NickyHannah

Yea, it is very hard even it's not your dog. Same goes for me. I always flinch or "Eeek!" whenever I see the animals, dogs or cats ran across the street or too close. My previous Border Collie always take off and want to roam around but we cannot allow her to do that b/c of lousy traffic. She was very lucky that she never got hit by a car b/c she was so close and idiots don't even stop or slow down around her every time she was standing next to the road!!! I remember one time I was so late for work b/c there was a Border Collie kept chasing my car and went front of my car every single time and of course, I have to stop until she gets out of the way but it kept repeating it so I finally got out of the car and chase her back to where she was belong. Obviously, that owner do not know anything about Border Collie b/c I always seeing her in the backyard and tie up on the "run" and she was going crazy b/c nobody is helping her to keep herself "busy" with like balls, Frisbee or taking her a long walk to help her mind to be stable or whatever you call it. A lot of people don't understand that you can't just drive on and assume the dog will get sense to get out of the way. Some dogs are smart to stay away from the cars or get out of the way but unfortunately, too many dogs do not have good sense of "danger" around the car that will kill them or hurt them badly. UGH! I pray it will never happen to my dogs especially my dog Hannah b/c she's deaf! I have trained her that she is not allow to jump out of the car with the door open until I said so. She is so good with the rule!!! I did the same thing with her big brother but once a while he jumped out of the car without permission b/c he's not very good with patience all the times. Aah. I wish it was easier with Nicky! Once a while I deliberately (when there is no traffic or distraction) leave the door when it's open and told him to "wait" b/c I want to reminding him that he's not to forget that he have to wait until I said so not him to decide. I just want to make it habit for him to automatically to wait for me until I said "okay". With Hannah, I give her hand signal like a gentleman open the door for a lady and gesture to her to get out of the car with a left hand from right to left sideway gesture. I don't know how to explain it well. Am I making sense? Anyway, some families I work for who have a dog(s) and I always make sure they're in safe even I have to look for them when they took off or escape from the fence yard not just the kids I take care of. I can't just ignore the cats or dogs if they're in trouble while I'm taking care of the kids. Sorry for my babbling!!! Sometimes I get little carry away with the stories or whatever. Anyway, I'm so sorry to hear about that Border Collie. Even I don't even know what she looks like or belong to and it's make me sad. I also thinking about other Border Collies as well.

Shetland ~ Thanks for the advice! Yes, my dog Nicky had experienced with heatstrokes last Fall. It was kind of scary experience! It's so strange that time it was in evening and the air was very cool enough to make goose bumps on my arms but he collapsed with heatstroke twice (this is the first dog I have experienced with heatstrokes and the previous dogs I have never have heatstrokes) and I forced him to lie down for a long time and I put the water on his head and I think on his body (I can't remember if I did) and put some in his mouth to cool him off careful. I was lucky that he didn't died from it at that time. I never play very long with him if it's hot and humid. Someone told me on this board last Fall the way you know when you stop your Border Collies when their tongue turning to curl at the edge of the tongue. I always watch that after that. Even I watched that and my mother is still scolding me about Nicky panting too hard. I was like and told her "OH, he should not have panting at all?! The reason he panting a lot was b/c the body is cooling off and he was running very fast to catch the Frisbee!!!" I told her it's good that he's panting so his body is cooling off and it's suppose to do! The reason I was asking before about how long to play with him. So, I'll just have to tell my mother nicely "HUSH!" and stop being so difficult when I know what I'm doing. I have told her that I have talk with you guys recently and last Fall, too. I think she forgot all about it last Fall that I told her what someone told me about the tongue sign. Aaah! I wish it was easier! :0) I don't know.

When I was young my mother told me so hilarious story about our dog (she's half german shepherd and half golden retriever) Shadow. One day my mother made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and left it on the plate on the kitchen counter. My siblings and I were not around at that time but my mother went by and took a double check on the plate and realized one cookie is missing. Later she went by again and took another double check b/c another cookie is missing and she double-checked to see if one of us are around and then for some reason she looked at our dog and thought "Nah. Shadow couldn't take it herself" so she had to go out again and then came back and caught our dog in red-handed. Shadow put her long tongue to lift the cookie to put her tongue slide under it and then very carefully slide the cookie off the plate into her mouth! My mother could not believe it how neat she did on her own and that's explained it why she didn't think Shadow could have done that b/c usually dogs made a big mess!!! LOL So she scolded Shadow very strict not to touch it again so we always make sure it's away from the edge of the counter or put somewhere she cannot reach it. Aah. What a mischief she was! So days later we heard a horrible news on the radio that owner of the dog who died want the radio host to warn many people about how bad the chocolate can effect the dog b/c one day she left a opened bag of chocolate chips on the counter while she was preparing making ingredients together before you put the chocolate chips but her dog jumped up and ate the whole bag of chocolate chips and half an hour her dog died. We realized that we were very lucky that didn't happen to our dog. Whew. Unfortunately, couple years later she got hit by a car and left it there to died and drove off and not bothering to call the police or anyone not even us where our house is happened to be across the street. We were greatly disappointed in that person who left her there to died. Oh, well. I hope it will never happens again.

I have a question. How long can you play the ball or Frsibee with your dog and when it's enough is enough to stop? I know it's silly but my mother is an old-fashioned woman. She thinks it's strain on his heart b/c he was panting when I only play the ball or/and Frisbee for about ten to fifteen minutes!!! I kept telling her the reason why he was so panting b/c he was running a lot and his body is trying to cool it off like air-conditioner inside the body and nothing to do with straining on his heart. He's TWO years old for cry out aloud! Yes, if he had a heart problem like previous Border Collie we had and I wouldn't make him too hard on playing the ball or/and Frisbee. I figured he was panting more (he's my third Border Collie) b/c he's big and heavy that he have to carry extra weight from running so much than my first Border Collie who does panting but she seemed to know how to control of herself than my third Border Collie who happens to be a male and only weight 51 pounds. My fourth Border Collie (she's hearing impaired) is a female and only weight 30 pounds and she does panting but she is so light and does not carry extra weight as her big brother does. What do you think? When I mentioned to someone who does not have a dog yet but she's pediatrician so she knows a lot about heart and breathing. She said he will stop when he get tired which my dog does when I wear him out from playing a ball or/and Frisbee. The reason I ask you guys who have Border Collies and tell me what you think so I get my mother off my back b/c she always scold me for wearing him out. Am I making sense? Please let me know since I'm hearing impaired and I'm not very good with the grammer! :0) Thanks!

I will never take my two Border Collies or any other families' dog(s) to the park or beach if there are too many dogs. I always seem to be lucky almost every time I take my dogs to the common in several different towns and there aren't any dog around or just one dog at a time which is fine with me that I can manage it if something happens. I'm sorry to hear about the dog was killed especially any dog was killed. Remember even if you don't know the name of owner(s) or license. Always remember the details on his clothes, his descriptions and what kind of dog including special mark(s) and the color of the collar so that's why Police officers can keep their eyes out for him or her and when that person does come back or around that area they can always catch him or her or call them if you see him or her again but always in private so he or she will not knowledge what you were doing.

Yes, the reason I can recognize her needs is b/c I'm also hearing impaired so I know what it's like for her and the Breeder does, too, since he also is hearing impaired. When previous owner (who happened to be his friend) found out that Hannah lost some hearing loss caused by ear infections when she was a small pup and the owner asked the Breeder to put her down for them b/c they couldn't do it but the Breeder refused to put her down and he took her (he usually don't take the pup(s) back) to his farm to prevent it. The reason the owner thought to put her down b/c she was hard to deal with and hard to wake her up and couple other things I forget what. He couldn't find anybody who wants a hearing impaired dog until a year later I contacted him and asked about the puppies available but he does not b/c he already sold out the puppies last Spring. I asked him about Hannah b/c there was a picture of Hannah on his website and I asked him if she is Nicky's little sister when I noticed that both my dogs have same parents and he said yes. He said he was willing to give me her if I'm interesting. I thought I'll give it try. I did not find hard to deal with her and it was not difficult to wake her up. I noticed that she have a very good sense of smell b/c one morning I was trying to sneaking by without making a noise so I get ready before I wake her up b/c her nose pick up my sense pretty quick!! She recognizes my smell and woke up and so exciting to meet me! I thought "Darn! I was hoping to get ready first!" b/c I don't take her out for her potty and she'll have accidents. I realized she doesn't know how to tell me when she needs to go out like my other dog Nicky does. Funny, Nicky stop doing that when he needs to go out b/c every time he barks and she ran over and barks at him for barking! Silly girl! She doesn't understands yet why Nicky does that. Oh, brother! What a challenge I'm going to face for many years (not that I'm complaining but it's kind of hard sometimes b/c she cannot hear some) with her!! I forget. Did someone on this board told me who have deaf dog and blind dog, too? What hand signals have you done for your deaf dog? Hannah is doing very well in her training class (I forget the name of it) but after three classes the trainer and I realized she was getting bored with simple commands that she was doing very well and the trainer just asked me to move her to the next level (intermediate class) b/c she wants to keep Hannah's brain going and she's very smart dog. She did the great job at the first class of intermediate class last Sunday. Boy, people kept surprising how well Hannah is doing and how surprising that Hannah is hard of hearing. I guess you don't hear deaf dogs very often. I was just thinking now. I figured it was hard to deal with Hannah was maybe b/c she was a puppy and they might not have hearing dog with her. It's make a big difference to have hearing dog with hearing impaired or deaf dog b/c they take "cue" from the hearing dog. Hannah took some cues from Nicky depends on what is it.

Tassie ~ "frantic grass-grabbing anxiety behavior"? Do you mean when the dog took a big bite and pull the grass off the ground? I just had a second Border Collie over a month ago and she's hard of hearing. She happens to be my other dog Nicky's little sister. She's now 18 months old and her big brother is 2 years old. We had Border Collies before but I never had experiences with a dog who grabbed the grass in her mouth and pulled it off the ground! I wonder if that is had to do with anxiety after I read what you said "frantic grass-grabbing anxiety behavior". Hannah does that while I was throwing a Frisbee to Nicky and I thought "I should have brought the ball with me to keep her busy with it instead of obession (the right word?) with the grass. I know some bad habits are not good for Border Collies. I also have another problem with Hannah that she's obession with shadows everywhere we move but I poked her shoulder every time to distracting her. I realized it's going to take longer b/c I have to work three full days a week and I can't correct her when she does that. My parents won't do it for me. They don't understand it is not good for her or any Border Collie. Well, I'm doing the best as I can with Hannah. I'm teaching her hand signals since she cannot hear the voices but can hear very loud. I can't keep talking so loud next to her all the times so I have to teach her hand signals. She and I go to the training class when I found out Nicky's dog trainer have experienced training the deaf dogs and I can't do it by myself at the beginning b/c my mother and I don't see eye to eye so the dog trainer is helping me and also I can teach Hannah to get use to stranger dogs b/c she doesn't have socializes with stranger dogs outside the farm all her life. Aah. Big challenge!

RaisingRiver ~ Thank you very much!! Oh, my! I didn't think Border Collies can get heat strokes in very chilly evening in the Fall after playing the Frisbee. Yes, I have noticed about the spoon shape tongues but never knew about the tongue symptom. I'll stop him when his tongue is starting to have a spoon shape again. I usually bring the bottles of water only if we go out of town but we went to across the street from my house (no bushes or trees are in the way) but I'll bring it, anyway, to keep him cool inside his body. I'm so glad that he was okay b/c I was freaked out and was very upset about the whole situation. The reason I was so upset b/c it reminded me a lot of our previous Border Collie who died of heart failure two years ago that she got it from her father who have heart failure, too. Anyway, do you do the agility for your dogs? I was told it was expensive to have agility lessons but I don't know how expensive is it. I'll probably have to figure out the way how to teach my dogs new tricks beside Frisbee and the balls. Was it difficult to train the dogs to do agility by yourself?

This is my first time on this board about Border Collies. I have a question and hopefully, someone can tell me. I have two Border Collies. One of them I have him for two years since he was 9 weeks old pup and he first learned how to catch the Frisbee in the air when he was about 3 months old. He loves to play Frisbee and the balls. Last Saturday was the first time it ever happened to me that my dog collapsed and his body was like whole muscles was spasms twice after playing with Frisbee. I thought I might have either playing Frisbee with him too long or he (I just heard about it and it never occur to me before b/c I'm hearing impaired so I can't hear their breathing or air) gulp too much cold damp air every time he catches the Frisbee? How long playing the Frisbee with Border Collies is long enough? I know that some Border Collies don't know when to stop until someone force them to stop. Does anyone have deaf or hard of hearing Border Collies? I'm very surprised to learn that current expert is Vergil Holland!! B/c we bought a puppy from him back in 1985 in Ipswich, MA and her name was Skippie. She was our first Border Collie. She was the best watch dog we ever have and she was the best dog we ever have, too! She was very protective of all of us, protective our cats (she always round up our five cats together into like a herd like a sheep every time she sees the cats come together after I called their names to time to come in b/c we don't let the cats out at night b/c of wild animals), every time our chicken(s) get lose and she herd them back into the chicken house, chased the stranger dogs off on our property, she stays on our property no matter what (we didn't have fence all the way around at that time) and so on. We didn't teach her to do that b/c she was about 5 months old when we got her and she already learned it from her parents Robin and Sugar.