CoachRed

Because we have recently adopted a Border/Aussie I have been spending a lot of time reading the Internet sites about training. We have always been dog people, but find it a definite help to study the SPECIFIC breed we have, and BC is definitely it's own breed! Similar to our Aussies, but kind of like Aussies on speed, LOL. That said, a lot of what I am reading doesn't really sit that well with me or the way we have lived with our furbabies. They live WITH us as family, and not as 'possessions' and some of the training advice just seems overboard! Like never play tug with your dog. WTH? We always play tug, and they play it together. The sites say this sets up a 'competitive' role and is not good for your relationship as 'alpha'. Also there is a lot of talk about making the dog 'heel' for the entire walk, never walking ahead of you, always at your side or behind, and never venturing away from your side. Again WTH? What is the point of walking, hopefully not JUST the exercise. This should be an enjoyable time, and one of the biggest enjoyments they GET from this is sniffing even a blade of grass that has a good smell, LOL. At any rate, studying online is quite frustrating because of the attempt (it seems) to turn dogs into something you own and rule instead of a family member that is well behaved and happy. Thoughts?

We feed Fromm because it has no ingredients from China or other 'dangerous ingredient' places. I had to do a LOT of research but discovered that pretty much every food in the regular super markets, even if they say things like "distributed in the USA" or "made in the USA" they still use chinese ingredients, which means that you pooch is getting not only the terrible things they allow, but since they use the bodies of euthanized animals, those chemicals are going into your baby also! And can you believe HUMAN REMAINS have been found in Chinese dog-food ingredients? DO YOUR RESEARCH. Newman's own treats can be found in grocery stores, but very seldom will their FOOD be there, and it is organic so should be another great choice. Do not be confused by those very intentionally misleading USA letters on your dog food bag, they do this to fool you.

This is so funny because I am a personal trainer on the side (fitness trainer for PEOPLE that is, LOL) and I always tell them "if your dog is fat, you are not getting enough exercise", LOL!

This is great information and it works. We rescued both of our youngsters, so I was quite worried about how they would act about the touching and really worked at getting them used to it all. Feet, ears, taking food or treats away with a hand (giving them back of course). We always said that we would make any new additions used to these things, especially wearing doggie eyewear since we are in Colorado and our blue-eyed Aussie should have worn them but just wouldn't. My question is the tool used. When we rescued the claws looked (on BOTH rescues) as if they had perhaps been done with one of those grinding type tools because of the 'angle' of the nail. We have one of those types with a backstop that keeps the cut from being too deep, but it can still crack a brittle nail as our senior will get. Is there a preferred tool for this or is it just owner preference? I ask for the DOG's comfort, I will use whatever is best for them.

We rescued a female Border/Aussie in April and she just naturally would want to jump and slightly twist her body in that very beautiful way that BC's do. However my hubby immediately had me halt the frisbee tossing because she was only 5 months when we rescued her, and only 9 months right now, and he was worried about knees and hips. I know at SOME point it will be ok, within reason, but as expensive as these issues are to repair, who needs it.

Hello I am a new member from Colorado. We recently rescued a female Border/Aussie (at 5 months) and she is now almost 9 months. Her weight has topped at about 31 lbs and this little girl is BRILLIANT as is true for so many BCs. We started off looking for an Aussie, we have a senior male of 12 years "Chevy" and we lost his house-mate in March. So we planned on a female aussie, and didn't realize the 'BC' part would affect the personality so. They are similar, both extremely intelligent and in need of a lot of stimulation both mentally and physically. So we rescued this little girl in April, and then another male (miniature Aussie) in May. We know *sniff that the senior probably doesn't have a ton of years left, so we wanted the two younger ones to be about the same age and grow up together so that when he passes, they will already have each other. Needless to say, training TWO rescue pups at the same time is a real challenge! Fortunately the Mini Aussie is quite mellow 'compared' to the Border/Aussie. He is happy to let her 'run' the show, but she is NOT supposed to be running OUR show and of course she tries. The BC part of this furbaby definitely makes her a different training challenge than the pure Aussie. Our biggest issue is the vocalization. Everything else so far has been eliminated with patience and consistent training, but OMG this little girl is vocal. And her bark is SO HIGH and shrill that it just grates on your eardrums! There are certain times she goes absolutely ape-sh!t (planning to walk, anyone at the door, and when daddy leaves in the morning) but mostly she just seems to have to voice her opinion all of the time. And she has this weird 'snapping' of her teeth that she does that (we can't let HER know this) is cute, but completely inappropriate. She does it with the rescued male when they wrestle, which is nearly all the time, so she also seems to use it with dad when she doesn't like that he has corrected her physically, like moving her or saying 'no' in a really stern tone. You can actually hear her teeth come together, but she never actually bites anything, it is sort of a 'back-talk' move or something. From what I am reading, this vocalization may be something we have to live with, but we would at LEAST like to train her to be calm when people come by. Even getting food delivery is a chore because we have to put her in her crate and she just goes on and on and on with her shrieking! We are pretty sure the Mini Aussie we rescued is autistic, but that is a whole other Oprah for an Aussie forum.