bordernannie

I am amazed at the replies that were generated re: a Jack Russel pup. My only experience with a Jack Russel is the one we had for 19 years. We got Rocky as a pup and were just having our grandchildren ..........six in a short time. Rocky was absolutely wonderful with them...........He couldn't wait for them to come over and were always right there with them as they started toddling along. He was a wonderful crumb catcher when they would drop morsels from the high chair. They could do anything with him and to him from dressing him up in clothes to painting his nails. Any attention was greatly appreciated. We had one problem with him................he was totally a different dog if he saw a squirrel, duck, bird or even a skunk. Yes, he captured and killed two skunks in his day. Nothing would stop his attack on wild life. He lost all thought of recall if he spotted something in our yard that he didnt' think should be there. He tangled with ground hogs, caught a bird in the air as he leaped from the deck and swam after geese that visited our pond. He lived to the ripe old age of 19 and never even as much as showed his teeth. He spent many years sharing his home with a border collie (first one and then another both females) and got along just fine with them. Needless to say we never had a dull moment between Rocky, our grandchildren and our BC's.

Josie also doesn't like to have her collar off and is very happy when we puts hers back on. We tried to figure out why she was "attached" to her collar but couldn't come up with any reason.

Thank you all for your responses. Do you think this is particular to the BC breed?

Josie will come up to me, sniffs me and then takes her nose and quickly "bumps" me and goes on to do whatever she was doing. She does this when she lays down next to me or there are times she will do it when I am busy doing something and she will just come up to me and "dot" me with her nose. She doesn't do this to my husband. Has anyone else experienced this? Any idea what this mean to a dog?

We have a fenced in area that is 80' by 80'. It is shaded by large trees and ideal for Josie. We have a screened porch which leads to a narrow run which she uses to access that area. It actually is an ideal set up because we can let her out into the screened porch and she lets herself out to her fenced area. She doesn't stay out there for long periods but comes and goes as she desires. Has anyone used rubber mulch in a dog pen. We were thinking of using it in the narrow run part so that she would come in with a little less mud on her feet during rainy times. We do trim the hair between her pad but she can still track mud. We have taught her to roll over for cleaning her feet but there are times that we think she won't have dirty feet and she does. Josie does not eat things that she might tear up like her rubber balls or stuffed toys so I don't expect that would be an issue. Would love to hear others opinions or about their experiences.

What a lovely picture!!!

Could he get them when outside? Depending on where you live they could be "fire ants" which can give a terrible bite that lingers.

Every once in a while our Josie will snap at someone...usually a male. First it seemed to be if the fellow was wearing a baseball cap but now we noticed that she will seem to do it even if they are not wearing a cap. She is a rescue who had MANY issues when we first got her but she has overcome a lot of them. This one seems to reappear from time to time and sometimes catches us off guard. There are times when it seems that she is restraining herself from doing it but other times she will snap and when we call her on it she will retreat and then a short time later try to sneak and do it again. Any suggestion to break her from doing this would be greatly appreciated.

Our Josie "twirles". She does this when she sees something that she would like to get to but can't. If she sees a dog going by or someone in a cart, etc. Also, she sleeps very soundly if both my husband and I are in the same room. If one of us isn't in the house she doesn't sleep as soundly....we can actually watch her ears making movement to pick up sound.

We take walks with Josie everyday which she totally enjoys and looks forward to.....................It is a very pleasant time UNLESS these two dogs are out in their pen which is set back off the road we walk on. She will go ballistic and refuses to listen to me no matter what. After we pass the property and she has almost pulled my arm out of its socket she returns to herself and happily continues to walk as if nothing ever happened. If the dogs aren't out she just walks by merrily on her way. Also, recently another dog came on the scene..........a small rat terrier type dog who has been running loose. She acted like she was happy to see it and wanted to make friends but as the dog started to approach today it growled and she was ready to "take him on". She does have dogs that she is friends with that we meet on our walks and she spends time with them, tails wagging and sniffing so it isn't just all dogs. Does anyone have any suggestions how I can handle these unpleasant encounters? Thank you.............

Our border collie just loves to play with large balls. After trying various types of balls we have been getting her "Jolly Balls" from a farm store which last less than a month so it is a pretty costly toy. First she removes the handles and then she slowly tears pieces off the ball as she hangs on to them running and shaking them. Does anyone have any suggestions re: balls that can stand up to the rough play of a very strong border collie. She is actually a small girl....only 32lbs., but is very powerful when it comes to playing with a ball.

Has anyone tried "HALO" dog food? I have heard good things about it but not from Border Collie people.

Our Josie does the "cupped paw thing" which we find so cute. She also pokes or taps us with her nose when she wants our attention or is trying to get us moving faster. When we are in separate rooms in our home she will position herself in between the two rooms or in a hallway....so she can keep an "eye" on us and be aware if either one should move. When someone comes in the house she will go to her toy basket and drag out a number of toys to "show-off" with and if she REALLY likes the person she will take the toys to them. She also does the "curl into a tiny ball" thing sometimes when sleeping. When we go walking and she has to go potty she will pick a tall group of weeds to poop on.....this is something she does consistently for some reason. She also does the laying on her back and tossing toys like a cat. I also get a feeling that she can "read me"......what I am planning to do, how I am feeling emotionally and lets us know when it is time to feed her.