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melundie

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Everything posted by melundie

  1. When my parents' Border Collie, Cooper, was younger we taught him not to bolt out open doors by asking him to wait when the door opened. We would then say "Okay" or "Okay, go!" and he would then go out. As a BC, he made this into a really fun game for himself (and honestly we all used to think it was funny). He'd come in and stand at the door we'd say, "Readyyyyy---GO!" and he'd bolt out. Rinse and repeat. He is now completely obsessed with barking and scratching at the sliding doors pretty much constantly to play this game. Only even if you say, "Okay, go" he doesn't always go. He'll just stand there tensed and ready, but he's frozen. My parents have taken to leaving the door cracked so he can lay half in and half out of the house. This works for them when the weather is nice, but when it's 95 degrees out, it's not exactly economical for them to leave the doors open. Unfortunately he's had a couple years to "practice" this behavior, so I know it will not be a quick or easy fix, but I'm stumped. I've told them that they need to stop using the sliding doors (which are the only doors he plays this "game") for the time being, but that's not entirely practical. Obviously it's completely fine for him to bark at the door if he needs to go out, but they need to find a balance. Any tips on curbing this OCD behavior?
  2. Once the toy is away, there is absolutely no problem. I'd just like to be able to leave toys out so Ace can play with them.
  3. Colby is obsessed with toys. It's at a level where we cannot leave toys out in the house because she will put them in our lap and bark for us to throw them. I've tried to ignore her, but I usually lose my patience and say, "all gone" and put whatever it is away. It kind of sucks because Ace would be more than happy to play with toys on his own (he loves to drop the Kong, chase it around, pounce on it, etc.) and I would love to be able to leave toys out for them to play with, but if Ace has a toy Colby will lay down across the room and bark at him (all the while he completely ignores her). I'm curious if there is a good way--or better yet, if it's even possible--to desensitize her to the toys. And maybe desensitize is the wrong term. It's not that I don't want her to ever play with toys, I just need help teaching her that "fetch" is not an indoor game. I guess I need to be totally honest with myself (and you all) and say that we have played fetch in the house. =X Should I start slow (with 1 or 2 toys at a time) and just ignore her if she brings them over? Should I put all the toys on the ground at the same time (to overwhelm?) and then ignore? I'm willing to put in the work, but any help or advice would be much appreciated.
  4. Thank you both for responding. I don't really think BCs are any more likely to be dog aggressive than another breed, but I like how vaporflowers put it: that they're potentially less tolerant. I've met tons of superb BCs that have no issues. Even my parents' BC gets along with most dogs (he despises a female Malamute and every pit bull he's ever met). I try to keep my own feelings in check when we're on walks and every once in a while she'll see a dog before I do and will become very alert. Now that you mention it, however, maybe by simply defining a dog as "poorly behaved" I'm transferring some negative energy to her. Need to work on this...why is it so much easier said than done?
  5. When Ace was younger we took him to a puppy socialization class nearby. During one playtime he and a pyrenees/bloodhound mix were playing and wrestling and I guess Ace decided that she was being too rough or that he'd had enough so he let out a snarl and snapped at her. She snapped back and they got into a little bit of a riff. We separated them and I didn't really think it was a huge deal. Neither dog was afraid/cowering from the other and they weren't lunging to get back at one another, either. The trainer was very weird from that point forward. She said, "Is he always like that? Because that was all him!" I was kind of like, "Well, maybe? I don't really think he was wrong, he was just letting the other pup know she was being too rough." The trainer went on to defend the other dog based on the reasoning that "It's in her blood not to back down." The lady had previously told me that (and I quote) "All BCs have some sort of aggression issue toward other dogs or people. They're all snarky in some way." The socialization classes were supposed to last for 12 weeks, but we only went to about 4 weeks of them before I had enough of the trainer's rude comments. She made several nasty comments about BCs and their "attitudes" as well as saying she "never trusts Lab owners." After we left we enrolled in a different obedience school and it has been wonderful and I've heard no such comments from any of the instructors there. Needless to say, I'm glad I left the first class when I did, but I'm curious: do you think Border Collies have a propensity for aggression towards other dogs? Could it be that they are more sensitive to the behavior of other dogs? I'm curious because Colby can be very leash-reactive to dogs (she normally just ignores them when off-leash). It's mostly just poorly-behaved (dragging their owners down the street) dogs that she reacts to, but I've seen her get huffy if a dog is making direct eye contact. We're working on the look/watch "game" to control the tendencies, but it makes me curious about the breed in general. What do you think?
  6. This cracked me up. He's probably a better trainer than I am! He's so well behaved and so patient... it's hard to believe he's only 7 months.
  7. We were sitting down to dinner a couple weeks ago. I felt like I had eyes on me. I looked out the sliding glass door and saw this: I laughed so hard. I couldn't have posed him better if I tried.
  8. The code that forums and blogs typically use is different than the HTML code you are probably used to. Your best bet to include photos is to use the link in the post editor and copy an image link (not just the link to the page with an image on it: it will end with .jpg, .jpeg or .gif--that's how you'll know you have the right one. Your code should look something like this regardless of whether you're trying to put it in your signature or somewhere within a post. I hope this helps! [img=http://imagehostingsite.com/yourimage.jpg] Katie P--this is how your signature's code should look: [img=http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t460/katie_lynch1/100_0799-1.jpg]
  9. 3 months is still very young to expect 100% perfection out of them with potty training. I agree with what others have said--it sounds like she has entirely too much freedom. A crate is NOT punishment! It's a place where your dog can go to feel safe and it helps immensely with potty training. And I do have to gripe a little about peeing on newspaper inside. Your dog will learn to potty outside MUCH quicker if they never have the opportunity to potty inside. And as far as getting distracted outside, take her out on a leash and stand in the place where you want her to potty and be PATIENT! Sure, she's going to smell around a little, but you're only giving her 4-6 feet to smell and eventually she's going to go. Once she's finished praise!
  10. I love this breed and I do tend to anthropomorphize more than I probably should, but it's hard! They're so smart and they know it! I went ahead and moved the crates upstairs into our room the other day and guess what? Mr. Ace runs right into his crate and goes to sleep before the crates are even completely set up. Didn't take him long to get used to that "routine." Little punk.
  11. We keep our dogs' crates downstairs in our kitchen. The dogs go in their crates when we're not home, when they're eating and if they need a "time out." Both are fine with going in their crates and neither has ever had a bad experience with the crate to my knowledge. We let both dogs sleep in our room. Colby is usually at the foot of our bed and Ace sleeps next to his dog bed on the floor. See below: Recently, however, I've noticed that both of them throw absolute fits if I tell them to get into their crates at night when they know my fiance and I are going to sleep. Let me clarify: they go in happily, but then realize I'm going to bed and that's when they start barking. I don't let them out while they're barking, but by the same token I feel bad for my neighbors when they are barking and carrying on at 10 or 11pm. So far I don't let them out until they've settled down and some nights I don't let them out. This is assuming they've gone potty. They settle down eventually, but I'm starting to get a little frustrated with the behavior. Do you think it's possible that they feel like they have a "right" to be out of their crates at night or do you think it's a matter of wanting to be with us while we sleep? Maybe they're used to sleeping upstairs at night? Funny how they get used to those luxuries so quickly... I like when they sleep with us, but some nights I just want some time off, which is why the crates aren't in our room to begin with. I'm not necessarily opposed to moving the crates upstairs, but I'd love to hear your advice if you have any.
  12. I second this! We've been working with Colby every single day since November on her car lunging/herding. She's come extremely far, but she's still not perfect. I only wish I had started working on it the first time I noticed it. It takes BCs absolutely no time to learn (and sometimes obsess over) something you don't want them to do!
  13. I took Colby into Home Depot when she was really little. All the employees I saw didn't even bat an eyelash at the fact that I had her with me. I thought about taking her in a couple months ago, but I got to the door and noticed there was a sign (it looked like it had been there for a long while) that said 'Service Animals Only.'
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