Betsy

Good point. Also, I think she was saying that it's an anomaly of the merle gene so SOME merles COULD be hyperactive, but not necessarily so. Which implies that all other colors could not be hyper since they don't have that gene.

Well I do have living proof of this. My merle will fetch toys and return them to about 5 feet away and the stare at you. But socks? Socks he returns to your lap. And will pick it up and put it back down over and over again in your lap. He loves socks!!

That's what I thought. We'll see if she really goes and digs her books out of the attic with the supposed "scientific studies". I just see too many variables going into the dogs (such as how it was raised, what kind of life does it live daily (crated? working livestock?), how much exercise does the dog get, how much mental stimulation, was an off switch trained) to be able to say it's the merle gene. This is a real life example of correlation does not imply causation!

In a border collie Facebook group that I am on there is a poster claiming that as a general rule of thumb, merles will be more hyper than any other color of border collie, that it is caused by a genetic anomaly in the merle gene. Has anyone here ever heard of this? She says "you can't argue with science" yet can't produce any scientific studies. Also claims that "vets she has met has studied it and came to the same conclusion". Again, no specifics provided. Just curious about the thoughts of those here..

This is Sully, a rescue adopted out of Nebraska Border Collie Rescue (Omaha/Bellevue, NE). He's living the good life out in California! A life full of playing on the beach, hiking in the mountains, and training for commercials and movies! https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=sxjR5rZOgFU

Thanks! I can definitely use this!!

Current BC is unaffected (only 16 months though). Previous BC would lie in the tub and pant, drool and eventually fall asleep in there (storms also). Brother's BC LOVES fireworks and has to be reminded not to chase them!! He recently has started acting scared during thunderstorms so we'll see if that carries over to fireworks this year (he's about 8-ish).

He will be 16 months in a couple of weeks. I will keep trying and hope something clicks!!

Try a free photo storage site like Flickr or Photobucket and then paste the ubb code here to show them. Or else reduce their size in a photo editing program.

I jest, I jest, but I feel so helpless. I have taught my dog many tricks, but bringing the ball all the way to me is one that I just can't seem to do. He brings it about 10-20 feet away and drops it. If you tell him to "get the ball" he just picks it up and drops it immediately. If you ignore him he gets bored of the game and finds something else to do. He's not completely ball obsessed, so is fine with not continuing the game. He used to retrieve anything and everything - I taught him by back chaining. But I could never get the behavior anywhere except my living room (where i trained him). Now he seems to have lost it altogether. Any tips??

I have a border collie who will obsess about something if allowed. It started out about a year ago as shadow chasing on a dark night with a bright street light and lots of foot traffic (i.e lots of bold shadows). While he has generally learned to ignore these, it hasn't come easily. For an entire week after this started, I spent it in a dark room at night, interacting with him, constantly correcting and redirecting him away from any shadows (I was in a dark room to eliminate as many shadows as possible, especially moving shadows). Now, he will occasionally fixate on shadows, or lately, the movement of grass as it blows in a slight breeze. He is easily corrected though and will stop as soon as you tell him to. But even now, when I tell him to stop, I typically give him something else to do (i.e. get a toy or something). I couldn't do that initially, the allure of the shadows was too great and a simple, "Stop that. Go get your toy." would have absolutely no effect. I had to teach him that there are better / more fun things than staring at shadows. I would venture a guess that your dog is becoming, or already is, obsessed with staring out the window and I would break him of this habit. The first step would be to not allow him to practice the behavior. The more he is allowed to do it, the more ingrained the behavior will become and the greater his obsession will be. Block all access to outside windows/doors. But you can't just block them off and expect him to be all better. You need to redirect him to something else. It won't be easy at first, so you need to become THE MOST INTERESTING THING IN ALL THE WORLD. When he goes to a window, or tries to, simply tell him "no window" (or whatever you want to say) and then be very engaging, whatever this means to your dog - might be food, might be chasing a ball, might be playing tug. Whatever his favorite thing is. Eventually, and this will take awhile, you will be able to tell him "no window" and he;ll then look to you for something to do.

If not set up right, it could be knocked over for sure. I usually would put one end of it inserted in between the fridge and wall (very thin opening) and the other end situated similarly between something else and a wall, like a bookcase or something. It is taller than a baby gate, and I suppose it could be jumped, but my dog respects it and has never tried.

I would agree with just preventing access to the area for a long long time (only while you're not present) and continuing to work on the wanted behavior (avoidance of the area) while you are there. An x-pen would be your best bet I would think. I picked up one at a garage sale for $3 - at the time I had no idea what a steal that was! It has come in useful so many different times! Here I have my gatekeeper keeping watch, don't even have to close it all the way! Haha!

thanks!

Thanks! Is 13-14" appropriate?

I added to the Colorado Lost & Found Pets page. They would like the owners to tag themselves and use this link when sharing: https://www.facebook.com/coloradolostfoundpets/photos/a.956556774394346.1073741881.120155858034446/980979948618695/?type=3&theater Everyone else can share the photo/post as well.

I want to buy a wobble disc to help strengthen my dogs core. I see a bunch on Amazon, but they are marketed for people, not dogs. Are these okay? Or will they not hold up to toenails? Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Stability-Cushion-Diameter-Balance-Included/dp/B007LX6MPG/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1431445425&sr=1-1&keywords=wobble+disc+14

Maybe it could be shared here: https://www.facebook.com/coloradolostfoundpets

I foster for them occasionally and have never had a single bad experience with them. They do all they can for the dogs that come in. Treated several for heartworm (successfully), taken in severely abused dogs and rehabbed them (think baseball bat to the face!) and believe in the true working aspect of the breed. Karen often takes dogs to John Holman in Clay Center for him to evaluate if she thinks they might have any working ability.

And the sad news is that these are apparently badly inbred. We didn't know until they were taken to our vet. They all have very severe overbites that will need to have the bottom front teeth pulled when the adult teeth come in to avoid the roof of the mouth being damaged. The one exception is the older half-brother that came with them, he is 5.5 months old and appears to be in great health. He's the older / bigger r/w. More pictures on our rescue Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NBCRescue

You're in luck! They are ALL boys!!

Oh, to clarity, these cuties are not at my house, they are with our foster coordinator. She picked them up yesterday, bathed them and are getting them to their foster homes. I believe they are about 10-11 weeks old, but I'm not positive, and yes the 2 in the middle are red-n-white! No idea on gender!

They're here! And freshly clean! (one not pictured, there are 5 in all). All have foster homes, none adopted yet, so feel free to submit an app! This is with Nebraska Border Collie Rescue. puppypile by Lizabeth Design, on Flickr

Previous cats that passed when I was growing up were planted under the peach tree on our property. We've since moved and that lot now has a new house on it, I never checked to see if the peach tree is still there. As an adult, I've only had to deal with the loss of one pet due to euthanasia. That one was an individual creation. Currently have his ashes on our bookshelf, with a plaster paw print. The plan is to get a new tree and put his ashes in the root hole when we plant the tree. But not at our current house cause this is not our retirement home. Considering my mom's property, but she won't be around forever either and while I would love to move in there when she is gone, my DH is not keen (too far out in the country). So, just waiting to decide, though we will probably go with my mom's property. I do like the idea of new life coming from his ashes.

UPDATE: Lonnie goes to his forever home TOMORROW. YAY!!!