hef

Thanks all, the crate is working like a champ. No mistakes since that last on Sunday morning. He doesn't seem to mind the door closing on the crate, I get the feeling he may have been crated in his past. There is nothing "routine" in his habits, hoping to build on that. He is outside a lot, both on walks with me, sometimes a leash, some not. He poops off leash most often, I'm okay with that. Preferably not on the neighbors deck....yes he did that, she's okay with it, but asked to not let it happen too often. As I said earlier, I think it's a habit that needs breaking, I think we are on our way there. Hef

Okay, so we got the crate. Set it up nice with a mat and blankets, inside and out, to create a nice den. Good news, he likes it. Hangs out in it voluntarily. First night was Saturday night, I walked him around 10:00, and asked him to go in the crate, he did, closed the door, not a peep all night. I had set a 6:00 am alarm, got up, let him out, no problems, but no emergency poops either. He was running hard around 8:00am but still no action. at 9:00am I went out, told my wife to watch him. He pooped in the house while she wasn't looking. It's clear to me that he thinks the house is the right place to do this. I need to catch him in the act to enforce a corrective action, not easy to do. The crate is doing it's job, I cant stop him at 3:00 am, so now we should be able to see it. It's just a bad habit that needs breaking. Hef

Thanks, was hoping to avoid it, but I'm picking up a crate this morning. I will update this at a later date. Thanks

Hi everyone, I hate coming to the group asking advice on this, but it's not getting any easier. We adopted Kingsley about 5 weeks ago, so yes he could still be adjusting, it's just that I also adopted my last two BCs at 2 yrs old, and did not have this problem. Kingsley goes pee and poop almost every night in the house, probably around 3:00am. We do not have a crate (yet), so after he went in the exact same spot for a few days, we started bringing him into our bedroom for the night. This worked as planned for a good week, as he wouldn't dare do that in my room:) So it was a good 5 or 6 days, and I let him sleep downstairs one night, and he slipped back to going in that same spot. So back upstairs, and sure enough he did the deed in my room. We watch his food intake, just a small kibble breakfast and dinner has been moved up to 4:00. (thinking about moving this up more) I let him our many many times during the day, and because I think he needs it, a formal walk at 8:00, and again at 10:00 (cuz he did not go @ 8:00) and sometimes out again at 11:00. He never does his business during these walks. He does poop many times during the day, so I always think I'm getting a good handle on it, but I'm convinced he just thinks going in the house is acceptable. Yes, I've caught him doing this and picked him up and took him outside urgently. I've praised the heck out him, with treats for doing it outside. In frustration, we used our bathroom as a crate last night, a small area closed off part of the bathroom to about the size of a big crate....it didn't work as planned. Any good ideas?

Hi, happy update here. We took it slow, couple of weeks of no aggression but we did not allow the dogs freedom until last night. Kingsley has opened up and is having fun, leaning to play like a dog should. Chasing balls and showing confidence. You will see that I still have to keep him tied unless closely supervised, even still, I have lost 5 lbs over the last 4 weeks chasing after him. That's Chester in the photo here, the black tri color. He's the 2 yr old that started the trouble. I'm holding the ball while taking the photo. The two dogs are getting along just fine now, supervised of course. Kingsley is enrolled in an obiedience course, hoping to allow him off leash on a permanent basis soon. Thanks Hef

Here's a couple of photos of Kingsley sitting by the tree, outside my office window. Funny the way he crosses his arms like that, he seems to do this often.

Okay, thank you D'Elle, for the words of caution. My post was unnecessary, I apologize.

Thanks all, I had Kingsley at the vet this morning, standard checkup following the adoption. All good, I asked the vet about this issue, and suggested the following. Chester the BC/GS also an adopted dog about 3 months ago, has established himself as the top dog around my house. It took no fights to get to that point, but he is Alpha. Enter Kingsley, approx. same age as Chester, a male, and he sees a threat. Time may heal it. I went over and talked to my friend, and see Chester, without either of my dogs. all good, we agreed to take a lot time off to allow Kingsley to get established. Chester is a good dog, no hard feelings on my part, all just shocking to me the it happened. My wife and I had our two dogs down by the water today by house, 3 other dogs showed up, 2 Corgies, and an Aus.Sheperd pup. The 5 dogs got along great. Corgies could get some better manners but they all got along. Kingsley is doing well, likes the water, did not swim but got into the river (we're on the South River in Annapolis) nice beach there. I'm setting up some basic obedience training for him, a mandatory thing following adoption. Could be good, some basic commands can lead to some good things. Thanks Hef

Thanks, well, Kingsley (my new dog) is well adjusted. He loves other dogs. I've had him to our local dog park twice this week, he socialized with a dozen dogs. It bothersome, that as said, these two dogs could never be friends. The dogs live within 200 feet of each other. I've been scouring the web and I feel that might be correct, the aggressive dog may not be able to get over this. I've seen many dogs fight, they sniff each other out, then go at it, but they get over it. I've had it happen with my own dogs, jealousy over toys, but you can see a potential reason for it. This thing I'm talking about is just crazy. That first meeting was very fast. not a second of checking each other out, Kingsley walked up fast to say hi, and got beat up. The submissive thing I'm talking about is just not fighting back. He's got a wagging tail, head up. I honestly dont think my friend will ever let this happen again. He's an 84 yr old guy, that would be happy to just keep his dog on a leash for the rest of his life. I think that's how it will go. He was very reluctant to let this dog off leash, I talked him into it a couple months ago. I have a very safe property, and he saw how much fun his dog has running. So if there's any creative thoughts out there on how this could be resolved. I will let some time go by, maybe we'll let them see each other again.

Hi, question for the masses, something I've never really seen, bothers me and a good friend. My friend adopted a dog about 3 months ago, 2 yr old male, billed as a Border Collie / German Shepard mix. Looks like a small GS, maybe some BC in the face. He's over my house a couple times a week with his dog, and my Border Collie and him play for hours. Running around the yard, chasing balls, never an argument. My BC is 7 yrs old male. I adopted another BC last weekend. 2 - 3 yr old Male. Very quiet, not an aggressive bone in his body. The first meeting of these dogs was on Monday earlier this week. My friend is walking down my driveway with his dog on a leash, I had my new dog on a leash, we let the dogs get close, and his dog attacked my dog, very viciously, but I was able to get my dog away, and we separated them quickly. He came back on Tuesday or Wednesday, and cautiously he brought the dog close but saw his desire to attack again. Brings us to tonight, we've been having gatherings on my deck with multiple neighbors dogs, everyone always gets along. I left my dog in the house, and my other dog, and his dog played normally in the yard. Gave it a while, I brought the new dog outside on a leash, to see how it would go. Not good, sad to say, it was bad, no dogs hurt, but a bad quick fight. Now to be clear, my dog is somewhat submissive in all this, not fighting back, this is a one sided thing. I put my dog back inside and about an hour later I tried again very cautiously. Was hoping we could just nip this in the bud as they say. My friend is really bummed out about this, he's a veteran BC owner as well, and really respects my dogs. I've wondered, we have a nice dog park very close to us, many dogs, all getting along, I've had my dogs there, big dogs, all get along. What would happen if this dog was in there? He has seen 6 other dogs at my house, and got along with all of them, what does he see in this new dog to trigger this. Any ideas? Would be sad to never let these dogs get together, but scary to let them try.

Well geez, thanks for your opinion. I've owned 3 other border collies, pretty sure I know how to take care of them. Pretty easy when you have one that you DONT have to restrict, but this dog wants to be outside, and while I'm working with him as much as possible, he prefers to be out and he lies there very comfortably. I could not do that with one of my other border collies, that also ran from any noise. Tied up he would hurt himself. So yes, I'm aware of potential threats. thanks.

Well, Kingsley apparently learned it elsewhere. First time he's in my kitchen he put his paws up on the counter and said hey, what's for dinner? I've seen other breeds do it, but this is my first. Sure, cleaning up completely is best, but I'm not sure how far I have to go yet. Will he pull a bag of oranges off? looking around my counter and island right now, there are a bunch of things, not food related. He pulled a spatula down a couple days ago, and was licking it. Just want him to learn some common sense and be a dog. Kingsley is doing well, eating well (his food) now. He enjoys being outside, I've tied a long rope to a tree right outside my office window, he enjoys just hanging out under the tree. I heard him bark once, very quiet dog, doesn't say much. The floppy ears seem somewhat permanent, thought it just a submission thing, but I dont think it is. At least he stopped peeing in my house, that was annoying for a couple days, I've heard it's common for Rescues.

Thanks all, certainly no rush here, just the excitement of getting him led me to do research and get back to posting. I've been posting on this board since around 2000, when I got my first BC. My other BC (Kane) seen in the photo below was a 3 yr old rescue, and yea I know, all BCs are different, he had no adjustment period, but then again, he was not thrown in a shelter and spend a miserable 3 weeks wondering what happened. Kane was given to me by his owner, one house to the other, but he adjusted very quickly. So, yes I have lots of patience. Went and bought some good treats today that Kingsley loves. Spent some good time on the lead today. Had him sit and stay, I walked away a good distance, called him, and he would come to me quickly. Lasted a few times, then he went the other way, I tracked him down, will try more tomorrow. Tied him to a tree for this photo, he did not seem to mind being tied, he looked relaxed, even though those ears are still tied back. He's a good dog so far, except for the food stealing off the counter, hope to fix that.

Hi, just adopted Kingsley, red & white BC, they think he's 3 to 4 yrs old, I'm leaning towards 2 to 3, just seems young. He is my 4th BC, currently have one more red and white, (they look like twins). I guess maybe I've been lucky, where the last 3 were perfect off leash dogs. 2 of the previous 3 were adopted also. One thing I've noticed, Kingsley is the 2nd BC I've had that wants nothing to do with toys. In a way this is good, but when it comes to holding a dog's attention, nothing like a ball or frisbee to do that. I've only had Kingsley for 2 days now, coming back to the BC Boards for advice. I've got him on a long line to let him walk around on his own, I've got a nice 2 acre property, very safe surroundings beyond that. He walks around, nose to the ground, then just starts walking rather fast, a slow run, and heads off in one direction. I catch up to him, he lies down somewhat submissive and we go home. I also work him on a leash, teaching a heel and reward on him paying attention to me. He is VERY good at sitting at my feet and looking up. When you see this, you think that this might be very easy to teach, he just seems to lose it and just start walking away. Of course right now, my fear is he will just be lost, not knowing his new surroundings. I plan to keep working on the walking training. What advice can you offer on this? I know training collars are out, the trust I establish with my dogs is very important. I've always said that a dog that appreciates where he lives, sleeps and eats, is more likely to want to never leave the property. Kingsley doesn't know how good he's got it:) ....yet. Thanks Hef

Monty is making his way through his 16th year. Been a while since i posted anything, I recall back in 2002 or 03 I came to this group for advice, we were seriously considering giving up on Monty, he had jumped through a window and simply went notes over normal noises of kids playing with balls and things. He got better, and been with us forever now. Monty does not see well, we repaired one of his eyes a couple years ago, a lens luxation thing they called it. So he can still see, he enjoys daytime much more than night for obvious reasons. He still walks my 2 acre property by himself. That is my real measure of his happiness, he enjoys those long walks, and smells, his best sense i suspect. He cannot hear much at all. Anyway, just thought I would post up a photo of Monty to this site. doing our best for him.