Kathy Chittenden

http://www.bordercollierescue.org/vivbilli...tion/TheBC.html I thought I had read somewhere (hard copy book) that the smoothies were originally mixed with pointers. I found this article on-line that mentions pointers as well. Interesting article! Kathy

If it is an autoimmune disorder resembling Rheumatoid Arthritis in humans please double check with him on the exercise restrictions. I have RA and am encouraged to exercise as much as possible. I actually feel much better on those days when I keep going as opposed to days when I sit a full day at work. Good luck, it does get better with time and the right combo of meds... Kathy

The PSPCA has info on their website now: http://www.pspca.org/news?id=295 news August 6, 2009 Murder Hollow Basset Hound Update In response to complaints, Pennsylvania SPCA officers visited the location of Murder Hollow Kennels and left requests to be contacted. There was no response to these requests. On a follow-up visit by a Pennsylvania SPCA officer and representatives from the Pennsylvania Department of Dog Law six days later, the owner was present but refused entry. Both Dog Law representatives and Pennsylvania SPCA officers returned later that evening with warrants to enter the property. The dogs were found to be in unsanitary conditions, and the number of dogs present exceeded the City of Philadelphia limit of 12 animals allowed on a property. In lieu of charges, Pennsylvania SPCA agents worked with the owner to reduce the number of dogs on the premises and allowed her time to clean and make improvements to the area in which the dogs were housed. The owner surrendered some of the dogs and is working to clean and improve the kennels prior to a follow-up inspection. The Pennsylvania SPCA is encouraged by her efforts in providing and maintaining a more sanitary setting as well as veterinary care for the dogs that remain. The dogs are safe in foster care with an independent, partner organization. We appreciate the outpouring of support for these dogs from the Bassett community. Back To News Posted on August 6, 2009

Did they have the kennel license and the dogs were taken anyway? Or they did not get the license? In my experience it is not hard to get a kennel license. Just show proof of rabies for each dog under the license.

Just a question - has he had his thyroid checked? I watched the moon video (cute!) and he is a little on the chunky side and sometimes random fears can be caused by a low thyroid level. Doesn't have to be really low, just borderline can cause some fearful/aggressive behaviors. http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/dog-hypo.htm Kathy

As someone who has taken in rescues and fostered for the past 7 years, I have to say the scariest dogs I've had are those who have been corrected for growling so don't bother to growl any more. Growling is dog language - snuff that out and they will no longer warn you. People have a hard enough time reading dog body language which is usually pretty clear if you've studied them, lived with them, loved them long enough. Give me a growling dog any day over one who has had that snuffed out. Dog growls at child - dog is punished. Dog sees child again - doesn't growl because he knows he'll be punished - dog just bites instead. Most of the dogs I've seen, including my own, are uncomfortable with children. They don't know what these small creatures with big heads on wobbly legs are about to do as they toddle over. It's fear, the growl is a warning "stay back kid you're freakin' me out!" Even dogs who lived with older children still are uncomfortable with toddling children. Listen to your dogs - What I do about the child example: Dog sees child in distance - before dog can growl, he gets goodies, small bites, tasty treats. Child goes out of sight, food stops. Child comes back into sight, feed dog. Don't push dog beyond threshold. Go slowly, stop on a good note. Dog eventually sees child approaching as good thing and not fearful thing. If dog is toy motivated I often incorporate child into the games - throw ball - while having a line on the dog for safety so the child means "good things happen." With fostering I take things very slowly. New dogs to my household get to do "nothing" but decelerate and learn to listen, watch, feel the atmosphere of my home before I ask them to accept my pets, hugs, I don't know what they've been exposed to most of the time. They get their "rules", learn the routine, settle in before being asked to be cuddled and hugged. Dogs like space, hugging and cuddling are things humans like and some dogs may or may not appreciate. If your dog twitches his ears as you swoop down for a hug or kiss, stop! It's too much pressure! Wait for the relationship with you to develop and grow, let the trust develop and grow. I find it is really closer to 2 months before I really get to know my fosters... Time is your friend...enjoy your new boy Tim! Kathy www.sugarbushfarm.net and just for fun - doggie pics - www.sugarbushfarm.blogspot.com

Probably a weird question to ask but does the new area look similar to the old area? I was a dog walker at the humane society for a few years and some dogs are very particular about where they will poop. I see this in my own group of dogs. Some like to back up onto a rock. Some like to back up on to tall grass. Some like corners. Some like to be out in the open. My little Pistol Pete needs to be in a wide open area, no walls or trees nearby, I think he likes to make sure he has a 360 degree view as he is small and it takes him a moment to get it done. I have a border collie who will only reliably poop when he is next to a tall object - telephone pole, tree, weird I know but I've noticed this about him and if I'm ever at an agility trial and I want to get one, I just find the appropriate tall object and he will go right away. It just may take a while longer for him to be comfortable in his new "spot" - good luck and sorry for sharing so much detail here! Kathy

PS: Disney wants you all to know that all breeds are welcome! He's a little outnumbered at the moment:) Hope to see you there! Kathy volunteer for NEBCR, Inc. www.sugarbushfarm.blogspot.com www.sugarbushfarm.net

Oh, they are so smart! She learned the chain of behavior that gets her the treat! My Disney did this (golden) in obedience class. He was very reactive so at first we did the "reward for looking at me" thing. He quickly learned that he could turn, snark, and turn back to me for the treat. We had to use an aversive to stop this new behavior - one of those ultrasonic sound things - he learned to NOT snark with only two blasts. (note: we were at a distance from the other dogs in class so they did not hear the noise, only Disney) I would say at this point you have to stop her from jumping before she even thinks about it as she thinks it is part of what gets her the cookie. I'd put a drag line on her and catch her before she can get up to jump, use a noise as mentioned in other posts - "eh" or other interruptor - to prevent the jump up part of the chain. It should extinguish before long if not a part of the behavior chain that earns the reward. Good luck with that smart one! Kathy

What toys does she like to play with? Definitely redirect her onto a toy and if she doesn't redirect, then I'd issue a "time out" for the behavior. Jollyballs are a huge favorite of our gang here to play with. They come in different sizes, ours love the giant horse-sized ones but you may want to start with a smaller one. Also teaching the game of "tug" with an appropriate tug toy will teach her to have an "off" switch on the tugging game. I don't have time to look up the link, but there are several on how to teach and play tug with your dog. Good luck - she's young, she'll learn quickly! Just a note on corrections vs redirection - at this young an age if you start with positive punishment for this behavior, you have nothing left but to go "up" on the corrections later. (louder, harsher) They need to be used very conservatively if at all and learning what TO DO is going to result in much longer lasting results than simply correcting her for what NOT TO DO - hope that makes sense! Kathy who sees people who can't communicate to their dogs unless it is LOUD, OBNOXIOUS, and HARSH and scratches her head:(((

Most of the dogs coming into our rescue these days are coming in via Rainbow Kennels and the Debby's Petlands throughout New England. The breeder of most of these dogs is a Holly/Chad Kahnkee. Her name appears on the USDA list of licensed breeders. The paperwork just says "unregistered" border collie. In the past we have had a smattering of dogs that came to us via Hunte Corporation. I actually contacted the breeder of my Drake (I adopted at 13 months, originally a Hunte Corp/pet store pup. He sent me photos of his mom and dad and signed an ABCA transfer so I could get him registered. The photos of the litter were in a garage. He is not USDA licensed so I would guess that he had a litter and somehow Hunte got the pups? Bradley Wallace is the breeder. One note to me says that Drake's grandmother works cattle. Drake actually works sheep quite nicely although I only do this in my backyard, no time for sheep trialing along with agility. Harold Kemp and LR Alexander are some names in the pedigree - if I find it I'll scan it in - somewhere there is a stack of pedigrees from rescue dogs as I occasionally try to study them for links... Two of our other dogs came in unregistered through Rainbow Kennels/Debby's Petland. Keegan came into rescue at age 10 months and we adopted him. A year later at the age of 23 months another BC came into rescue. We named him Tristan and when we looked at the Debby's Petland paperwork we realized we had littermates. I adopted Tristan out 2x but he came back each time - seems his OCD behaviors came out in his new households - so he also stayed. I wrote to their breeder, an Arie Byl. He wasn't registering any dogs but he did sent me the pedigree to their mom which I have to go look for. He said the mother was red and he was trying to get red pups but all he was getting was black and white. A few years ago there were 3 dogs that all came into different rescues in New England. They were littermates. I can't remember that breeder's name but when a friend contacted him he actually had the nerve to ask for $300 to get the ABCA paperwork signed for a transfer! Anyways, I don't blame the people who purchase from pet stores. People are not born with this knowledge. Lots of what we learn we need to learn from life experiences. And unfortunately, many of those experiences are not good ones:( Here is a short youtube video I made afer accepting a young pup into rescue from one of these families. It is sad all around... Kathy

I am another Purina One Lamb and Rice person. Our ten dogs and fosters do really well on it - nice coats and teeth. Our matriarch, dear sweet Emily, a "flabby" mix - passed away this past fall at the ripe old age of 15.5 years. Our daughter's GSD also eats the Purina One and he is still going strong at almost age 14! I do pick up the big pack of chicken wings from the grocery store for added treats/teeth cleaning every couple of weeks and they also get their share of pig ears and knuckle bones (small processing plant nearby) but I limit the bones because they do end up with some of the big D afterwards. Would quick "blanching" (dunk in and out of boiling water) of the knuckle bones maybe help with the diarrhea? I'm thinking bacteria as they are processed as dog food only so maybe not so clean when packed in the bulk boxes? Kathy

Yes, thank goodness! I only get to read every few days and this was shocking - I shot ahead to the end - prayers and well wishes going out from the Sugar Bush Farm gang. Kathy

Awww, thank goodness! She is a doll! www.carecredit.com may be able to help with expenses - an interest free loan program if the vet office participates. Good luck with the recovery - that is sometimes the hardest part - keeping them calm and rested - and only leash walked if those are your orders. Thanks for being such good dog folk for your girl! Kathy

Awwww, poor boy. Is this the first time he has been living without another dog? How about having them work on some toy drive/play therapy with him - have them do whatever it takes and I mean whatever it takes - being super silly, coating toys with peanutbutter, running away, running around, anything to get him up and going to take his mind off of whatever fear he may be experiencing at the moment. It's winter and dry, could a static shock have gotten him at the door making him fear the area? Rub him down with a dryer sheet once in a while just in case? Many, many, many of our fosters will not go out ALONE at first. Are they going with him and if not have them go out with him and remain with him until business is done. Feeding - have them feed only at set times, no free feeding, and if they are using treats throughout the day his appetite will be down - I find sometimes that the "not eating" really is just "not eating the meals 'cuz I've been snacking all day and not really hungry thank you very much." He should be much better in a couple of weeks - sometimes change is so hard on them! Kathy

http://www.gis.net/~shepdog/BC_Museum/Perm...BC_Cousins.html Carole Presberg has gathered a lot of information on this page on "BC Cousins" - I'm not sure the links all still work correctly. I clicked on English Shepherds and it wasn't what I remembered it being. I recall a page where she had side by side photos and descriptions of how the Australian Shepherd, BC, and ES all differed. Poking around the BC Museum is always a good read though! Kathy

I would say Yoshi could definitely be ILP'd if you wanted to do AKC. I'm not sure what the price of steel is at the moment but a few months ago it was outrageous - so hopefully your weave pole vendor will let you know if it is a wise time to purchase a full set of weaves or to wait a bit:) I really don't think it will make a difference, my dogs adjust to whatever poles are available as we trial. One thought - if you are considering getting another dog/pup to start at some point, maybe look at the nice adjustable channel weaves so you have that training option available to you as well. When pushed together they are pretty close to the "real thing" - maybe a little more cost but they can do "double duty" with training a new dog - just a thought! Good luck, it is exciting getting your own real equipment isn't it!!! Kathy

http://www.livingwithdogs.us/articles/He-j...s-to-say-hi.pdf is a *MUST READ* for those attempting to work with multiple dogs in group situations. Those dogs would come under my dogs' definition of "rude" dogs. It is too bad that so many dogs get labelled "aggressive" or even "snarky" when they are giving off very good dog language:( Kathy

We have a detailed application that we review. We'll follow up with a phone call and all adopters get home visits before sending a dog home. Some people may not have BC experience but we have some BCs that are really quite well trained and behaved and don't need anything special to be a pet. Everyone has to start somewhere - I never had a BC before adopting in 2001 - so as long as people are willing to be patient with the process and there is nothing glaringly outrageous with their request to adopt, we can usually make a good match - takes time in some cases though! We do "just say no" to people who think they are somehow above the process and tell us we're too nosy - LOL! Kathy

Farmer's perspective - We have a dairy farm - we milk about 80 Jerseys. We have a few of our border collies who can come on over and help but for the most part it is just not practical all of the time. The cows are pastured during the summer and Keegan will help dad bring the cows back to the barn for milking but really, after the new schedule of being out and going in happens a few times, the cows are already at the barn door by milking time. Keegan can help milking go faster as he pushes cows through the parlor quicker than dad can get them but it raises heck with his legs going up and down the concrete steps from holding area to milking pit. And his main purpose is as my husband's agility dog. We have sheep and we will go out and "work" to the best of our untrained ability with some herding and our dogs. We'll also bring our foster dog(s) out to see if there is any potential. Our best sheepdog is one that came to us through rescue, originally purchased in a pet store, and he can now go and fetch the sheep anywhere they may be and bring them back safely to their night pasture. He does this without direction, just kind of knows that is his job and it is beautiful to see:) We don't need any of our dogs for our farm work but there is something very nice about being able to provide them with a farm life. We got into border collies through agility, adopting through rescue, and are now very active with the rescue. They are definitely first and foremost pets though. Kathy www.sugarbushfarm.net www.sugarbushfarm.blogspot.com

Great discussion! One public perception that happened to me - Scenario: Playing chuck-it ball in backyard with 6 border collies and one golden retriever. Mystery man appears - he saw all the dogs and he has a golden too so thought he'd visit. I stop and turn to him to talk. His eyes get BIG, he backs waaaaay up. I turn around and as usual, all 6 BCs are lined up, crouched for action, eyeballing the still tennis ball at my feet He stammers "Whhaaaat are they doing??" I think it was his first BC experience:) You almost have to experience them first hand to truly understand. Our rescue group frequently invites approved adopters to actual BC events so they can see them in action before really making a commitment to adopting one. Kathy

I would go with this as a possibility! Dogs definitely pick up their cues for behavior from other dogs. I have a family of ten of our own. Each with their own quirks and issues and a couple without - phew! We foster dogs on a continual basis and I can't tell you how much the newcomers seem to "pick up" on here from the others. Our very first border collie that we adopted was severely thunderphobic. She still doesn't much like it but it no longer sends her into the bathroom behind the toilet pipes as a quivering mass of fear. She has actually chosen to remain out playing ball at times (not that we play ball in thunderstorms, but sometimes we are at the lower end of the field when they start and she no longer bolts for home). It's taken a few years and she is now 11 so perhaps her hearing too isn't what it was. But others have come with SA and noise phobia issues and they are definitely more relaxed after being here for a few months as none of my dogs care if we come or go (or perhaps that is just because they are here) - and ball/frisbee games definitely trump big noises. Wasn't there a study on this a couple of years ago?! Whatever the reason, I'd just enjoy it:) Kathy

Pretty pictures Very appealing to the "non-informed" looking for a border collie. I'd love to see the place now though - this is a snapshot in time. You cannot possibly have that many intact dogs and puppies all together without things going to h*** quickly. They are a "color" breeder, trying to breed to give people what they want, however, the economy/market is not going to be perpetually good for these people. It will fall in on them and sadly their dogs will suffer. I've seen these places - websites can make anything look good.... It is an addiction with thes people as I've said before - "ooh, what colors will we have with these two!" They probably have several leftover adolescents now, untrained, unhandled, they will be a mess when they try to integrate into a real household - there is no way all of these dogs are living as family dogs - no way. There is also no way they *know* they are breeding no drive in their dogs. I've seen some of the wildest misplaced drive in some of these breedings (through rescue where they end up) I think we should just put all of these puppymills on ignore rather than wasting bandwith and getting them website hits - and yes I said puppymill. Kathy

I just want to add my .02 to the treatments available for challenged dogs in this day and age. I have such a challenged dog and without meds, he would not be here today. Through rescue we have helped many dogs through the Tufts behaviorists and medications and behavior modification. It is amazing how positive the results have been for these dogs who would have no quality of life or a life without them. For those without a nearby behaviorist, Tufts offers a petfax program with lots of good follow-up through e-mail. The doctors there have been extremely helpful. I adore Jean Donaldson and have been to a few of her seminars over the past few years. One of the best things she says and I apologize if I am misquoting, is said in jest yet not far from the truth - "drugs should be in the water!" I think especially for the border collies - their sound sensitivities and noise phobias are so real. There is no behavior modification alone that can help that. There is a part of them that we can't reach until they get some real physical changes happening in their little brains/bodies. Until you can see a dog go from wanting to launch through a window to being able to quietly be by your side during a storm/garbage truck/back-up-beepy noise you may not be able to fully understand how wonderful and helpful they can be. Our boy was extremely aggressive to other people/other dogs. We had no place to start desensitizing as the distance he began reacting at was great. He had absolutely no "thinking" part of his brain at seeing a speck of a person/dog a parking lot away. He needed a beta-blocker to dull his fight/flight response. A dose a couple of hours before our desensitizing sessions made all the difference in the world to him. Without that simple drug we were lost. I'm not a scientist/medical person by any stretch, yet I've seen the benefit and heard of the benefit so many times it cannot be ignored as a very real treatment to a very real problem. And the dogs don't become walking zombies - far from that - they are able to settle, listen, watch, and learn - sometimes for the first time in their lives. Their frantic antics that get them "nowhere good" meld away and you can see the "normal" dog within! It is miraculous to say the least. There is nothing more heartwrenching than seeing a dog all in a frenzy over something that is beyond his/her inner control or your external assistance. I am very grateful that there are some wonderful things out there that are now available for our best friends. I wish everyone the best as they work through their issues - it will only get better with the right help - bless you and thank you! Please keep us posted on your progress. I think we can all learn lots more here together and it can only help. Kathy

Great pics! Landon is adorable! and Cooper looks absolutely wonderful! I love how his coat came in so dark. Names can be so hard! something with freckles/speckles something relating to red - fire/flash/?? - devil LOL! A "Cooper" is a barrel-maker - A "mini-cooper" is a car - sometimes I get desperate and go to the rymezone dictionary and just keep typing in words to get some ideas http://www.rhymezone.com/ Good Luck! Kathy