dancinbcs

Most Border Collies should have a fully pigmented nose by 6 weeks. If this isn't happening they need to make changes to their breeding program. Having said that the nose can keep pigmenting for 6-12 months. The old remedy used to be giving Ironcyclen tonic for greyhounds but I haven't heard of anyone using it for years because it is a rarely encountered problem from well bred dogs.

That was my first thought too given that they look healthy and well cared for. They could also have a escaped from somewhere and the car might have been a co-incidence. Some Border puppies can escape from apparently well fenced yards if they climb.

Has anyone tried one of those Schticky (I think)Rollers they are advertising on TV ?

If you travel with dogs you need to teach them not to bark or you soon find yourself with no accommodation. It is one thing that is not tolerated in the few holiday places that allow dogs. The first question they ask when you book is "will the dogs bark" and if the answer isn't no then you do not get to make a booking.

No more genetically unusual then blue :) There are some top performing agility dogs around here that always seem to throw lilac. They are breeding for performance but often get the lilac color. Actually lilac is very rare from respected breeders because very few have any choc in their lines. I can only think of one well respected performance kennel and while they have choc they do not have blue. So from respected breeders it is quite rare. From those just breeding for colour and doing a bit of agility it is increasingly common but these are not what I call "respected" breeders.

The only heart defects I have heard of over the years in Borders are PDA which you find in all breeds and just two cases of tricuspid valve dysphasia, which the cardio specialists have stated is extremely rare in the breed and can be caused by a virus in the pregnant dam. PDA can sometimes be fixed with surgery but TVD cannot. So I would be very interested to know exactly what condition they diagnosed before surgery. Also keep in mind that most puppies with a heart murmur are pts early by the breeder or kept going as long as they can lead a happy life, without a proper diagnosis as the testing is so incredibly expensive and most cannot be fixed anyway. I have heard of heart murmur puppies over the years but they are usually first detected at 6 weeks. Heart problems in older puppies and mature dogs, except for the real oldies, is virtually unheard of. BTW, I am wondering which "respected" breeder they got a lilac from? I know it is possible but would be very unusual.

OMG , $600 for hip and elbow x-rays is s complete rip off. Does that at least include the scoring as well.

I suppose that is the difference with out vets having mostly dedicated breeder clients. No one I know even asks the price for anything before it is done. Their prices are very reasonable compared to most vets anyway. If it is going to be be something very expensive (running into $1000s) the vet mentions it but otherwise the amount just shows up on the account. I probably checked the price for hip x-rays last time I had them done but if a dog needs x-rays, blood tests or surgery for an illness or pts, cremation, etc, they just do it and tell me how much it is later. Things are probably different with a new client but most of the breeders I know have used them for about 20 years so there is mutual trust to do the right thing.

It depends on what the defect actually is and how bad it is. The more common PDA tends to produce a definite murmur because blood is rushing through a hole that shouldn't be there but other defects have blood circulating wrongly and if the defect is big enough the rushing sound is not heard. Most of these are inoperable as is very bad PDA so I would be curious to know the actual diagnosis for this dog because heart conditions apart from PDA (which is reasonably common in all dogs) are very rare in Borders.

I have never been offered the option. Our vets just do what is needed and do not leave the decisions up to the owner. Even better they don't use GA for hips and elbows unless necessary and if they do use it, the dog is quickly gassed down and just as quickly out of it and wide awake.

Whatever suits that particular puppy. Some need more then others so there is no magic number.

Definitely contact the breeder and if you are in Sydney go and see Dr Karen Hedberg at Nth Richmond Vets. She has written a lot about the effects of diet on this type of development. Also the general rule is if the growth isn't right, change the diet to a lower protein and energy one that will slow the growth.

I would let the dogs choose depending on who they are more bonded to. Most dogs choose their person in a family and I would let that be the deciding factor. If they are both more attached to you, then take both. If one is more attached to your partner then he should have the option to take them.

The minced bone has me confused if he is not allowed bones? It is all the same once it gets to the stomach. I find dogs tend to grind bones up more safely themselves than minced chicken frames could ever be. I feed turkey necks because the dogs grind them up nicely, they are lean, there are no long sharp bits that can be swallowed and unlike chicken necks they are too big to swallow whole. Large hunks of beef, roo or boned turkey legs that he has to chew would be better than mince. Cook up pearl barley every 4 or 5 days and add some to the pulped vege mix. I also feed canned Alaskan pink salmon from Aldi and canned tuna but my current dogs prefer the salmon. I had one dog who wasn't allowed meat or sardines for a whole year and she flourished on canned fish, eggs, veges, home made dog biscuits and dairy such as cheese, milk, cream added to meals. She had the best coat of any dog I have ever owned.

Very little commercially prepared food in this house for dogs or humans. The dogs eat mostly raw with a a little dry and we eat mostly fresh cooked from scratch with occasional gluten free treats. I have a fructose/fructase intolerance so no wheat for me which really restricts the commercial food I can eat. There are several isles in the supermarket I never venture into because there is nothing there I can eat and take away food is nearly impossible. Drinks wise I stick to water, herbal teas and organic, non-homogenised milk.

Slather some Ichthammol ointment from the chemist on it for a few days and see if it will break at the surface. If it does start oozing, squeeze gently to empty it out and apply the ointment for a few more days until it heals up. If the ointment does nothing and the lump grows in size or no longer feels round, smooth and loose from the underlying tissue, then it is time to have the vet remove it.

I had a puppy flown into Albury back in 1983 on a small jet from Melbourne. It is a very busy airport. When I used to fly back and forth to Sydney for work, they first had Fockers then moved to jets not much smaller than those now used between capital cities.

No they don't really have a name, apart from being referred to as dogs without an off switch and are not very common but start out as very active puppies that never seem to rest much like a normal puppy. The normal ones go flat out until they fall down asleep then get up to go again. These are not breeds that sit around looking cute, they have to be doing "something" as babies. As the months go by though you realise that they are not responding like a normal dog in a breed that should be very people orientated and they have little interest in interacting with you. The obsessive need to run and keep running is a key factor too. This can be re-directed into constant work in the right job. They can be trained in all the usual obedience stuff but never seem to want to relax and just get attention. I have had laid back, middle of the road and a couple of hyper Borders and now have a hyper Jap Spitz but they all responded to physical affection, could be taught to concentrate for periods of time and settled with maturity but the ones with no off switch and an obsessive need to work all the time, never do and make the owners feel like they have done something wrong.

It is still a requirement of the Dogs NSW COE for all breeders to vaccinate 10-14 days before selling a puppy and as it is vital for some breeds to leave at 8 weeks there is no other option. It may or may not be a waste of time depending on the antibodies from the Mum and there is no way of knowing. Personally I would rather give it in case it does work.

A word of warning to anyone else who finds themselves with a young dog like this, usually a BC or a Kelpie. A usual give away to the temperament is that they run circles constantly in the yard and do not interact much with the owner like a normal devoted dog would do. If you are not a very physically active trainer with loads of time daily to train and pursue really serious agility then the dog will be pretty useless for any other purpose in a home environment. These are the dogs that should be tested for detection work as young as possible rather than you trying to fix them for a number of years first. Detection working dogs are usually hyper, high drive dogs that can work at least 8 hour shifts and keep going without slowing down, day in day out. The dogs are trained with scented dummies that are used in a tug game with the dog getting swung round during training. It takes very fit and active trainers to cope with these dogs and most of these dogs thrive on it. Some friends spent 12 months raising a BC like this with tons of show and obedience training and still could not get the dog to be interested in them at all. He would continue running endless circles in the yard even if they were out there with him and he showed no sign of being pleased to see them when they picked him up after a few days at kennels. They were astounded then when the trainer from Corrective Services spent a couple of hours putting the dog through his paces and at how the dog really related to him and the much more physically challenging work. Off he went with the CS trainer, without a backwards glance and went on to be a very successful drug detection dog in prisons for the next decade before retiring with his handler. Nothing the original owners could have offered that dog, would have made him happy. The same owners have since raised 5 more BCs with no problems at all but that one dog was just the wrong dog in the wrong home.

We use Protech C3 at 6-7 weeks and then again at 12 weeks with a booster 12 months later. Still deciding on how often after that but probably 3 yearly now. I have not used C5 for over 20 years. My vets do not use it on their own dogs and neither do I after having a dog react badly to it.

No sure what to suggest with a dog that age other than a trainer like K9 Pro or Steve Austin who are used to dealing with high drive hyper dogs. The other thing that might be worth a try is TTouch. I know a great dog trainer near the ACT that has a lot of success with TTouch. Also the more exercise hyper dogs get, the more they crave it like a drug. She needs to be taught to switch off and settle. I have known a couple of BCs like this (except for the barking) and they have ended up as service dogs, especially drug detection dogs for Corrective Services but they like them young so they have a lot of years out of them following the intensive training they get.

For the time and physical effort involved the pay is low but the job is so much fun that you would do it for free if you could afford to. The dogs are only allowed to work on alternate days and they usually don't book Fridays so the most work you get with one dog is usually 2 days a week. If you have two dogs you can alternate, you can work 4 days a week. You need to be very organised because the semi-scripted talks have to run to a tight time schedule but it isn't difficult if you practice your timing. I wrote a time sheet to start with, including the exact times I needed to be at for each page of the talk. Some dogs love the job. Mine was pretty laid back about the whole thing and not really that excited about any of it but very stable even with kids who were terrified of dogs. I have been physically out of action for over a year, after a car accident so have not been able to return to the job but I loved it.

Another vote for Barnsley's. I and most of my friends have used them for over 20 years.

Same here. I avoid getting to close to them as all I have encountered have been either agro or indifferent, never friendly to other dogs. They are a true fighting/guard breed and as such were never bred to have friendly temperaments.