Aliki

In his book "Dog Days', Clementine, one of his 2 labs, is essentially "given away" to a vet tech. (He calls it "joint custody" where Clem spends most of her time with this technician, and when the technician goes on vacations, Clem returns to Katz for the time). He then has the nerve to write that he's convinced he is doing nothing wrong because the dog Clementine deserves better than living on his farm because she needs more attention than he can give her. But though 4 dogs is too crowded for Clementine the lab, it's not too crowded for Emma. So how is he able to look after this 5th dog Emma?

Oh, how lovely! Those old photographs are very nice..

We use Frontline Plus on our BC. We were told not to use Advantix. We have 3 cats. Our cats use Frontline Plus too.

I dont think anyone actually knows a BC that was shaved and its hair grew up back funny.. I have a feeling that's an urban myth. We didn't shave Kade the first year, but he collapses with exhaustion in the summer because it does get pretty hot around here (90s). We shaved him yesterday, not down to the skin, but more like a trim-- he's got about 1/2-inch or more of fur all around, so he resembles a 6-month old BC (that short fuzz hair). I think he'd run the risk of sunburn if i trimmed it shorter. He seems very content with his new look.

At six-seven months, Kade's ears were still floppy. I think when he was a year old, they were set.

How exciting! Post pictures!

I think it's interesting how different BCs respond differently to crates, and our varied responses as BC owners to our views of crates. I, for one, think that personally where I live, there is a greater chance that my BC will (1) dig a hole out of the backyard, (2) chase the schoolkids (we live right next to an elementary school, (3) torment every squirrel/chipmunk/groundhog in the neighborhood... than there would be a chance of the house burning down in flames while he was in the crate. Therefore, we crate him. (He's 2 years old). Interestingly, he doesn't go stir-crazy in the crate. He thinks of it as his cozy den, a personal space that he can go to lie down and get away from the hustle and bustle of our crazy home (a large German Shepherd and 4 cats). When we are home, we leave the crate door open and find that we've made it so comfortable that all six animals "fight" to occupy the space (toys and pillows and carpeting) that the BC is upset that his crate is being occupied. WHen we go to work, if the crate door is in the closed position, he'll whine and paw at the door to get in. He thinks it's a special privilege to get to enjoy the den that the other 4 cats and 1 dog do not get!

I've had many dogs growing up (Silky Terriers, Bishon Frises and mixes), but like many mentioned, none that I could claim I wholly owned and raised. But now that I'm mildly grown up, we have a 7-year old German Shepherd and a 2-year old Border Collie. I notice a *vast* difference in their desire to learn. It's not that German Shepherd is stupid-- he just didn't care to learn new tricks past the age of 2. Whatever he knows now, he has known for the past 5 years. The Border Collie, on the other hand, is eager to discover new jobs, new tricks, new lessons. We're constantly surprised that he picks up concepts and ideas so much quicker than our German Shepherd.

Some BCs love the water, and others don't, just like how there is natural variation in humans who like swimming and some who hate it. To get our BC to enter the water for the first time, we found that throwing toys near the shoreline did not help encourage him to go in. Having his "older brother" go in didn't help either (older dog jumped in to retrieve buoys and play in the water, but our BC was not interested). Finally, the thing that convinced him to enter the water was having me, his mommy, wade knee-deep into the water and about 3-feet from the shore, and enthusiastically clap and call him to me. Eventually, the drive to please me took over and he came paddling in and floundered the 3-feet (I held him and praised him and told him he was the best dog in the whole world!) Now we can't keep him OUT of the water! He'll jump into swimming pools, lakes, the ocean, even in the winter when snow's on the ground! Silly puppy!

I'm constantly paranoid that my BC is too fat. His only dog companion in our house is a 120lb German Shepherd who gets 6-8 cups of food a day, and my BC keeps thinking he needs to eat just as much, even though we put much less in his bowl! (Vet keeps insisting he's just fine, but I think he's overweight) He's about 50 lbs and 20" at the withers.

My BC is obsessed with eating just the crotch area of my underwear! It's disgusting! (All underwear not safely "locked" in laundry hamper)

I thought it was just our BC that did that (dropping the frisbee/ball just out of reach).

Yeah, ice cubes in their water helps a lot. We also have "cooling clothes" which we were initially skeptical about, but within 30 minutes of wearing it, they stop panting and seem to settle down quite a bit! http://www.sherbertstuff.com/info.html