Lawgirl

Here in Australia, I buy bags of a product called ZiwiPeak, which is actually from New Zealand. It is an air dried dog food, with only meat, organ meat and green lipped mussel in it. The pieces are small and very light, so you get hundreds of pieces in a one pound pack. It is very high quality and expensive because of this, but perfect for treats. It comes in various varieties including lamb, beef, venison, lamb and mackerel and lamb and tripe. My point is that you can sometimes buy a small bag of really high quality dried food and use it as treats. You can even often email various companies and get sample packs to try, which can be your treats until you find one your dog likes. Other alternatives like cheese, or some form of vegetable that your dog likes can work too.

I think the time that you are putting your puppy in the crate for now is perfectly fine. Dogs can be crated for hours (and may need to be due to injury, travel, agility trials etc.). As he gets older, the time can probably decrease, but longer if needed would also be fine. Dogs don't look at a crate as a cage, they look at it as a den. Many crate trained dogs will actually go into their crate as a safe place when stressed (such as visiting children who won't leave them alone). You have said that your puppy is so much better to be around when he has some crate time. This should reassure you that crate time is good for him. It is teaching him to develop an off switch, which really is invaluable for a BC. As far as bonding with your son, I suspect the only way to really allow your boy to become the leader is leaving the two of them alone to learn. You probably need to step back and let the two of them make mistakes together so your son can learn what he needs to do. And, of course, you need to teach your boy what to look for. Can someone else film interactions between your son and his dog, then you can watch the video with your son and use it as a lesson. I know from my agility training that watching myself on video lets me see where I have gone wrong better than someone just telling me. I am not an expert, mind you.

If you have a limited space, I would recommend something that works her mind, such as trick training or nose work.

dumdum, were you using liver treats? When I went away with one of my boys for his first agility trial, I took liver treats and was rewarding him well for staying calm. Well, lets just say that night he fumigated the tent. Liver treats are too rich for my dogs.

I agree with Hooper2 that I do not think what is shown in your video or photo above is the result of any illness or malnutrition. It looks like your dog's coat governing genes are coming out. This is not a BC website but covers agouti, sable and creeping tan in dog coats http://www.doggenetics.co.uk/tan.html

Look into creeping tan. One of my tri boys has a lot more tan coming through on his head, legs and flanks than when we got him as a puppy. Not the best photos but you can see the tan creeping up his legs.

The name itself is lovely, I have just known soooo many Bella girl dogs, not all of whom are very well behaved, that I cannot stand it as a name for a puppy. It seems to be an extremely popular name where I live, and I would prefer a more individual name.

OK, so I tend to name my dogs with human names, and then my OH gives them multiple and ever changing nicknames. E.G. Our boy Bailey ended up as Bai-Oui, Bay Leaf, Baz, Mr Baz, Senior Sergeant Bailey Bing Bong, Washbucket and Freckles. He answers to each and every one of these names, and none of the other dogs respond to them. As an aside, if you have any thought of doing agility with your dog, think about how easy the name you choose will be to call out on the agility course when you are a bit out of breath and trying to get your dogs attention NOW. George is not a great agility name as it takes too long to say. Oscar is shortened to Oz, which is nice and easy to say on the agility course. As far as girl's names go, so long as it is not Bella, I have no real suggestions.

Beautiful dog!

I tried spraying with water once, my boy just learned to open his mouth and get a quick drink...

Phaedra is gorgeous (love the name by the way! I think if I got a girl pup I would have to consider calling her Phryne) and it sounds you will have a wonderful life together. Enjoy the differences between her and Odin, they are all precious.

I had not been able to access the Boards since last week, it would just come up with an error message (and I should have taken a screen shot but did not, sorry). I had faith that things would be fixed again. Thank you to Eileen for her hard work.

Recently in a Facebook BC group here in Australia, a lady asked for advice about her BC trying to "herd" her neighbour's dogs. She was fence running, and while fence running she would be impossible to distract or call away. This person was asking if this was something she would be worried about, mainly because the dog was wearing away the lawn next to the fence. I immediately said she needed to stop it as it was obsessive behaviour not "herding", as did a number of other people, however, more frightening was the number of people who said "you will never stop a BC from herding, it is in their DNA". Mindlessly and obsessively running along a fence is NOT HERDING! Rant over.

D'Elle, I would guess I.C.E would stand for "In Case of Emergency" so a whistle to attract attention when things are going wrong. Capt Jack, I was interested about the NADAC rule of "verbal or visual" cues. I sometimes use a hand clap to get Oscar to look or turn to me on an agility course. I run in ANKC courses in Australia, not NADAC, but was interested to see that rule. Presumably hand-clapping is neither verbal nor visual and therefore forbidden. It is a very useful cue to me. OP, I am afraid I have no other advice for you than you have already been given, but you have a super cute pup who sounds like a real gem!

I have seen all types in the little bit of agility I have done, including people who won't feed their dog if it did not pay enough attention to them in the ring. I, and most other agility people I know, would never do that. Our judges here all want to see dogs having fun. Some clubs even have encouragement type awards for novice dogs who are the happiest team. I am never going to be competitive on a national level, may not even make it into the top grade of competition. But I am perfectly OK with that because Oscar loves doing what he does, even when he makes up his own course. From what I have seen, building drive in your dog to be able to work at a distance, or to keep going for several obstacles without turning to find you is good. In front of most rings I see, people are trying to keep their dog calm and focussed on them, not ramped up and desperate before going in.

I don't think anyone of us could really know what we would do in a situation like that. I would like to think I could do something to save the poor dog, but I am honest enough with myself to know that I would probably freeze in terror and then hate myself afterwards...

He looks lovely! I am no expert, but I would not question if someone told me he was full BC. He does have low ears, so maybe some hound?

I am a little worried we have hijacked the thread. BC-Coding, I hope we have not scared you off. How are things going with your dog? PS Photos are always welcome!

I endorse all of the above advice. I note that you said it is like the treat you use no longer has much value. Are you using just one type, or have you tried using different treats? If you have not already tried it, maybe try to find another treat which has high value and mix it up a bit.

Unfortunately, after x rays taken yesterday, my youngest boy Shadow has been diagnosed with quite severe hip dysplacia. He will turn two years old in April. He has very shallow malformed hip sockets, and malformed ball joints which are already showing signs of bony changes. The vet has placed him on 300mg of gabapentin twice daily, and a 7 day course of carprieve. We have also completed week two of an initial 4 week cartrophen injection course, which will go to 3 monthly after that. I know I need to keep weight off of him, gentle exercise, joint supplements to keep him comfortable. The vet recommended trying medical management first before surgery. Femoral head excision is one option, but they do not recommend it because they said at his size, the callus that would form would not be robust enough. Would likely need to be two complete hip replacements, which would be very expensive and probably involve around 500 kms of travel (over 300 miles) one way to reach someone qualified to do the operation. There is no hydrotherapy available anywhere near where I live, although a beach is in fairly easy reach. Any tips on the best way to exercise Shadow? We have never done frisbee, ball chasing etc with him - exercise till now has been chasing our other dogs around a baseball diamond, where he can stop and rest whenever he wants, for around 15 to 20 minutes 4 to 5 times a week. Is it worth learning massage for him? Any experience with joint supplements? I am grateful for any and all advice. I tried to attach a photo but for some reason it wouldn't let me.

Very nice run on the jumpers course! And the chances course was smooth, although I have never run one of those, so am not sure what to look for!

You can also try feeding from a muffin tin, with a little food on each bowl, or using a snuffle mat. These are a holey rubber mat with lots of strips of fabric tied through the holes and poking up. You pour the kibble on the mat and run your hand over it so the pieces fall between the cracks. Then your dog has to hunt through the strips of fabric using scent to find the kibble. It slows them down and engages their brain. Snuffle mats are easy to make yourself (lots of videos on youtube) and when they get dirty, just throw them in the wash and they are good to go again.

Yay, photos! You have a very handsome dog there!

Not sure if this is the problem but when you select to attach the photo, so that the thumbnail size comes up at the bottom of the post screen, you then need to click the "add to post" button. I missed that at first. Otherwise post it to a photo hosting website, make sure it is public and post the link. I hope that makes sense...

Personally I like the sound "Oi!" as a corrector/interrupter. With different tones of voice, volume and intonations it can be very effective. It is also something that I do not say in normal use. For me, I do have a "No" command, which is a "stop what you are doing right now". This may be used when they are about to do something unsafe, like enter a dangerous area, or pick up something dangerous. We reached our fourth dog before we had a chewer (other than normal puppy teething issues). Antler has been a lifesaver,