alligande

When Brody gets angry, and goes into protective mode in the house or the truck I have just realized he omits an odd odder, I can't really describe but I have smelt it before and wondered what he had got into. He has not peed on himself. Any ideas what is happening? None of my other dogs smelled when they were in guard mode.

This was my "husky" mix I adopted from the local shelter, for 10 years we played guess what type of dog he is.... I don't have a better picture of him to hand but our vote was at least 50% BC had lots of traits and color etc he was just a little large. We just told everyone he was a border collie, other than those eyes I have no idea where husky came from. edited to add I just looked at the picture both those eyes were stunning blue ones, but sadly when this picture was taken he was starting to go blind in one. And for giggles his companion is a beagle/GSDx so you can imagine what people make of her. This is my very pretty new boy on his first hike with us last year, we later found out it was the first time he had been able to romp off leash

That is my tough guys problem as well, although tri so we get the quizical is "she" a border collie, and occasionally mistaken for an aussie with a tail his biggest complaint is to the frequent comment "oh what a pretty girl" ......

I hope this treatment works, my old girl went through the 2 injection treatment, and it was not pleasant. If there had been a gentler version I would have tried it.

I lived with a very picky eater for 10 years, he just was not interested in food. Bandit was a biggish dog and we worked to keep weight on him. Tried different foods and all the suggestions in the end we just let him self regulate because our other dog did not touch his food (she is one who can eat a bowl in the blink of an eye and has been on a diet since she was 3 (she is 14 now)) and if he wanted to eat at midnight then we decided that was better than not eating which is what was happening when we took his bowl away A couple of times a week we would bribe him with a raw egg or gravy on his kibble, he would very carefully eat the kibble with the good stuff and leave anything dry... The bottom line was he lived to good old age (maybe 13-14) and was fit and active until a couple of months before he passed, we just stopped worrying about his eating, it was working for him.

Thanks for the input, now I am going to have to see what I can buy from the two locally owned stores that I try and support, and check how the food rates. If I can get a better quality food for the same price that would be great.

I was reading a post about fromms food and it got me thinking about my options, as I just purchased a bag of Nutro which is becoming expensive and when I checked out Fromms it was cheaper. I don't want to open up a debate about feeding raw, I appreciate the benefits but this is just not an option for us at the moment. I know there are some excellent foods out there but I don't have the budget for $100s for a 30+ lb bag of food. So what I am looking for is suggestions for good quality middle of the road priced dried food and if there are any I should stay away from. I should add both my dogs have pretty solid stomachs, no allergies and are not fussy. Thanks

I lived with this for ten years. My BC mix was very dominant dog but occasionally if my husband told him off he would just randomly pee ( he regarded my husband as the boss, he and I spent 10 years debating which one of us was next on the list, Bandit always lived in hope that I would give in ). He had spent 6 months in the shelter system before he came to us and we did not understand then how long it took for a dog to feel comfortable. As other posters have mentioned you really have to ignore the peeing other wise you can't use commands or any basic obedience.. It is very hard to do, (ignore that is) eventually he just did it less but it never went away. It just became less troubling to us because of course the longer he lived with us the more important he was to us and you always learn to live with the eccentricies of those you love. But it really did just fade away as he became more comfortable with us and his place in our home.

I just wanted to say good luck with your new friend, she is very cute. Sitting next to me panting away is a very old survivor (not a BC but GSD mix) of heartworm. I had Jester for over almost 2 years when she was diagnosed (the vets think the test did not show when she was at the shelter as it was not established) and then I had her on heartguard. Any way 2 nasty injections later and a month under house and garden arrest, she wasn't crated, I just did not take her for walks. That was 11.5 years ago ( we think she is about 14.5) and although slow the doggy love of my life is still with us.

I just wanted to add that I have followed your journey with Pan and been amazed at your perseverance and loyalty to her, I do not think there are many people that would have undertaken the journey that you did. Thank you for your open posts about Pan it has been an education. Best Wishes

I am a small city dweller and on the rare occasions I walk my dogs on city streets they are always leashed. My dogs and I spend a lot of time going to places where they can run of leash, woods, fields, beaches etc. I have always spent al ot of time on recall and both my husband and I derive pleasure from watching the dogs play in the woods, running sniffing just being dogs. I could not imagine only having them leashed.

In North Yorkshire it is a combination of the above. The Yorkshire moors are not "common" land, farms have grazing rights to sections of the moors, you can not just go and put sheep up on the hills. Those rights can be transferred. The problem is the sheep do have to be born on the land ( my understanding is that it is what stops them wandering) so when the sheep are sold off as they were on the farm my uncle bought it is extremely hard to re-introduce them and for most farmers in todays farming economy not worth the effort. When my uncle did add sheep to the business they were grazed in a fenced paddock on a different property. The sheep are color coded but there is not that much mixing, In Yorkshire the sheep stay up on the moors year round. They make great hazards when driving home from a country pub at night as they love the warm roads and sleep on them.

He was lucky it was American Dairy Milk if it had been bought back from the UK for me he would have been in serious trouble......

Our last dog ate a large bar of Cadburys dairy Milk, (it was a very large bar) the only evidence that it had been consumed was the shiny purple flecks in his white ruff, we found this after we got home at night so there was not much we could do that evening. We watched him carefully and he did not even get an upset stomach. When I mentioned it to my vet she said it was the quantity of actual chocolate consumed so he would have been in trouble if it had been dark chocolate.

Thanks for the concern, I was trying to be brief, Brody is almost five and Jester is over 14 and a very mild mannered dog, but does get grumpy around young silly behavior. I think one day she had just had enough of his rude behavior and snapped at him dog style, the small wound, I found once it was almost heeled ( I thought I had found a tick) I think was one tooth. This was a couple of months ago, the only changes in behavior we have witnessed is now the youngster is giving the old lady lots of space and does not try and mess with her. The old lady just does her best to ignore his presence and makes no attempt to boss him around, in my post I think I made it sound like he was responding to her. What he is doing is responding to her getting up and going for a drink or just finding a new comfy spot, she has no interest in him at all. They co-exist peacefully and I have no reasons to be concerned that either one will turn on the other.

I wanted to post an update on this situation, we spent time distracting Brody from his rude staring and slowly the situation evolved. It seems over time the dogs resolved the problem themselves, I think Jester my old lady finally bit him ( I found evidence of small wound on his head) when we were not around and now he spends his time avoiding her, and making sure he does not get in her way or in any way piss her of. He still looks at her but the attitude is 180, now it is about watching her to make sure he can get out of her way quickly.

Brodys aggression issues, I think were resource guarding issues and a lack of leadership so he had decided to be in charge and learned that he could control situations by making ugly faces at people. He was re-homed because his owner passed and his widow did not feel she could cope with him, both the level his activity and the aggression. They were an inactive couple in their late 60s who fell in love with an adorable puppy, they were experienced dog owners but had no idea what they were getting into with a border collie. If his human had not died he would never have been re-homed and they would have just continued to deal with the problem in their own way. I have been in the fortunate position that once he came to live with us, they have been great about sharing all sorts of information so we were not fumbling in the dark trying to figure out were he was coming from. They were just not quiet as upfront when we went to meet him and bring him home.

Thanks for everybody's input, it has given me lots to think about, trying to find a work around the crate. Brody has not been in a crate since he came to live with us over a year ago, the only reason I know about the aggression is when I described his behavior in the truck to his previous family they told me he had done the same thing in his crate, and then I got a confession on how bad the problem had been (he was a seething mass of teeth and snarling when people came near the window, gas stations, supermarkets etc). They used to take him to pow wows where they sold jewelry, had the full RV set-up, Brody crated and on a long leash with his crate. It was in this setting that he started getting aggressive so you can see the similarity to an agility trial and why I do not want to bring back that setting. He has not exhibited any signs of aggression in the truck for months and I do not want to re-introduce him to the idea that he can be mean, hence no crate I don't want any memory flash backs to his previous life. Outside of the truck he has always been a great dog, social with dogs, people, great with kids not a single mean bone.

Thanks for the suggestions, I have been reading the thread about keeping the car cool, that is what triggered this post. I was curious how other people handled this, I figured I could not be the only person who does not crate their dog. At the trials I attended I think all the dogs except the teacups who were in a x-pen were crated. Keeping him with me is not really an option although not obvious he does need the peace and quiet of the truck (its an Isuzu Trooper) between runs, in his everyday life he spends alot of time hanging out in it with my husband, they go to work together and depending on weather conditons the truck is wide open and he comes and goes as he pleases, and when he is tired and needs a break he jumps in and takes a nap, for him the Isuzu has become an oversize crate. He is a very social animal and wants to meet all the dogs and people, and so gets over stimulated. The 2 trials I have been to I used a combination of truck time and time spent with me, I don't think I could press-gang any of my friends into coming with me all day, most of them think spending this much time training a dog is slightly weird and my husband has his own activities. I don't think an x-pen would work as I think he would just jump out, and if it had a cover it would just be a crate. And sadly the RV is just not in the budget.

I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out the best way to keep Brody my 4 year old during agility trials, we have only been to 2 so far but the last was unseasonably hot. Here is the problem, Brody was crate and truck aggressive when we got him a little over a year ago. He has not been crated since we got him and he no longer shows any aggression when he is in the truck, so after much disscusion my husband and I don't think it is a good idea to crate him and reintroduce the source of his anxiety. So what to do at trials? I am thinking of putting the dog guard back in and leaving him on the back seat with the windows open to the point he can't jump out and the back door open.... But I am really open to suggestions.

these are all just lovely stories, made me smile with my coffee this morning. thank you for sharing

I just want to add my thanks as well, sometimes topics can get heated and often on subjects I have never given any thought to, and provides some great insight into the politics of the Border Collie world. Other times I have read posts and the light bulb has gone off, and some slightly strange behavior or habit makes sense.

wishing you both all the best ...

The great mystery, I have always wondered about this, my GSDx loves kids (we don't have any) they can do anything and I really do mean anything to her. My current Border Collie had snapped at everyone in his previous family except the grand children who he loved and apparently never so much as curled a lip at them, we won't get into what he did to the adult members. That said my last Border Collie lived in fear of children, as long as they stayed at least 18" away everything was fine, but he hated being touched by them and used to get snappy, if an adult or large child had done the same thing he would have wagged his tail.

Ditto to what everyone else has said. Just want to add my 14 year old GSDx who is a therapy dog would have reacted in the same manner, put up with the nonsense for a little while, then snapped.