dancinbcs

Working fine now. http://www.dogsnsw.org.au

For walking an adjustable martingale collar is great. Grows with the puppy and can be adjusted to fit snuggly so they can't slip out of it like they can with a normal flat collar. If you are leaving a collar on the dog then a soft flat adjustable collar is fine.

I am assuming the above statements are limited to/relate to breeders who exhibit. I certainly don't see them as true for those breeding for the performance & pet market I would include the majority of reputable, dedicated show and performance breeders in the category. I don't count the miriad producers of coloured puppies, all sold on limit register, at inflated prices, to make a quick buck. They contribute nothing to breed and are basically registered puppy producers not breeders. At the first BC National in 2006 at least 75% of the exhibitors in show, obedience, agility and herding had been in the breed for over 20 years. The club took a photo of all of us with 20+ years breed experience and the majority of the people present were in that photo.

Most of the breeders in my breed have been around well over 20 years. I can't think of one that actually started off with the plan to become a breeder. I certainly didn't. I bought a male to show (if he was good enough) and to do obedience. I specifically only wanted a male because I didn't want to breed. That first dog gained his Ch, CDX and numerous classes in group and in show. That was it, I was hooked on the breed and bought a bitch puppy that complimented the dog. When the new bitch puppy was about 5 months old, my male then 3 years old, won Best In Show at a breed specialty from an entry of 175. Two years later in 1988 I bred my first litter. Since then I have mentored a few more breeders that are still in the breed as well. I know of so many others that started with a show or trial dog, did well and ended up becoming breeders. Some only showed because it was a requirement of buying a particular puppy, then went on to become the stalwarts of the breed. Others bought a main register bitch as a pet and thought it would be nice to have one litter. With dedicated mentoring, for that first litter, by the breeder or owner of the stud dog, some have gone on to be very prominant breeders and exhibitors. While some people don't really have an initial interest in showing their first dog, most cannot resist showing a puppy from the first litter they breed. Puppy farmers and export agents have now ruined the way things worked. No one is game to sell main register puppies for fear of where they will end up but it means that no new buyers are becoming breeders and exhibitors, unless they specifially plan, research and basically do an apprenticeship. Very sad for the dog world and no wonder numbers of purebred breeders drop every year.

The large flat ice cooler packs that you can wrap round bottles or put in the crate cool mats are great for litters. Freeze flat on trays and wrap in towels. If it is really hot the babies can lie belly down on them.

I never leave water in a crate because no matter what it is in, a BC will manage to spill it. Same with leaving water down at night with baby puppies. The water is taken up when I bed them down and put down again first thing in the morning. It helps with toilet training and stops then digging in the water bowl and flooding the pen, laundry or whatever, overnight when I don't want to be mopping it up. Once they are toilet trained and stop digging in the water bowl, they get free access to water 24/7 unless they are crated in the car overnight when travelling.

Isn't dog hair a condiment ? :D

You have not failed this dog. She is just not a suitable dog for you to own and really should never have been sold. I know of Border Collies that have been given to Corrective Services for use as detection dogs because their otherwise competant owners could not live with them. They are very high drive, aloof dogs, that need to work for hours every day to be happy. They have no interest in hanging around with their owners and are only responsive to a handler that can do hard physical work with them all day. These dogs are owned by otherwise wonderful owners that can handle and train most dogs, but some dogs just don't fit into the normal mould. They get worse with age so the longer you hold on the more entrenched the problems become. Luckily most of us with BCs know about the detection dog option so when a really difficult dog comes along we are able to talk owners into placing the dog in a more appropriate situation while it is still young, usually before 2 years. The problem with yours being an Amstaff is her strength, agility and jaw power, combined with a strong prey drive. An independant, very hyper, aloof temperament combined with those phyical attributes means there really isn't anywhere for her to fit into modern society. Do not put a fence jumper on a chain. She will manage to hang herself or the frustration could make her aggressive. Make the hard decision, get on with your life and maybe get another happy, friendly SBT to keep your boy company.

It sounds like you have exhausted most avenues to deal with this dog. About the only solution to keep her would be for her to be permanently in an enclosed, roofed run, unless you have her on a lead. It would keep her alive but wouldn't be much of a life for her or you. The only other real option is to pts. Sounds harsh but there are plenty of wonderful dogs in the world and no one should really have to put up with one that makes their life a misery. For me, escaping to kill the neighbours cat would have been the end of the line. No one needs that much liability. Next time it could be a small dog being walked on lead by a child. It really doesn't sound like their is any pleasure in owning her. If she was a wonderful affectionate dogs that you had great times with, then any measure to keep her would be worth it, but the reality is there are some dogs that are just not suitable as pets. If they are of suitable breeds, like Labs, BCs, etc, they are usually best placed in detection work when young. Better for the dogs and the owners. Sadly I don't think this would be an option for an older Amstaff. Shelters never rehome chronic fence jumpers, even if they are placid and unlikely to ever kill anything. When I worked for AWL we had to pts a sweet little Spaniel cross the owner had bought from the shelter originally. He surrendered her supposedly for other reasons, but she went straight over the 7' exercise yard fence. When I rang the owner to ask if she had jumped before, he admitted he couldn't keep her in anywhere and that is why she was surrendered.

I have pm'd you about a local trainer that has vast experience in detection work.

And also remember the wait or stay command EVERY TIME you open a door, when the dogs are around, just in case.

Totally agree. I think she should find a more appropriate home for this dog before he really injures the Cav. Different breeds have different play styles and some are just not compatible. Next time she should do much more research before getting another dog.

Most Borders will grab the lead at first if you let them, that is why the "let them drag the lead" technique is useless. They just eat the lead. I train my babies to heel in the yard and in the house, with no lead on, just using food rewards, praise and body language to help position them. Once they are heeling nicely, add a loose lead but train exactly as before. The lead becomes incidental and they ignore it. It stops them ever learning to pull on a lead as well. You do not need a lead to teach a Border Collie to do anything. The lead should only ever be a safety device, not something to steer with.

Just checked out the puppy ads on here and they range up to $3500 on main register but there are some older dogs for as little as a $1000. There is one puppy with a Ch mum and Gr Ch dad for $3000 on limit, so a pet puppy should probably be somewhere from $2000 - $3000. I doubt she will get one under $2000.

I suggest she goes to some shows to meet some breeders and their dogs and ask them about prices and availability. I have heard of Bulldogs costing $2000 - $2500 but never $4000. To get a well bred healthy puppy she will probably need to be prepared to wait once she finds a breeder she likes. Breeders of really good dogs, in not so common breeds, usually have their litters pretty much sold by the time they are born. Edited to add. No one could produce a healthy BB puppy for $400. Tell her to give that one a miss.

As the saying goes - Ask a stupid question.................................................... .

If you let her eat as much as she wants she will probably turn her nose up at the next meal or two, so probably better to regulate but increase her calories with more fat in the diet. Cheese can be helpful in increasing weight as can fattier meat cuts like lamb flaps. 1kg isn't a huge amount for a Border. I have know them to eat a 5 kg bag of meat, a boiler full of stew, complete with the wooden spoon that was in it, a whole large bottle of cod liver oil , just to name a few things. Thank god they are not a breed prone to bloat.

This dog needs some serious boundaries to be set. She has not earn't the right to have free access to the house until she learns the house rules. Make room for a crate and train her to go in there without a fuss. Only have her loose in the house when you are watching her or put her outside and bring Phoebe in. Better still divide the yard or build runs to confine one at a time. How long have you had this dog and what house training did you do when you first got her ? Every time you let her make a mistake, you are training her to toilet indoors. She will never learn unless you make sure she cannot possibly make a mistake for several months straight. Undoing what she has already learnt will take much longer than house training a new puppy. You cannot expect your OH to help train her if he doesn't like her and I'm sure he isn't at all fussed about her sharing your bed. What do you mean she wouldn't get off the bed. Just push her off and take her out to the toilet. That incident was entirely your fault. You woke an un-house trained dog and failed to take her outside, if she doesn't get the fact that she cannot toilet inside why did that surprise you. The dog does not get a say in what she does or doesn't do. Better still get her off the bed and somewhere confined until she learns some manners. If she doesn't like being confined it is your job to teach her to cope with it.

That's the thing....but everyone has a different idea of what 'betterment' means...better for the breed, better for a line within a breed or better for the breeder of the breed? As written to a private email I got about this thread....we are arrogant to beleive that we OWN a line or pedigree. It is not ours to own. From one who's breed was on the thin edge of extinction in the mid fifties, I know all too well what happens when breeders get the attitude that they OWN a pedigree and deny it to everyone else. Why do we breed? To win at shows? To strengthen a breed that has very few in numbers so that our grandchildren can enjoy that breed later in their lives? To guard a pedigree and line for our own....why? Will anyone care in a hundred years who that person was? They will remember a name on a paper of a line that died out when the breeder passed on, because it was never allowed to be used by anyone else....clucking of the tongue and shaking of the head, with comments like "too bad too....would have been nice to have some of that now....the breed needs it" True story.... We breeders are a selfish and arrogant lot, and the sooner we step up to the plate and admit to that, the better our breeds will be a hundred years down the track. Well said Angelsun. The arrogance and selfishness in some particular breeds never ceases to amaze me, coming from a breed where this thankfully, rarely applies with the use of stud dogs. Sadly it does apply in many instances of new exhibitors trying to get their first main register dog. We are the custodians of our breeds and our mission should be to deliver into the future the breed exactly as it was when we started, or improved in health, soundness and temperament. We should not try to change type to suit fashion and no one owns a line unless they invented a new breed. Everyone had to start with dogs from somewhere and they would not be breeding if someone hadn't shared "their lines" in the first place. We all like to win but if satin ribbons are more important than the breed you supposedly are devoted to, you are in the wrong hobby.

This sounds like acidosis, very common if you over-exercise a greyhound. I knew a lady who's greyhound was ball-obsessed. Ten minutes of hard chasing at the park after a tennis ball killed her dog. Obviously poodles and other breeds should be able to handle a lot more exercise than a greyhound can. But any activities that involve hard chasing (like racing or obsessive ball retrieving) can be dangerous, because the dog's instincts override the brain signals telling the dog it has done too much. The owner has to take control and know when to stop with dogs like these. Acidosis can occur in Border Collies because I know of one dog that died from it many years ago. I have never heard of it though in a Border that bounced back to normal within 10-20 minutes of an attack. The fast and total recovery seems to be what sets BCC apart from heat exhaustion of acidosis.

15 years ago was only the mid 90s. The 80s and 90s were when "complete balanced diet" commercial food was being pushed as the best thing to feed dogs. I fed mostly dry food, because it was supposed to be so good, with some table scraps, cooked stews and an occasional bone and seemed to be constantly at the vets with dogs with skin or digestive problems. The dogs I had growing up in the 60s and 70s where fed mostly fresh meat and bones, table scraps and sometimes just a little dry food which was mainly biscuit. They lived very long healthy lives and hardly ever needed a vet. In the late 90s I changed to all raw (Barf theory not commercial barf) and my vet bills dropped dramatically. I haven't used any commercial dog food since and cannot ever see me going back to it.

Alfie02, where abouts in NSW are you ? There are quite a few good trainers scattered around the state that just don't have as high a profile. Some don't advertise at all and just work by word of mouth.

I am not at all impressed with anything she has ever done for the people I know that have tried her.

Add copies of any health results for the parents and an extended pedigree to everything else that has been suggested.

The EIC test for BC has not been developed yet? How do you know your dog is affected? There is no genetic test yet but research is being carried out on BCC and the dogs currently affected all show the exact same symptoms. This is a fairly recent discovery in Borders but as more people talk about it there seem to be more possible cases turning up. It may or may not be inherited in the same manner as EIC in Labs, only time will tell. This link has videos of Borders with BCC. I have never seen a case before but have had it described to me by several people who have owned dogs that do this. I found it interesting to actually see what they were talking about. If it is the same as EIC in Labs, then it is highly likely that similar conditions also occur in some other breeds. http://www.cvm.umn.edu/vbs/faculty/Mickels...ieEIC/home.html