Lucy's mama

Do you know something I don't? Or are you saying it is a possibility with any breeder? Regardless, I may not know, I said IF I knew I would not buy from that breeder. If the registered breeder I got Banjo from breeds merle to merle there is obviously nothing I can do about it now. I'm not going to beat myself up over it after the fact. I find it quite contradictory that unregistered breeding is frowned upon yet a registered breeder going ahead with a mating that is likely to result in culling a quarter of the litter is acceptable.

Yeah, it doesn't really sit well with me either. I think I would not buy anything from a breeder if I knew they were doing this. The life of possibly 25% of the litter is less important than breeding a closer to perfect dog? Surely another complimentry, solid coloured dog could be found.

Really?? That is bizaar... Do you know the breeders reasoning for taking that sort of risk?

My daughter recently did an assignment on Thylacines. All of the research pointed to them being extinct. A few unsubstantiated sightings on both the mainland and Tas, but no confirmed sightings, no dropping or other evidence. I hope they are hidden away somewhere just like the wollemi pine.

Thanks. Excellent informative site. I have book marked it.

Well sort of as far as border collies, but you have to know how to understand the registered colours. In Australia they call the colour red chocolate. But they only allow blue merles to be registered. So chocolate merles are registered as blue merles or chocolates. Red in Australia refers to EE red and this can also come in merle, but the merle pattern is often hidden. So you might have a Red (EE) merle, but you can not register it as that colour either so they are registered as reds. Now this could be very dangerous as you might breed a red (red EE merle) to a blue merle and not realize what you are doing, but that is another story. Now in the UK where the breed comes from and most of the rest of the world, reds or red tris or red merles or red tri merles are called red or red tri or red merles or red tri merle and are registered as the colour they really are instead of a colour they are not. They do not use the word chocolate in border collies ever. When the first EE reds from Australia were imported, there was no name for that colour so most registries call them Aussie Reds but it is still an issue and gets confused. This all make for great fun when you import a Red Tri merle into Australia. they must recognize and registered the imports. But it is not a Red Tri Merle in Australia. First off you can not have a Red Tri or a Red Merle in Australia, so that is out. So it would have to be chocolate or a blue merle or a black tri, but could never a chocolate tri and never a chocolate merle and most assuredly never ever a chocolate tri merle. Hope that was clear. LOL Clear as mud lol. So does that mean you lie on paper about colour if you have a chocolate merle or chiocolate tri? You would think they would accept them on the register or not, rather than say they are blue when they are chocolate. What does merle EE mean?

i was advised to ignore our dog on arriving home, and it was really hard at first, but now I come home and he is excited to see me but not over the top and silly. It is so much easier carrying in shopping when he is laying down watching and waiting rather than getting under my feet and sticking his nose in bags. When I have carried everything in, had a drink, checked my messages I will say hello to him. I would definately say it worked for us, we were very consistant with it though and everyone had to do it.

Thanks Alpha bet. The first part is exactly how we taught 'gentle'. We will start using the second part too now because he does occasionally nose touch your hand, waits for the fist to open and then snatches.

Thanks bedazzled2. I am teaching a sit on his back legs so yes, I have been holding the treat high. I'm not treating in that position though so thanks for pointing that out. I obviously need to re-read my training book!

Thanks. I will start throwing the treat on the floor. He gets hand fed his kibble by the kids every other day and must be gentle so he modt definately knows it.

I have just started clicker training Banjo and he is very rough and impatient with getting his treat after I have clicked. Is it o.k to click the behaviour I want then delay the treat and ask for 'gentle' (he knows gentle) or will that just confuse him as to what the treat is for - ie for being gentle not for whatever was clicked. Any other suggestions??

Perhaps there is hope for my OH yet. He hasn't clicked with any breeds - but he does really likes old, sweet, quiet dogs. He fell in love with a 10yr old weimarana i found on the main road last week and told me nI shouldn't call the number on his collar so we could keep him. He took in a elderly border collie years ago too because his mate's mate was going to take her out bush and shoot her.

I give mine the roo vertebrae occasionally. They tend to crumble rather than splinter. I suppose it is possible to swallow large chunks, but wouldn't that be the same with edible fresh bones?

Ummm... I think it's lucky the axe is in the house not the garage because it would be dangerous for the kids to play with it? As a parent, I can and have taught my kids good doggy manner. 99 times out of a hundred my 4 year old will stand at a distance, call out to the dog owner can I say hello to your dog, and approach slowly with one hand slightly raised in front for the dog to sniff. BUT despite knowing better, one day someone may walk past us on the path and on the spur of the moment he may reach out and pat it's rear as it passes, or worse, yell 'rarh''. He is a small boy who is generally well behaved and has been taught, but he IS a small boy and impulse controll is not 100%.

What about a GSP? They would love all the goings on of a busy family full of boys (especially tripping down to a river or damn for a swim). We had a lovely female gsp as kids which we were responsible for walking from age 10. She pulled like a steam train because she had NO training but even as a ten year old girl she was not too strong for me. At home we played chasey with her in the back yard and she was full on but so gentle and loving. I'd love to have one for my kids. They may need to be inside more though.

Thanks Staff'n'Toller. I will ask the evt about the pcv and give her some liver. Moselle - yes, we try to keep her diet low carb, higher protien and fat, hence the small amount of kibble that she does get is puppy rather than adult. I will start adding the pentavite, she is not a big eater and has lost a little weight (nothing worrying yet) so that will be good. We spoke to a vet at the specialist centre about radiotherapy and decided against it. She would have to have had a general anesthetic every week day for two weeks, and the generals she had for biopsys/xrays etc during the diagnosis really knocked her about, and it would only bring her life expectancy to around 15 months. Stonebridge - I asked the vet if we could give her something to help her blood clot when she was still on meds and he felt it was dangerous as it could cause blood clots. I don't know if vit. k would though - I thought it was pretty safe. Will check on that when we go for the pcv. Spotty chick - I'm about to head out so will check your links later. Thank you. Everyone else - thanks for your warm thoughts.

Lucy was diagnosed with nasal cancer last September. She has good spurts and not so good. She was on meds but they tend to thin the blood and her nose bleeds were out of control, so no more meds. At the moments she has been slowly dripping blood for 4 days. Last time I took her back to the vet she had been bleeding more heavily for 24 hours and he was of the mind if it stops - great -if not, it may be her time. The next time I took her back because she was bleeding a lot was when we took her off the meds. No treatment will make the bleeding stop. Anyway, this time the bleeding is much slower, but quite drawn out. I'm tossing up weather to take her back in again because I'm sure he will still tell me there is nothing he can do, but maybe some supplements will help keep her feeling better? She seems a bit lathargic but that isn't unusual for her in winter. I guess she seems o.k, but I just feel worried because bleeding over several days could not be good for anyone. I know people need extra iron when losing blood. What about dogs? If it helps, she is fed puppy kibble, chicken frames and lamb flaps. We tried billinghurst raw but she didn't like it and her stools were very soft.

I guess I'm sitting on the fence here between Moselle's oppinion and Possum Corner's. It shouldn't be a first resort, but making someone do EVERYTHING else first is cost prohibitive - especially when you KNOW some thing won't work ( eg, expensive screening for a dog who is barking at noises not sights) By the time the average dog owner has spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars, lost countless hours of sleep and had relations with their neighbours ruined, they are DONE with the dog and off it goes to the pound before it can cause any more stress and expense.

I really don't see what the issue is with de-barking. Like any elective surgery, it should only be done in the best interest of the dog and after less invasive options have been exhausted. Why it is considered cruel by some I have no idea.

Bubby sounds a lot like Lucy. Perfect manners, no formal training! It took me weeks to teach her 'down' and 30 seconds to teach her 'hoy' means ''stop what your doing and don't ever do that again!'' (and she never does) I tried obedience with her and she just looked at me like 'why? how about I just lay down and watch instead?''

Thanks. Nekhebet. If he can have a quick bark before getting a warning that is good. Allbreeds - We are in QLD so fine to use here. He has a quick fetch and training session most mornings, in the afternoons he has a 3km walk broken up with a very quick dip in the river, (very occasionally 5km, but he is only 9 months old) a play in the dog park and a longer training session in the pm. Meals comes as RMB, in a treat toy or as training treats from the kids. He has missed his exercise for afew days because it is cold and wet and my youngest has a chest infection so we are staying indoors, but he is not going silly with energy or anything yet. In fact he has been a fair bit quieter than usual with less people passing, less bird noise etc. Aiden - foxes are not a problem at the moment - but at those times of day the roosters crow, truckies and tradies are leaving for work, the neighbour comes very early and very late to feed her horses, the plovers swoop and make their noises and people are walking their dogs, so there is LOTS for him to bark at and get excited by. We would be screwed in proper suburbia! That sounds like a good idea. In the mean time (money is short - can't buy one immediately) I have decided to keep a bark diary myself to see more clearly what upsets him and when and maybe I will find another way to work around it. Also so next time I'm told he barked for 3 hours straight I can say with certainty and accuracy , "actually he barked for 30 seconds 8 times in that three hour period.''

Sure. Barking at anyone coming on the property is fine, is excellent in fact. Barking once at the door to be let in or out is great - he often sits quietly waiting and only barks once for that anyway. Barking repeatedly at birds and their noises, people passing on the street, his reflection in a window or door, planes flying over, the cats, and the neighbours dogs is not. All the nuisance, hyper-vigilant barking generally happens between 3am and 8am and 4.30/5.00pm and 9.00pm. I have just put this down to his natural gaurding instinct. I am guessing those are the times of day his flock would be most at risk? I know that seems to be the times foxes take our chickens.

Thanks corvus. I read your method in another thread and used it successfully to teach him to stay on his bed while I am cooking dinner rather than get underfoot, counter surf, stick his head in the fridge etc. It certainly worked for that. His barking is something else though. When he is aroused like that it takes awhile to settle. Really the only way I have found to bring him down is practice focus exercises and long down stays with very low value treats. (Bits of carrot or apple are good) But like I said - 3am is not a great time to do that, and neither is the morning off to school and work rush, or the evening dinner-bath-bed time, which are, of course, his prime barking times!

'Thanks Aiden `This was recommended by two trainers - theory being he would learn - bark, bark, must go inside now. Obviously it has not worked though! My partner thought it was rewarding barking but both trainers assured us it wasn't! He knows a quiet cue. It doesn't work if he is out running about though - he really only listens to it inside. We have tried building the time between 'shh' and a treat but with very little success. Getting up and giving him a quiet cue every 5 or 10 minutes at 3am is no fun whatsoever and doesn't allow us a decent nights sleep. I am looking for a solution to stop inappropriat barking in the first place. Could you elaborate on this a little bit please so I can be better informed before I make a decision? ETA: He barks when inside too - wether he is free inside or in his crate or on his bed makes no difference.

Just wanted to add - there are a few reasons I'm not 100% keen on a bark control collar. The main one being I don't want to punish appropriate barking. It is his main form of communication and it seems wrong to stop it alltogether. If someone comes to my gate, he should be allowed to bark. If there is a snake in the yard, I want him to bark. If a fox is at the chook house, I want him to bark. However, if it comes down to a choice between having cranky neighbours and a cranky partner or using the collar, then I would probably use the collar.