indi_dog

Run free Sarah! I'll bet she was so very grateful for such a happy and wonderful time before journeying over the bridge

Rest easy beautiful man My deepest condolences Xcel and Warley

Can't imagine what a clipped Border would look like... Indi is all fuzz underneath her coat, I would never dream of clipping her. If she does have a mat (usually behind the ears), they're usually small and I can just gradually separate the mat with fingers and then comb through it.

I didn't think that you could clip BC's coats, as it grows back funny? (I haven't tested this, so I'm not sure what "funny" means - I was told this by a groomer once?) I prefer grooming Indi myself, I really like the results I can get (I like playing around with the plush puppies rinses, sprays, glitter etc )

Sounds just like my BC Indi ;) She's just a bit over a year now. RAAA! She LOVES to bark, and she gets into everything. I find taking her for two walks a day, for at least an hour, helps settle her down. Plus lots of toys (like treat balls, and bottles hanging from the tree that she can kick about) really help too. Those bungee toys that you hang from the tree made by Aussie Dog Toys are fantastic too!

God that's horrible A reminder that the summer sun is so very dangerous to our four legged friends A hard lesson, which I'm sure will never, ever be forgotten. Have fun playing with my Jackie, Jakey boy

lol I had the same problems getting engine grease out of Indi's coat. I used Sard Wonder Soap on the grotty bits, which seemed to work better than her normal shampoo.

A really tough chewy dog toy? Try the Aussie Dog Toy Company! Especially the Staffy Ball :D Mind you, it's not really chewy, but when you have a destructo dog it's pretty much the only thing you can give her that will last! (Indi ate her black king size kong in 3 weeks).

Indi just snaps the dentabones in two and swallows the chunks I don't give her dentabones anymore. She loves her raw bones, but they're more of an outside treat I don't like finding bits of raw chicken underneath my pillow A really tough chewy toy might be good for inside.

Ooooh I know just how you feel!! When it's just me and Indi training in the park by ourselves, I'm pretty relaxed and I think Indi is really happy too. But once we get in a class situation, my heeling is all over the place (I lose the ability to walk in a straight line, and I'm ALWAYS getting picked up for that!!), Indi will sit instead of drop, stand instead of sit, and play with leaves on the ground instead of watch me I think because she knows I'm pretty tense. And the thing that bugs me the most, is that the instructors pick up on these things and explain the exercises all over again when I do understand what's needed and can usually do them anyway. My biggest fear is for people to look at us and say, good dog, shame about the stupid owner!! We have some uber competitive people in our classes too, who won't hesitate for a moment to try and "teach" other people in the class lol. I actually don't train with my club often anymore, I'm part of a smaller training group for now (one of the people who trials at my club trains at a park in the morning and invited a few of us along which I'm incredibly grateful for), and I think we're really starting to make some progress at last. I have to keep reminding myself when I'm at the club is to make sure that Indi is having fun!! If she's not enjoying herself, then I'm not enjoying myself and things just 'aint gonna work. Talk to some experienced triallers. The ones with a good sense of humour will happily tell you all the crazy things their dogs have done in the ring

One of our instructors said to our class once, that he didn't expect *any* of us to ever be up to trial standards... Guess what my new goal is now... Vengeance shall be mine!

So sorry for your loss CavNrott Run free Chance

That's so rude, I'd love to see more SWF at our club. Somedays, it just seems to be a German Shepherd and Staffy club. I have a Border Collie, and I still get some very nasty and snide comments directed towards me too I don't tell Indi to round anyone up, that's just *so* cliche

Oh Boxagirl I'm so sorry ;) :rolleyes: I know how you feel, I never got to say goodbye to my Jackie either. She slipped away quietly at the vets, just a 5 minute drive away from me My Jackie will be there to look out for Barkly.

Poor little Ollie dog, thinking of Ollie and you

Sorry to hear Chilli isn't feeling well, maybe just a little upset tummy Don't feel silly, I am guilty over panicking when Indi gets tummy upsets too! I remember when a pup at puppy school came down with a virus and the vet called to warn each owner to watch their pups closely. I had NO sleep for WEEKS, I was so worried!!!!! Of course, the Indi monster was perfectly fine But I can remember feeling my stomache just drop when the vet called. Hope you feel better Chilli!

Indi loves Kabana! Although on a really hot day, it tends to attract flies this drives me absolutely crazy!! I also cut cheese into small cubes, and surprisingly, small pieces of just dried dog kibble go down really well too.

Yes, I'm always worried about her damaging her neck or spine, so I put her in a harness when she's on her flexi-leash at the park (probably not ideal, but it takes away the jerk when she takes off after the birds and forgets she's on a leash). Indi's by far the youngest in our class, with the second youngest dog being about 18 months or so. The other members will walk out about 10 metres when they do the recall- offleash- which is something I don't want to attempt yet. I'm starting to find as we progress, people seem to get more and more competitive just at the classes... I just do my best to make sure Indi has fun My instructor says I have a very boisterous dog, so I feel I have to be extra careful! Lablover, everyone's advice is worthwhile to me ;) I'm a complete novice, and I would probably have still been searching for a long recall leash, or bought one that wouldn't have been suitable for my pup, if people here hadn't of helped me out ;) Thanks guys!

Going slightly off topic here, but will a dog behave differently if it feels it doesn't have a leash on? We only ever train off leash in the backyard at the moment, and always on leash at the park. So... would a (young) dog who trains mostly on leash react differently if they couldn't feel the weight of the leash? Bear in mind that this is the first time I've actually gone to obedience school, working towards maybe going to obedience trials one day, so everyday I'm learning something new (actually it feels like 100 new things) ;) We've only being going to classes since February ;) That sounds really painful Erny!! I never considered that a leash could hurt me, until I burnt the skin off the backs of my knees with one of those flexi-leash cords

That's why I want the long recall leash ;) so that if she does bolt, then I've got the other end of the line. We train with our obedience club each weekend, and our instructor is going to help us out with using the long lead correctly Indi understands the concept of recalls, and will do it off leash in the backyard, however I don't want to risk having an 8 month old, extremely friendly border collie pup off leash at my club. She hasn't yet learned the concept that not everybody loves her, or likes being knocked over

$16 for a 7 metre leash from the Save-A-Dog Scheme shop sounds pretty reasonable. The Black Dog 5 metre leash was almost $30, which sounded a bit steep to me. I never even thought of Horseland... we have a few places out here that sell products for horses so I might check them out. Edited to say, I just found the lunge rein on the Horseland website too- $19.95 for 9 metres seems pretty decent to me! Thanks

This is probably a really dumb question, but I've been looking around for a long leash to practise recalls with (about 10m would be good). Indi and I were promoted at obedience school, and our class is practising off leash recalls, but I don't feel she is ready to be off leash (she's still only a pup, and being a border collie the temptation of herding everything that moves is just too much- I'm terrified she will bolt) I have a flexi-leash, but it doesn't work so well with practising recalls because she will feel the leash pull at her collar as I walk out from her and will follow me. I went to pet stock and mega pets warehouse today, but they don't have long leashes and the people working there don't seem to have any idea of what I'm talking about. I found a Black Dog recall leash online, but it's only 5 metres. I did find some leashes overseas that would be perfect, but I'd rather buy one in Australia if I can! Maybe it would be cheaper and easier to use a piece of light rope instead?

I doubt I could spit straight enough, but I've seen this method used before. What I do is hold a piece of food up high, right next to my eyes and say "watch"!!!. If Indi looks up into my eyes she gets the treat. I don't know if it's correct or not, but so far it's working for when I need to get her attention. I went to the gym tonight, and went through my pockets for some spare change and found a bag of dog treats :D I think all my clothes have dog treats stashed in them these days...

Thanks guys ;) I have to admit I'm a terrible person and I don't venture into these threads often, they're so hard to read and I feel for each and every single person Jackie was my first dog, so I kind of couldn't imagine that one day she wouldn't be around - if that makes sense. I still have a huge bag full of her toys (I spoilt her rotten) and her old bed I also have my old pair of slippers with her teeth marks embedded in the soles, Indi has now added her teeth marks as well I still wear them too! I can remember the day before she passed away I had my eyes tested because I needed a new pair of glasses. My eyes were so red and swollen from crying and lack of sleep that I was surprised the optometrist could test them properly. For months afterwards I couldn't walk past the stupid Merringtons shop without crying, how ridiculous is that

Tomorrow will mark one whole year without my beautiful Border Collie girl Jackie. She came from a farm, and I completely adored her. She was my buddy during high school, TAFE and beyond. Jackie preferred to sleep under my bed (I had a permanent monster underneath my bed), and while she wasn't a really affectionate smoochy dog, she was always close by. We always went for two walks a day, and she had lots of doggy friends at the park. She loved wallowing in the mud, and the kids at the oval used to call her a crocodile because she would drag herself around in the mud whilst drinking the water at the same time She loved car rides, and had many trips to the river, lots of dog beaches, and holidays at a relatives property (with cows to chase). Sadly my poor girl was stolen from me by cancer, the symptoms only showing themselves 10 days before she passed away (hemangiosarcoma I think). It kills me that she had cancer and I never even knew until there was nothing I could do I had to leave her at the vet surgery one morning because she had become sick during the night and our vet was going to stabilise her and try for surgery. Sadly she later passed out and couldn't be revived ;) . I can't forgive myself for not being there with her :D This is my favourite photo of her.