Rave

Yes please cross post as you see fit.

Sanders Border Collies in Indiana is purported to be a BC puppy mill and he's still in operation, even after the county has tried numerous times to shut him down for unsafe conditions. Please consider signing the petition below. Not sure if it'll help, but it's worth a shot. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/126/494/255/stop-the-tippecanoe-county-indiana-border-collie-puppy-mill/ There's also a facebook page for the group trying to shut him down here: https://www.facebook.com/banRandySanders See the most recent news story here: http://wlfi.com/2014/05/21/dog-breeder-scheduled-to-make-special-request/ Thanks all.

Whatever is in my hand at the moment.

I'd just tell the dog to knock it off. Correct them for being obnoxious and just keep jogging. Eventually they'll settle. I'm currently running 5 miles with my 2-year old 3x a week (10K in a couple weeks and a mini in the fall) and at first she was zig-zagging and such all over. After a couple weeks of short runs with another steady dog she settled into a nice little running companion. Keep an eye on their pads and make sure to bring (or stop by) water when it's hot.

I would take a different approach. Instead of ending the game for something the dog doesn't understand yet, which may make the dog stop bringing the ball to you and just run around with it, ruining the game of fetch, teach the dog a command to drop or give (or both) away from the game and the coveted ball. Food is the easiest to use to teach these commands, and no you don't have to use food all the time, just in the time it takes for your dog to understand the command/action, then you fade it. When training these commands, go inside and don't use a ball, but another less adored toy. There are several easy ways to teach these commands; I would suggest doing a quick search of these boards and/or the 'net. Personally I use a clicker and food. Good luck.

Update: this guy is being pulled today. Phew.

Cute smoothie male in URGENT need at the Wise County (Decatur) Texas Shelter: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=537692909604481&set=a.179314288775680.35221.179295925444183&type=1&theater The only link I have is this one to the (public) facebook page with his info. PLEASE SHARE!!

I do dog sports with my working-bred and working-line (first gen sports bred) BCs and they have excelled at the highest levels of USDAA and AAC and they've also run on winning Division 1 flyball teams. None of my dogs are aloof or not handler-focused; in fact, quite the opposite. Oh and all my BCs are 18-18.5" and 30-32 pounds.

The latest from the local paper ... http://www.jconline.com/article/20130102/NEWS02/301020021/County-again-kennel-owner-s-tail CLARK HILLS — Tippecanoe County officials claim the dogs at Sanders Border Collies are being bred and raised in poor conditions, without water in their bowls and without the necessary vaccinations to keep them healthy. Meanwhile, owner Randy Sanders argues that he is the victim of repeated harassment from a number of Tippecanoe County agencies — most recently, the sheriff’s office and animal control, the health department and the building commission — and competing dog breeders because “(they) hate me,” Sanders told the Journal & Courier on Wednesday. Now their ongoing feud is coming to a head on two fronts: On Jan. 23, Sanders will go before Tippecanoe County’s Area Board of Zoning Appeals to contest a finding that he’s illegally operating a kennel on his property at 10112 S. County Road 700 East near Clarks Hill. Then, tentatively in late March, he will stand trial in Tippecanoe Superior Court 6 for 19 county ordinance violations — 12 for not providing water in his dogs’ pens and seven for the dogs not having up-to-date rabies vaccinations. Those violations were filed in November by the prosecutor’s office, based on a Sept. 26 inspection of Sanders Border Collies by county animal control officer April Keck. As of Wednesday, the kennel housed 28 dogs. Each violation, if Sanders is found guilty, would be a fineable offense. “The county keeps coming up with and changing different things to complain about,” Sanders said. “They’ve got no legs to stand on.” The 65-year-old Sanders, who was born with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, has been raising border collies since the early 1960s. The business is his main source of income, Sanders said, though it’s supplemented by disability checks. County officials have said they would like to see Sanders Borders Collies shut down. Prior attempts, however, have failed. In March 2012, following a bench trial in Tippecanoe Superior Court 5, Judge Les Meade acquitted Sanders of two counts of cruelty to animals. The misdemeanor charges were based on allegations that Sanders did not provide his dogs with proper shade, according to his attorney, James Ayres. “Yet all of their evidence showed that there was shade,” Ayers said Wednesday, reiterating that Sanders believes he is unfairly targeted. The latest complaints were made by three parties: a southern Indiana border collie breeder, an interested buyer and a woman who had visited Sanders Border Collies and purchased a puppy. They previously told the J&C that some dogs were covered in feces and did not have shade. That led to the Sept. 26 visit by Keck. On Oct. 1, the health department declared the pole barn where Sanders keeps his dogs a health hazard and gave him a deadline to correct problems such as inadequate on-site sewage disposal and insufficient rodent control. Lafayette attorney Randy Vonderheide, who represents the health department, said Wednesday that efforts to “resolve this problem” from the health hazard angle have been put on hold. Instead, the health department decided to partner with the Area Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals to get Sanders Border Collies either shut down or up to standards. “Our position is that his use is not legal,” Vonderheide said of Sanders. “He has the ability to attempt to make it legal.” According to Ayres, Sanders should be exempt from an ordinance that requires kennel operators to seek approval first. “The question is, did he have to have permission?” Ayres said. “They’re alleging that he’s not been there long enough to have been grandfathered in.”

I use most of the ones Chantal mentioned. I use a switch command as Jovi describes as well, although I call it turn. Funny story, at a national event about 10 years ago, someone in the crowd came up to congratulate me after my run and said they were curious how my dog knew which way to turn from a simple "turn" command. lol I explained it just meant turn away, i.e. switch leads. Some more I use... "tight" as my dog goes into a tunnel to mean don't come barreling out, but look for me for more direction upon exit. Very useful for tight turns out of tunnels. I've been told my dogs come out of the tunnel and often don't even put a foot down before they're on the aframe (or dogwalk) beside it. "again" for back-to-back obstacle performance for gamblers. "wrap" to wrap a jump standard towards me. "in" and "out" for obstacle discriminations. "look back" is look behind you and take that obstacle. handy in gamblers when something's gone wrong. very easy to teach with a toy. My dog's name before an obstacle means add a stride and check in. Most of these are also accompanied by body movements/motion, but really each supplements each other and ideally each could work on its own.

About your wildlife question, when teaching tracking you're teaching the dog to ignore other scents and focus on the given scent, so no it should not encourage going after wildlife. I also don't think it'll affect herding ability at all - you're working with two different instincts.

Most recent story on this idiot: http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local/dog-breeding-business-could-be-public-health-hazard How on earth is he not listed as a commercial kennel with 43 dogs? CAN ABCA DO ANYTHING???? Do you think Dianne Deal and Patrick Shannahan would be interested in knowing they sold a stud dog to a puppy mill? http://sandersbordercollies.com/sandersbordercollies/pedigrees_files/SPUD2010.pdf

On average, from what I've seen (i.e. don't take offense as it may not apply to you personally!), sports people are a lot more attached to their dogs than in the working community. Dogs don't change hands as readily. That said, there are some top agility trainers who may hold on to two pups from a litter to train and then decide which to keep, offering the second up to a friend or student. Passing older dogs to students is not that unheard of either. This is usually not an advertised sale for a certain amount of money though. I used to let students run and trial my older dog to learn on, but I never considered selling her or giving her up. Sports and Stockwork are two different worlds.

And what's wrong with ball-obsessed? If someone has a pet BC than it may need that healthy obsession just to be sane. I also wouldn't write off a particular breeding because of how a sold dog was raised. Not that I'm supporting this breeder at all, but it seems like a silly thing to judge a breeder by.

Sad to say this guy is near me: http://www.jconline.com/article/20121004/NEWS/310040025/dog-breeder-sanders-collies-animal-cruelty-health?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

That's because my dogs weren't there! lol Wish we could have been though! Hype got the loud talkative gene. I'm guessing Truly did not?

I did think of one instance where I call jumps and it was from a team snooker course at regionals this past weekend. I spent one part of the course just telling my dogs what not to take, when I finally got them lined up to the correct jump, I did tell them to jump it! lol

You gradually move them closer (depending on how far apart they are) and also gradually rotate them into line. How quickly depends on your how your dog is doing.

It sure sounds like bloat, although I don't know if other things can cause bloat-like symptoms. What did your vet think? Did she eat within an hour of exercise? Did she take in a lot of water before or after eating? Any dog can get bloat, my medium-sized BC mix did. Her case was similar - she had the distension but caught in time before the torsion (which is the deadly part). And once the gas/air is removed, yes the symptoms do go away. I keep Gas X on hand now.

Shouldn't be any problem to bring an 8-week old BC in the cabin.

Give the pup time and NO pressure. With my last pup I just ignored her and she came around on her own timeline. You didn't say how old the dog was?

I never call jumps and have run numerous BCs. That's how I train and how I run. There's no reason to call every jump. In fact, I've found BCs to need very little direction, hell they don't even need me out there. I did a Wick screech at AAC Nationals one year and that got us into the SC Finals. It only works with Wicks.

A lot of those dogs putting their back feet back on are just doing what they've been taught. ;-)

I keep two loose in my room (door closed), two loose in the dog room (gated) and the youngster in an expen in an open den. I'm not much of a fan of crating all day anymore because it restricts the dog too much. Even when my dogs are injured and need "crate rest", they get an expen.

I don't think you need to leash her during her entire heat. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there are only a few days when she is in standing heat (i.e. able to be bred). During THESE days you may want to take more precaution. Are you using a flexi lead? That can give your dog some more freedom to run than a short leash.