SabW

I will give that a try too! Thanks!!

Thanks for the email. I will touch base! Yep, Cali is big! lol She is in the Newman/Gustine/Los Banos area... She drives up to rescues in Washington and oregon all the time too, but her rescues up there don't accept BCs

Hi all. I work as an animal control officer, and one of my rescuers mentioned to me today that she has three 2 week old BC pups, from a local farm, that she needs to either place for adoption or get to a BC rescue group. The groups she works with do not take BC's. If anyone is in Nor California/ out in the valley please contact me so I can put you in contact with her. Our local shelter is nor fond of BCs also. Let me know!

Mary..Not harsh at all. I am fairly new to dogs so I am learning them just as much as they are learning me!! And I will take every bit of advice I can get! Thanks for the input. It's very frustrating, especially when Hubby is home and just needs to bark "DOGS!!" and they both cease and desist!

Makes sense. When they go into bark mode I am totally business..Just yesterday I attempted to separate them, putting the GSP into his crate. They just barked through the door. I even tried putting them into the crate together since the BC is not fond of being that close to the GPS and it stops it for the moment, but the minute I let them out they are back at it. And If I get up to get them to put them on time out they both scatter and start running around the sofas to get away from me. They must have gone into full bark mode 7 to 10 times within the hour and a half I sat down to catch up on my DVR! I really hate to revert back to the zap collar, they are expensive, but they worked for everything else when we were training them not to dig. We had a bad experience with electric fence, so I fear putting collars back on them.

Apparently my attempt at humor did not go over. Just joking about catching them...although they are fast! Thanks everyone for the input, I really appreciate it!

Ok, I can try that. Catching one of them is gonna be fun. haha We even tried a muzzle, because they hate it, as punishment...and it only works while it is on one of them! ;/ Thanks!

Thank you everyone. I can see what you mean about two food bowls. I honestly never thought of it that way. When I tried two food bowls in the beginning they both ate out of each others' anyhow, so I never knew who ate what. Keeping one out of the others' was drama, so we joined bowls. They are both semi-trained, all by me. This is what is odd about the control in our house. They both wait for food, they both sit, and do simple commands, and I am the one who trained them both. I work with them on leash training, since my BC pulls..I have had to be intensive with her. However when it comes to stopping the barking, or the wrestling...they refuse to listen to me at all. But if my husband barks thier names they cease and desist immediately! *shrug* As for crates...the GSP boy is in his crate at night, only because he still occasionally chews things when people are not around to entertain him. However the BC got out of her crate at about age 2...she is very well behaved. She does not chew, and the two years she was crated was hellish. For her, crate is a timeout or trouble spot. Thanks everyone for the input, I really appreciate it! Anything I can learn, is always a benefit...my dogs are amazing little critters, so anything that helps them be more amazing...I am open to!!

Thanks. Maybe I am just oversensative about it. How do I stop the barking though? I can yell til I am blue, I can chase them around like an idiot but they are way faster.lol I can snap them with a towel, but they don't care and then its a game "you can't catch me". You are the second person to metion separate food bowls. If they share food nicely, why? I am not at all opposed, just curious. It had never occurred to us, because they share food so well. they both even eat the same, taking a few kibbles to the carpet, munching, then going back for more. And like I mentioned, if she eats ahead of him she will purposely leave half the bowl for him...its very cute!

I guess you guys are right. She is not aggressive at hime so I should be thrilled! The wrestling to me seems like fighting but a friend of mine insisted it looked like playing to her! I think it is the wrestling and the 'bark fest' that gets to me the most. Since there is no food aggression, and she actually is considerate to only eat half, what would be the reason to get thier own food bows?? I would love to know how to gain more control when my husband is not around. This is something I have struggled with a long time.

Congrats! I just wanted to say he is ADORABLE!

I'm hoping someone has similar issues/feedback. I have a female rescue BC mix we have had sicne she was a puppy, she is now 5. About two years ago we added a new rescue dog, a male german shorthair pointer, to the mix. We should have known she didn't like him at the shelter when we took them for a meet and greet because all she did was bark, and she was never a barker before. So here we are two years later, and I would have thought she would have adjusted. She tolerates him...She is not overtly aggressive, she does not guard or hoard food. Matter of fact she is careful to only eat half the bowl full and leave the rest for him. However, if she is on the sofa and he gets up next to her, she immediately gets down. She will not lay with him, or groom him, or allow him to groom her. If he sniffs in her direction she growls at him. They also have what we call "bark fest" where one of them will start barking and then the other will return the favor and then it takes an act of god (or husband - aka leader of the pack)to shut them up. They wrestle with each other, and it sounds vicious, but they never hurt each other. Since he has come into the house, she has become my lap dog. All 40 pounds of her curls up on my lap, and yet my husband is clearly her leader and both dogs don't listen to my commands. That is a whole other topic. lol After two years I would have thought she would have warmed to him. Is it possible she just never will, and is there anything I can do to foster an environement where she softens to him?