simba

So having refreshed the recall on my elderly dog, and having her do quite well, I noticed a regression again relatively recently. This isn't because she's being 'bad'- it's because she's gone quite deaf and can no longer hear you talk. She can hear loud television volume, a big slam or something, but when I shout for her loudly the other dogs interpret it as 'angry', as does she sometimes. And it can be hard for her to hear it if she is farther away. Any tips? Vibrating collars are a bit outside my price range, might check a pawn shop for them. I was thinking of getting a small torch to shine at her feet as a recall. I'm training a 'one arm raised high in the air' recall but something handier for night-time would be good, since this time of year it's dark early. Inside the house she follows hand signals. Outside she's often a bit farther away, there are more distractions, she may not be able to see them etc. As she gets older the walk becomes a bigger part of her life, she can still smell just as well as she ever did so she loves her off-lead rambles. She doesn't tend to wander or run away, either, and we often walk in fenced-in areas where there may still be other dogs and people. I'd just like to be able to get her back to me quickly, or have some way to alert her that we are still walking and she needs to come with. I don't want to take away what she loves. Anything else I will need to watch out for? I know she's easier to startle, so I'm stomping my feet before approaching her if she's lying down/facing away from me. Edited to add: she can still see very well, is active etc. I did consider a laser pointer either but wasn't sure if it would be big enough for her to see- and I don't think I would ever hit her eyes accidentally, the idea would be to shine it at a space in front of her that she could see, but it is a risk to consider. She does a lot of smelling and stopping which frustrates our other arthritic dog, so I will often walk one on- and one off-leash in a quiet safe area.

My apologies for misunderstanding you. And 'Dear Ms Jule' is just how McCaig talks. It took me a little aback when he first addressed me like that: "Oh god, what did I say to offend him" or whatever.

Yup. And you can have a pedigree without having a closed registry or inbreeding, and while still having outcrosses. The Irish Kennel Club, for instance, 'outcrossed' red and white, and red setters because the gene pool was just getting too small. Nothing about the idea of 'recording ancestry' precludes the idea of 'not breeding like to like within a closed gene pool'

Had a lovely day at the park today- not an enclosed dog park, but a park where all dogs are required to be on-lead. Had three off-lead small dogs come around the corner unexpectedly with their owner. The owner just walked them off to the other side of the path, the dogs trotted along quietly behind her (one at a fair distance). They didn't look at my dogs. My dogs (two of which can be reactive) were perfectly happy about all of this. Happy days.

I am completely ignorant on this topic but if you told me your dog was a purebred border collie I wouldn't think twice. Of course, mixes can look like purebreds, all the usual caveats. What I can say is that she has an absolutely beautiful face! Welcome to the forums.

Well, despite the additional difficulties caused by deafness, I now have a situation where everyone instantly runs outside and pisses and defecates. Except for the elderly terrier, but that's because as soon as I had her defecating on command she lost her hearing. But she pisses, so she just needs a good long walk before bedtime. I still need to keep 'on top' of them, she still can't tell when she needs to go and has to be taken out regularly.

It's a human thing to wear leads, not eliminate indoors, vaccinate, herd sheep with no intention of eating them, etc. too- none of these are things a dog would do naturally, or things that a dog has an understanding or concept of without being bred or taught for it. Heck, dogs are unnatural themselves, a creation of humans. Dogs getting gifts at Christmas is just another random thing many do because we are human, and we interact in human ways with our dogs- hence why they're so very good at reading our voices and facial expressions.

Dangerous thinking there, Jule! There's always a reason* to get another BC, isn't there? Congratulations, IslandDog. And you're right, it makes life much easier when you can hoist the dog up onto the vet's table without risking injury. *Perhaps justification might be more appropriate?

HIghway61- I saw the coal but it was more than I could afford. It looks like he's really enjoying it! The way I see this is that if spending money on presents for your dog makes you happy, and you do not need that money for something else, I ain't gonna judge you*. If it's on comics, fancy coffee, wine, books, sound systems, whatever, so long as you're not hurting anyone, I'm not sure I mind. Now, if you get mad at me for not appropriately oohing and ahhing, or make fun of my hobbies, then yours are fair game. *Sometimes, too, I have my sinful non-sensible non-objective 'lol how stupid is that' moments. This is more of an ideal than something I hold consistently to, but without ideals how can I hope to improve?

Eh, as far as spending money goes it's toys to replace the ones they lost, and wrapping paper that was being thrown out because it had got destroyed. Oh, and all the brussels sprouts outer leaves, carrot peelings, and raw celeriac skin they could eat. Lives of luxury rivalling the worst excesses of the Roman emperors, that's what they lead.

Cheap toys, and some discounted wet dog food for the sensitive dog who never gets to eat anything 'fun'. It's amazing. You spend two euro and the dog races around the house in frenzied ecstasy for about four days, shaking the toy madly. Imagine if you could get all your presents to be so successful. "Hello Auntie Mary, I see you are still carrying around the ornament I got you and showing it to absolutely everyone you come across, three days later." The terrier, while unwrapping the toys, kept stopping to ask me if wanton destruction was okay, in disbelief. She really enjoyed it, too.

Not every dog has to like or be all right around screaming running children. I don't like screaming running children either. Honestly, I don't have a lot to contribute beyond agreeing with what everyone else said. But my childhood 'boogeyman' was a border collie. I was terrified of it for more than a decade, and still am a lot more wary around border collies than other dogs. We all went out for drinks when the dog finally died, words cannot express how much I was afraid of that dog. Two things from that- one is do not allow your dog to badly frighten a child, if you can help it, and supervise them with kids. The kind of training others here have recommended is important. I know you wouldn't, but because my experience before was "Well the dog probably didn't bite you while I was in the other room because I didn't see it happen, that blood must be from a playful scratch, you're just irrationally afraid." I'm overcautious about it. And the second is that while this does sound potentially dangerous, make no mistake about that, it also isn't setting off my panic buttons, and I have a hair trigger for this. It sounds manageable with training and cautious management. If even panicky 'ol' me is saying that...

I've noticed a dog doing that out of character toy thing with someone who wasn't their primary caregiver, they had enough walks and play and stimulation. Hard to know the motivation but it did seem like it was a response to the human's behaviour- sudden inactivity. The dog could just be worried about you. I trade the toy for food. "Proud of you dog, have some kibble from my pocket." Frozen kongs are good to make when you're feeling less exhausted to save up for worse days.

Not sure if this is at all a workable solution for you, discard if you don't need it, all the usual solutions. Completely understand if this is too much to suggest. I get exhausted sometimes due to asthma and can't do much beyond feeding the dog, can't go outside to walk because the triggers are outside. If I potter over to get something I don't ever waste a journey- I bring a toy, drop it somewhere, come back, and then ask the dog to go find it. Then I can sit quietly and be exhausted while the dog goes to find it. Works well when you're doing chores too. You put the dog behind a closed door or ask it to stay as you hide the thing. Remember that 'you not being enough for him' is also probably part of the disordered thought patterns that occur with depression. Depression comes with delusional or distorted thoughts about you and your value, that's part and parcel of it, so it's a good idea to remember that you may not be assessing this clearly at the moment.

I had a friend give out to me for not paying attention to a young obnoxious dog. I had the dog's lead, was chatting away to the humans, the little dog decided to cry for my attention, I asked her to stop and continued talking. So she whined. "Will you not say hello to the poor dog?" It probably looked like I was being really mean. I just didn't want to reward her for whining. She can get attention once she's sitting quietly, or holding it together in the face of a Scary Thing or whatever.

See, I have done that, but I have a place where it is well-nigh impossible for the dog to run somewhere dangerous. Gates ahead and behind, water on one side, wall on the other, you literally can't go anywhere but this long path. So for years before I ever owned a long line we did this. I can see that if you are tense, if the places you have to walk aren't fenced, or have other animals around, it is absolutely sensible to think of safety first. We all know the people who bring their untrained dog to the park when they have no recall, and the havoc it can cause.

Get a long line! I was advised to get one by members here for my dog's recall. She's improved so much I actually rarely need to use it any more. More experienced people than I can explain better, but the basic idea is that the dog can wander around with you while you hold the other end. Like a giant lead. As she gets better you can progress to having it drag along behind her etc. It's a 'safety net' and training aid. While you use it you take time and train a really good recall, gradually increasing distractions and varying locations.

Border collies need a minimum of ten miles' exercise per day. Every dog needs at least ten kongs or similar, and should be fed 2-4 of them stuffed with food per day. I rather suspect that last bit of advice was inserted into the training book by my dog when I wasn't looking. Edit: it's not that that's bad advice. It's just that that's, what, 60-100+ quid worth of toys? I mean, I am a crazy doglady but...

I heard a lot of 'never let the dog walk in front of you, he needs to walk beside you or behind you' today. I didn't know it was still current. Any truth to it? I was thinking maybe with a bossy or new dog it might be a precautionary thing. Mine always are taught not to keep any tension in the lead, not to lunge suddenly, move out of the way of people walking (hardest thing to teach them for some reason) and beyond that do what you like. Basically, "Don't get in my way, be polite, and don't do anything that interferes with my or other people's walking."

Stockdogranch- why did they think it was awful?

And you presumably don't fondle their testicles.

This was a lot of different animals, a small amount of dogs specifically. Pity the video isn't working, would have loved to get your feedback. They had some trouble negotiating with the woman, who initially just wanted them off their property, 'you have no right' to be here kind of thing. Eventually they got some of the dogs out of there (5 I think?), and the cats (15 or so), and talked to her about reducing her numbers of of sheep and goats, and ducks and chickens. Piles of rubbish everywhere, the dogs were chained out in it, and had things like plastic-boxes-turned-sideways to sleep in. One was locked in a mobile-home-type thing, lots of feces, chained up in it. At the end I think it was she kept one dog, the oldest, and moved a kennel over for it.

http://suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/hostages-relationships This seems relevant here

They were very insistent it wasn't sexual, and there was a bit of derision for anyone who would think this was odd or sexual or not a necessary training practise. Though they did say one of their clients refused on the grounds that "I'm not gay"- and eventually gave in and it greatly improved his dog. You know the pattern.

http://www.tv3.ie/3player/show/819/101794/0/Animal-Rescue Not sure if this can be accessed in the US, but the first 20 minutes feature a hoarding situation with a few collies. They don't look particularly thin to me, except for the old-looking one, but then the officer has her hands on them and can feel their condition, which I can't. That's the trouble with long-haired dogs!