Here are some things that I do to build a strong bond with my dogs.

With Sephy, I waited for about a year before getting a second dog. I wanted to properly bond with him, and train him first. There are many challenges that come with a second dog, and it will be difficult to deal with everything at once. As you say, dogs will also learn from each other, so I wanted my second dog to learn the right lessons from Sephy.

In terms of training, dogs learn from us through a process called conditioning. They repeat behaviors that get them good results and stop behaviors that get them undesirable results. Timing and consistency are both very important. We want to time our rewards right next to the target behavior, consistently reward good behaviors, and make sure *not* to reward undesirable behaviors. I set up a consistent set of rules and a fixed routine with all of my dogs.

If a dog receives mixed messages from the people around him, he will not know what we expect of him, and what he can expect from us. If he can play-bite on people sometimes, then he will just keep trying because the next time may result in a fun wrestling game. When the rules keep changing, it is simply not possible to learn the rules.

Here is a bit more on dog dominance and how dogs learn.

Border Collies are bred to work with people, but they are *very* high energy dogs. They need *a lot* of structured exercise or they need a job to do that will keep them very well occupied.

After I got Sephy, I had to spend a lot of time and effort training him, supervising him, and giving him proper daily exercise. Keeping a dog is also very expensive. There are vet bills, vaccination shots that they need, training bills, training classes, food, equipment, and more.

As for cats, this was my previous response in case you missed it.
http://shibashake.com/dog/shiba-inu-personality-good-bad-traits/comment-page-6#comment-80999

Good luck! Post us some pictures of your puppy if you decide to get one.

I went through a similar experience with my Shiba Inu, Sephy. I remember this one incident where he was sitting nicely when my partner was holding his lead. However, as soon as it was passed to me, Sephy started leash biting and jumping on me. It was not a good feeling.

In my case, there were two key reasons for Sephy’s behavior -
1. My energy.

I was more than a little afraid of Sephy because of his crazy behavior towards me. I did not trust him, and I feared what he may do every time I had to walk him or interact with him. Sephy is very sensitive to the energy of the people around him. He picked up on my stress and fear, got stressed himself, and acted even more crazy. This made me get even more afraid, and things just went downhill from there.

After I took steps to change my own energy, Sephy calmed down a lot as well, and his behavior improved.

2. My response.

Dogs repeat behaviors that get them “good results” (according to them), and stop behaviors that get them bad results.

Sephy often jumped on me or started to bite because he wanted to initiate play. I would get afraid, push him back with my arms, and start shouting at him. This is a lot of motion, and a lot of noise, which gets Sephy even more excited about playing. From his point of view -

Jump on me = Fun wrestling game commences,
Don’t jump = Get ignored.

A lot of motion can also trigger a dog’s prey drive.

Another important aspect of changing Sephy’s behavior, is to change how I respond to him. For example, when he jumps –
1. I stay calm, and no-mark the behavior.
2. Then, I redirect him into doing something else (e.g. alternate command, or alternate activity).
3. If he redirects, then I reward him by giving him attention and playing with him.
4. If he does not listen, then I withdraw my attention. I stand up, turn away from him, and totally ignore him (no talking, no touching, and no eye-contact).
5. If he calms down, then I reward him by giving him attention again.
6. If he escalates his behavior by jumping on me more and biting on my clothing, I calmly say “Timeout” and remove him to a timeout area using his drag-lead. (Note – I only use a drag lead with a flat collar and only under supervision).

In this way, Sephy learns that -

Jumping and biting = Get ignored or don’t get to be with people,
Following commands = Get attention, play-time, and more rewards.

Here is a bit more on what I do to control puppy biting.
Here is a bit more on how I trained my Husky puppy.

Here is a bit more on why dogs jump and how I deal with it.

Finally, collar grabs do not generally work well. I did that with my Shiba Inu, and it made him very sensitive to his collar, and also to people touching him. Grabbing a dog’s collar while he is excited, may also cause him to redirect his excited energy onto us. This is also called “redirected aggression”. When my dog is still learning house rules, I use a drag lead (only with a flat collar and only under supervision) to better control him.

As I described in the article, our dogs are also very good at sensing our energy. Dogs will respond better to a calm person. If I am angry, frustrated, fearful or otherwise not calm, my dog will pick up on that energy, become more agitated himself, and act even more crazy. In order to calm a dog down, we must be calm ourselves.

Finally, training is a lifetime process. I started training my dogs as puppies, and we still continue to do old commands, new commands, bite inhibition exercises, grooming exercises, play-time exercises, and more. People learn and change all through their lives, and so do dogs.