SaraHaira

I use a product called Evolv by Wondercide. It's 10% cedar wood oil. I've been happy with it for flea protection, but I've never seen a tick around us (Northern California). Its very fragrant, so you have to enjoy the scent, and I find I have to apply it every few days during the summer months.

Thanks for the input! yes- her recall is perfect... except when it isn't;) I had really gotten "here" to be a good one, with a treat every time, but I think I got lax with it and now it has less power. I will plan to be more pro-active at the park and remove her before I see her get over threshold and work on a new cue. We just got home from our second agility class. This time there were more dogs and more waiting, which was harder for her. Keeping her attention on me for an hour was difficult, and she took to lying on the floor next to the table sometimes, or just getting distracted by other dogs or the instructor. One thing that was frustrating, was if she didn't want to go over the dog walk, her least favorite so far, the instructor would lead her with treats, but then all focus on me was lost for a while. I'm going to work on some CU mat work- see if that helps. Thanks again for the responses- this is a great resource!

Hello- Over the last year of having Jolene, we have worked through many issues and I have felt like we've made a lot of progress. In the last few months since she turned one, she has suddenly become more of a trained dog instead of a whacky puppy. We are still having some problems, some that I know we just need to work on more, and others I'm at a bit of a loss. We go to a local dog park most everyday so we have room to fetch, and she also has made doggy friends and enjoys socializing. One thing that she does pretty often is when two dogs start a nice one on one romping play, she circles them and just barks. And barks. And barks. The dogs rarely seem phased, and when they start running she races with them and stops the barking. But often the owners try to break them up or seem uncomfortable with the barking. Her recall has become very good, except in this case. It's almost useless. I've tried good treats, throwing the ball- she has zero interest. I just have to run around her calling her until there's a break and I can get her attention for a second. Is this a BC behavior I should expect? Does anyone have any unique ways to deal with it? Weve worked on her recall in many situations, and I have felt so good about it, until this happens and it's like we've never done it before. Her other new issue is a hatred/fear of skateboards. We were at an off leash park in Portland, Or last week and a guy on a skateboard went by and she darted for home, barking like a maniac. The guy was completely freaked out- as I'm sure I would've been too. He then yelled at me for not being able to control my dog. It was completely scary and embarrassing. We had been doing SO great off leash, especially at this park that was off leash, but surrounded by a larger park so no fear of her running into traffic. But now we have something new to worry about- skateboards! We've taught LAT, but since I didn't even know the skateboard would be such an issue and didn't see it coming, it was of no use in this situation. As soon as we got home, I borrowed a skateboard and have been trying to desensitize her to it since. Hopefully we'll have that one under control soon;) We also just started agility- I'm trying to use LAT for her reactivity to other dogs going over the equipment and the excitement. It's a lot, but I have hope! Just thought I'd check in and see if anyone had some magic for us;) Thanks!

My family's dachshund was recently diagnosed with Cushing's disease. She was urinating in the house and was NEVER full, also started eating poop. She did have the classic distended "potbelly", that can be associated with disease and started losing patches of hair. Though she probably had the disease for quite awhile undiagnosed. If your Flint continues with those symptoms, it's something to check for. I don't believe it shows in a general blood test. Hopefully it's not, but thought I'd throw it out there in case:)

I love the idea of needing to "train" your people. I think people can get almost offended by a dog who doesn't listen or love on them naturally. It sounds like your husband and FIL have a bad taste in their mouths, but that may change if they are able to create a connection with Brick. Involve them in the training- maybe hire a trainer/take a class together? Or at least get them on your program with commands, protocols at home. And have them carry some extra yummy treats that only come from them. My dog is super food motivated, but a special treat when she is less inclined to participate seems to do the trick. I love the Control Unleashed Puppy book. It has been a huge help with many issues. Jolene was a car chaser, but we have managed to redirect it to getting a treat when she points out a car that apparently would have been prey;) Also, as we've gotten "leave-it" down really well on small, nearby things, we're being able to use it for larger, far-off (ie- cars) things. As far as jogging- my Jolene is just under 1 year and we've only done very short spurts of jogging once we've been out for a walk for a while. Puppies are definitely not ready, nor able, to go on runs. The first time I even tried a jogging pace with Jolene, she stopped so hard to sniff, that when I tried to get us going again I ran head on into a low-hanging pomegranate smack in the middle of my eyes. Lesson learned! Haha. We've resorted to games that get her running and active, but she can do at her own pace. She loves playing soccer, being chased around the yard, fetching, and playing at the dog park. Eventually I'd love to have her as a jogging/biking partner if she enjoys it. So far, if I give her her time to sniff all the smells and wander through the neighborhood, she may give me 10 or 15 minutes of a nice jogging pace by my side. Jolene has gone through some very interesting changes in the last few months, starting around 9mo- during her teenager/fear period. She became frightened of things she wasn't before, barking became worse, she had a couple potty regressions. Sometimes I just can't wait until she's a more mellow 3 year old, but then I know I'll miss her puppy silliness, even though sometimes it makes me want to pull my hair out. I hope Brick is the same for your family- you'll look back and think about how worth it all of the frustration was, now that you have a loyal family member you love dearly Brick is an adorable boy!! But he's still a big puppy. And puppies are crazy You're doing great.

Well I won't count out that she may have some ACD in her as well, although most of the ones I see are much shorter and stockier than Jolene. I also have never seen one with as much black as her- usually all blue, or big spots of black at most. Although I'm sure there are exceptions to every rule;) The third photo shows her standing very alert (waiting for her daddy to whistle for her to run back down the hill), but when she runs she crouches really low, even pushes her ears back all the way. When she's waiting for a ball to be kicked or thrown, she lowers her head and crouches, just a bit- not as much as I would expect a BC to, necessarily. She also gets obsessed with waiting behind other dogs at the dog park who's owner is about to throw the ball for them. She crouches or lays down and barks at them incessantly and then just chases them while they fetch. The park we go to has a ton of geese that we pass walking in- she lowers her head and just stares at them as we pass. Maybe none of this is attributed to her breed, specifically! It all just makes me wonder;) Of course I couldn't get a great photo as she was doing it, but this is sort of how she lowers her head and waits for the soccer ball to be kicked:

This is fun to read! Especially to know that everyone has challenges- sometimes it feels like it's just my dog;) Jolene: 10 months old Things we're working on, slowly but surely: -Leash reactivity, but it's getting better and better -She is usually the loudest dog at the park- she loves to wait behind a dog waiting on its owner to throw the ball and just demand bark her head off, or "referee" two dogs playing by circling and barking. Loudly. -She resource guards me and my husband from other dogs, growling nipping at the air in front of their face if they come too close -I'm pretty sure she prefers to jump on houseguests wearing skirts The ways she amazes us everyday: -She knows her toys by name (although still gets distracted by the one she may want more at the time) -Her "leave it" is superb -Her recall is improving greatly -She loves being outside, catching bugs, watching the trees -She cuddles on our bed, but when we flip the lights out, she hurries off to her own bed for the night- something we never taught her -She's a road trip trooper- quietly enjoyed 3000 miles over the holidays and was a great companion -She learns things so quickly, it blows my mind

Hello! I'm pretty new here, so I'm sure someone will chime in with more/better advice than mine:) But this is exactly what started happening, and progressively got worse, with my dog Jolene. She was fine up until about 8 mos on the leash around other dogs, and suddenly things changed. She was barking and lunging at every dog, sometimes just acting excited, then suddenly barking her scariest bark and lunging, also sending owners and dogs scurrying off. From advice I found on this forum, I bought the Control Unleashed puppy book and taught Jo the "Look at That" game. It is seriously changing our situation. She is able to point out dogs, and anything else that she's anxious about for that matter: motorcycles, loud trucks, bicycles, loud people, kids, birds, and get rewarded for doing so. Jolene is also completely fine off-leash- all of this only occurs on leash. She is 10 mos. now, and with this game it is certainly getting better, thankfully, but there was a period where I was uncomfortable going for walks anywhere we'd have to see another dog, or even one in a window! Maybe it was her teenage onset, maybe she became more fearful, either way- Look at That is working and I'm SO thankful:)

Thanks everyone! Interesting to hear input from people with so much BC experience. We actually met a McNab/BC today that looked a lot like Jo- ticking and all. So maybe we've been giving the assumption that she must be part ACD to much heed after all! She was brought into the shelter by a family with 4 small children (no wonder- she pretty much ate us alive with her shark teeth for the first month) who, I believe, said they had found her around 6 or 7 weeks. I had always been suspicious that they had probably got her from a backyard breeder or ranch, especially if her little nub was docked, not natural. (I do have tail envy, especially for the white tipped ones, but her nub furiously wiggling is pretty darn cute) As soon as I saw her photo online, I knew she was mine. I drove 2 hours to see her, and then they made me come back the next day to get her. She was worth it! She's already such a great dog and we love her so much:) I'm going to take all of your words for it and huess that I've got some sort of a BC. I look forward to having such a great resource in all of you!

No problem! My husband works in Silicon Valley, so... We're here:) Our town is very dog friendly, but I do miss San Diego:) People have suggested McNabb- I had never heard of them until recently, so who knows!

Oops- sorry for the double posts of photos; I just figured out how the thumbnails work Borasaurus- she's got a ton of energy- people always comment on her speed and height when jumping for balls. But she has never destroyed anything in the house (we got her at about 10 weeks) and she settles pretty well. She loves playing with the soccer ball- she crouches in the grass waiting for you to kick it and just stares at it quite intensely until you do. She's super quick- teaching her has been pretty easy, though she can be stubborn. I'm originally from San Diego, if your part SoCal is anywhere near there:)

One more...

Oops- bigger pics?

Hello! I've been browsing here for some time and thought I'd check to see if I'm even in the right place;) Regardless, I'm very grateful for the information I've found here, like Control Unleashed for example. "Look at that" is saving our lives!! Jolene came to us from a shelter whose best guess was that she is an Aistralian Cattle Dog mix. That seems likely, considering her coloring, but she's much leaner than most ACD's and seems to have some BC characteristics. People ask me often what she is. It, of course, doesn't matter to is what our Jo is, we love her no matter what makes up our mitt! But I figured this was the place to get a consensus! Thanks for taking a look and for all of the info I've gleaned so far:) Sara