dancinbcs

That's exactly what happened with my blue heeler ... she was fine in the car in her early days with us but then started throwing up from when she was about 18 months old. We tried desensitising her by taking her for regular little trips around the block in the hope that we could build these up to longer trips, but no luck. In the end our vet recommended she have a very mild sedative in order to relax her for any journey. So we stopped taking her for short drives and sedated her for long drives. Hey presto, no more vomit. Over the last year, I have had no choice but to take her in the car on short trips to see the vet as she is now getting on in years (11) and needs more regular check ups. I was probably way more stressed than her about the first one I took her on as I fully expected her to throw up as she'd had no phenergen. But wonders of wonders, she was fine ... a little quiet in the back but thankfully not sick. It now seems that she can cope with car trips unsedated at long last. Did either of you change cars at the time the dogs got sick? I know I personally get carsick as a passenger in manual cars but not autos. I was always carsick as a kid and the cars were all manuals then. I thought I had outgrown it until I had a ride in a couple of friends manual cars in more recent years and put 2 and 2 together. None of the 10+ BCs I have had owned or regularly transported to shows over the years, ever got sick beyond occasionally the first ride at 4-5 weeks and my JS only got threw up for about the first three rides after I got him. One BC I used to borrow to show, was fine in my wagon in a crate but not in her owners car if they put her in a seatbelt.

Yes, it looks like a bailey chair used for dogs with megaesophagus.

You did say he was a Border Collie didn't you? If he is he has to be the biggest one in the world and no wonder he has aged fast. They usually average 18-21 kgs with the biggest going up to about 26kgs.

One of my BC bitches with otherwise good hips, managed to subluxate both her hips out of the sockets by about 1-2cm after a litter. She kept running and jumping up until and after the whelping, when the hip ligaments were slack to allow for the whelping. The vet advised me to not let her run at all but to swim her and teach her to pull into a harness for short walks to tighten the hip ligaments, as well as supplementing with Vit C. We re-x-rayed her 3 months later and her hips were back tight in the sockets where they had been before she was in whelp.

What about tuna or sardines, sweet potato and pumpkin?

I agree. It looks like the purebred Lab we had when I was a kid.

Dogs don't just grow out of being carsick unless they go in the car a lot to places they like. Puppies need to have as many trips as possible, at least several times a week to get them out of it. The above suggestions are all very good. I find dogs travel much better in a crate than in a harness but have never really had a serious problem with carsick dogs because they are all seasoned car travellers by about 12 weeks. It is harder to work with an older dog but not impossible.

Most dogs have no idea how high they can jump but once they discover it, keeping them in is pretty much impossible without a roofed run when you aren't home. I have seen an 8 month old BC jump a 7' fence twice in 5 minutes and a Cocker cross go over a 7' fence in first minute she was put in a yard at a shelter. The biggest danger to fence jumpers is getting hung up by a collar, a foot or even toe. I have know of dogs to die shock from being hung on a fence by a leg, not just the collar.

Breeding a "pet temperament" into a breed that is contrary to what the breed was designed for is wrong. Terriers were bred for specific purposes and just being a pet was not one of them. Of course some dogs would have a softer temperament and would make nice pets but they shouldn't be bred specfically to produce that softer temperament. Most terriers breeds should be fiesty and not social butterflies with other dogs. If that isn't what you want get a breed, bred for a different temperament. Everyone these days seems to expect the same behaviour from every dog and blames the owner for the dog not fitting in to society but centuries have gone into breeding dogs to chase, herd, fetch, guard and kill and expecting them all to react the same in every situation and need the same training is nuts. Breeds should retain their original temperament even if it means their numbers are then restricted to a small handful of fanciers who understand and respect the breed for it's original purpose, and they are never kept as just "pets".

HD info Some very interesting reading about hips and x-rays on the above link.

Change in climate could also be causing a problem. During the last drought I knew of a lot of breeders who were having trouble getting matings, getting bitches to concieve and if they did it was often with a singleton. This was across several breeds. All these breeders have gone on to breed normal litters since the drought broke. If the local dogs can be so adversely affected by extreme weather, how much worse would it be for dogs from the northern hemisphere, with opposite seasons and more extreme heat than many have ever been exposed to.

Looks like pretty normal stuff that many Border Collies could do. Edited to add that an English Shepherd is a US name given to another branch of the Border Collie / Welsh Shepherd / Working Collie family tree. They are all descended from the same working collie lines in the UK but developed in various parts of the world. The dog in the video just looks like a BC.

I know terrier old breeders that lament the fact his isn't done any more as it used to be common and that many terriers have lost the fiery nature to take on all comers. It makes for better pets but it means they are no longer true to type terriers. Most terriers were bred to fight or kill something (usually vermin)and I think a lot of people forget that was their purpose for existing. Having a terrier (in the required breeds) that has no instinct to spar is like having a gundog with no instinct to retrieve. I have been told by breeders that Border Terriers were the only breed not required to spar in the past.

That is a completely different situation. The one in Thailand was idiot owners leaving a newborn baby unattended near a "guard dog". Dogs do not see new babies as people so extreme care is needed with introductions and constant supervision. Clearly this didn't happen here and both the baby and dog paid with their lives. The OPs dog is a treasured family pet who knows the family members but clearly has some issue worrying him and making him defensive.

For those who want breed specific DNA tests developed, it is up to the breed clubs to be pro-active and arrange to have them developed. Someone needs to step up and find a genticist, raise vast amounts of money, apply for grants, collect DNA samples and provide the researchers with as much data as possible. The small group of us involved in the development of the DNA tests for Border Collies did all this and spent hundreds of hours over many years, liaising with the geneticist and providing him with as much info as we could find from other breeders. It requires total breed co-operation with all breed clubs and breeders on board to raise money and support those doing the organising.

I know people in Canberra who go out to Yass to find a vet they are happy with. Not sure if there is only one there or not. I would definitely be getting a second opinion with this dog.

11 is not really old for a Border Collie but something is amiss here. I would get the vet check asap and try to think what other symptoms or other odd behaviours he might have exhibited in recent months. Sometimes the signs that something is wrong, are very subtle. Pain anywhere could be one cause but he is in the danger age for cancers so a brain tumour is another possibility. Any unusual reaction to noise, difficulty judging distance or a general change in temperament even to more affectionate, can all be signs of neuro problems. Be very careful with this dog until you have him thoroughly health checked and keep the kids away from him. You may just have startled him if he is becoming hard of hearing but it could be something much more serious. I have been badly bitten by a dog with brain damage from meningitis and have had another with cancer that we believe also had a brain tumour and it was only in hindsight with both of them, that I worked out that there were very slight signs of a possible neuro problem over several months.

I found placing the cat in the litter tray in the front passenger footwell, worked if we stopped in a quiet spot and kept the car doors shut while she went. Then cat straight back into the crate before opening the car doors. Not easy but it worked. Sydney to Melbourne is only about 8 hours driving time plus stops.

The worst time to over exercise a puppy or damage joints is between 4 and 6 months and any damaged caused may be permanent. Cutting back on the exercise now will prevent further damage but won't undo any that has already occured. It is disappointing that you were not provided with copies of the parents hip and elbow scores, along with his other papers. I hope you have copies of their DNA results for CL, TNS and CEA. All of this should be a puppy pack with a Border Collie puppy. I would rest Calvin as advised and get a second opinion as recommended by Ness.

The Holden Commodore wagon 2001-2007 fits two standard 36" crates at floor level but has quite a bit of space above that. The slope of the tailgate prevent the crates being any higher up. If you put in a false floor and cargo barriers front and rear with doors in, rather than crates, you could fit two labs.

If your dog is used to car travel and normally doesn't get carsick there is no reason he will on a longer trip. I always feed as normal. The dog won't be an issue no matter if it is one or two days and if you cannot find anywhere to stay overnight where he is allowed in, then let him sleep in the car. I usually stop every two hours for a leg stretch, toilet and drink for the dogs when they travel. The longest I have done is 4500km in 16 days with two dogs and it never fazed them at all. We stayed in everything from caravans, motels, B&Bs and friends homes to dog friendly houses on that trip and stayed somewhere different nearly every night. The cat may be a very different matter. Some will settle in a crate but even if harness trained they tend to be terrified if you get them out anywhere so two days is a crate is a long time. The only way we managed to take a cat from Sydney - Albury and back again a few years later was to carry a litter tray and litter and when we stopped we put the litter tray on the floor of the car and let her out of the crate. Then cat back in the crate and and tip the litter out. She was a very layed back cat but travelling further than to the vets was a bit of a nightmare. With a cat I would do the trip in one day if you have two drivers. I have no idea how to stop a cat yowling for hours though.

Border puppies climb out of things because they can and the Bunnings panels are no challenge at all to them. If you use cable ties or occy straps to connect things, they chew them off. They are the ultimate escape artist breed if they want to be. My current dog can open trolleys and crates with spring loaded doors. Some never climb and others are like monkeys so always need a pen with a roof or a crate. Some never try to escape a yard as adults, some climb and while most are quite capable of hopping over a 7' fence they thankfully don't realise it.

She had her last litter in late December 2011. So does that mean she had her season in June (most prob).. hence next season will be in 1-2 months? Her last season was probably May/June but she shouldn't come back in again for about 3-4 months if she is on an approx 6 month cycle but a lot of bitches are not on a regular cycle.

It sounds like a phantom pregnancy so she should have been in season 2-3 months ago. How long have you had her? Can you ask her former owners when she was last in season?

I haven't read all the responses and haven't been to a training club in years but used to go to them 4 nights a week. Then show or trial on weekends with up to 4 dogs at a time. Even then I hardly ever went into a class unless it was for group exercises. My reason for this is that as an experienced trainer and trialler I could not tolerate being stuck in a class with handlers with zero experience. The last class I took a new puppy into, had a guy that kept screaming "NO" at his dog in class and turned mine into a quivering wreck. The only thing that would have enticed me back was for experienced handlers to be in a separate group, which could be much larger than the beginners who need more one on one time. After all it is mostly about training the handler, not the dog. Short 10 min, scheduled sessions for specific exercises would have been much more helpful than an instructor trying to fill an hour with lots of mundane heeling. Group heeling is actually not something that is required in a trial ring so why teach it at all? Also, none of the clubs I attended ever bothered to teach the watch command first. Without the dog watching you, you cannot train it. So much more emphasis on handler basics is needed with beginners and a lot more flexible training is needed for those with more experience.