Patty Abel

she probably doesn't know she's going. some female dogs develop or are born with this. i would make sure she doesn't have a bladder infectionJ(vet check-up). the vet will suggest one of several meds to help her "hold it" at night if she is otherwise healthy.

I like the puppy off lead method!!! Will I ever have a another puppy though? All new dogs that come to our house get walkies on a 15 foot leash that they drag around the farm. If they do get into mischief you have a fighting chance of catching them! Our current foster dog seems to have a very good recall and call off. I try to set them up for success. and try to remember to use 'man voice' and not 'scared chicken voice' when getting their attention.

Lots of leash walking/varying speeds. do some "about face" moves and be interesting so he knows you are in charge of the walk and he wants to stay with you. You really don't need to use lots of treats to do this if the dog is interested in being with you. Like desert ranger said" tight leash does not go where he wants " This is just a start...you really don't want the dog to be super attentive to you when you are visiting. But you know that already!

my dog did not have what it took to be a "real" trial dog, i figured that out pretty quick. but i wanted the herding experience so bad that i continued for two years with lessons, just to work sheep. with what i was spending on lessons and ahba trials(plus selling suburb home) we were able to buy a farm and did. the trainer that i started with has had success with trial type training and also all-breed style herding. i know some folks form strong opinions about training methods... and i was glad to have opportunity to get my feet wet, but you live and learn...

Has anyone lost a border collie in the Leesburg VA area? Animal control lists no recent reports. Not micro-chipped.

Wow, this has been interesting discussion. When we moved to Shenadoah county with six dogs three yrs ago I went to the county building to apply for a kennel license since i was planning on doing rescue and just thought it would be a way to be on the up and up. They explained to me that to have a kennel license you had to have a kennel (with all the regs and restrictions and inspections) and asked if my dogs were pets or was I a breeder. I am glad that the county cashier took the time to inform us when she could have just ask for a check for $50 and I would have paid it and then find myself having to scramble to comply. Yes, when I have gotten foster dogs' rabies shots in my county i get a nice letter in the mail from the county. A license for an unsexed dog here is $4. If they get a rabies shot in a neighboring county I don't get a notice. As for multiple dog living, I have had as many as eight dogs living in my house. After taking in several old intact males that were, well old intact males, I began to limit access to areas of my home, like MY bed and living room furniture. Went from vacuuming daily to bi-weekly. Now we are down to five dogs that happily live with us in half of the downstairs with 24-7 access to the yard. When we get dirty(at least twice a day!) I'm glad I don't have carpet!! Deb, hoping things turn out ok, try not to worry too much.

auto open gate? what fun is THAT? ;^)

No takers...actually the dog was found by children in Manassas, and they keep calling the rescue that I phone answer for, asking for us to come pick it up....(don't realize that we are mostly scattered 100 miles from there)the county shelter was closed yesterday and there were no reports of lost dog at Manassas City shelter. I posted here in case someone on knew someone who was franticly looking for their dog...just covering bases. Now to call the kids back and tell them to please contact shelter today. Sadly most folks are miss informed of the purpose of local animal shelters, and rescues for that matter.

anyone have a brown and white male border collie go missing in Manassas? red collar, no tags. very friendly.

Sorry you are so far disappointed in your search for a rescue border collie. Just maybe the rescue fosters know that the dogs they are sheltering are not working or farm life quality. I have turned down a seemingly perfect hobby farm home because my foster had quirks that I just didn't feel comfortable passing off to another. The applicant was not happy and felt that she didn't measure up. In truth it was the dog. Oh well. I would check out the shelter in your county, buy a community newspaper. Put an add at the feed store near you. You will have more border collies/sheep dogs than you can feed!

My deaf border collie was a joy to me for years, he passed away last September around 16 years old. Max was white with black markings/blue eyes and was most likely born deaf. He had other strange quirks that led our vet to believe he had a seizure disorder too(shadow herding and "fly" snapping). He was always very attached to me and when off lead at a dog park or on the farm(once we moved 3 yrs ago) would always check in with me visually. His night time recall was a light flicker. If he was sleeping in the yard I would toss bottle caps at him. He had strong eye and this caused him some problems with dogs that didn't know how to take his body language. Max was dog # 2 in our pack...followed by many others. He always accepted other dogs.

Wish I could push a button and "like" the last two comments like on facebook. thank you.

Congratulations! the house is wonderful!! your outbuildings are in much better shape than ours! I love living on a historical farm and still close to major transportation route. Glad you got your oil tank issues worked out.

We have a surprise crop of lambs this year too. I learned to use the burdizzo last summer and didn't seal the deal with one of the ram lambs. Of course you're never quite sure, but he was the only one with obvious equipment when I sold some in January. We have just 12 lambs. The three good moms have twins that are fat and strong, the marginal moms all had singles that are doing well, one young mom had twins that she couldn't count, so I have only one bottle lamb. We always need one for church programs anyway...They were all born in the 8 acre pasture WHERE I LEFT THEM. I guess if I decide to start over with this good bunch of moms I would have those three, plus their four ewe lambs... So, dumb luck serves me again...

I learned to hold Bert on his butt, like you shear a sheep, to do the nails...he's much more calm when he can't flex against the floor/table/ or what ever.... with Bob, who is quite the sissy boy, we call it "playing beauty shop". They hate snow in their paws, and the trimming helps prevent the snow from packing in between their toes. Living in the country is TOTALLY lost on these two!!! Donald and the others are usually covered in mud, rolling in sheep poo.