dancinbcs

I generally don't sell puppies to anyone with 1 or 2 year olds because it is impossible to explain to a child that age how they should interact with a puppy, but by 3 years most children, boys or girls, are usually fine to understand how to treat a puppy. I have never come across a 3 year old yet that I would be worried about so if your son is 3 and still isn't grasping your explanations then I think you do need professional help now before he really hurts an animal or is badly hurt himself when one retaliates. Even 2 year olds are usually not deliberately cruel, they just don't realise that hitting or sitting on a puppy will hurt it. Also the "boys will be boys" attitude should apply to boys being loud, active and impulsive but never cruel. I sold a puppy to family with 4 young boys once. They all came to visit the litter weekly and they were very much boisterous boys. I had one puppy that would run and hide the minute they ran into the yard but they loved the dogs, would sit down to play with the puppies and I never thought for one moment that any one of them would ever intentionally hurt a puppy. I sold them a bombproof outgoing female puppy and it turned out to be a wonderful home for her.

Ok, I'll revise my description of a shaded sable to say that MOST of the hairs are banded red and black, with red at the base and black on the tips in varying amounts.

Same here, but I unfortunately have a tendacy towards the darker reds (like my Tollers) and sables *runs and hides* Nothing wrong with having a preference for a dark red or a sable if you are prepared to wait as long as it takes to get a good one from the right breeder and don't pay an inflated price for it. Several of us with Borders would one day love to have and outstanding show tri but they are very hard to come by. I have bred tri but not one quite good enough to keep in my yard yet. I would be waiting a long time as ideally I would like a sable if/when I get a BC and I prefer show type BC's as well......I think the darker red BC's will just blend in with my guys and cause further confusion when I say "No those aren't BC's but that one there is!" Good point. Let me know if you are ever ready for a sable because a bitch I bred produced a stunning shaded sable 4 years ago, so we know another may crop up in the lines at some time. It sure was a surprise when that puppy was born. We had no idea what colour her was and the colour changed every week. He was by far pick puppy in the litter so it was disappointing to not be able to register him on main as his correct colour. He went to a pet home and was desexed.

Same here, but I unfortunately have a tendacy towards the darker reds (like my Tollers) and sables *runs and hides* Yeah. have to say I like the dark reds too like my big boy. The pale ones just don't have that same look. Hopefully I won't be putting any more sables out there... Hopefully Myf is the one and only. At least it was an accidental surprise rather than a planned event. Whats wrong with sable? When red was added to our standard about 20 years ago the reds had formerly been called sables, so the term red was used to distinguish it from sable but they didn't bother to put sable in the standard as well. Now that the ANKC won't allow any colour not in the standard to be main registered in any breed, you cannot main register a dog as sable. Absolutely idiotic, but that is the current rule introduced by the ANKC without any consultation to anyone. Borders used to be registered as their true colour on main but only the ones listed in the standard were shown. Of course colour makes no difference to a working or performance dog so the colour didn't matter to breeding stock for those purposes or if the dog was good enough it was easy enough to breed a standard colour from a non-standard colour anyway. Now if you want to main register a puppy you are told to choose the closest colour so if the dog is required for breeding it gets registered as an incorrect colour. Every other country in the world allows sable as a colour except here. So is sable and red genetically the same? I just had a look at your website and saw a pic of Myf, she looks a bit like a sunburned b&w Genetically completely different. Clear sable can look like red except for a darker patch at the base of the tail. Shaded sable happens with a combination of tri and sable genes so there is are tan points and a black overlay over the body with the tan/red underneath. these are the colours seen in Collies and Shelties. Each hair on a shaded sable is part red and part black in varying amounts. A red has no black in the coat at all, it is all red and can be any shade from cream to dark chestnut. These descriptions assume we are talking about a black pigmented dog but the coat patterns of sable, shaded sable and red can occur on any pigment colour of black, blue, chocolate or lilac and if it is a shaded sable the tipping on the coat that forms the darker overlay will be whatever pigment colour the dog is and that is determined by the nose. Mystiqview's Myf is a type of sable sometimes called seal overseas. We are still trying to work out the genetics of the colour that now seems to be occuring all over the world. It seems to be a sable with only partial black masking and generally no tan points. If a black dog carries bother tri and sable or two sable genes, it has black masking genes that make it appear black. There is possibly a variation on this that allows the sable to show partially through a black coat. JulesP's girl is a the more common shaded sable seen in Collies and Shelties.

Same here, but I unfortunately have a tendacy towards the darker reds (like my Tollers) and sables *runs and hides* Nothing wrong with having a preference for a dark red or a sable if you are prepared to wait as long as it takes to get a good one from the right breeder and don't pay an inflated price for it. Several of us with Borders would one day love to have and outstanding show tri but they are very hard to come by. I have bred tri but not one quite good enough to keep in my yard yet.

Same here, but I unfortunately have a tendacy towards the darker reds (like my Tollers) and sables *runs and hides* Yeah. have to say I like the dark reds too like my big boy. The pale ones just don't have that same look. Hopefully I won't be putting any more sables out there... Hopefully Myf is the one and only. At least it was an accidental surprise rather than a planned event. Whats wrong with sable? When red was added to our standard about 20 years ago the reds had formerly been called sables, so the term red was used to distinguish it from sable but they didn't bother to put sable in the standard as well. Now that the ANKC won't allow any colour not in the standard to be main registered in any breed, you cannot main register a dog as sable. Absolutely idiotic, but that is the current rule introduced by the ANKC without any consultation to anyone. Borders used to be registered as their true colour on main but only the ones listed in the standard were shown. Of course colour makes no difference to a working or performance dog so the colour didn't matter to breeding stock for those purposes or if the dog was good enough it was easy enough to breed a standard colour from a non-standard colour anyway. Now if you want to main register a puppy you are told to choose the closest colour so if the dog is required for breeding it gets registered as an incorrect colour. Every other country in the world allows sable as a colour except here.

I bought my first registered Border Collie in 1983 for $180 and my second in 1986 for $250. The first dog gained his Championship and CDX and won Best in Show at a BC specialty from an entry of 170 then went on to be my foundation sire, so he was very good value. I think I paid $600 plus an airfare from Qld for another show/breeding bitch bought in 1998. Rough Collies are still pretty cheap compared to most breeds with many breeders currently struggling to get about $800 for top quality puppies. No idea why this lovely breed that makes a wonderful family pet, has gone out of fashion. The current trend for "tough looking dogs" probably has something to do with it.

Why not just join a training club. If you want to join in the classes then do so, or do what I used to do and work my dogs on the ground when the others were in class and then socialise with them in the break. So long as you pay your ground fee and don't disrupt the classes you can do whatever you want with your dog on the grounds (walk, train or just sit and watch) while the others are there in class.

Mine get Yoplait plain yoghurt for breakfast but just about go into raptures over Gippsland vanilla yoghurt. They know the difference between it and any other yoghurt and I don't blame them. It is the best I have ever tasted too.

No matter if it is at the time of mating, when the puppies are born or before they are registered, you should never sign the service certificate without being paid unless it is you very best friend in the world. Even people you think you know quite well can stuff you around once that service certificate is signed. With people I don't know I ask for payment at the tiem of the mating. With those I know, I am happy to be paid any time between birth and registration.

I have border collies. And as is happens, the best dog from this particular litter is coloured, and are from bloodlines I've been trying to get hold of for ages. I unfortunately have a gut feeling that the colour is influencing the inflated price as well as the fact it is MR. I personally don't know any reputable, dedicated breeder of Border Collies that charges more for Main Register or for colour so I would be wary of this breeder. Main often go in co-ownership so the dog cannot be onsold but other than that restriction all puppies are usually the same price. It is so hard to get anyone new to show a Border because the numbers in the breed make it very hard for a newby to win anything at all so breeders definitely don't charge more for a show prospect than a limit register pet. Some of the top breeders even give their main register puppies to established show homes to get them in the ring and only charge for those on limit. If the puppy is more than $1000 then they are charging too much.

Same for my dogs. They tend to crash out after I feed them around 8-9pm but sleep wherever I am. They don't settle into their beds in my room until whenever I go to bed and they usually get up when I do unless it is really early, then they just stay in bed. If it is hot they tend to move around the house during the night and sleep wherever they are most comfortable so the floor or the lounge in front of the air con if it is really hot.

About 20 years ago Australian breeders voted to not include blue merle in our colours/patterns but a few were imported in the last 10 years and somehow the merle pattern was included in the standard. Anyone can breed merle if they want to, by breeding a merle to a bi-colour with statistically half the puppies ending up merle. As it is a dominant trait it cannot be "carried" by the non-merle litter mates so dissappears again in the line if the non-merles are bred on. The problem with merle is that it is possible to have what you think is a non-merle but is in fact a cryptic merle with maybe just a tiny spot of merle pattern somewhere that can go unnoticed. Breeding together of two merles is prohibited by the ANKC because there are many health issues connected to a dog being a double merle like deafness, blindness etc. Once merle is used in a line there is then always a danger of accidently breeding a crytic merle to a merle and ending up with problems. The biggest problem here now with the merles are that nearly all of them are owned by the colour breeders not the show/performance breeders and they are crossing colours without any regard for outcome. Breeding red to merle is idiotic beyond belief because red is not a pigment colour but a coat pattern like merle. The red masks the merle so you have no idea which red puppies are merle or not, again leading to accidental doubling up of merle. So most show breeders just prefer to stay well away from merle and so far there has not been any really top quality merle show dogs in Auatralia. There was one quite successful merle show dog in NZ that had a merle parent that was imported from the UK purely for the lines, not the colour and I don't think the breeder has bothered to continue with the merle in that line. A few breeders that show occasionally with a little success or have performance dogs do have some reasonable merles but they are few and far between. The vast majority are just from coloured puppy farmers out to rip people off by charging a fortune for inferior dogs.

I don't believe it has to be the date of the first puppy, so long as it is one of the birth dates it is fine. Most show breeders given a choice of two dates actually look at the calendar three years ahead and work out if one date or the other will be better for major shows any time in those next three years. So if your next state Royal for example is in 12 months, you would probably prefer that your show prospect is still eligible for puppy rather than junior if one day is going to make a diffence.

Sorry but I think it's rather risky to generalise, my little dogs have been attacked by different BCs on more than one occasion. Not a breed I would particularly trust after my experiences. How about an Australian Shepherd, my neighbour's Aussie Shepherd used to escape and come into my house and spend the day with my littlies, she's a very gentle dog. There's an Aussie Shepherd breeder on DOL "The Ark". And you are generalising based on one Aussie. I have 28 years with Borders so have seen a lot more than you probably have and have never known one to be aggressive to little dogs in general and they are all great with the little dogs they know well. I know a lot of Aussies as well and find them much more likely to attack other dogs of all sizes than Borders. They are very territorial about their personal space but might be ok with small dogs they are raised with.

When I lived in Albury about 25 years ago we had trouble with a large Bull Terrier X that terrorised the neighbourhood. I was flat out to take my dog from the house onlead to my car in the driveway without this thing trying to attack us and walking in the street was out of the question. I rang the council who told me that they had been trying to get the dog kept in for ages but it kept escaping. I stated that if they fined them enough the owners would find a solution and promised to ring the council every time the dog was out. That is what I ended up doing, calling the council at least twice a day for several weeks until the only way they could get rid of me was to fine the moron owners enough to make them keep the dog in or get rid of it. No idea what they did with the dog in the end but I never saw it again.

A Border Collie might suit. They are tough for their size, gentle with little dogs and get on well with cats they are raised with. Great to obedience train and good to take on long walks when mature.

The only place I have ever heard it discussed is here on DOL. None of the vets I have used have ever mentioned it to me or anyone I know and I have never heard of anyone's dog having a bad experience with these vets with anaesthetics. My vets use the most up to date and safest anaesthetics for all dogs so I suppose it isn't really necessary and they are one of the most popular vets in Sydney for breeders because they are experts in reproduction.

The stuff you use to remove cradle cap from a baby may also work. It comes in a tube and you rub it in and rinse it off.

Texture was definitely an issue with one of mine. The food had to be either liquid or solid, not in between.

I think that it is an individual thing like with children. There are lots of kids who hardly seem to eat and drive their parents nuts. Appetite varies and when you take away the competition of the litter in puppies, the incentive to eat can just disappear. Also keep in mind that older puppies grow in spurts, not at a consistant rate like they did in the first few weeks. Some days or weeks they will be growing a lot and be hungry, other times when they are not growing as much they may not be hungry at all. Nature designed dogs to eat when they are hungry and food is available, not to have the same amount of food at every meal each day. Plenty of hungry ones are happy to devour whatever we put down but some puppies are sometimes just not hungry and if we try to entice them to eat it creates negative connections to food for them and we end up with ongoing problems. The best solution with a puppy with a light appetite is to offer small amounts of one of a few different types of food, one at a time then remove the food in about 10 minutes if they don't want it. Try again a few hours later with something else. If you find something they want, don;t be tempted to pile the plate up. Just offer another small amount, then another, etc, until they have had enough. Never leave food down, don't fuss and don't offer a smorgasboard for them to choose from at the one meal. Try to come up with something they will accept like divetelact or nutrigel to get some calories into them but otherwise let them be and wait for the appetitie to pick up. Feeding with another dog usually helps as does giving any unwanted to food to the other dog in front of them. I have only ever heard of one dog that literally starved himself nearly to death and was put down because of his severe eating disorder, so it is extremely rare. Most dogs eventually come good with their eating so long as the owner doesn't stress too much about it.

I have had three very reluctant eaters over the years and the good news is that they all grew out of the problem by about 3 years of age. All my others have been great eaters and I always feed all my dogs together. The worst one would eat practically nothing between 5 and 8 months and I kept him going on DiVetelact made up thick like cream on days when he refused all food. He would not eat anything mushy like mince or stew but would eat small meatballs made from the same mince or chunks of meat. He wouldn't eat anything he had to put his nose into and would only eat if a very small amount was put in his plate at a time. Sometimes he would eat several small amounts adding up to a decent meal but if I put the whole quantity in the plate together he would look like he felt ill at the thought of food and walk away.He did however like odd things like rice cakes and raw carrots as if he was on a strict diet. None of this helped him to grow or get his weight up. He was always fed with my other dogs but even giving his uneaten food the others did not prompt him to eat. At three he suddenly decided food was good and ate normally from then on. Another odd one would only eat in the presence of another dog and sometimes even needed to see the other dog eat some of the food from her plate first before she would touch it. We used to joke that she needed a taster to make sure it wasn't poisoned :D because she would watch the other dog intensely to see if it keeled over after eating the food. She would have days where she just wasn't hungry but nowhere near as bad as the earlier dog. Again this odd behaviour ended at about 3 years. Lastly I have had one that would not eat outside as a youngster. He was just too busy watching and listening to what was going on around him to eat. Once I started to feed him inside he was fine. He has been raised on raw/fresh food and refuses any sort of commercial dog food or dog treat. He will take them then spit them out but will eat just about any real food offered now. Edited to add: The most important things to remember with a really picky eater are to offer less food, not more and to go with whatever they will accept at the time just to get something into them. Offer foods one at a time, not mixed together to find out what they like or don't like. Don't worry about the weight until you get them eating happily.

Just cause you read something in a book, doesn't make it right. Feed him 3 hours later and he will poop at 6am instead of 3 am.

This link to the OFA lists the 4 labs that offer PLL testing depending on the breed you need it for. http://www.offa.org/dna_alltest.html

All these lists always have Border Collies and Poodles as the top two and then they vary after that. Until you have lived with and trained these breeds, you have no idea just how smart (not just trainable) they are compared to other dogs. For trainablility alone Goldies and GSDs would probably rank higher because they don't try to out-think the trainer as much. Apart from that I think that list would be pretty accurate except I would put ACDs after Poodles in 3rd spot then move the others down one.