dancinbcs

I calculated out the price of buying and owning a Border Collie for 15 years at about $25,000 or close to $140 per month averaged over a lifetime. That includes purchase, food, vets costs, chiropractor, worming, heartworm, flea and tick prevention in a tick area and everything else including grooming products and eventual euthanasia and cremation, provided there are no major illnesses or accidents before old age. If the dog is a show or performance dog you can double that figure for training, entry fees, travel and accomodation. If you are not in a tick area take off about $15-$20 per month. Apart from initial puppy vaccinations most vet bills will be in the senior years. Most of my oldies have run up about an average of about $1000 a year on medications in their last 2 or 3 years plus they need more tests and x-rays but vet visits are rare as younger dogs for most of them.

If you were at eye level and made eye contact with the dog, it may have seen you are threatening. The dog was probably giving off stress signals that you and the dog owner did not recognise and it has finally you a warning snap. Lesson learnt never have your face at the dogs head level unless you know the dog really well. Dogs can snap just like horses can kick so if you are going to be around them you have to expect that things might happen and be careful to not put yourself in a position to get harmed. A similar but much worse incident happened on a live news broadcast in the states a year or so ago when the newsreader was badly bitten and needed reconstructive surgery. She probably had her head closer than you did so sustained more damage. Everyone who knows dog behaviour could see this warning bite coming. Both you and the dog owner need to learn a lot more about dog body language. Thankfully the owner was watching enough to snatch the dog away before it did any damage. Personally I wouldn't report him. Hopefully he got a shock as well and will not put the dog in that position again. Put it down to experience that may one day save you from a much more serious dog bite.

Keep looking for a tick and get her to a vet if she has been in a tick area. A strange bark can indicate a tick a couple of days before they collapse.

The mature eye exam/gonioscopy (ACES exam) in BCs is an example of this sort of test to contribute to a database. According to the opthalmologist who did my boy, the angles revealed by this are not an absolute predictor of glaucoma, but may be - and in any case, as it's not a hugely expensive test anyway, it's worth doing, IMO to add to the store of knowledge. We are lucky in BCs that the mode of inheritance of CEA, CL and TNS is simple autosomal recessive, so we can DBA test and be confident what we're dealing with, and retain a wider gene pool. Proud to say that blood from my CEA affected girlie (from before the availability of the test) contributed to the late Dr Alan Wilton's amazing work to identify those genes. What did you pay for the adult eye test? Last time I enquired a few years ago it was about $170 for a full Aces eye exam and gonioscopy combined and they would not do the gonioscopy on it's own. I am not at all convinced that the gonioscopy is really of any use in predicting glaucoma and neither are our ACES vets as they have not issued a recommendation for it as a screening test. The database of test results is growing all the time but there are still only 8 cases of glaucoma reported and 5 of them are share the same sire or grandsire. Despite the prediction by one just opthalmologist that dogs who fail the gonioscopy are much more likely to develop glaucoma, the numbers are not supporting that theory at all but the database does look like it will be useful to disprove the theory.

Sometimes they can be down then retract and not come down again. I know of a litter with two males at the 6 week vet check confirmed one puppy had testicles fully descended and the other only had one. Taken back at 8 weeks to check again, for some reason the breeder took both males and the puppy who had been fine now had no testicles down and his brother still had one and that is how they stayed. So the breeder of this Aussie may have been correct in stating the testicles were down but I still think they should take the puppy back and refund given that they went back up and stayed there. I would not be waiting any longer. I have only ever heard of three dogs were the testicles did descend later but I would still never breed from a dog who does not have them down by 8 weeks.

Beware that cheap chain leads do not have welded links and can come apart easily. I never use harnesses and think flat collars are dangerous for walking as it is too easy for them to get out of them. Head collars are also easy for them to escape from. Martingales are all I ever walk them on and slip chains or combo leashes for show training only.

I never ever use flat collars. Too easy for a startled puppy to suddenly back out of one. I always use a martingale collar that can never slip over their head. Teaching them to walk without pulling has nothing to do with the collar, it is about training.

Watch her very carefully as it could be the start of eclampsia which is an emergency. It is unlikely without a large litter but anything is possible. I would be calling the vet now and going on their advice. By 4 days many bitches do not want to spend much time with their babies, apart from feeding and cleaning them so I would be wary of locking her in with the puppy.

Most dogs with heavy hanging ears don't need any taping and neither do most breeds with pricked ears, it is the in between ones that can have problems. If the ears are set wrong they can never be corrected so the ear set and the thickness of the ear cartilage can be detected in a baby puppy but apart from that you never really know what ears they are going to have until they finish teething. While teething the ears can change position by the day but if they stay in the wrong position for too long the shape can be ruined forever. Some Border Collie breeders tape all show puppy's ears. I prefer to wait until they are teething at 4 months to see what the ears are likely to do naturally. A lot can just be left alone if the ears are coming on nicely, some just need massaging if they prick during teething and others need to be taped. Some only need one ear taped to make it match the other one. I had one puppy who's ears used to take it in turns to be taped. She had perfect ears but sometimes one would collapse and I would tape it for a week or two. Take the tape off and I had a perfect ear again. A few weeks later the other one would collapse and the cycle would be repeated. She had a small piece of tape on one ear or the other for many months until the ears strengthened. The ears continue to lift throughout the dogs life. I have had two males with high rose type ears who ended up with perfect semi-erect ears by the age of 7 years. I never taped either of them, they just lifted very slowly. Aussie Shepherd ears are totally wrong on a BC as are pricked ears. They must have lift at the base and a fold in them to make them very mobile without being pricked. So any height from a rose type ear to slightly tipped and anything in between is correct. My personal preference is half up and half over, tipping slightly to the side.

Yes, other animals can carry them but the bandicoots are the main host and usually a good indication that ticks are around. Ticks like a humid temperate climate, not too hot or cold and not dry. The ACT is usually quite dry but has had a lot of rain over the last couple of years so is much more humid than normal. Ticks could easily have been carried from the coast and established there while the weather is favourable. When the next drought comes they will probably die off again. We do not get ticks in the SW corner of Sydney because we are in a rain shadow and it is much dryer here than the rest of the metro area where ticks are prevalent. We often watch storms on the radar and see them split so they miss us, going north and south of us before heading out to sea.

Stefmar are often cheapest on a lot of things. I would never buy from overseas as you have no guarantee that the product you are buying is genuine. Better to stick to somewhere here that actually has a retail store and happens to sell online as well.

Sale would be a normal tick area. Anywhere up to 30-50 kms inland from the east coast, all the way down to Wilsons Promontory get them, depending on vegetation and bandicoots. Plus a few inland odd spots that they have probably been carried to and settled in. I am in the only corner of Sydney metro area that doesn't have ticks because it gets too cold, hot and dry for them here and we have never had bandicoots.

The spot ons work their way into the lymph system and spread through the skin, so lack of hair follicles shouldn't matter it would be more the sensitivity of the Crestie's skin that would be a problem.

Yes, everyone has the same problem if they are inside and I know what it is like for it to be too hot for them to go out. The only solution normally is to have them outside on wood shavings. Stops the mess, smell and flies and poos can easily be collected with a pooper scooper but it isn't a solution for inside.

Mostly Pitbull crossbred types, a few Amstaffs, Rotties, SWFs, Husky/Malamute types and small terrier mix mutts. It is rare to see a purebred anything except Amstaffs and Rotties, even the odd SBT stands out as most of the mutts around here are descended from all the Pitbulls that flooded this area, so are larger than SBTs.

If the lump is near the base of the neck it could also be lymphoma.

I don't know of any dogs with Lymphoma who have lived longer than 12 months, regardless of treatment, chemo or alternative. One who had $33,000 worth of chemo still only survived 12 months and was very ill for much of that time.

If you haven't treated the property no amount of chemicals on the dogs will fix the problem. Flea bomb the house and spray the yard if need be. Keep grass very short.

Looking at the photos again, Maple's coat doesn't look too bad but photos can be deceiving. Have you tried brushing him yet? That much coat will need a thorough brush through at least twice a week and must be brushed in layers from underneath. If you do not know how to line brush a coat then you probably need to pay a groomer to teach you how to do it but do not leave it too long. A week can make the difference between an easy to groom coat and a complete matted mess. If he is likely to freak out with a groomer you might have to learn how to bath, dry and properly groom him yourself but never bath a JS that has not first been completely brushed through or you will cause the coat to turn to felt as soon as it gets wet. It isn't hard to groom a JS once you are shown and JS don't need a lot of bathing as the coats shed dirt, so once every couple of months or so is fine but the brushing is vital. The right grooming tools are also essential. I use a top quality Mason Pearson bristle and nylon brush but you can also use a soft slicker brush. Then you need a really wide toothed "Collie comb". A grooming spray or conditioner diluted in a spray bottle makes the whole process much easier. Dampen the coat slightly with the spray then starting at one back leg, brush in small layers working your way forward. Each hair must be brushed from the skin out. Do the other side and the belly then run the Collie comb through to check for any tangles and brush them out from the tips back to the skin. It should take about 30 min with a full coat but can take hours if the coat has been neglected.

My JS digs the floor to try to get attention and to tell me he is hungry. When I am getting his dinner ready he frantically digs at the kitchen mat. Sometimes he does it when I am getting our dinner, to let me know he wants some of that as well. If he is being ignored he will start trying to dig a hole in the carpet as he knows it gets a reaction. He also digs before lying down sometimes and loves to dig in the yard. He has done it from 8 weeks and I have never had another dog do it before.

Poor you and Maple. I would be finding another vet for the future. I cannot believe the vet did a purely optional DNA test on a dog that was that stressed and frightened. The tests for breed are not very reliable but it is done now so will be interesting to see what it says. JS can be very aloof with strangers unless very heavily socialised as young babies and as a breed there are a lot of timid ones. Mine happens to be the opposite and is very bold for a JS but they are not all like that. Food wise I have never even had a full grown Border Collie that needed that much dry food. It is an enormous amount of food. My little 6.5 kg JS eats a lot for his small size because he is on the go all the time and is extremely active even compared to other JS. He is a weird eater, sometimes being hungry and other times not at all and it is a constant battle to keep any weight on him. On average he gets a small handful of dry food for breakfast. For dinner he gets 100gms of mince, raw veges and brown rice mixture and 100gms of turkey neck or chicken wing pieces. He eats nearly two thirds of what I feed to my 25kg Border Collie but is the much more active dog.

Only for breeds with compulsory hip scoring and even then you can get anyone to score them, not just the AVA. I don't know anyone who uses the AVA as they can take up to 6 weeks and you have no idea who from the panel with do the scoring, so no consistency of results. Most Border Collies are done without GA (if they will co operate)and scored now by Rawlinson who can have a turnaround of as little as 24 hours. This still gives you an official hip score certificate. We all used to use Wyburn so the results were consistent and now he has retired everyone uses Rawlinson.

Is there any chance she could have a paralysis tick? Altered voice is the first sign, followed by wobbly legs. If you are not in a tick area, has anyone visited from one as they can be carried on other dogs, cars, clothes, etc. Other possibilities are laryngeal paralysis or something wrong with her lungs.

He is supposed to only be 11 months. At that age mine was still bouncing off the walls and destroying his toys all day. Even now at two he is on the go most of the day and runs zoomies at least once a day.

That doesn't sound good. With two littermates affected it could be TNS which is something they will not find unless they do a bone marrow biopsy. This is why it went undiagnosed in BCs for so many years. The symptoms varied with whatever infection the dog had so no two were exactly the same. Similar conditions are common in many species so it is highly likely that breeds other than BCs will also carry genes for TNS like conditions. Sick Border Collie pup