rariadne

haha! I love reading all of these. So many impressive skills!

Hi, Recently my 7 month old dog (border collie x not pure) has started randomly barking and lunging at random people who walk past us. There does not seem to be any common denominator for who incites his rage except maybe slightly more frequently men and slightly more frequently people who engage with him somehow. Also (but this is predictable) people who are acting oddly (drunk or angry or muttering or walking oddly) I don't know how to approach it because it is so unpredictable. He does similar thing with skateboards only more extreme and for that I wait for that split second where he has noticed but not flipped out and reward him heavily but I don't know how well this applies here because usually he is fine. Should I just start doing that for every single person who passes us? I am not sure it is entirely realistic but I could try. I would love to hear suggestions if you experienced people might have any. Thanks in advance.

I am very sorry for your loss.

Such a cute photo! Clever bird. Did the dog mind her hitching a ride?

Wow, she is so pretty.

Cptjack - Haha! Too bad eh! That would be the perfect dog!! What a convenient size. Manthaje - You are lucky to have both living together!

I guess none of you with an older teacher dog live in Vancouver B.C, eh?

Hi guys, thanks very much for the responses and the good ideas. The dog teacher thing does make lots of sense, as it is sort of bratty kid behavior it seems. No, he has great bite control with people! It wasn't always good, but it sort of clicked a month ago and now he is very gentle and if he gets a bit rough and you remind him he stops right away. Thank goodness! Such a nice change. I will definitely look into trying to find a dog like that. He plays with my mom's older lab, but the lab is far too tolerant and never really corrects at all. The only thing I foresee maybe being an issue, is that he is typically quite respectful of larger dogs. It is mostly if he has a size advantage, or if the dog is particularly submissive (or into the rough play) that he plays extra rough. Charming right

yah, he is just under 5 and a half months. he definitely has a tendency to play rough. it works better when he is playing with dogs who are larger then he is. he is from a farm and i figure maybe as little guys they didn't have much intervention? his litter popped out the eye of an adult dog they were playing with! but that is just my theory, I have no idea if that is how play styles get formed. I have tried to learn about how to change play style to something more gentle , and have asked a trainer but it just sort of seems to be part of the personality. from what I gather you just keep stopping them from being too rough when it happens by removing them. if anyone has any experience or suggestions around that, I would be very interested.

Thanks for the very sensible answer. I'm glad to hear I was overreacting. He is my first dog, and I hear so much about avoiding aggressive behavior that I am likely reading too much into interactions. Yah. I was surprised to hear there were bits marks, maybe she meant scabs? But I don't know really, you would think the dog would have made more of a fuss if so. Anyways, I really appreciate your feedback, I was definitely somewhat flustered when I wrote that. Not fully used to interactions with other dog owners yet!

Hi, I have a sort of related question. I take my dog to a large off leash dog beach (I know those types of places are controversial but I live in a neighbourhood with well trained dogs and they basically just swim and play and I always watch him very closely) But there is often this little puppy of roughly his age , some sort of a high energy spaniel. When he goes to play with this dog, he is just a total jerk. He pushes the dog over and keeps her on the ground. I pull him off as I was told to do in puppy class, using his harness so it does not hurt him. And the puppy comes back to him. Which I was told means they are into it. So I used to let him go again and just stop if he got to rough, but the owner told me that her dog had bite marks last time!!! so obviously I won't let that happen any more and will just leave. I feel terrible. She doesn't stay close to her dog. I don't know. Am I doing something wrong here? Is it normal for dogs to take an irrational dislike of certain other dogs? In and of itself this situation isn't much of an issue, I can just remove myself and my dog. But is it indicative of a greater problem? Most dogs he plays great with , although he prefers to play on the rougher side. But this one he is just not nice to. If he did not place nicely generally, I would definitely not take him there. Does it mean he will become aggressive when older? Should I keep him away from the beach entirely? I am concerned about it. Sorry if this is a bit rambling. Any tips or insight would be greatly appreciated. Is this an aggression issue?

I don't know if this is applicable to females, but is your dog spayed? The trainer told me that an intact male would be the target for dog disagreements. But maybe that is just males.

Haha, well that makes sense. It seems like it would be much more pleasant to have a good thick coat in all that snow anyways.

Thanks for the photos Tea! Lovely dogs! I didn't realize they could have long hair. Such pretty markings on Tick. The daughter's colouring looks very much like my dog. GentleLake, That feeding suggestion is really helpful, thanks! I'll stop worrying about food quantities and just check his body. He loves to eat.

Oh also the Vet told me the other day that he was going to be over 60 pounds by her estimation. I want to make sure I am feeding him the right amount of food (I have always seen it calculated by estimated adult weight) , but that seems higher then both border collies and the HTC. Does the upper end for BC include over 60 pounds?