NC_Y2K9

This is not my dog, but one I had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot for. Such a handsome boy!

I have a "My Border Collie is smarter than your honor student" sticker.

I lost a pair of glasses to the nefarious clutches of my 6-month old puppy, Dexter, last week. They were right by my head when I was sleeping and I didn't hear a thing! So now I'm wondering what else goes on around here while I'm snoozing and oblivious?

...and I raise my bottle of locally brewed amber ale and offer to share (I don't have resource guarding issues like Jin and Mookie...LOL)

I'd worry about whatever additives might be in the commercial seed products. Maybe an all-natural, non-chemical blend?

I nearly spit my coffee out, laughing at that one. LOL!

That's so funny, Mary -- nearly the exact same thing happened here with 2 of my gang. We switched to Evo which is high protein...but didn't really cut down on the intake part or increase the activity part. I thought they were looking a little pudgy, but when we visited my parents for Easter last weekend, Dad remarked, "Those dogs have gained 15 lbs!" Whoops. Guess it's smaller portions for us and longer walkies! *typing as I look at the empty bag of mini doughnuts on my desk from this morning's breakfast*

Sparky is adorable!! He's so lucky to have found you! I, too, will let others with more experience comment and give suggestions, but I know the city-living can be done. I managed 3 dogs in an apartment for two years (one was a Border Collie). My next door neighbor in the same building had two Border Collies. All dogs were happy and healthy!

Info on Rico here Rico can fetch a new object he's never seen before by process of elimination. There's a video of it somewhere but I couldn't locate it. "This [Rico's ability] tells us he can do simple logic . . . It's like he's saying to himself, 'I know the others have names, so this new word cannot refer to my familiar toys. It must refer to this new thing.' Or it goes the other way around, and he's thinking, 'I've never seen this one before, so this must be it.' He's actually thinking." Then there's Betsy, from Austria: "Betsy has a vocabulary of more than 340 words,[3] which rivals that of humanity's closest relative, the great ape, in terms of intelligence and lateral thinking. After hearing a word only twice, Betsy is able to decipher that the sound is a command or instruction and regards it as such.[6] Betsy is believed to learn in the same way that human toddlers do, if not faster.[1] Betsy is capable of interpreting the correlation between a two-dimensional photograph and the object it depicts, and is able to retrieve the item simply by seeing the image, despite never having seen the depicted object or the photograph before." The National Geographic channel had a show titled Dog Genius many months ago - really neat show. I couldn't find the video anywhere but here's the main NG site for it

I'm having a repeat test done to speak more to the worm load, if possible. The original test was at the humane society which is WONDERFUL but not the same as a regular vet as far as giving details for each patient. I've also learned since the original post that the prices for the immiticide vary greatly just in a 50-mile radius. I think I can swing it, so fingers/paws crossed on a speedy recovery!

Posting this here in case there's any interest. This foster dog came to me after a couple of well-intentioned but poorly organized college students pulled the dog from a kill shelter. I offered to foster her for them but then never heard back from then again (emails went unanswered, etc.). A few days later I saw an ad on the local craigslist where the same students were asking for funding to help with vet bills for a puppy in their care that had contracted parvo. After emailing them to ask if they were planning to notify me so I could be extra vigiliant with my foster dog, the truth came out. They had one pup contract parvo and die right before they emailed me for help. They had 2 other pups in the car with them when they brought Ella to me for foster. After all of that drama, I decided to sever ties with them and work to adopt the dog independently. I learned at her spay surgery appointment earlier this week that she is HW+. She's under a year old (or right at a year, don't know for sure), so I'm opting for the slow kill method. I'd still appreciate any help that could be provided for the treatment, extra vet visits to monitor HW status and an xray to confirm worm load. I know times are tough, but I wanted to post just in case! My fundable.com cause Here's Ella Blue:

Emission control. LOL!!! I can vouch for that as well -- not really a room-clearer post-egg experience.

hmmm....actual hard-boiled eggs would make more sense than the treat-filled plastic eggs I was planning to hide...LOL But I'm paranoid that I'd forget how many I hid until the foul stench of an unlocated egg wafted up to me days later...

I agree! Pictures, please!

^my favorite part! Cash is one adorable naked dog! LOL Thanks for these tips --- I have never had my dogs clipped, but am not opposed to it either. This explains why they love the air-conditioned house over the backyard in the heat of summer!