alligande

What a horrible thing to experience. I have had 5 male border collies both rescues and from reputable breeders and luckily have never experienced epilepsy. As an agility competitor I have lots of friends with them and only 1 has had experience with it. The issue is out there but there are far more healthy border collies than ones with the disease.

You just never know, it is one of the fun surprises I was convinced my youngster would have prick ears, his 2 litter mates that were still at the breeders when I got him already have straight pointy ears, drake has ended up with perfect prick ears that would do a show border collie proud. Not that my mad ISFS sheepdog would ever see the inside of a show ring. 

This is a group that supports the philosophy that border collies should only be bred for their stock working ability so is the wrong venue to ask about both an AKC bred dog or a purpose bred mix breed. 

Canine fitness could be a possibility, just be careful and follow a good program. The dogs learn new behaviors to be able to do the different exercises, and you get the benefit of building their strength up. But if not following a good program you can hurt the dog.
Therapy dog work is a great suggestion, I started doing reading with kids with my 13 year old GSDx she loved it.

just learning tricks is great for the their minds. 

On 7/13/2023 at 9:36 PM, Journey said:

Then we have the flip side to that, what my dogs do..they bring me things all the time, gonna throw, please throw it, here how about this one, and there ends up being piles of what they deem throwable all around me..nah, we aren't playing that game 

That’s what 2 of mine do, the third doesn’t care about toys.

I agree with what the others have said, he is playing his own game, on his terms, nothing weird or unusual about that, border collies do make up their own entertainment.
We adopted a 3 year old who played fetch just like that, when we met him at his original home we were impressed how well he had trained the family to fetch for him. We don’t play fetch that way, so if he didn’t bring it back, we picked the ball up - 3 months later he played our version of fetch not his. 

The journey the two of you took together was so inspiring and the joy I felt when I saw those early videos of him at his forever home was if he had been our own foster dog, I felt so involved in Kelso's life. Thank you for writing about him and what is genuinely possible with kindness and your endless patience I learned so much from both of you. My condolences to all the people who were able to give him such a great life.

My 7 year old hates flys and is obsessed by them as well, he also hates me killing mosquitoes and freaks when I sneeze. I have found that when he is focused, doing agility, out for walks etc he is absolutely fine, its at home when its quiet that he focuses on them, and gets really bothered by them,  I think its just the noise that bugs him, although mosquitos don't bother him. I haven't really done anything about it, I have just accepted it as one of his many quirks like sitting on my head during thunder showers at night. 

Just watched the first episode on Netflix last night … 

I totally understand, our first dog was a 68lb GSDx and for the longest time I was able to get her in the back of the SUV by asking her to put her 2 front feet up, then I would boost her up. I had been talking about getting a ramp but hadn't got round to it. we finished our walk and she just wouldn't help me. Luckily it was a public park and I just waited till a man came by and I asked for help. Ironically I have ended up with 2 oversized border collies at 24kg each, one I can pick up just because of his shape the other I can as he to just physically to big. I am keeping my fingers crossed the puppy doesn't get as big. 

My boys get fish oil year round, and if needed I add coconut oil in winter. My old man was very scratchy and chewing on himself so added coconut oil back and very quickly saw an improvement 

10 hours ago, gcv-border said:

Train the dog (or pup) you have in front of you and don’t compare to other dogs. In other words, just because other pups may be able to train for 5 minutes, maybe it is too much for Luna - at this time. Experiment and try to train for 2 minutes ONLY and see how she responds. Hopefully, her brain won’t explode. At this young age, you won’t see herding behavior. The nipping is just rude puppy behavior.

Totally agree with this, my current pup is a hard working young man, but you can tell when he has crossed a threshold as he bites, when he was younger on a walks he would rush back and bite my legs, now if he is over excited he grabs my arm. It’s the only time the teeth come out, and it’s clear he needs a time out either in his crate or back on a leash. 

First she is adorable. Don’t worry to much about the crate, it will come. My current puppy (just turned 7 months) hated the crate when I bought him home at 9 weeks. Full melt down. He came from a farm and his puppy kennel, it was more like a puppy room, shared with his litter mates was large and open at the top so had never been enclosed. 
I got him a play pen and that was his space, he had a crate in the car initially complaining bitterly but he accepted that and transitioned to a bigger one in the back easily when the time came. Just before Christmas we transitioned him from the play pen to a large crate as he wasn’t safe in there any more and he wasn’t bothered by the transition. We have played some crate games, I had them outside and if he didn’t get his meals in training, he ate in the crate. 
He was also water obsessed and still occasionally plays with it, but has grown out of it and his water intact became normal, he was never deprived just went through a puppy phase.

15 minutes ago, Journey said:

Ah, my understanding is there is no DNA test for the color "seal". His furnishings are normal pup fuzz..I wonder if the color is his undercoat and it's showing as he's not done with new coat growth from the original puppy shed?

that's what we thought when he started changing as he obviously had most of his puppy coat, but he is just getting browner as more adult coat comes in. It just a wait and see situation. Will check back in a couple of months and see where we are 

I couldn't share this before as the original is too big. This was on our way home from Holland, it really was a trip of trains, planes and automobiles and for a dog raised in the country he took it all in his stride. 4 countries, 2 trains and a plane ride ... 

I just took this as the sun was shining on him just right to show the brown. You can see the brown fur running through the black coat on his shoulders and hips. The top of his back is a gorgeous black. I don't care what color he is, I love a bit of individuality, probably why I am always attracted to tris. It was just strange to see my black puppy going brown! When he is around dog people, I get strange looks and asked what color is he 

she looks gorgeous, congratulations 

All my other photos are 2 big to upload easily from my phone, this was his first meeting of a yoghurt pot

On 12/9/2022 at 5:00 PM, D'Elle said:

Just to be sure I have this right...it's only the black fur turning brown, right? So now he is looking like a brown and white dog?

It would be interesting to find out if there were red or brown in the grandparents  or even great grandparents. Genetics can do funny things. Maybe there's a brown in the bitch's parentage which combined with her tri and made this happen.

And yes.....post photos!! I need puppy photos!

 

He is now a black, brown and white dog, still predominately black and white, but has brown highlights around is neck and feathers. I have the bitch and sires 5 generation pedigrees and see the color going back 3 generations and no brown or red, lots of tris. Puppy photos to follow 

23 hours ago, Journey said:

Are you sure the brown you're seeing isn't puppy fuzz that he hasn't shed off yet?

That’s what we thought initially but he is getting browner not less. Plus the puppy fuzz has gone and his adult coat is starting to show. 

I bought home a black and white 9 week old puppy, and now I have a 5.5 month old one who is partially brown, and weekly seems to be continuously changing, which seems really weird to me. I didn't know they could change color. His  mum is a tri, dad is B&W none of the litter had any brown on them. He comes from a very reputable (and famous) European ISDS working breeder. He is a super pup and I could not be more pleased with him, but the color change is strange and wondered if any one had any experience. I did ask my vets about it and they had no ideas. 

Lots of good advice, but I have decided sometimes you just can’t win with paws. My 6 year old simply hates his paws being touched, I have tried everything and there is no touching his toes he has been like this since a puppy. Once a year he goes to the vets is sedated and has his claws done, I have done all my other dogs claws but he is simply not having it. It’s enough of a trauma to give them a good hair cut so he doesn’t look like a yeti. I don’t like the length of his claws especially for agility but this is the compromise I have reached. 

I am not familiar with the proctol, but took a quick google hunt. My suspicion is your dog is not relaxed, obviously has a great stay, but isn’t relaxed. A dog barking is not relaxed. 

On 9/23/2022 at 6:16 AM, Nuance said:

 

I have a question,

What is your dog saying to you when it is fearful / afraid of a noise?

Comfort me? help me? secure me? drug me? love me? What exactly do people take out of a dogs fear of noises?

* when i am startled or spooked by a noise what do i do? turn around and look for what startled me. Dogs on the other hand, can get startled and have no idea where to look. This is where you need to step in and show them to look to you.

"its all good!" and move on.

My dogs learn to read me and re act off of me....I am my dogs rock, if i am not bothered than she isn't either.

Our life is fully off leash, in the city. The sound pollution is staggering and relentless. 

 

Then I suspect you have never had the misfortune to share your life with a dog who is phobic of noise. When your 24kg border collie wakes you in the middle of night by sitting on your head due to a bad thunder storm, he doesn’t want to hear it’s all good. He wants the storm to stop. This is a dog that confidently travels on ferries, is not scared of escalators or elevators, goes anywhere and everywhere but fireworks and thunder are in a different league. 
This is another of your rather unhelpful and rather judgemental posts

21 hours ago, D'Elle said:

Just another vote on this, to agree with the above. I had a fetch-obsessed border collie and it worked for us, but only because I was at all times in complete control of what, when, where, for how long, and all other aspects to the play. He got what he loved daily, we both loved it, and it was never a problem. I was able to use it as a reward for extra hard things he did for me. 

But oh my gosh if I had given him an automatic thrower....it would have been a catastrophe. I wouldn't have been able to get him away from that, or interested in doing all the other things we did together,  for anything in the world. I basically would have lost my dog.

We let ours play with balls as well, he gets to play his favourite game but on limited access. When we have had him the UK, he is a master at attempting to steal others balls, and we would always be asked why don’t you have one, why not throw him a ball, hard to explain in a quick sentence that he is more relaxed, happy dog having a sniff and explore walk.