SoloRiver

GORGEOUS photos and I just love Lone's little bearded face. She's a keeper all right. Welcome to the Boards!

Solo definitely has his favorite patches of mud, along with his favorite patches of grass. We go for walks in the Pioneer Cemetery just off the UO campus in Eugene and he always has to visit Wallace and Mettie Hockaday -- apparently the best grass grows on top of them. I haven't said much about Fly in this thread. Fly is actually almost six months older than Solo (she'll be 12 this December) but other than being a bit thick around the middle and slightly less elastic when she runs she hasn't changed one iota over the eight years I've had her. Fly's behavior is absolutely consistent across all contexts, both situationally and chronologically, and she's just as silly, playful, and ready to go go go as she has ever been. Most people, including experienced dog people, guess her age to be 4 or 5 at the most. Fly is not what anyone would call a deep thinker, and seems like she will remain a puppy at heart her entire life. When Fly slows down it's going to be especially sad; even though I love Solo more he has always seemed older than his years, personality-wise, and getting old suits him better than it will Fly. I mentioned once before that if Fly had a talk bubble above her head, it would always say, "Yay!" and if that ever changes it'll be really, really depressing. I have a hard time imagining that though.

Yep, that's pretty much what he does. Very urgent look. Not anxious, but like he has something really important to tell me. It's gotten really bad lately, but that's probably because I'm teaching this term and spend long periods of time doing class prep and not interacting with him. When he's not staring at me, he lies in the corner and sighs and whines so I know how bored he is. You know, I wondered about this before, and I think you are probably right. There is something very calm, and secure, and normal about his boredom. When we lived in the city he used to crash harder when we were home. Part of it was probably because he was younger and stronger and played harder, but part of it was probably because he perceived the world around him as full of threats and it isn't like that anymore. This may also explain why he has started barking at people on TV (what we call "the magic window") like he is guarding us from them. Solo never paid the slightest attention to the TV before. I am sort of ashamed that Solo does this now because it's like, the one thing he does that does not seem incredibly intelligent (OK, maybe other than eating mud). He especially dislikes newscasters and other "talking head" types who appear really big on screen and look straight into the camera, which means that he threatens Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on a nightly basis, which I usually chide him for because those are the good guys, but I digress. Physically, Solo is doing well. No one would guess his age as more than 5 or 6 if he were just standing still. He's had arthritis for some time now in his hip and back, so when he runs or goes up stairs he looks old. And his muscle tone is not what it used to be. But he is still perfectly happy to chase a ball or jump and will run an agility course with aplomb, although he might knock a couple of bars. I no longer ask him to hop over solid immovable objects like playground balance beams or fallen trees, like I used to for fun, because sometimes he'll hit and trip over them while jumping. After that happens he'll act all like nothing happened, "I'm OK, I'll just walk it off" but I'm afraid he'll really hurt himself. I don't know if it's his joints, lack of muscle, or eyesight that's the problem. Solo is still top dog in the house and always will be if I can help it. Fly is a natural follower and would never think of challenging anyone. Jett on the other hand is a schemer and I know I will have to watch her, although the fact that she's a bitch may mean she never tries to be the boss of Solo. Jett maintains a very healthy respect for Solo and stays carefully out of his way at all times. If this starts changing, she will be put very firmly in her place, by me. Behaviorally I don't want to give the impression that Solo's losing it, because he's totally not. He is just as sharp as ever, with the exception of these occasional fugues, even if he is somewhat more deliberate. It's hard to say really, since he's always sort of acted like an old man, and always been much more serious than the average Border Collie. When I first adopted him he had no idea how to have fun, and he's since learned, but even when he plays he tends to do it in a professional manner. He's been frivolous or silly maybe two or three times in his entire life. He is a deep thinker, and means pretty much everything that he says or does. This is an interesting discussion, thanks guys.

Solo has bloodwork done at least yearly because of his anti-psycho meds and his values have never been anything but stellar. The last were a couple of months ago after the Rimadyl-stealing incident. He isn't on any new meds and his appetite isn't any bigger than it used to be. I really think he's more bored than hungry. Sounds like he's not alone!

Please excuse the grammar of the thread title. Although you may not know it to look at him, Solo will be 11 years old in May. Over the past year I have noticed an increasing incidence of what I call "value-added behaviors." By this I mean that Solo does all the same stuff he used to do (albeit a bunch of it, he does slower than he used to) plus some new stuff. I am not sure if all of these are age-related behaviors, or just additions to the repertoire given that he's been around for an entire decade now. Solo more often stops to listen to the voices. He has always done this, but it is more frequent now. He will stop whatever he was doing, and sort of cock his ears, and do this: In a possibly related behavior, he will often whine to go out late at night and then stand outside on the patio staring off into space, as though he does not recall why he wanted to go outside. Note, he does not act disoriented under normal circumstances, just in this circumstance. Solo has taken up mud-eating. If he is very insistent about going out late at night, it is almost guaranteed that he will make a beeline for a soft corner of the yard and start chowing down. He gets a complete and well-rounded diet so I don't think it's a mineral deficiency, his appetite is excellent, and his bloodwork is totally normal. It seems that he has simply developed a taste for mud. Solo counter surfs much more frequently now than he did when he was younger (thus the Rimadyl thievery incident from a few months ago), and also will raid the garbage if he is left alone at home with it (only very rarely while we are at home) such that we now have to shut the garbage into a closet when we leave the house. We tried putting a latch on the can, which he learned to open, and then locking it, but he learned that he could pull the bag out from under the lid and make a mess anyway. This indicates that he's pretty determined about the garbage raiding. Finally, and this may partially explain the counter surfing and garbage raiding, Solo seems to be much more bored and to become bored much more easily than when he was younger. He is not clingy, per se -- it isn't that he's following me around more or that he seems more anxious. If he were a child he would be tugging on my skirt and saying, "C'mon, let's DO something." Yes, Border Collies will do this, but Solo is doing it more often now. He is not particularly active in the house and never has been what anyone would call a "busy" dog, and if anything he has become less active as he has aged. He is simply more bored. Do these sound like normal old dog behaviors, or is this just Solo?

Agree with Marilyn. Unfortunately noise phobias tend to become worse, not better, but sometimes they learn to run to you instead of running away. My Solo is very noise phobic, but his "sit" and "lie down" are so ingrained that if I tell him to "sit" he'll stop running and I can catch him. He also has a tendency to run up to the closest parked car and want to get in, which makes him easy to catch. In the meantime I would leave a long line on Mel so that you can catch her if she bolts.

Most of the dogs in Jordan are feral, and the vast majority of them are medium sized yellow/white dogs with prick ears. There are very few dark dogs, as I imagine dark coats would be strongly selected against in the harsh sun of the desert. Most of them seem to be doing just fine without owners.

Mating dogs will tie. Usually they're done in around 20 minutes. When Fly was still intact she and Solo (neutered) would go for it when she went into heat and managed to tie twice, once because I didn't think he had it in him and the second time because I didn't realize putting a sanitary napkin on Fly wouldn't stop them. It wasn't a big deal -- it was odd, but I knew it was normal (other than the fact that Solo has no testicles) and I figured it's their business, so... Fly is spayed now and will still allow Solo to mount her but they obviously don't really see the point anymore. She was very flirtatious when she would go into season and for want of a better descriptor I would say she used to seduce him. Mel is a GREAT name!

Good luck with the appointment. I agree, this sounds like severe separation anxiety -- in fact, Buster just sounds like an anxious dog, in general. Age-related cognitive changes may also be playing a role. Your behaviorist will be able to tell you more but he sounds like a candidate for medication if there ever was one. You say he did not do well on Prozac, but there are a variety of meds you can try as each dog (or person, for that matter) is different and will benefit from different drugs. In the meantime, is it possible to just bring Buster with you when you go places and leave him in the car? You say he's OK in there, and although it seems strange it's very common for dogs with SA to be OK in exactly that context. Solo was like that when he had severe SA, so whenever the weather allowed (i.e., when it wasn't dangerously hot outside) I would take him with me. He could not handle being alone for three minutes at home, but hours in the car, he had no problems with. It's not something I can explain easily. But, the problem is that SA becomes a vicious cycle -- every time the dog is left alone longer than he can handle, he has the panic reaction, thus reinforcing the association between being alone and panic, which makes him worse the next time -- and even if you are diligent about behavior modification, you can end up undoing everything you've done by leaving the dog alone too long the next time. With a combo of meds (to enable the dog to better handle being left alone) and lots of behavior mod, coupled with bringing him with you every time you are going to be gone too long ("too long" varying by dog and treatment program), you CAN handle this. Solo learned to be totally alone for several hours at a time after a few months of meds and behavior mod, and then getting a second dog pretty much solved the problem entirely. He can still revert under duress -- it has been a very very long time since that happened, but I know it could happen again -- but everyday absences are not a problem for him. Good luck, and let us know what the behaviorist says.

Hi Danielle, I've rehomed a dog for similar reasons and under much less exigent circumstances than you are facing right now. I did it because I knew he was not happy, there was nothing I could do about the situation to make him happy (because rehoming Solo was obviously not on the table) and because his unhappiness was upsetting everyone else. He is now in a home that is perfect for him and I have a harmonious pack (well, except for that brief Jett-wants-to-kill-Fly phase, but removing Jett's gonads took care of that problem). I know it feels terrible, and I felt like a total failure, I'd sworn to myself that I wasn't one of those people who rehomed dogs, etc. But sometimes it is the best option. Don't beat yourself up. Take care of yourself and what you need to take care of -- Rue is an adorable dog and will not be hard to rehome, is my guess.

Wow, I just paid $50ish for a 30 lb bag of EVO reduced fat and I think the Orijen that Jett's eating is about the same price. But then again, I've only got the three dogs. I'm keeping Solo grain-free due to his arthritis so they all are -- I really don't know if it makes a big difference, but I have forgotten to give him his Adequan since before the holidays (yes, I am a bad dog owner) and he is not at all gimpy, so maybe it does. It could also be because he's no longer living in the concrete jungle. One change that I have noticed is that now that Fly is eating grain-free food, she no longer smells like a giant hamster in a nest of corn chips, which is what she used to smell like. It was not an unpleasant odor (really!), but it was distinctive and quite strong (i.e., you could tell if she was in the room or not without seeing her) and now it's totally gone. The dogs used to be eating the Kirkland brand food from Costco, which is the same as some flavor of Diamond and quite good. I was going to pick up a bag of the organic for Jett last time we were at Costco, but they don't seem to carry it anymore.

Ah yes. The "themes of violence" names -- I hate hate hate them. I mean, it's a matter of taste, but I just can't imagine naming a dog I actually like something like that. Solo's gangster nickname is "Babyface." I think it suits him, 'cause he's cute but he's sort of a badass. Anyway, as to the OP's friend, she either has reading comprehension problems, or she perceives what she wants to perceive.

What Pearse said. Thanks Pearse.

I have a question for breeders and trainers here: how many of you would be willing to sell a dog via auction?

I think it is more useful to think of Border Collie behavior as being informed or influenced by the selection for working ability that characterizes the breed (or at least well-bred examples of it) rather than to throw everything into the wastebasket category of "herding behaviors." It is also important to differentiate between these "informed behaviors" and actual herding behavior that occurs in the context of real work. I have yet to see a Border Collie getting "herdy" (I hate that term, but the sport people use it a lot and it's pretty useful descriptively) around say, people or other dogs, who actually appears to believe that he or she is truly working the people or dogs. For example, Fly will do little "outruns" on Solo and "fetch" him back when he plays ball (yes, I allow her to do this -- she is 11 years old and pretty much retired) but it is pretty apparent that she does not really think she is moving him. She has no influence on where he goes and is obviously just following him along, which is certainly not what she does when she works sheep. Fly is an experienced working dog, who spent her first three years in rural Wales, and knows the difference. She is NOT "herding Solo" but her stereotyped habitus may lead some people to think that she is. Therefore, I do not consider what she is doing to be "herding behavior," which implies that she is actually working. What she is engaging in is a fairly normal canine behavior -- chasing another dog who has a ball -- but the WAY that she is doing it is informed in part by the history of selection that resulted in her. For me, "herding" or "working" implies that the dog is consciously attempting to influence movement AND making it happen. This means it's not impossible that Border Collies may try to work people or other dogs, but I haven't personally seen it. What I have seen are a lot of "herdy"-looking behaviors that are actually generic dog behaviors but are misinterpreted because Border Collies tend to stare and be crouchy.

So, we've now defined "herding behavior" so loosely that it is basically useless to describe ANY dog as a "herding breed" dog.

Mine don't prevent me from leaving the room. Rather, they follow me everywhere. Guess they're not herding dogs after all. Somebody better call Working Border Collie magazine and tell them they screwed up when they put Fly on the cover. For what it's worth, all three of them work sheep and are very very keen. I find that they are often in the way as I move around, but so was my Pomeranian and so was my Papillon. To me the most parsimonious explanation for this behavior is that my eyes are in the front of my head, and dogs tend to put themselves where it is easiest to get your attention, so they can usually be found in your line of sight. If my eyes were in the back of my head, they'd try to get my attention back there.

The conditions described in these articles are absolutely inexcusable. If the sheep ranching industry really cannot afford to treat these shepherds humanely and pay them a living wage, then their industry needs to either change or go under. This is not an acceptable business model.

I constantly claim that I love Solo more than pretty much everyone else here loves their own dogs, and that's a totally obnoxious claim to make, and I am 99.99999% certain that it is absolutely true. Since adopting Solo I added two more dogs (well, three actually but one no longer lives with me) and I can say with certainty that none of them have budged Solo one iota from his special place in my heart. He is my once in a lifetime dog and when he is gone I will be looking for another Solo for the rest of my life. I doubt I will be lucky enough to find him. That said, I love Fly and I love Jett, and I am so very happy that I have both of them, and they both have their own special roles in my life. Fly is the good girl who I can take absolutely anywhere and my first sheepdog, Jett is my current sheepdog and the only one of the three who will deign to sleep on the bed, and so on. They are all special, and although I have my favorite I love the other two deeply and know that they have excellent lives with me. If they were children they might resent the love imbalance, but they aren't children. I doubt I could spread the affection out much farther, especially considering that Solo gets the vast majority of it, but I really like having three dogs. Even if you have one that you love more than life itself, if your heart is full you will have plenty of affection for another.

I'm with almost everyone else. If low/no shedding is a major criterion for you then this is not an appropriate breed to be looking at. By "dog person" standards I don't think they shed very much, but I also groom my dogs fairly regularly and vacuum at least three times a week and my husband, who loves dogs but is not a "dog person" like I am, thinks we live in a giant hairball. My dogs run the gamut from extremely rough coated to medium to practically hairless with some fringe. Of the three, the practically hairless one is actually the worst shedder (yes, I'm looking at you, Jett). You would never predict it to look at her. I also agree that if the specific traits of Border Collies are not what you are looking for then I'd recommend seeking out another breed. They aren't for everyone.

I would drive. Seven to eight days from PA to CA? My brother and I made it from Northern VA to San Francisco in two and a half days hauling a U-Haul trailer that was stuffed to the gills and as heavy as my Element could tow. I thought Solo would be stressed by the long trip but he was perfectly fine.

I don't think it's necessary. That's what sites like Flickr are for. I also assume it would increase the server load quite a bit?

I raised Jett on a mostly-raw diet after picking her up at 7.5 weeks. She did get kibble, but most of her food was a commercial raw (Nature's Variety). I didn't have the wherewithal or freezer space at the time to do a homemade raw diet justice and didn't want to experiment with a growing pup.

I use anything that's labeled as safe for kids. And I only buy stuff that's not tested on animals. Alba Botanica has a kid's sunscreen that's SPF 30 or thereabouts that works well on Solo's ivory-skinned nose.

Intact males seem to draw challenging responses from neutered males, or at least that's what I've been told. Solo gets growled at all the time, but that's because he's weird. His shrink explained to me once that other dogs can tell he's ill at ease, and normal dog behavior is to provoke a response to get more information. It's basically like Solo is wearing a kick-me sign. He gets growled at by dogs on the other side of the street when he's walking by minding his own business and not even looking at them. He almost always ignores them, so it isn't like he's doing anything to deserve it. Is Shiloh weird?