Tassie

Oh that's cool. Glad she's progressing well. Yes I'll sometimes go back to the platform or isolating front paws, if I feel I need to .. like if I'm in a different environment, or adding distractions. It's a slow process with my busy young BC girl who thinks being still is waste of energy.

Perfect furry tug toy!!!!

So very sorry that your lovely Berner has this diagnosis. It can come as such a shock, and particularly if they only have one or two symptoms. My 16 year old Border Collie was diagnosed with Lymphoma (peripheral glands only) .. At that age, and since she alsready had indications of early stage renal disease, chemo was not an option .. although of course I was tempted.) The prognosis was 1-2 months . My vet offered Pred as a one off ..it did reduce the nodal swelling for a week or so, and I got altogether 6 weeks of reasonable quality for her before I had to farewell her .. amid gentle tears form me and my vet who had been treating her since puppyhood. Although Berners are living longer these days, and although our first instinct is to try anything to have our beloved dogs with us for longer, I don't think I would be looking at chemo for a 9 year old Berner. I would definitely try Pred - at worst, it may buy you a little time to come to terms with the sitruation. It did for me. Best of luck with helping your beautiful girl.

Different breed, so as in the study linked by @sandgrubber, different possible scenarios, but for what it's worth, my BC girl was desexed a couple of months ago at nearly 4 .. after 5 seasons. The latest I've desexed a bitch, but she was showing, and I was persuaded by the more recent thinking about later desexing.- given that agility is in her future. My reasons for desexing now .. combination of excess of caution . I'd been terrified of missing a closed pyometra if she stayed entire, and convenience in terms of entering tracking trials .. no entire bitches - and she would have been due in season right in tracking season. She bounced back from the desexing just fine.

@Loving my Oldies Yes, I'm sorry .. I have to disagree ... and so do my Border Collies. The younger one in particular., has an after dinner nap in her crate in the family room .. to ensure she stays calm for a while after dinner. At bedtime, after going out for on lead toilet (pademelons in the yard) , she can't wait to race through the house, dive into her nighttime crate, next to my bed, accept her couple of going to bed treats, and then is happy to sleep all night long ... usually a minimum of 8 hours. This has been her routine since she was a wee pup, and means that when we're away and staying in dog friendly accommodation, she is perfectly happy to sleep in her crate there too. My older boy hasn't had a door on his night time airline crate for many years, but it's still his choice to crate himself for night time sleep - he's right next to my bed, but could be anywhere in the house if he wanted to. Both dogs let me know if they need to go out to toilet during the night .. in which case we go out on lead, and then as soon as they come back in, they race to their crates to go back to bed. And it means they're quite contented when they have to spend long days in their crates, travelling, at a show or trial, and vet stays or injury.

You and she are going to have lots more fun together. She has certainly fallen on her 4 lucky feet. Yes ... going more slowly will give you time to have her think a bit more and feel a bit more what she;s doind, so then you can eventually fade the platforms ... though most trainers who use platforms will ping pong back and forth when it seems needed, just to remind the dog. I have a quick to learn young BC, who likes to live life in the fast lane, so we have to work hard on slow, calm and accurate (definitely a work in progress. The quick ones are great in a lot of ways, but I find they end up pushing the handler into rushing a bit too. Clever dogs

And what @Dogsfevr said reminded me of the delightful little Griffon Bruxellois I met at Christmas time , He was about 6 months old .. confident without being pushy, loves his Border Collie 'brother', happy to meet people, very trainable. Maybe not quite what you want, but worth a look ..

That was a good idea. She's very neat ... but she's also very fast, and I think that's limiting her ability to really process what she[s doing, and thus translate it to doing without the props. When we are doing any of these moves for fitness and conditioning, or starting them for obedience and rally and tricks, we try to have the dog moving slowly and thoughtfully at first, and then when they have more clarity of understanding of just what it is we want, then we can speed up. I would definitely be making some platforms. If you' ve got something like an aerobics bench, you could try that, but it probably wouldn't be wide enough for her, and you'd have to make sure you made it non slip. It's easiest to teach the dog to be thoughtful about how she moves her feet. It is the same principle, although if you're working with her front feet on an edge, this means that if she's careless, she can move her feet, but they're going to come off the edge, and then she won't be rewarded .. so she'll become more careful about placement. But she needs time to be thinking.... so slow first, then it's fairer to add speed and expect her to remember. She's working from muscle memory in her body then. She really looks as though she's fun to train.

I would think the dog in the video has originally been trained using platforms - slightly raised blocks, bricks, paw pods, or foam blocks to isolate the feet you want to remain static. The dogs learn to keep their feet still, as otherwise they won't get rewarded. The dog gets feedback through proprioception (its own sense of where its feet are). Most trainers will train the behaviours by shaping or luring, and not put verbal cues on the behaviour until the dog has learnt the appropriate moves its body has to make. (The learning comes through marking the desired behaviour, rewarding and releasing, and then repeating.. So for example, to teach the tuck sit/ kickback stand that's in the video, I use a house brick for my border collies. They first learn that they will be rewarded for placing, and then for keeping, their front feet on the brick. From there they learn to sit by bringing their back feet forward to meet their back fest, and then with value for keeping their front feet on the brick, they will kick their feet back out into a stand, without moving the front feet. Hope that makes sense. You can help the dog get a nice steady stacked stand using two raised foam pads, just a bit longer than the width of the dog, and not much wider than the dog's foot length. One for front feet and one for back feet .. placed far enough apart that the dog is standing square with a nice level top line. Build up lots of value for the dog staying in that position (releasing with permission to move) before fading the platforms.

So very sorry, Perse. That is very tough. Bad enough when we're prepared (as much as we can be) but much worse when it comes unexpectedly. But so glad that you and she had such a lovely bond. She sounds as though she was a lovely puss cat.

Another vote for vet bed. And washes really well.

Oh too bad .. but when you;ve got to kangaroo ... then you've got to. Bless him.

What @Rebanne said. Personally I'd definitely be getting a consult with a vet eye specialist. I don't know where you are in VIc, but there's a specialist service in Melbourne that has a regular roster of regional visits (who knew Tasmania was a region of Victoria .)

That is a photo to treasure. . It will be tough for you to watch Sooty learning to cope .. while you're just coping yourself. Take care.

I really love this .. for me, this is what shows should be about .. having fun with your dog and taking the best dog home .. points are an added bonus ..... but I hope you get those as well this time. So glad things are going so well.

Sounds like you've been doing a great job with your lad. I think I'd be using lots of treats and a matter of fact voice to help him get the idea that if you say the . gate, bike or whatever ... is a reason for him to turn to you for a treat .. so it could go something like .. pup starts to react to trigger, you say something like .. yes it's a .... and treat.. if he reorients quickly to you, then super party and multiple treats. It would be helpful to start teaching him this with some distance from the triggers. It's the same sort of protocol we might use for a dog triggered by motion of cars etc. In donng that, I sometimes ask for a sit as a response but the most important thing is the reorientation to the handler ...

You should definitely be able to arrange a phone consult with a vet .. it may cost you a bit, but if they do the FNA it should be just bundled into the cost of that. If they can't organise a phone consult appointment, and definitely, if they can't/won't do a FNA, then I think for me that would be a bit of a deal breaker and a sign to start looking for a practice that could offer better service. My vets over many years add the size and nature of lipomas to my dogs' notes .. and if they're in any doubt, will do a FNA. My vet and I shared a bit of a laugh one day when he was investigating a lump on an older bitch ..wasn't sure because it didn't feel like a normal lipoma .. did an FNA .. and got the answer when pus shot across the room. .. Over the years, the only trouble I've had with lipomas on my dogs have been a couple that needed to be removed because of their location .. and one that actually became infected and needed to be removed.

It was a while ago, so I'm not sure of the details .. but a breeder who used to be on here posted about a bitch of hers who delivered a live puppy onto a concrete floor in midwinter. and left it. The breeder fortunately found the puppy almost immediately and was able to warm it and it seemed quite healthy. Fortunately, the dam's daughter had just whelped a litter a short time - maybe a couple of days?) before, so the little one was put in with her and accepted very well. The older bitch was fine .. was put in her whelping box all ready ... and ... nothing for a couple (or a few) days. Although she appeared fine and pups inside were apparently fine, breeder took the bitch for an ultrasound .. yep .. all good. So back to the whelping box ...and the bitch decided that that might be a good time to deliver the rest of the puppies in the litter (8 I think) .. all well and fighting fit.. The early one did fine, and was raised by the daughter with her litter until the pups were running round, and then the two litters ran together. i could well be misremembering some details .. some of the older forum members might remember the story .. but that was the gist of it..

Good for you .. she's looking good from that angle. Bet she's happier too.

No worries .... we've all done that sort of thing. And the forums can be a little overwhelming till you get used to theml By the way, your little one is a bit cute!!

Hi @Kim20 - you have replies to your post in General Discussions.

I'd just add a couple of things to what @Papillon Kisses and @Dogsfevr have said. General rules of thumb for puppy/dog training ... try to manage the environment so that puppy is most likely to succeed, try not to let the pup practise behaviours you don't want to see again, and focus on what you would like to see. So in the case of puppy biting .. definitely encourage the puppy to develop and practise calm - and associating that with routines, crate/xpen and safe chew toys will benefit you and the puppy not only in relation to the biting, but also in generl management of the pup even as an adult. (My almost 4 year old cray cray BC girl was desexed on Monday .. so much easier to protect her from damaging stitches because she has a good grasp of being calm. My go to for puppy biting was to have a house littered with legitimate chew items - cardboard tubes out of paper towel rolls, squashed plastic water.mill bottles .. etc. etc., so that wherever I was, I could quickly interrupt a biting puppy with something low key .. Oops, I don't think so, Excuse me .. all of which you can easily say in a calm tone, while I reach for a legitimate chew obhsct and engage the puppy in play with the toy, and then try to leave pup with the toy for a while.. If you do this every time, the pup gets used to what is OK and what is not appreciated, and still can enjoy playing with you.

This reminded me of a friend's Golden Retriever, who, no mater how far we had walked, with 5 dogs in the pack, would refuse to do a 190 turn to go back along the same route. So we would have to find a big tree or something that we could do a loop around... that satisfied him, and he would then happily head back along the track. this same dog hwad to be in the front of the pack if we were walking off leash.. he would leapfrog over dogs in front if he got left behind by stopping and sniffing at something, and then happily settle down in front. On the way back home, hhe didn't care if others were in front. So they do sometimes develop odd little habits ... @sheena has suggested some good strategies to get round might be a "don't wanna don't hafta thing about heading back home.... pup may just want the walk to go longer.

What a sad and trying year for you, @julesluvscavs. So glad the Universe (with Miah's assistance}, found this dear little dog to lighten your hearts.

Oh bless him. Happy in the ring is IMO one of the most important things!