Gayle.

It won't change his personality but it may change, stop or reduce some hormone related behaviours. If he's a nice friendly boy before being desexed, he'll be a nice friendly boy afterwards.

Border Collies are active, intelligent puppies so think about keeping her occupied as well as feeding her. Chicken frames are good (and cheap) as part of the diet and also make them think about how to eat their meal. She won't be able to bolt it down and figuring out how best to tackle it will give her a problem to solve for a few minutes. As she gets older, you can add chicken marylands for the same purpose. Lamb offcuts are good and will keep her busy as well. Change her kibble to a better quality one......Eagle Pack, Nutrience, Pro Plan, and feed it in a Kong or an empty plastic soft drink bottle so that she has to think about how to get it out rather than just wolf it down.

I used the Sporn harness for a while with Benson and found it to be very effective. The most effective tool was a head halter (Sporn Pack Leader) but Benson was never a lunger, just a puller so not in any danger of hurting himself. The harness worked though. He did pull a bit but not hard and it was quite easy to have him by my side and praise him for being there. I feel for you, I really do. It's awful when your dog pulls so hard that you dread taking them for a walk. And you get people saying "Don't let him pull!" and "He should be walking by your side!" but it's like the dog is supposed to magically appear there so you can praise him, but when he pulls so damn hard your arm feels like it's being wrenched from the shoulder, it's a bit hard to be praising the little bastard for anything. Benson is good now, a combo of tools, training, patience and perseverance and various techniques (turn abruptly every time he pulled and walk the other way; stop and not move til the lead was slack etc) fixed him up eventually but some days I thought we were never going to get there. Now, he will move forward and I can say "Benson, don't pull" and straight away the tension goes from the lead and he's back by my side. I don't use any no-pull tools now, just a limited slip collar, which isn't for corrections but for ease of getting over his head. I don't have flat collar son my dogs for safety reasons so the limited slip collar stays attached to the lead and as soon as he sees me with it, he sticks his head forward for me to slip on.

I've just been thinking about the opening post and it dawned on me that most people wouldn't go UP in corrections, but go "down". The aim of any of these tools is to train your dog, so once trained you really shouldn't need to use more correction, your aim would be to use less, I would think.

Are you a member of an obedience club? If so, ask one of the instructors there for a few pointers on how best to proceed with corrections at the moment.

That was just an example of paying more and getting "less" features....so to speak. You and I both know it's definitely not less, but to someone who's never used an SLR camera, a side by side list of specs makes it look like the 5D is missing something. However, it more than makes up for it with it's awesomeness.

My dogs help themselves to the cat litter tray. Personally, I'd prefer they ate ash, I doubt it makes their breath stink like cat poo does.

Benson started at about 14 months (he was neutered at 4 1/2 months) with the occasional leg-lift on a tree. The first time he did it, he looked at his leg in absolute amazement....it was like "What's that doing up THERE????" Now he does it all the time outside, mostly on the trees we pass by on our walks. And he still hasn't quite come to terms with his leg having a mind of it's own.

My little old Lhasa is doing quite well on Natures Gift canned food. She doesn't have enough teeth to be battling with the bones and kibble the younger dogs get and at 14, I think she's earned the right to eat what she likes.

There isn't one SLR camera more suitable for a beginner than another. As far as their operations, they are all pretty much the same. They all have auto, programmed auto (portrait, landscape, sport etc) and various semi-auto and manual functions. The ones with the higher price tags give you a better build quality, a few more options, but in some cases, less options (the Canon 5D doesn't have an onboard flash, for example). Bigger price tag also means faster focussing (although this is very lens dependent) and faster shot to shot speeds, but if you've only ever used a compact camera, any of the SLR's, even the dog-slow ones will feel lightning fast. You already know my recommendation.

Why are you telling her off? She can't help it. She's a little baby, for goodness sake! It could take a few more months of doing what you're doing before she's reliable in the house.

The runs may have been caused by an abrupt change in diet.....with any dog, no matter the age, it's better to gradually introduce new food over the course of a week by mixing it in with the original diet. No matter, it sounds like he's settled into it now. My dogs have a combination of raw meaty bones, vegetables, cheese, eggs, Eagle Pack kibble, mince roo or beef and sardines. Their bowel movements are small, firm and infrequent...maybe once or twice a day. The better their diet, the less waste their is and the more efficiently their body uses the fuel.

Put the leash on and let her drag it around. Play with her and just do a few fun things that have nothing to do with the leash.....every now and then pick it up, hold it for a few seconds then put it down again. Act like having a leash attached is completely normal. It's just a few short steps from dragging the leash around happily to walking nicely on it.

Congrats on the pass, and I'll commiserate with you on the sit stay cos that's an identical situation to what I had with Benson a few weeks ago. I coulda cried! But on the other hand, I was extremely pleased with his lovely ring work.

When she has to go out for a wee, put her lead on her and take her out, stand her on some wet grass and while she wees, say your preferred word over and over. For Benson, or word was "toilet". Now if I need him to go before a ride in the car, I just say "toilet" and he goes. Dusty's word is "Hurry". It's a good word and she knows what it means and goes when she hears it.....except her first turn in the obedience ring when she was graduating from puppy class, she was lagging a bit behind and my daughter turned around to her and said "C'mon, hurry up" and Dusty promptly squatted down and piddled, much to my daughters horror! LOL! But a lead, a patch of wet grass and not being able to play will keep her mind on the job of going to the toilet and by saying the same word over and over, within a few days she'll link it to what you want her to do. Oh, and don't forget to make a HUGE fuss of the very clever puppy when she does her wee.

Maybe an adult dog would have been a wiser choice. Not as cute, but past the destructive, piddling, jumping baby stage. From what you've written and the lack of experience your family has with dogs, a GSD probably would have been fairly low on my list of dogs suitable for your family. A small dog might have been better....or at least smaller than a GSD or Golden Retriever. Not all small dogs are "yappy". Some big dogs are though.

I agree that it might be in everyone's best interest, including the puppy, to return her to the breeder. While everyone here on DOL loves dogs, other people have the right not to, and not to want a dog in their life and it sounds like it's a HUGE ask for your family to accept this puppy, live with her and be happy about it. Sometimes we've just got to put our families wishes before our own.

The club I go to are very much for the check chain (correction collar) but have nothing against other type of neck and head gear except for harnesses (aside from tracking) and prong collars, which are illegal in this state. If a halti works for the dog and handler, they will work with the dog, handler and halti to achieve a positive outcome for all concerned. If a correction coallr works, they will help you learn to use it for correcting gently. Not for choking the dog. I use a chain some of the time, other times I use a martingale, other times I use a flat collar. I don't want my dog to think obedient behaviour is expected when he's only wearing a certain collar.....I want him to be obedient all the time. And in that respect, my voice is the best tool.

It's highly unlikely they'll get one for that price unless they're looking at a second hand discontinued earlier model such as the Canon 300D. They would need to double their budget to look seriously at something new.

Time to resurrect this thread cos I have one of those BIG non-bragging disasters! Saturday was our clubs graduation. Benson and I were aiming for a pass from Class 2 to Class 3. Our grads are run exactly like obedience trials and the exercises are the same. Ring etiquette is expected to be adhered to and the exercises are scored as if in a trial. In fact, class 2 is the same as CCD. Benson started off like a dream. He did the best heelwork I have ever seen him do, it was absolutely beautiful. He was totally focussed, didn't leave my side, obeyed the commands immediately, sat straight, dropped straight, stood like a rock etc. etc. Very bragworthy! The stand for examination was excellent. His recall off leash was perfection itself. He even finished the recall like a pro! We were not only sitting on a pass, but were set to win the ring by a country mile. Then came the group stays. The undoing of many a fine dog, I believe. First the GSD broke, then the Aussie Bulldog got up and waddled after him. Then all the rest except the doberman, got up and joined in the play time! Instant disqualification for all but the dobe. Not only did 7 out of 8 dogs break the sit stays, they little buggers all did the sane thing in the down stays! The doberman was the only one to pass. I coulda strangled my dog. We are now working on long, solid stays with lots of distractions.

I have tried Aloveen but my personal favourite is Plush Puppy Conditioning Shampoo. It's awesome....smells gorgeous and brings their coats up an absolute treat.

Agree that she definitely does not need 3 meals a day, 2 is plenty and if she goes off her food again at a later date, think about cutting her down to one, or make her two meals much smaller. Rather than chicken mince, try mixing her kibble with sardines. My guys love it like this and although I dont feed much kibble (I tend to treat it like fast food, they get raw most of the time), whenever they get it they get sardines on top or mixed in. Sardines are great for their coats too, as well as having omega 3 fatty acids.

When I'm using hot dogs or bbq sausages, I slice them thinly (less than 1cm per slice) and cut each slice in half. Basically, it's just a taste on their tongue and gone. No chewing, just the promise of getting that nice taste again.

Last night I was cooking our dinner and preparing a vege mix for the dogs to add to some beef and roo mince for their dinner. I combined grated carrots, finely chopped parsley, grated bok choy, cheese, lightly cooked egg, cod liver oil and kelp granules. I can't even begin to tell you how yummy it looked :D then I went to get the mince I thought I was defrosting only to find I'd taken out lamb off cuts instead. Couldn't very well add them to the mixture I'd made so I dumped it in their bowls and added some lambie bits on top, thinking they'd eat the meat and leave the rest. Nope.....they both pushed the lamb out of the way and scoffed down their veges faster than I've ever seen either of them eat! I'll have to remember that recipe for another time, it's nice to give them a change now and then and they really seemed to love this stuff.

One more idea....the 4Legs packaged food you can buy in the supermarket (meat section)....it looks like little mince balls. My guys LOVE it as an occasional treat for dinner and I think it would make brilliant training treats because it smells so good to them and it's easy to handle.