit and wait with their dinner in front of them until i say they can have it, my mum thinks this is crule but the concentration on their face. I have now introduced waiting outside the door while i prepare the food too.
Fetch, ball, teddy.
Where is suki (my other dog) and he goes and find her especially on walks he rounds her up.
They have a kong, treats ball. A tyre which food can go on the indside.
Tug of war,
catch.
he also like siting outside watching people under the fence walk along the walkway.
To be honest not to much different to mu cocker, just she looses interest much quicker, too much though and he gets hyper so i do little bursts, then he has to go and lie down to calm down a bit.
ATD x

Worked for us when Cassie was younger and was on the go constantly. She's settled down a bit now but she's nearly 6

Well Tilly is my first dog from rescue as a pup - in hindsight I probably should have done research on collie types having had no experience at all - she is challenging, but I'm learning loads & would probably do it all over again! I'd be lost without all the dogsey advice though!!

Hi,

How old is Tilly? Do you take her to a training class at all? I was thinking along the lines of expanding on whatever you do at training to make it a bit more challenging and interesting for her.I think also though you need to get the balance right so you don't make things too difficult and ultimately set her up to fail. That's as bad as making it too easy for her.

How old are your children? maybe they could get invovled too. it would be different for Tilly to take instruction from someone other than yourself and your OH. Also, if youhave any of their old "outdoor" toys, ie baby slide etc, you could make a mini-agility course for her.
I had a rescue GSD/Rough Collie in September 2008 and although he was the same as you describe Tilly, getting him to run a small agility course in the back garden which consisted of my Son's old baby toys, baby slide, planks of wood, an old barrel, trampoline, tunnel thingy and an old desk. Once he sussed out the order of things Imoved things around. He would spend ages doing it with me and it wore him out completely, bioth mentally and physically.
However, if she's very young then be careful about how high things are that she would have to jump on or off.

You could also teach her send-aways. I'm having to start again with thte training for Zane for send aways but I use plant pots in my back garden. I use the old ceramic type though. plastic ones would get chewed.

Also, how is her recall? Do you ever let her off lead inthe park? Or do you have a large back garden? If so, you could always get her to use her herding instincts by sending your kids off to hide in a nearby hedge and sending her off to find them (if by scent) or just a small distance away so she can bring them back to you.

The ideas to get her doing normal everyday things like emptrying the washing machine are great ideas. These arethe sort of tasks that assistance dogs do. Imagine if you were disabled in some way and couldn't do certain things for yourself. how many of those things could you teach Tilly to do? Is she tall enough to jump up and put the lights on and off on command? Can she bring the phone to you when it rings (if cordless)? Can she bring the post/newspapers to you (without eating them preferably)?

You can teach a dog to do almost anything and if she has Collie traits then she's very intelligent. It shouldn't take her too long to learn any one task but nce she's bene taught, you would need to have her doing things every day to keep her stimulated properly.

Good luck.

Laura xx