BC Crazy

Many years ago my dear dad had his favourite Border Collie girl, untethered in the back of his truck. He ducked into the hardware store, hearing all sorts of commotion outside he ran back out to find his girl had jumped out of the truck to chase a bird, straight under an oncomming bus who was unable to stop in time. It was an horific scene as you can imagine. She was killed instantly. Dad was an absolute mess. Took him along time to collect himself. Had to get an Ambo as he collasped at the scene. Poor Whiskey was a beautiful girl & Dad just adored her. A lesson learn't the very hard way. From that day on, he installed a very secure SS hook type fastener to the middle of the back of the truck cab & a very strong, rather short lead & heavy duty SS clip on the end. Dog couldn't go near the sides. What is it with Tradies & their dogs in the back of their utes??? I understand dad was sick of getting his tools of the trade stolen out of the back but he ended up paying the ultimate price...

Stan ate every cherry tomato in my vegie patch the first year I got him and he was fine. There were random tomato plants popping up all over the back yard, just mowed over them though...I know where they'd been. :laugh: ahh Stan Stan is a funny fella , Stan's the man LOL

OH has certainly spoilt our 2 as far as their strawberry indulgence goes. It has become a nightly after dinner ritual. As soon as they even think they hear OH go to the fridge to get them our 2 race up to their spots on the rug in front of the TV & sit there salivating in anticipation LOL And don't think Miss Stella will have hers without cream or icing sugar, oh no! If you give her a plain Strawberry she spits it straight back at you, little bugger :) ha ha....

Strawberries are a big winner in our house with my 2. They have them as a treat after dinner. OH got them started on them. I didn't think they would hurt but not so sure about the trickle of cream & icing sugar though .....giggle :)

Stans mum, hope you buy yourself something special too . Maybe you have chrissy lunch plans with friends or something :) Merry Christmas to you, gorgeous Stan & Maddie :)

Yes, Gretel there are quite a few I have noticed in our local area that look way too heavy to me for their small stature That coupled with a hot day & you can see that they are really struggling even with a short walk. So sad & god knows what effective it is having on them.

Yes, bloody Marchies alright They are out in droves here atm & are giving both of my guys hell. They really sting & hurt. I have both of mine of Advantix fortnightly. But am also spraying them every morning with Troy's Repel X spray. Works really well & does seem to keep them away. It isn't oily & doesn't smell too bad. Both my dogs are really nervous now & as soon as anything starts buzzing around them they go off looney, snapping & growling trying to get them before it bites them. I have to wear repellent as well they are everywhere. I have never seem them as bad. I had a really hard time trying to cross the street the other day before applying the deterent as one was buzzing around & both Sonny & Stella were snapping & spinning around, much to the amusement of passing motorists Hope I was of some help donski :)

Both my Border Collies hate rough, in your face play. They back off very quickly or avoid it if at all possibile. BC's excel at pretty much any dog sport/obedience, dog dancing & yes the sky is the limit with them in the right experienced,mature hands. Mixing with a Dobe may also be risky though imho

14 kg sounds a lot to me but I don't know anything much about Cav's. But if his sister is 7.5kg I'd be thinking Strict diet a.s.a.p. Poor fella Hope he is going to be O.K.

Watched that utube clip with great interest corvus. Stella is also a very reactive barker. After a lengthy chat with our Vet this morning he advised me to up Stella's Endep from 50g to 75g per day & see how she goes. He said as the Endep was agreeing with her & she isn't having any side effects to continue with it. It seemed to him that it just the dosage we have to get right. We will just see how we go Hopefully she settles down a bit. We are off to Victoria on the w.end for 2 weeks. 12 hour car ride. Lets hope it works alright. LOOOOONNNNGGGG way if it doesn't :laugh:

Yes, it really does depend on the dog, doesn't it. They are all different & learn things at a varied pace. Sonny is a lot more aloof when it comes to learning anything new. Like I will learn it when I'm ready !! Where as Miss Stella is like, "what do you want me to do", you show her & she has got it down, first time usually. Now I want to learn something else, hurry up !! We too are a few mins lesson, & lots of play straight after :)

We don't have any tree trouble here. When Sonny was little & the tree was put up he checked it out, touching the orniments with his nose but he was rewarded when he left it alone so he just stares at it now in amazment like a child lol. Stella is frightened of it."Oh no, not that scarey tree again" ! She wont go within 10 feet of it. I can't put any presents under it though till after dogs are in bed xmas eve because Sonny goes over every single one of them, smelling them & pushes his nose into them to see if they squeak. If they smell good or make a noise they get opened as fast as he can & he gets so excited, just like a child. He loves chrissy time. Such a funny, beautiful boy :) Alkhe, your little foster is such a cutie, bet he is loving every minute of the terrible "abuse" he is subjected to of late.....giggle.

Bless :) So glad this boy has a foster home for Chrissy + 1.... What a lovely christmas you have given this dear little foster. Thank's ever so much for such kindness :)

How darn cute are your puppies piper Makes me want to cuddle them :laugh:

I have often wondered the very same thing regarding training. I tend to do structured training when my puppies are young but as they mature I usually keep things pretty informal & train when I am out & about with them. So probably 3 x 5 to 10 min per day to start them off. Then I just randomly go over things. I do make both of mine 'work' for pretty much everything I give them though. Even if it is just to do a trick or something like that. If I want to teach them something new I'll go back to the structured times until they grasp what ever the new thing may be. I always keep sessions short as mine get bored & switch off quickly, so I always finish before that occurs :)

Thanks for your compassion Corvus. Stella is a very difficult girl pretty much most of the time. A whole lot of dog.....She is also a very loving, super smart, extremely sweet girl with reactive overload who performs at her worst in the back yard. Stella loves her Kongs but she doesn't like them frozen. She just runs off & leaves it on the ground. Even if they are not frozen she will smell it but just runs off on her mission if she hears the slightest thing As we speak Stella has finally laid down for the first time today thank goodness. For how long we will just have to wait & see. No worries re name corvus, been called much worse :)

Quick update with my girl Stella. Have been flat out so I have missed lots on my fav thread, so am trying to play catch ups when I can Stella has made some improvement when we are out & about as far as her reactivity is concerned regarding other dogs. I find if I talk to her if a happy tone as the dog approaches like, "lets say hi Stel" what a nice dog blah, blah, I seem to find she doesn't get quite so intense & focused on it & she has even actually meet one of her 'enermies' the other day & was very well behaved. We had a very quick "hi" & bye without incident where as before she would of been barking at him from 100 metres away. Know this all sounds a bit crazy but I figure what ever works I'll do. I don't want her to love every dog but just don't want her to completely lose it at the sight of one approaching. Off lead there have also been improvements, not so pushy, more giving eye contact,lots of talking but avoiding & continuing on her merry way without incident. Which is great I have become a lot more aware of her body language & seem to be able to read her far better than before & can interupt her negitive behaviour with a quick, lets turn around game that I have always played with my 2. We just about face & off we go as soon as I think we may be going to get anxious or her mood is escalating. At home we are going backwards big time unfortunately I am off to the Vets on Monday to pick up some new meds for her as the Endep just doesn't seem to be working for her any more. Poor girl is back to not resting all day & running franticly & whining at the slightest noise/sound. I have her in her Thunder Shirt pretty much all the time which does help a little. Her eyes have this awful scared look of fear in them that upsets me so much. Poor little girl. I am holding back tears as it upsets me so much to see her so tormented. I try to calm her but you can't reach her emotionally. It's like she is shut down. It is no way for her to live like she has been of late. We are right back where we started from in that respect. Anyway we will see what the Vet's come up with on Monday folks. Maybe he might be able to prescribe something for me as well :laugh: I feel like I have been to hell & back this week with her as I am having to get up to her lots during the night as she 'thought' she may heard a bird or something talking 2 doors up & she is going off her nut in her crate

Hmmm, yes they are certainly addicitve as I am currently dreaming about no. 3 BC as soon as OH & I relocate to a larger block of ground. So for some you just can't stop at one :)

That's a +1 from me as well...I couldn't agree more with you Tassie. Not only was Owey & his family willing to have another crack at a beautiful Border Collie puppy, I'm not very bias either :p after poor little Bailey but they were also willing to take some advice on board from very knowledgeable/helpful people. Am also looking forward to following Henry's progress & hope the lead training is going better than with my 2. All Sonny wanted to do was throw himself on the ground & have a Tanti & Miss Stella only had reverse gear for the first week or so :laugh: Good luck with beautiful Henry Owey & enjoy every minute :)

:laugh: Very clever, thanks for sharing Kirislin

So sorry for your brother & his family. Such a freak & tragic accident to happen

I buy my chic frames from Woolies. They are in the section with the soup bones etc & are about $5 a bag. They sell pretty quickly so when I see them I buy the lot. You could get them at the butcher/chic shop as well Id reckon & probably cheaper :)

Gosh T.... Just when I thought I'd heard it all... I don't know how people who think that it is "O.K." to treat their dogs so badly can actually sleep at night. Blows me away. I am just mortified & so deeply saddened that I can't visit this thread as often as I'd likes too, just way to sad for me

Yes, PME I would be rousing too is Stella was doing it to humans. Not a preferred behaviour especially in company :)

It has really shocked me this sad news Such a tragic end for her & even more tragic for you Kirty. Having an OCD disorder like that would be such torture, mother nature is so cruel sometimes. I'm another who is going to miss the lovely updates about precious Stevie