I got my dog at a far too young age. I don't blame her problems on that but I would recommend that anyone getting a puppy should only get him/her from a breeder who only lets them go to their new home at eight weeks and definitely no earlier than 6. Storm is half border collie, half spaniel/staff and she's amazing, but if I hadn't invested the time near the beginning she would have been a nightmare. She's really clever and I've taught her countless tricks. She's great at obedience class and is progressing really well at agility.
However she has some problems which I'd be hugely grateful for any advice on. There is a collie at agility who is her absolute best friend, they roll around together, nipping each other and being hugely "aggressive" but in a playful way, my dog is only 10 months and he's only coming up to a year and as they've known each other since puppyhood they always play like that. There are a couple other collies that I've met that do similarly so I'm not sure if it's a breed thing. The problem is when she tries all that on other dogs, particularly small ones. She actually has a very good recall when playing on the beach with other dogs which is a blessing and she loves chasing dogs and being chased. However, some owners see it as aggression and more than anything I wondered the root of that sort of behavior.
Now to the question I posted above. Storm is a highly confident dog who's afraid of NOTHING, I know that her biting isn't fear based, more "get off me and let me do what I want", she isn't spoiled, I've always made sure she gets equal discipline and affection, but sometimes (not always) when I take her collar and lead her somewhere with it she whips her head around and snaps at my hand. She does it with other people too and it's really beginning to worry me. I'm not afraid of her and I don't let go if she bites me. I've tried rewarding her the instant she stops but it's not working. I got a harness in the hope that she'd respond better to that, but no. She doesn't do it on lead and she only does it when I'm pulling her away from something she'd rather be doing (e.g. playing with another dog rather than practicing contact points). How can I teach her not to bite when I hold her collar/harness?
Also I wondered if anyone else experienced this - when she was very little she had a perfect stay and I could walk for half a mile and she'd sit stay perfectly but around the time she hit 6 months she refused to do it. She just gets up and wonders around and just won't stay, not in a stand sit or down. This is becoming a problem in agility and I wondered any advice on teaching a dog that has learned stay but won't do it anymore. Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks so much, sorry for the long question!