dancinbcs

x2

I swear by Oldfields dryers for Border Collies, so they should be fine for Shelties. Mine is about 25 years old and still going strong and several friends also still have their's that are 20+ years old.

Forgot to mention that when he got his leg stuck in the collar, it was wedged so tight, we had to cut the collar off to release the leg before it cut off the circulation.

In NSW all puppies MUST be sold with registration papers, either main or limit and by law they MUST be microchipped BEFORE being sold. Not sure about the exact rules for the other states. Ethical breeders in all states have no reason to not provide papers with the puppies they sell. It was common for puppies to be sold without papers before the limit register was introduced but now it is available I cannot think of one legitimate reason that a breeder could have for selling puppies without papers. If you don't get papers to prove the parentage and health status of a purebred puppy, you may as well have bought a mongrel. The registration papers are the only guarantee that the puppy is what it is supposed to be.

My dogs used to skin them, chewed the cover off and discarded it.

Angus, while chasing swallows in a friends 2 acre yard, disappeared behind the house for about 5 minutes. When I called and he didn't come, I went to investigate and found him standing with one front leg stuck through his collar, up to the elbow. No idea how he managed it but needless to say he is never left unattended with a collar on. He also let himself out of his crate with the spring loaded door at a show and took himself shopping for a new bed at the Great Rugs stand. The crate now gets padlocked if I walk away from it at all.

Sounds like perfectly normal dog behaviour. Adults are entitled to reprimand puppies and teach them manners. Several of mine have held a puppy down by the throat, sounding like they are going to kill them, when the puppy has stepped over the line of good manners, but they never, ever actually do any damage. This is usually something that happens after they have put up with a boisterous puppy for quite a long time, before deciding that the puppy licence has expired. It is only a problem if they actually injure a puppy. I have zero tolerance for any adult dog that intentionally injures a puppy. It is not normal behaviour and should never happen. Any dog that launches an unprovoked attack on a puppy and injures it, has no place in society. I have seen it happen at shows and cannot believe that breeders still contemplate breeding from a dog that acts this way.

As a general rule, I have always avoided selling Border Collies to first time dog owners. I need them to have at least had dogs around when they where kids, even if they haven't owned one themselves as adults. In other words they need to have some idea how dogs act and think. More important though is the fact that the owners need to be smarter than the puppy. This is often a problem with BC puppies training their owners, instead of the other way round. While very easy to train, if you know what you are doing, they will outsmart you at every turn if you are not sure or have no idea. Nearly all of my puppies have gone to previous BC owners and they usually get priority. A first time dog owner would only be able to successfully raise a BC if they have someone knowledgable nearby that can steer them on a correct course in raising the puppy. On the other hand, an already trained, adult BC could be owned by just about anyone that was prepared to learn the commands the dog has already been taught. Edited to add, that I personally find it difficult to advise first time dog owners on puppy raising because I have had dogs all my life and find it hard to comprehend how little some people know about dogs. Some of the really basic questions asked on DOL really stagger me at times. If you grow up with dogs, you just know all the basics without any memory of ever being taught. If owners are already used to dogs then I can advise on diet, training, grooming, breeding, etc but trying to explain why a dog acts like a dog is a lot more difficult.

VERY disappointing that the breeder has not been supportive. If this is the first time something like this has happened with one of their dogs, you would expect them to try to help as much as possible. Maybe they have had several similar problems and have decided to bury their head's in the sand. Please don't be hard on yourself if it turns out you have caused this problem. You obviously didn't do it deliberately and sometimes handling these situations is only something that you learn from experience. If you have caused the problem then it can probably be fixed. More of a worry is that you didn't cause it and it is an agressive trait within the dog. That is probably not fixable. Good luck with the behaviourist. I'm sure they will be able to at least give you some answers and hopefully some solutions as well.

One point many of you seem to have missed entirely is that this dog is fine with Chazey's children. He is guarding her against all strangers, both adult and children, but has not shown any tendency of aggression towards the family at all. The dog is only just over 12 months and therefore hitting maturity and finding his place in the family pack. A dominant dog, especially a very large one, needs to be carefully shown where it should fit into that pack and getting it wrong leads to the situation that seems to be developing here. If this is the problem a behaviourist should be able to sort it out with the family so they all have more control over the dog and he won't feel the need to protect them so strongly. Go read "Think Dog" by John Fisher and see how people unknowingly create these problems all the time. Other male dogs with female owners, just start this behaviour at about 12 months and experienced owners stop it before it escalates to a problem. I once had a BC that suddenly thought it would be a good idea to growl at any adult that approached me. He was fine with kids, obviously not seeing them as a threat to me. My friends helped me solve this by taking his lead from me if he growled at them so I could walk away and leave him with them. If I wasn't there he couldn't guard me and within about 2 weeks he worked out that if he growled at someone, I would give him to them and leave. That was not the outcome he had planned and the behaviour stopped immediately. I also gave him to friends to work in obedience commands until he was quite relaxed working for anyone that issued commands. This approach though is NOT something I would recommend in this situation with a Mastiff that has a much stronger guard instinct than a BC and the fact that the situation has already escalated. Also my friends and I where all experienced dog trainers, unlike Chazey and any friends that may attempt to help her. On the other hand the dog may just be very aggressive by nature and that would mean that he is truly too dangerous to have around. Deciding the true situation cannot be done over the internet. They need an expert to assess the dog and the family.

Not sure if the rules are the same in all states, but a brace usually has to be owned by the same person. So two dogs, same breed, same owner and as closely matched as possible. Normal show workout on a brace lead with the dogs working together. It is pretty easy to teach show trained dogs to work in a brace situation.

Mastiffs are guarding breeds and it is normal for them to display guarding behaviour on maturity but it is up to the owners to control who and what needs to be guarded, and to be able to switch off the guarding. From what you have said above, it is possible this dog thinks that your husband is pack leader but that he (the dog) comes next in the pack, ahead of you and the children. This causes him to believe he needs to protect you from everyone outside the family. I have seen this happen with many dogs and it is easily fixed with a small breed but this is a very large breed with the potential to do a lot of damage if not handled correctly. I agree that you need the help of a good behaviouralist immediately to assess this dog and work out if a shift in family pack structure would correct the behaviour or not.

Officially no, but no one ever checks. Just take her and crate her or put her on a spare bench and pretend she is entered. If you don't make an issue of it no one will even notice. One important point: Make sure she is not in season or she will definitely not be allowed in.

Try spraying the chewed area of the coat with Bitter Apple or Bitter Bite from pet supply stores. Hopefully it will break the habit once the Kelpie gets a mouthful of it.

A cargo barrier is useless unless it is specifically made and fitted to your wagon. You need either the genuine Ford one for your model or one made by a specialist cargo barrier company. A proper cargo barrier is the safest option but they can be expensive. You might be able to pick one up second hand though. Otherwise a large wire crate that almost fits the entire back secion of the wagon will work nearly as well. If it is large enough it won't have room to move around so doesn't need to be secured to anything. My Commodore wagon has two 60x90cm crates squeezed into the back for my BCs. I only have about 2cm to spare to get them in so they can't possibly move around much. For a larger dog, get a bigger crate with side opening door.

Those photos show the destructive power of a fire. Amazing that you and so many of your dogs ade it out of there. Have they worked out what caused the fire yet?

Are you a member of Dogs WA? If so, find out if they have a liaison officer like we do in NSW. He is the first point of contact for any Dogs NSW members that have issues with their council. We don't have the dog numbers problem any more because the state govt. rules do not limit numbers, but members that have other issues with their council are asked to contact the liaison officer before dealing with the issue.

Nothing weird about dogs eating fruit. Most of mine over the years have loved fruit and mangoes are a special favourite.

The TCA are not abiding by ANKC regulations. "6.2.4 The registration of White Boxers is NOT permitted on any register. (05/05)" The regulation applies to all states and as breeders are not allowed to sell unregistered puppies, it is therefore against the regulations to sell white Boxers.

That net which some roasts are wrapped in provides for interesting poo packaging! :D Those meat nets are very dangerous. I have heard of extensive surgery to remove them. Lots of dogs eat blankets and unless it is long thin strips it is fairly harmless. With a Lab puppy be prepared for her to eat lots of not food items over the next couple of years. They are one of the most destructive breeds as puppies, but thankfully seem to have pretty much cast iron stomachs. Even if you don't notice that she has eaten a foreign object always be on the lookout for symptoms of a bowel obstruction, just in case. The list of "objects" injested by the Labrador breed would be very extensive.

Sounds to me that she is in pain. Different dogs have different pain thresholds so maybe she is just a softy or maybe the stitches are not done right and are pulling. I would be asking the vet for some more pain relief for her and if she doesn't start to fell better very soon would try another vet. There is usually some discomfort and pain for the first 24-48 hours post op but usually only enough to make them want to lie around quietly. After that they are pretty much back to normal and keeping them quiet is the problem. Do you know what time she was done Thursday? If it wasn't until late in the day then it isn't 48 hours yet.

Well done. A change in attitude can work wonders as can thinking about life from the puppy's point of view. You have successfully raised one child till 3 years so I'm sure you will manage a puppy and a baby. Puppies and toddlers have so much in common and if you remember that you will succeed. Teach them how you want them to behave, reward good behaviour, be consistent and don't nag. Same rules apply to both species but puppies learn faster. BTW, you puppy is gorgeous and that second photo shows the focus you need from her to enable you to train her.

Get the owner of the attacking dog to pay as much as possible and then maybe the fact that they own an agressive dog will sink in. Definitely report the incident, take photos of your dog's injuries and get a report from the vet to go with it. Don't let your dog play with the Staffy again. Once there has been a fight the friendship will never be the same again. Never let your dog go to a dog park again where there are strange dogs. If you must use a dog park try to get to know a couple of owners with friendly dogs around the same size and work up to letting them play together in twos or threes, provided no strange dogs are there. Even in a private yard with an established pack of dogs that know each there is a risk running a large group together. If a fight starts others join in and it escalates but if they are all the same size the damage is minimised. Letting a group of dogs of different sizes, that don't know each other, run and play together is just lunacy IMO. It is a disaster waiting to happen and very unnatural for dogs from different "packs" to socialise in that manner. I do not understand how the idea of dog parks as a free for all, ever came about and my dogs will never set foot in one. Other than running up a busy highway, a dog park is the place your dog is most likely to get badly injured. There is no way to know how badly this will affect your boy but many DA dogs are that way because they were attacked. Hopefully with patience and help from friends with friendly dogs you boy will recover from both his physical and mental scars from the attack. Obedience classes would also be good as he would be around a lot of other dogs that are all under control.

You have to remember she is a baby and will learn things in time. Puppies respond much better to being directed to do something rather than not do something. The concept of "don't jump up" is hard for a dog to understand but learning to sit and drop for a reward is easier. Rather than reprimand her for jumping, teach her to sit or drop as soon as she looks like wanting to jump and reward the desired behaviour. Always use positive commands rather than reprimands. If you do have to reprimand use Ahhhh rather than No. The dog has no idea what No means. Immediately she responds to the Ahhhh, reward her. It requires split second timing so she understands she is being praised for ceasing the undesiresd behaviour and the praise does not have to be food. A happy voice and reward word like "Good" that is sometimes backed up with a food reward will soon have her responding. I think expecting her to not jump on the baby is asking way too much. She would see the baby as another puppy and reprimanding her will confuse her. The baby is at her level and cannot issue commands or give praise so she has no reason to view the baby the way she does older humans. Keep them separated unless you have your full attention on them and you can keep the puppy on a lead and train her to sit calmly near the baby. The biggest problem you have is allowing her far too much freedom too soon. Puppies should be confined to a puppy pen, crate or small room unless thay have your undivided attention. With the toileting she needs to be taken outside and encouraged to go. If she doesn't go she needs to be put back in her pen or crate until you can try again. Under no circumstances should she be allowed loose in the house unless she has just toiletted outside. Every time you let her make a mistake inside you are training her to go inside instead of out. The key to to toilet training is never let them make a mistake.

Really good effort for his first attempt.