JuneM

My 22 month old BC rarely eats breakfast. I have tried all kinds of things to entice him to eat - topping with canned food, taking it away after 15 minutes, putting him in his crate with it. When I have put him in his crate with a bowl of food he either pulls his sleeping pad over it or flips it out of the crate so all the kibble lands on the floor outside. I have finally decided he just wants to eat once a day. Even with that, it some times takes him an hour after we come home to eat dinner. His weight is very stable (40 lbs) and his coat is glossy and he is extremely healthy. I have finally decided he really just wants to eat once a day. I put down breakfast for him in case he wants it but I do pick it up after an hour or so. He's also not real big into treats and doesn't like bones, except for the fake type Nyla bones. Go figure!

Full disclosure: I got my lovely blue merle 15 month old BC from Midnight Border collies. I did not get him to do herding but as an all around dog. So far at 15 months he has progressed in search and rescue training to the point of doing totally blind finds in 1- 5 acres; he is turning out to have promise in agility (no major jumping yet - but we will compete next year), hikes with me, goes to doggy day care and gets along with all the dogs he meets. I do admit he is a bit suspicious of strangers. He is obedient, doesn't chew up anything in the house (never has) and is an all around pleasure as a companion. While I understand that there might be concerns with any breeder (all may have their pros and cons depending on what you are looking for) I do find it rather objectionable that someone would discourage another from looking at a breeder because they have a web page! Come on folks. That is standard business practice in this day and age and frankly I would find it suspicious if a breeder didn't have a web page where i could actually do some research. There are both good breeders and bad breeders, with and without web sites, so might be best to stick to some actual knowledge of the dogs produced, not so much speculation.

I get a flat plate tag from boomerang tags.com imprinted up to 4 lines. You can get different sizes depending on width of the collar. My dangly tags kept getting pulled off and lost at day care so now I just take a picture of them and keep it on my phone.

My pup can get pretty distracted in the yard and much prefer playing over peeing. Early on I taught him to ring some bells on the door when he has to go. When he rings the bells he goes out on leash to potty only. Then back inside. If he rings bellls and we go out and no potty we just go back in the house. They can learn pretty quickly that ringing the bells doesn't just mean go outside. If we are going out to play, no leash. Kai knows the difference. If I put the leash on he is very calm and walks quietly outside to potty. If no leash he is pretty excited. We now have a wait command at the door so he doesn't just rocket through the door.

I have also used the cling film on some doors. I didn't find it hard to install at all and the design is quite pretty.

My blue Merle had a polka-dot nose at 8 weeks. At 1 year old it is mostly solid black with a few small,pink spots that I think he might retain. I did like the polka dots though.

Trying again to post his pic.

Hello everyone, Just a short introduction to Kai my one year old BC. He is currently training as an Airscent search and rescue dog. We are also doing a bit of agility training. He is wicked fast and I don't know how I will ever get in a front cross!

Ahimsa is great. I am taking classes with Wynona and really like her quiet style.