Bracken

My older dog Gwyn is very intense during cuddles. She'll walk up to you, stick her chin on your knee and stare at you until she starts getting pats. If that doesn't work she'll put a paw on your knee and beg for attention. If it's still not working she'll assume the human is faulty on that side and move around to their other leg to repeat the performance. Once you start patting her head she pivots around so that you're scratching her back above her tail (her absolute favourite scratching point). But she's not good at staying still or lying down for pats or cuddles. She always wants to know where other people in the house are so often jumps up to check. My puppy Ziggy is really good at cuddles you can pick her up and she's squiggling around in your arms and being jumpy and then you roll her onto the bed and she turns into floppy jelly. Just wants to drape herself over your legs or snuggle up to you and snooze. Her only bad cuddle habit is when we return home or people visit us, she shadows our legs as we walk up to the door (doing the full-body wag) and occasionally collapses across our feet for a tummy rub. So you need to watch your step! Overall she's the most lovey-dovey dog I've had out of my 3 (3rd dog was a golden retriever who loved people to go and sit next to her, or to just lye at your feet. But wasn't so forward in getting hugs)

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I've had an interesting time connecting with my new dog Ziggy. I was instantly attracted to her out of the litter of 6 when she was 2 weeks old, and then each time I visited (about once a week) I remained more interested in her and consequently spent about half of each visit with her and half with the others. By the time the pups were 8 weeks old this had impacted on Ziggys response to me in comparison with the other pups, as she would come over to me and just seemed to recognise me more than the others. Luckily the 2 people with prior choice to me didn't pick her so I was able to take her home :D I have felt that although I always had a connection with her, it has changed over the few months I have known her. Initially there was the instant connection. Then there was the connection through the caring role, as she was too little to really 'understand' me. I still loved her at this point, but for the first 2 months I saw her as very cute but that we would have a better connection when she was older. I didn't feel too bad for not having a super close feeling right away, as I had found this thread and I was pretty sure that the connection would come through Ziggy understanding commands and my noticing her body language more, which wasn't going to be happening strait away with my little ball of fluff! Over time as I taught her tricks and we just spent time with each other we've grown so much closer, and I now really recognise her personality traits. I think our bond has definitely strengthened through going to dog training classes and joining an obedience club. As we can now 'communicate' with each other a lot better. She's nearly 6 months now, so I'll soon be starting her with agility, as I think that the best bonds are built through working together... And food :p

I think no one can argue against the cuteness of a little border! (although mini dachshunds are super cute too!) of course, like so many others, I'm very biased when it comes to my baby!

Yay! I felt a bit mean for 'alpha rolling' her! I'm not too sure If I'm doing nothing in life is free or not. She usually only gets food for working, and I try to remember to have her sit before pats/entering the house but a lot of the time she just get's the hugs for free (although she then has to put up with being squished and kissed and having her personal space well and truly invaded, So I'm not sure if she always sees this entierly as a treat! ) I'm not too sure how to get her to see me as the leader, I've mostly just been using 'leave it' to get her to understand that, because I figured that if a dog understands it needs to give up it's food when you say then it probably knows your the boss. Is there anything else that would help incase she tries testing the boundaries again?

My old Golden retriever once got into a large packet of different coloured chalks... We had a very artistically decorated lawn for a few days afterwards

This isn't really a puppy problem, more of an experience sharing :D My little puppy Ziggy has just turned 4 months and, as predicted by our puppy school trainer, has started to hit the 'terrible teens'! If people have any stories or strategies that they used for their pup's teenage antics I would love to hear about them, as I feel that I'm going to need to gird my loins and be prepared for a few months of challenging times! So far, Ziggy's signs of growing up include; Starting to move further away from us when in the garden, and not always hanging around for pats if we've been with her for a while. Discovering her ability to bark And she's tried to test whether she has to follow instructions during training or not! That was actually very cute :D I was finishing her training session with some 'leave it' practice where I scatter the last of her kibble on the ground and she can only eat when I say 'OK' and then must stop and sometimes perform tricks (sit of paw or something quick and simple) when I say 'leave it'. Anyway, she decided to try just continuing eating... so I said 'leave it' once more and she still kept going with the kibble. So I picked her up and moved her a few feet away for some time out and she growled at me!! I know that sounds kind of bad, but it was a really funny puppy grow, think Simba in the lion king . So I kept a straight face, and even managed a slightly serious look as she got her time out and short monologue on proper puppy etiquette! I also held her by the top of the collar and scruff of the neck during this, As I wanted to really let her know that growing was not on (Does that sound ok to everyone? I normally only use clicker/positive training, but I felt that the behaviour was particularly worrying). It all seemed to work, because when I let her back to the food, she was responding to the 'leave it' command perfectly again. She's tried it once more since then, and I gave her the same treatment which again seemed to sort out the problem. So, what have your pup's teenage transitions been like?

Thanks becandcharch We're really happy with how well the two of them get along, Gwyn has even acquired the new nick-name of Nannydog as she is very good at minding Ziggy in the mornings when we want a sleep in

Ziggy finished her puppy school, Here she is carefully reading her certificate!

Aww, thanks ;) Ziggy is from a breeder in Mortdale, Sydney. The kennel is called 'Ingenue' and the breeder is lovely :p http://www.ingenuebordercollies.com/news2010.cfm

I feel like I should have given Ziggy a photo page when I first got her, but surprise surprise, an 8 week old pup takes up a lot of your time! So I'll just start it up now she's a few weeks older. First up, here's a video of her VERY FIRST play with my older dog Gwyn. It took a few days of gentle introduction to get them to this point. And this is Ziggy in her 'glamour shots' - she was asked to do a photo shoot. So that is a Ziggy's photo page started! With any luck I'll have the time to keep it updated, but I've got to run now.... It's Ziggy's dinner time!

Ah, I guess word of mouth must be the most common way then! You're Ziggy was behaving so well... or was he just being sneaky and being an angel while he knew someone was videoing! Must have been heaps of fun anyway Thanks Tassie, that is Gwyn in the avatar I've got a few photo's of Ziggy from her photo shoot in the BC picture thread, is there another BC thread over there that's not for photo's? or is that the BC thread? I can put a bit about Gwyn in here, because talking about my doggies always ends up as a brag anyway! I got Gwyn at a year old when she was being re-homed by a breeder, she came with quite a few issues which was a little unexpected (only spoke over the phone and hadn't seen her before the day she was brought to our house). Terrified of traffic, loud noises, people.... and vocally aggressive to men particularly (not biting, just doing the border collie herding thing VERY loudly! And she was only my second dog after my first, very docile golden retriever 'Bracken', so it was a bit of a learning experience for me! Anyway, 4 years on and she has hardly any fear issues! She's a real member of the family, which means that she often doesn't do what we say, sneaks into the house whenever she wants (she learn't to open our doors) and occasionally steals the biscuits when they're left out! But she also loves us unconditionally and looks to us whenever she gets into trouble or hurts herself. And no matter how much she embarrasses us by barking at the postman we always lover her And Ziggy is my very new puppy who I have massively socialised and who is unfailingly cute! At 3 months her tricks are; sit, down, stand, come, leave it, turn left, turn right, present left and right paws, target my hand and a piece of note paper and I just started teaching her to close doors today, so far she can nose the door shut a few cm at a time, but the door is probably a bit big for her to shut all the way at the moment! yup, I think that was all solid brag right there! I guess we all do it

Oh MY GOSH!!! So cool! and I liked the video of everyone with their dogs at the shoot How do you get involved in that sort of thing? Do you have to sign up with an agent or something? I'm a uni student and I've got some free time that I would love to use for this sort of thing. My little girl has been in one shoot, but the photographer approached me in a flower shop for that one, so I don't really know how to go about it. But it was so fun feeling like we were really working together! hehe, my puppy is called Ziggy too. Her brag is a little smaller than your Ziggy's, but I'm still super proud of her! She's learnt to (almost) reliably tell left from right in two of her tricks!! Without hand signals to help her!! She can: 'spin' - turn 360 to the left 'turn' - turn 360 to the right 'paw' - raise her right paw and 'shake' - raise her left paw! Normally I would use small signals, but I've just taught her to do it without them to help strengthen the moves... and she's only 3 month old!

So true. And often they don't even look at you, the owner. Just swoop by with a quick pat on the head and then they're gone... Ninja style!!

Sigh, people do judge dogs so very quickly. erinonthefarm, I feel you with the puppy thing! I've put alot of time into desensitising my pup from sudden people-movements (like the infamous SHP or Sudden Head Pat!) No matter how much people are told not to stick their hands onto a dogs head/face, they still do it! And often in a very unexpected manner as they walk past the dog! It can take quite a lot of time to get the dogs to the point of actually enjoying the SHP's so it's no wonder some dogs get caught off guard.