Runry

Hi everyone, I'm just wondering what some opinions/experiences are on having 2 dogs? I have a gorgeous 8 month girl who I have a wonderful bond with, she is everything I ever wanted in a border collie and I love the one on one companionship we have. I am due to have a baby in a couple of months and from everything I've heard the dogs always end up 2nd best despite good intentions. I have thought for a while about getting her a playmate as she loves other dogs and it would keep her happy and entertained throughout the day if I find myself too busy to give her the constant attention she gets now. Sharing her with another dog will break my heart but her happiness is my priority. There is an 8 month old female that has just become available and I am hopefully going to let them meet this week to see if they get along, I would be desexing them both within a month or 2. I have heard mixed opinions on female+female companionships and I am wondering if anyone has any advice on this? Thanks in advance Angela

I have just spoken to vet who has said I can go in with her and they will give her the sedative while we are together and then I just leave when it has set in. This has made me feel allot better about it I have taken her to the vet a few times for vaccinations and also for kennel cough when she was very young and the vet always lets me hold her so she is happy with her vet experience so far, I would like to keep it that way so this looks like a good option.

Hi everyone, My little girl is due to be spayed on Wednesday, she is 6 months old. I love my pup more than anything and I really just want to do what's best for her. She has a beautiful temperament, maybe a little sensitive, timid/wary, gentle and a real mummies girl. We haven't spent any time apart since we met and she follows me around like a shadow, I have plans to get her out of this habit by gradually spending time away from her but I am really upset at the thought of dropping her off at the vet and how she will react. I don't want her to become damaged in some way, maybe I am just being the timid, sensitive one My main question is when is the best time to have her spayed? I have read that spaying them before their first heat prevents mammary cancer, is this correct? Is mammary cancer common in border collies?? I would ideally like to wait until she is a little older and has had her first heat, keeping her away from other dogs wouldn't be a problem and I can handle the mess. Is there any benefit in doing this?? My reasoning is that she would hopefully be less clingy and well trained by then which should make the experience less traumatic. This is my first dog/border collie, I grew up with them but never handled any of these decisions so help from those more experienced would be appreciated. I suspect my reluctance is due mostly to me not wanting to put her through this so I am am possibly just trying to talk myself out of something that is clearly the best path. Thanks for your time Xx

Hi everyone, A couple of questions regarding my 21 month old girl Scout. I am thinking about taking her in to a boarding kennel for a day sometime soon just to see if she likes it and to get her used to it if we ever need to go away for a could of days. There is only one kennel in our area and I got a good vibe from the place when I visited last week. The dogs can run around for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon but other than that they are in their cages. My girl has been with me ever since i picked her up at 8 weeks and has never spent time alone or in any kind of cage or enclosure (i have 4 acres fenced in that she spends her time in). She loves other people and other dogs so that par of it will be fun for her but i am worried about how it will effect her if she gets upset or lonely during her downtime. The owner said she will be so tired she will sleep the whole time she's alone but she's an active girl who has a good nap through the day but doesn't laze around. I just don't want to give her a bad experience that could stay with her and make her clingy or sulky. Do border collies cope well in kennels? The other question I have is regarding electric fences, all of mine are at chest height because they are only for the cows and I don't want her getting zapped. But the other day she had a run in with a low lying tape fence at our neighbours place, it actually got caught around her legs as she ran away crying. Luckily I was far enough away that she didn't think it was something I had done, it was awful but she seemed to be fine within a couple of hours and hasn't been deterred from walking around there. What is a good way of teaching her to be careful of fences? maybe she just will be from now on but I really don't want her getting another zap. I'm so paranoid about her getting a bad experience from something that will make her have one of those quirks i am always reading about because right now she is a gorgeous sweet girl. And lastly, I was reading a post yesterday about a family who want to get themselves a border collie and it was mentioned a number of times that they are not always kid friendly and I have definitely noticed that Scout prefers adults. She doesn't mind kids , but she is as impressed with loud, bad mannered children that get in her face as much as I am. I am due to have a baby in 4 months and I want her to have a wonderful relationship with the kid, do you have any tips on how to get them off to a good start? There's all kinds of advice on this subject on the parenting sites but they are talking about dogs in general and these border collies aren't just regular dogs That's it for now, thanks very much for reading. Angela

Thanks Teresa, That's great advice, I will purchase a long line straight away. I love giving her the freedom of her own space so this will work well And don't worry I am well aware it's the training and not the dog, she's a smart girl and I soon discovered I needed training more than she did! I tend to watch her allot and try to figure out what is going on in that head of hers instead of just barking commands at her because generally I end up just repeating myself and like you say it makes the command irrelevant. Do you think I am expecting too much from her at this age or should she already be following these basic commands? Thanks Again

Hi everyone, I am after some advice on my gorgeous 19 moth old girl Scout. She is a pet, I have a couple of cows and will buy some chook's soon so she does get a bit of the farm life but no flock of sheep unfortunately. Where I live in Tasmania there aren't any places I can take her for good training such as flyball so I am taking her to intermediate puppy school for an hour a week but she is not very treat motivated so she doesn't respond like the other dogs. I take her to the beach or for walks off leash around my property at least twice a day for an hour or so, just gentle strolls mostly. The beaches here mostly deserted in winter and she stays close by and the quiet area I live in means I can walk her along the road and without danger from people of traffic. The problem is that she is good most of the time and stays with me or close by but when she sees somebody she will run to them and no matter how much I call her back she doesn't listen. She is an extremely friendly dog that loves people which is possibly due to the fact that it's just her and I most of the time and generally the people love her because she is cute and loving. The other problem I have is the creek on my properly is full of rabbits and wallabies and I can not get her to come when she decides to chase one. I can't really blame her for this, she's a puppy and they are pretty tempting even for a well trained dog. She just chases for a few minutes and comes back happy, she never takes off or wanders away when we are at home and she has every opportunity to. So I feel as though she doesn't' see me as the boss, I do love her to bits and baby her so that possibly doesn't help. I don't want to have her on the lead all of the time, she's a super smart dog and I should be able to teach her to come and heal and the lead will be hardly used. What are the best ways to train her to do what I say always and not just when she wants to. She can sit and drop and shake hands and all of those things they teach at puppy school but I would prefer it if she would just come to me. And one other problem… sorry I know this is really long My husband works at sea 5 weeks on and 5 weeks off. Scout loves him, she gets the whole body tail wagging puppy love going every time he walks into the room, not so much for me but maybe thats because I am always around. He left for sea the first time a few weeks ago she really misses him, she looks for him and sulks. Everyday she runs inside and jumps at his side of the bed to see if he is there and gets really upset when she can't find him. I thought this would only last a couple of days but almost 3 weeks on it almost seems worse. It breaks my heart and I'm not sure what to do to make her feel better, any advice would be great. Thanks everyone for reading this long post

Hi again, I am not completely sure if I will feed her all homemade yet, I am very aware of making sure she gets all of her nutritional requirements and haven't figured all of that out just yet so I am just trying to give her a wide variety at the moment. Brown rice, chicken mince, mashed veggies with added greens, sometimes a sardine, sometimes some raw egg and chicken wing every now and then. I'm going to buy some chicken livers today to cook into a puppy stew for her. I originally thought I would give her dry food and maybe some tinned but I am worried about all of the extra preservatives and dodgy poor quality meats that are added even in the more expensive brands with a supposedly good reputation. I don't eat processed food like that so why should I feed it to my dog? I will look at supplementing anything I feel she is missing out on. The vet spoke of preventing joint problems in her by adding the calcium but i've heard that ground up edge shells work too. I feel like I am learning on my feet as I had never actually read the back of a dog food packet before and found it changed my whole mindset. Also I am a chef, until a few weeks ago I worked on a ship feeding the crew onboard and a huge part of that was ensuring they met their nutritional requirements as we were often out for long periods of time. I am very passionate about healthy unprocessed but varied diets. Cooking for my pup is a whole different experience for me but i'm sure if I follow the same principals I should be able to ensure she gets everything she needs. I will keep researching and hopefully find that perfect balance! Thanks for all of your help

Hi everyone, Thanks so much for all the helpful info, I actually didn't realise how full on owning a puppy would be! I grew up with border collies and I am now beginning to realise how much my mum was doing for the pup when I was just heading off to school and having fun playful puppy time in the afternoon. I also didn't realise how much she would mean to me so quickly, I love that little girl so much and just want to give her the best life and for her to be the happiest dog around. I took her to the vet yesterday and had a wonderful experience, I found a country vet a bit further away as I had heard great things about him. He spent allot of time with us explaining everything I need to know and giving me all kinds of tips and advice, he'd be in his 60s and has a brilliant bedside manner. The way he looked after Scout was so lovely, unlike the clinical approach of the young girl last week who grabbed at her and just shoved a cold thermometer up her butt and sent us on our way. He did prescribe antibiotics and I was wary but he said it will help clear up any secondary infections and being so young her immune system might not be strong enough to prevent complications. He also gave me calcium syrup and told me to put it on her food each day, what are your thoughts on this? I have never heard of this before. I have been giving her warm chicken broth and lots of good home made food and encouraging her to sleep as much as possible during the day. I don't have any way of contacting the anyone else who has a puppy from the same litter, I do wonder about the breeder being so quick to offer antibiotics though. Another question, does anyone have any delicious recipe ideas for pup, I am trying to make most of her food and keeping the meat mostly cooked until she's older. I have raw chicken wings for her but they they make me nervous! Any tips or websites you can recommend would be great. Thanks Again Ang and Scout

Hi everyone, this is my first post and I would like to introduce Scout, my gorgeous 9 week old border collie pup we live in Tasmania. I am after some advice regarding a problem she has had since I picked her up a week ago. She had what sounded like a phlegmy nose on the first night and would cough a little whilst sleeping and it would wake her up. She is super active, happy, drinking and eating as normal, no other problems at all and she doesn't cough at all when she is awake. I made her some chicken soup yesterday and she napped soundly during the day without coughing so i thought she was ok but last night she woke me up a few times with her coughing. (she sleeps in my room for now) It's almost more like a choking than a cough, like she is trying to hack something out but nothing has ever come up. I did take her to the vet after that first night but they said she was fine, and she is until she tries to sleep. The breeder is sending me some antibiotics but i'm not keen on giving them to her unless she really needs it. I also have no problem taking her to the vet again but i'm just wondering if I could get some advice before I act on this. If it's likely to be just a little cold that she will get over in time then I am happy to ride it out. Also,( sorry this is such a long post) I am also wondering what peoples opinions are on keeping dogs inside until after their 2nd vaccinations? I work from home so I am with her all day, we have 5 acres and no dogs around. We don't have a fenced yard but I have been spending time with her outside while she explores, she loves it! We actually spend allot of time outside because it keeps her really stimulated and watching her discover new things is beautiful. She does eat allot of wallaby and rabbit poo if I can't stop her in time and this really worries me but she is wormed so I'm hoping it won't hurt. I have read so much online about keeping dogs inside until they have had their 2nd shots but I feel like she would miss out on so much. Am I being completely irresponsible? That's about it for now, thanks for reading my post. Angela