Luana

are you crate training your dog or do you leave him free, even if in confined areas of the house? I would start from this. there is a DVD called crate games. I found it useful to teach my dog self-control. your dog needs more training and consistency. at 6 months there will be some misbehavior. mine has always been a very high energy dog, but I raised him on my own with a lot efforts and the help of a qualified trainer to learn training techniques I did not know. you said you tried everything I think you need to try with a more structured training routine. it takes quite a lot of time to train a dog properly. and I disagree with the statement that you cannot tire out a BC. a BC does not know when to stop, they can get injured and keep going. but that does not mean they do not get tired or overly exercised.

Hi, I did not rescue my dog but I am wondering about which kind of information the rescue gave to you regarding adopting a border collie, with no previous dog experience and 3 kids. I would expect that they would give suggestion of which dog is best to adopt and try to match with the family. BC are very sensitive to movement, so a swing could be a bit much to handle without proper desensitization. from my experience, with my own and other BC that I had the opportunity to meet, they all have some kind of reactivity issue, for some is very mild and limited and for some others it can be quite intense. you will surely need to work hard with your dog and you will very likely need help from a trainer if you do not have dog experience and want to keep him.

my trainer gave me a similar description of her dog symptoms. this is a article that support treatment of asymptomatic dogs. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2223868/ however my dog is not doing well on doxy so after 10 days of treatment I might consider to stop or try a different antibiotic.

thanks for all the useful information. one thing I have been noticing with Spillo on this medication is an increased thirst. he drinks water often and more than usual. is this something to be concerned about? other than that he acts normal.

thanks for the reply. Spillo had a C6 quant test to quantify the Ab response. his numbers are elevated with a value of 70 compared to the baseline of 30 and that is why the Vet decided to treat him. I agree that it could also mean his immune system responded to the bacteria, but not being sure I followed the Vet directions. the goal is to bring is Ab value below threshold, when the number is very low it will not be detectable on the snap test. his number at 6 months from treatment will serve as baseline for him as I will continue to test him every year with the C6. my concern however is with the dosage of antibiotics, as it seems quite high to me and I was wondering which is the dosage generally used for a border collie.

Hi all, this year Spillo tested positive to Lyme. I test him every year. in April I found a tick on him (even if he is protected with frontiline). it was different from the ticks I know, so I preserved it. in May he had is full check up with blood test and resulted positive to Lyme. I then sent the tick for testing and the results shows that the tick was infected. so my vet decided for 400 mg doxy a day (divided in 200 mg every 12 hours) for 4 weeks is this the amount that is given to a 43 pound dog from your experience? he has to take 2 100 mg capsule twice a day and I am wondering if this is a very aggressive amount for an asymptomatic dog. if you have any experience with it I will appreciate any input. Luana

I got the one that came to me while the others were staying in the corner. I followed my instinct, and I decided for the outgoing one. he is in fact outgoing, determined, head strong, was not easy to train during adolescence. but he is also very gentle and I do prefer dogs with a lot of drive and intensity. it depends as other said on what you want from the dog. mine was considered the pick of the litter for agility and sports, I was looking for a companion first and a running partner. later on I decided to start him on sheep.

this is a very sad news. I did not meet him in person, but I treasured all the suggestions, knowledgeable advice he has given on this board. Rip Donald.

I would keep going with the training, it will take time to see improvements. patience and consistency. and keep the dog with the muzzle at all times if needed. this will give you confidence during the training.

I was very undecided for a while, I also liked the fact the Trupanion clearly specify coverage for working dogs however I was not very sure about the "per condition" deductible as I was going to get an high deductible and if for example the dog has more than one issue in the same year the deductible would be for each condition. but I agree that is very good for chronic conditions and probably best if started when the dog is young. I did not like the fact that they do not cover exam fees and that the rehabilitation therapy is an add on. so I decided to go with Embrace. well one of the main reason is that the cost was lower. Embrace also offers a medical review so that I can know in advance what kind of preexisting conditions if any they will have on file. so they give the option to review it and decide if stay or cancel (this is done I believe in the first 30 days). for older dogs is a good idea as the preexisting condition "excuse" could be a real problem at the time of a claim. I liked the idea that if there are no claims the deductible will decrease 50$ each year and this is good for me as I decided to get a higher deductible. exam fees and rehab therapy are included. they only ask if dog is involved in racing, protection, fighting. Anyway I as well decided to get the insurance for emergency, costly accidents or illness, everything else I am still planning to cover on my own. just recently a friend on mine had his dog hit by a car in his driveway and the total cost for surgery, medications and therapy was around 15000$ or more.

so does your policy with Embrace cover sport/working injuries? Is it something you requested when you started the policy? I am in the process to select/decide for insurance and I am trying to decide between Embrace and Trupanion.

I am stuck with an asymmetrical dog

to me a dog that put his/her mouth on me and hurt me is as unacceptable as a dog that grip a sheep badly. my dog will get a correction for hurting me.

I would like to comment with an example. this discussion reminds me of a training session I followed with a Border Collie that was perfectly trained outside of the round pen. once the dog got inside the pen, he revealed to be a gripper and a bad one. the poor sheep was covered in blood and trying to reason with the dog in these circumstances does not work very well. also you have nothing to offer to the dog that would be more valuable than what he wants (the sheep). you have to correct the dog and strongly if necessary. so in this case for example I believe positive reinforcement will not work, and if I am wrong I would be interest to learn and have a demonstration of a positive training approach.

I work for a biotech company and I am in contact for research purpose with massive concentrations of bacteria almost daily. these bugs are quite nasty, Ecoli O157 has the potential to kill, and when I handle raw meat at home I have my set of "rules" just because you become a bit paranoid after a while ;-). however, dogs are much more resistant to bacteria than us, so by feeding raw I would more concerned of contamination for myself than the dog, and generally the larger risk comes from grinding the meat. I personally decided not to feed raw, but I gently boil the meat for few minutes, but I still feed fresh food. but I considered raw for a while and I see the validity in it.