ArtTalKat

I have a male Bc with a male terrier mix too Anyways, sounds like everything went pretty well? If the terrier is being a bit pushy with playing when the pup doesn't want to I'd separate for a time out and give something for each to stay occupied with. I usually also would say something along the lines of "That's enough" so eventually you can just say it and have the terrier come over for something else to do. That's what I did, but mine was the opposite way around. My BC harassed the terrier lol

From my experience with my BC, neither of the suggestions so far were helpful for us. Not saying they may not be helpful for you, just saying we tried both of those and neither worked in the slightest. Than again, Talon is a much "harder" border collie, yelling doesn't phase him in the slightest. When he's "in the zone" (the stare, crouch) yelling at him is more likely to make him lunge at the car faster in fact. For a while we stopped having him anywhere near cars at all, and honestly, it made his reaction more severe. For us the only thing that has worked is the first suggestion of Controlled Unleashed as well as impulse control/relaxation games. I would take him to the park so we could work a distance from the road and I'd stand and wait for eye contact and reward that. We got to the point that every time he would see or even hear a car he immediately turns and stares at me. I don't particularly care if he stares at me, I just don't want him staring down the cars. So he was allowed to look, but only for a second. It's still a work in progress, but his behavior is at a point were I feel comfortable walking next to a busy road without much concern for his safety. Like today, we went for a walk and other than a few glances at particularly loud buses/trucks and a few ear flicks, he just kept walking without any care about the cars at all. So for me, it was modified Controlled unleashed if he Lunges in the beginning I'd move away from the road. Not to really "fix" the reaction to cars, more to get him to a point I can get his eye contact again and we can try again with less pressure on him being so close.

This is something Talon had a horrible time with. He'd grab anything, and I do mean anything, from the ground in less than a second. It was way too late for us to say "leave it" or "drop it" for that matter. It was really becoming a dangerous situation, so we did a lot of "It's your choice" wit him like Sekah posted about. Starting indoors than we set up situations outside so I'd know where the piece of food was on the ground before we went out. Worked really well for us, now at the very least if he see's something super interesting he may stop to look at it or think about it, but it gives us enough time to respond accordingly. With most things he looks at it and than just leaves it there and looks at us.

Thanks for the replie, I haven't had a chance to read them. We are having a major medical crisis with Talon right now. So for now this is on the back-burner until we can get him healthy.

We've been limiting the types of food/treats he gets as he get's overexcited about foods easily. Then I'm left with no fingers and his eyes are bulging out of his head and his brain oozes out of his ears. LOL But that is a great idea! I just need to find something that won't attract the bee's as easily and that doesn't get Talon too overly excited. We've used other treats before in the past, maybe a hard cookie type thing might work! Thanks!!

So Talon has had a bad impulse to chase moving objects since he was a puppy. We've started impulse control behaviors as soon as we got him. He waits to get his food. He stays while we throw toys, roll balls, and other distracting things and only gets them when we tell him "ok" (his release word) "get it." We've been giving him an outlet for his chasing needs with balls and frisbee etc. These are all things that really helped out other dog (not a BC, but had movement sensitivities as well) but with Talon it seemed like nothing helped him with cars or bikes. We've got to the point he is fine with little kids running, with toys of any kind moving, other dogs running (he get's excited sometimes, but can redirect), birds, and cats. The problem is cars and bikes. I've made *some* progress with cars. What will happen is he will crouch, stare, then try to chase. We tried a few different thing, but I finally found something that worked. I'd go to my local baseball field which was next to a somewhat busy road and a very busy interesction. I stood at a distance at first, had him down and reward heavily as the car would approach and pass. This got rid of his "chase" part. We worked out way closer to the road this way, then changed the game. We then moved back and only rewarded when he looked back at me after the car moved on. I rewarded more when he looked before the car had gone all the way past and got excited. We again got closer and closer until we were on the sidewalk. And then we changed it to him down, the car would come, he'd look at me and I'd reward him but he'd have to get up and walk towards me (away from the car) to get the reward. This morphed into walking along the road rewarding him as we would walk and he'd give me attention. It seemed to work really well. We've been doing this for 4 days andhe's responding remarkibly fast, however I've been using kibble as a reward and I've run into a huge problem. The bee's are everywhere! If the bag is left open then they are immediatley four bee's inside the kibble bag. O_o I've had previously had allergic reactions to bee stings were I'd go into anapholactic shock (sp?). On the way homme from our last training trip a wasp got on my palm, likely from the food crumbs, and stung me. I ran away screaming lol as it flew around trying to sting me again. Luckily no reaction past the pain, hand swelling etc. But now I need a new training reward. I'm afraid of the bee's, too much to use food reward. I've always heard toys can cause more excitement when training for a calmer behavior. What is your guys experience? How did you work on the car/motion issues? What was your reward? Did toys help or hinder? Also, did training with one thing help another? so training for cars help with bike training easier?

I agree with a front clip harness and LAT game (I have the same issue with my BC, Talon, and bikes as we go running on a path that has lots of bikers going by all the time. I'm a pretty small person and Talon has some power, so I totally understand where you are coming from when you are getting dragged all over the place! It's frustrating and scary. If you go to the petstore, I do want to say I do not like the Premiere EasyFit Harness personally, and I really recomend you try it on in store and walk around a bit. I find it rubs horribly under the armpits, causing sores, as well as the front part just never fit very well for either of my dogs. Also, I find a lot of dogs can back out of them, even when fitted correctly, So since it turns the dog around when it pulls, this is a huge concern for me.

I play with my dog in disc dog as well and you really have to build up the endurance. My dog does the same thing as yours, when he get's tired he goes into a voluntary down. That's usually my sign that's he's pretty much done. Since I know my dog will keep going if the frisbee is thrown, even if he is exhuasted or overheating, I'll just keep an eye on him and how he's acting. If his tongue/lips/gums are getting really red that is a sign you need to stop now! Extremely red gums or tongue can be a sign of heatstroke and is very dangerous! When he goes into the down on his own, he probably stops panting because he is in "work" mode. My dogs does it too, it does not mean he is not over-heated, it likely just means he's getting ready for the throw. Personally, I have no problem playing frisbee with a 15mo old pup, but to each their own. I do, however, build up endurance with frisbee as well as making sure my dogs overall fitness is up to par. I don't know about herding, I've yet to do it. Does your dog get any other form of excercise? If not, then I'd probably just take it slow and build up endurance.

I keep pumpkin in stock and use it fairly often. It was used in conjucture with the chicken and rice, but also when we switched food in the first place to prevent upset tummies, but it didn't help when the food was added. I'm pretty sure the bag itself was tainted with something, as my terrier has been on the same exact food a few years before with no ill effects and he has an iron stomach. With him we can switch to any food, with zero mixing and he has always been fine. Doesn't even get diarrhea. When he's vomiting and severe diarrhea like that I know it's serious.

I rotate Blue Buffalo Wilderness and Earthborn. Both work great for me, though I'd recomend Earthborn over BB anydyay. Personally, I would stay far away from science diet. I had a horrible experience when I was low on funds and bought Science Diet for my dogs. Horrible diarrhea (worst I've ever seen), extreme vomiting, and lethargy. Took them off it for a few days, attributing it to changing foods, but the second they went back on it (slowly mixing it) they became ill yet again. Had to take one to the vet as he was so dehydrated even after drinking electrolytes. He couldn't even hold down the chicken/rice we gave him for another day or two after stopping science diet. Of course we notified the company, the place we bought the food from, as well as the FDA. So, really bad experience and I wouldn't ever take the chance with that company again. Every dog is different, my terrier needs grain free while my BC does fine with some grains. Blue Buffalo works great for me, but I don't recomend it often as a lot of dogs can't handle it. So it just depends on the dog as far as what works best.

I usually take no offense to those kinds of things from people. Sometimes people just like feeling superior in any way they can. I was once told by a lady at the dog park that my border collies ears were not "real" border collie ears. I of course replied with "His ears fell off one day so we glued on some german Shepherd ears, thought it was better than prostetics." She was not impressed but my boyfriend and I had a great laugh from it. lol Also if it helps, my BC has a pretty short, but still rough, coat as well. I think it's gorgeous

I also say start now! I know what you mean about the area and finding dog classes, but luckily seattle area has a ton of dog things! Very dog friendly area. Portland I hear is just as good too. I agree, start talking to breeders and rescues, at the very least to get to know them and see what you like/don't like. Oh and early congrats on finishing your degree soon!!!! That's exciting! I've heard this before, but it has not been my experience at all. I generally find if they allow dogs at all, they generally allow a max of two. The problem in this case would be the weight limit. Finding a dog friendly rental with higher than a 20lb weight limit can be a bit tough. >_<

Talon isn't the biggest fan of any dog that is overly pushy/jumpy and wants to wrestle to play. But he is not overly pushy about telling them to stop. Our biggest problems are definitely labs who just don't seem to understand "I don't want to play like that" and let good enough alone. Luckily, Talon isn't a BC who hold grudges against the other dogs (so far). If they leave him alone he is fine running along with them, it's when they go back after him (jumping on him or being generally pushy) that he'll give them a few warnings again, but he seems to not want to escalate things ever. He's only been in a fight once, but it was onleash with someone with a small terrier mix that they thought it would be a grand idea to rush up on us from out of no where and let their over-stimulated dog bite Talon's feet. >_< He did have a small issue with a husky once. It kept trying to push him around and be a bit of a bully, but once they had an understanding that Talon didn't want to play that way they played really well chasing each other. Boxers tend to leave him alone in lou of a lab or another boxer lol

Talon is my first BC and he's still young, but I think the biggest thing I wasn't truly prepared for was all the fear periods. He just finished up what I hope to be his last (or second to last) fear period, but I wish I would not of pushed him to say hi to people/dogs he was scared of when he was younger and scared. Take it slow and easy and go at the dogs pace would be mine.

Thanks for the help! I'm glad everyone thinks it's a fear period, as we can, and have, worked through those before! I'm honestly feeling much better today. Also, my boyfriend took him to the dog park today while I was at school. I had no idea he was going to do that, when I got home they were gone. I didn't know until he got back. >_< But, everything aparently went super well. My boyfriend said he seemed to do just as well as he's done before, he didn't have any problems with the other dogs at all. In fact, he met two dogs on leash (bad boyfriend) and he did fine, no reactivity at all. Even though that's not what we had planned to do, I'm glad it happened. As it lesson's my fear that he's going to be terrible with other dogs. I also think I *may* know what caused the aggression with my instructors dog. The barking seems to freak him out a lot. He get's very unnerved. So for now he never meets dogs on leash, unless we know the dog (I've talked to my boyfriend about this and he agree's) and we will slowly just work on ignoring dogs when they are barking and trying to get up his confidence there. gcv_border, I agree. I was not happy about the dog being there during the class, it was very disruptive. The funniest thing was it was the worst behaved dog there, some of the others were whining a bit but not like that. Well, I guess unless you count Talon's freak out. I was not very happy about the instructor lately at all. Being on your phone for the first 10 minutes of class is NOT OK in my opinion. I won't be going back. We are going to focus on obedience and socialization for now anyways and leave agility for when he's older. I think we are going to sign him up for a obedience class in september, hoping his fear period will be over, and get his CGC, then do competitive obedience. If it turns out it's not a fear period and he just has issue's period, then the obedience class will help us get him around more different types of people, which we are currently having difficulty with. Currently, we found throwing treats on the ground in front of him instead of just handing them to him helps him redirect his attention very well. He was able to walk by 2 different guys without even a second glance. He's not 100% or even nearly, but I can see improvement little by little, I think this is a fear period.

My BC is just turned 9 months old and we have started having some big issues with him with aggression/reactivity with people and dogs. I'm sorry, this is going to be long as I'm feeling very frustrated at the moment. He's always had a problem with being shy/scared of some men. We've been working on being calm and just walking by men and he's done really good. He was able to walk right next to a unfamiliar man, sniff the guys leg, then move on. We've never had any problems with dogs before! He has no problems with guys at the dog park or when he is free to run away. It's mostly on leash, when he's free to move around he just avoids them or sneaks a quick sniff and then goes away. However, he's suddenly gone back to barking/growling/backing away from every strange man, and now a few woman as well (never had a problem with women before). I'm pretty sure he was frightened of men to begin with because as a young puppy (very sensitive fear stage) the guy we lived with yelled at him and "spanked" him for peeing on the rug. I was not happy to say the least. They believe in a more......outdated training style. I never let it happen again, they were never alone again, but unfortunately because I wasn't watching close enough he was left with a very timid personality with men. The fear started with my that incident (for obvious reasons) and just spread to all men. We let him sniff some guys when he's feeling comfortable, and with others just work on walking by with lots of treats trying to be as nonchalent as possible, rewarding calm behavior. So I'm baffled as why he's reverted to worse than before suddenly??? I don't know what else to do. Nothing has happened that is out of the norm as far a guys go. We don't force him to say hi to anyone he's uncomfortable with, he hasn't been yelled at or seen a guy yelling that I know of. Any suggestions at all for this would be welcome!! Our plan is just to keep going like we've been doing and hope it goes away, but IDK. It just seems worse than before. We are also going to take him to my school in the mornings and let him sit in the middle of a field to just watch people go by and sit and play tug hoping to calm him down. The other problem now is dogs. He goes to the dog park (hasn't been since our incidents), he plays with our other dog fine, he plays with my sisters collie and her lab mix as well as my parents chihuahua mix and st bernard mix all fine. He's never had an incident with another dog before. The worst that's happened is a dog that wanted to play rough with him wouldn't pick up on his cues when he didn't want to play rough and he gave him a warning snap and we immediately got him away as the other dog wasn't listening. But it was a very appropriate warning IMHO. He never went overboard, and when we went to the other side of the park he forgave the dog instantly as long as it didn't try to jump all over him. However, he was attacked by someone letting their small terrier mix come over suddenly and it attacked Talon. Talon was excited at first as a small dog was suddenly next to us, I was caught off guard as I didn't see them until it was too late. The dog grabbed Talons legs as he ran away screaming. There are two small wounds on his back legs. But they are healing. Today was his foundations agility class, he knows the other dogs and he is fine with them usually. They are all crated unless it is their turn to run. He was fine with the dogs, but one, my instructors dog a cocker spaniel was brought in today. It was barking quiet a bit on and off in it's wire crate, but I didn't think of it until it was too late. Talon ran off course and went to the people, then to the dog crate with the cocker and they sniffed which was fine. When I went to pull him away as he was ignoring me, he bared his teeth started barking like crazy and just went nuts. I immediately put him in his crate for a cool down. The instructor's dog barked everyonce in a while and for the first time in the 4 weeks we've gone to this class Talon started barking in his crate. This is very unusual for him. It wasn't a nice bark either, it also had a growl in there. He'd do it every time the cocker barked. My instructor told me to throw a treat in his crate everytime the dog barked, as she thinks maybe that's what was unnerving him. So I did and he seemed ok then, didn't try to run to the cockers crate for the following two runs to the end of the class. But now I'm worried that my previously fine dog is suddenly aggressive to other dogs. I obviously don't want to go to the dog park with him, as I now don't know how he would react and I don't know anyone with calm/friendly dogs around here. My sisters and family dogs live 5 hours away. I can go to the school as there are often dogs there, but there are often dogs off-leash as well. So I'm not sure that's a good idea. I just don't know how to overcome this! My trainer does NOT work with aggression issues, though she's given me a few suggestions in the past to overcome anxiety/shyness (being calm, rewarding calm behavior for looking or walking by without reacting etc), so I just don't know what to do at this point. I'm mostly just feeling super frustrated and dissapointed. He was doing so well, and now he is so much worse. So any suggestions, advice, "maybe do something different" etc would be just fantastic!!

That except that is the female version, mine is a boy and named after Artemis' (the greek goddess) follower. "Artimis \a-rti- mis, ar-timis\ as a boy's name is a variant of Artemis (Greek), and the meaning of Artimis is "follower of the goddess Artemis". He was a follower of the greek goddess Artemis. It just seemed to fit him. We call him Art for short, his nickname (he has a collar that says this) is "Art of war" lol OH, the suggestion about being able to yell it out loud in a room full of people is a great one! I've heard some funny names when people were calling their dogs haha! Also, if the name is longer you may want to think of what they'd be called for short. Some names sound great long, but the short versions are ...not as appealing. lol

Personally, I just went with what seemed to fit my dogs. Talon I already had picked out before I even got him though lol Artimis, it took us 2 weeks to really get his name down. We called him all kinds of things, damion, eggburt (lol), demon spawn, satan's son (he was a bit of a terror as a puppy hahaha), dexter, puck, etc. The list would change by the day, but when my sister suggested Artimis, it just seemed to fit. Hard to explain, it was just him. So that's what stuck

No worries, he doesn't get to swim for very long as he isn't a super strong swimmer yet. We have to be careful with him because when his body starts giving in to being tired, his mind says "no, keep going! you can do it!" >_< Ergh, but the water biting seems to be lessening. We've been encouraging swimming after us or swimming after a toy and that helps keep his mind focused. I'm just glad he isn't a super obsessive bc

They sadly no longer exist really. Everytime I message them I don't get a response, and from what I heard they can no longer do dock diving events because of problems with the spokane events center and the equistrian group having problems with the water on the dirt. :/

Thanks for all the great suggestions! My boyfriend is originally fro this area so he's already warned against the rivers. I probably wouldn't dare take the chance, Talon isn't a super strong swimmer yet. At the bear lake one in spokane, are those floating docks always there or do they only put them in area's dogs aren't allowed? I ask because our lake has one dog, but it's enclosed with gating. I think Talon would enjoy jumping off and I want to see how he would do

Sounds like a lot of border collies really enjoy to swim! I never knew they liked water. Juliepoudrier, My bc did the same thing. Splashing up the water and eating the ripples and then splashing more trying to get them creating mroe ripples/splashes to attack lol Bu after a few times he started get the hang of it and ignore the ripples, hopefully that lasts lol Wow, that made me ROFLMAO! haha! She is super cute!!!! I see you are super close to me! Can I ask where did you go the water was that clear!? Or some favorite swimming spots? We have one lake in my town that's not that far, but it's small area and often a lot of people and dogs. So we go when it's rainy or ugly outside, that way we have it to ourselves, or nearly so lol

Just like the title says, how does your dog feel about swimming? My border collie apparently loves it! Before yesterday he would go and swim willingly if I threw a toy or stick or anything else, but yesterday he went swimming just to go swimming. He swam in a few circles and just was paddling around with a big goofy grin on his face! It was super cute. I've never had a dog that loved water that much! My other dog (terrier mix) will swim if asked to, but would prefer not to bother. How does your dogs feel about swimming? Do they love it!? Do they hate it? Do they just think it's ok if there is a toy/stick/something else involved? Only good on hot days? I'm talking about rivers, lakes, ponds, pools, etc. Not bathtime

I just started disc dog as well, it's a lot of fun! First you need to build drive for the disc, so make sure to do a lot of rollers. Personally, I still throw rollers a lot even though my dogs can both catch the disc reliably at distance. I like that it keeps their drive for the disc up and seems to help their speed a bit. My sister started with her pup (who had NO drive what so ever for the disc at first) with rollers and after a lot of time her pup is starting to really love it! Neither of us will likely be top competitors but I really enjoy it and so does my dogs. If you move to Wa looks up WOOFD2, they are the disc club for Washington. They are on Facebook as well as their own website. I went to my first competition in University Place hosted by WOOFD2 a few weeks ago and it was really fun, the people are pretty fun and relaxed. If you go here you can see some pics of some of the dogs that went to that one, it's all different breeds which I think is cool. http://www.3pawsphotography.com/p819447606 Also, this website someone on my other forum posted is really helpful! http://www.youtube.com/user/k9disc

Honestly, I don't put much stock in the whole "dogs sense bad people" type of thinking. My thinking on it is that some dogs are naturally weary, while others are not, but all dogs can see body language and strange or aggressive body language is more apparent to them than it is to us. They speak to others every day using body language, they are much better at picking up tiny details in body language and movements or tones that we don't notice. That, is what I think, sets friendly dogs off when it comes to people that are a bit "off." Other dogs, like one of mine, are just afraid of people. He doesn't like most people, but every once in a while a person will come along that he loves. I think it has to do with familiarity. If the person has something familiar, like is similair to me or smells like something good, he is more responsive. It also matters how they approach. If they stare at him in the eyes, lean at the hips and not bends down, is too forward or aggressive, then he is immediately on alert. My families old Malamute only growled at one guy when I was walking home late at night with him. I don't think it had anything to do with the guy being good or bad, I think it had to do with it being dark, a strange figure approaching and walking in a very irradict pattern. This all made him very nervous.