BC Crazy

I watched it on 60 mins. You have to love Steve's passion & what a great idea, to quote him,"even if he saves 1 dog from death row, it is still 1 dog that is not going to be put down". And the dog ends up with a career doing something that has been built on from it's natural instinct & drive & thrives on it !! Well done Steve, keep up your marvelous work.

My 2 go for a 2 hour beach outing everyday. Absolutely love it & they swim/ run/ chase the ball the whole time. Maybe that is why Stella's behaviour has improved inside at night time cause she is too tied to get up to any mischief Cheese is a big fav in our house as well. Also smooth peanut butter inside our Kongs works. Glad to hear your Stella is improving inside, just takes a while, some behaviour shaping & heaps of praise as well, cause it is much more fun to run a muck, isn't it?

Hi Alouk, My 7 month old BC also called Stella, LOL was exactly the same as yours at that age. Play all the time. She is outside all day with Sonny my 3 year old BC & then they are groomed about 4.30pm & brought inside to 'relax' until bed time around 10pm when they are both crated in our laundry. At 14 weeks Stella would just go crazy, jumping on the couch, which is a 'no no' in our house, doing laps of the lounge, jumping all over Sonny to get him to play with her e.t.c. just full on. I just tried to be consistant with our house rules.Never let her get away with anything that I don't want her to as an adult, not even once.Every time she got on the lounge she was put back on the floor & told NO. There is no running inside, if she starts to run around, I gently pick her up & tell her 'outside to play', put her outside & close the glass door till she is done & settled down,then I open the door & let her in again. at times it can be more than a little frustrating trying to teach them house rules but my Stella is now 7 months almost & is lots better than she was. She has a bed to lie on in our lounge room & I am in the process of teaching her to lie on it & 'settle' when I can see the batteries are starting to run low We have a game with both of them inside of an evening & when that is over they are told 'finish now' we then try to tone the atmosphere & it seems to be working. They have a treat each to chew on & told 'settle'. Hope this was of some help to you. If you can get into a routine that also helps heaps, as boring as it sounds, they love routine. Good luck with her. keep us posted.

My 3 year BC, Sonny is as gentle as can be when taking anything out of your hand, you don't feel a thing but my 7 month old Stella is dreadful. She is soooo excited & soooo food driven all you feel are her little teeth & I swear she inhales what ever I give her . So I am really pleased to read I am not alone with this problem. I will try the close my hand thing Meh,& see how that goes as I am not sure how to fix this as I have never had a 'little miss piggy' with her treats before. She is like it with her dinner as well. She eats really quickly & then tries to be a helpful sister & see if she can give Sonny a 'hand' to polish his off as well if I'd let her.

Yep, I say thank you automatically. I always thank my 2 furry kids. Not sure if they know any different but I usually glance over at them I think I see a look of "Oh, that's O.K. mum"

Oh !! Cute as !!! I would love to have a cuddle. What a sweet little girl. Love those pretty,effectionate eye's.

This is very sad example of animal cruelty in its rawest form, isn't it ? I applaud you for reporting this & it doesn't surprise me one bit that things got heated.& your thread had to be deleted. I had tears in my eye's reading the details of these poor pups, not even being able to judge the uneven ground beneath them. I can't even begin to imagine the mental torture these animals go through as do any animal kept in such an artificial / cruel situation Puppies need phyiscal & mental stimulation. TLC & loads of it !! Not watching families through plate glass,cooing at them. Every time I read something like this I go straight out & give my 2 delightful furry kids just one more cuddle & tell them how much I love them.

I have relo's that live next door to our local pet shop owner's home & I am sincerely hoping this is not the norm regarding what happens to these little darling's after the pet store has closed. As one night, quite late she could here puppies crying near there boundary fence in the rain & went to investigate. They climbed the fence as no one was home,to find 6 puppies ( lucky to be 8 weeks old ) with no water,food, shelter or bedding!!!!! She tried her best to give them some shelter with a tarp & put 2 old doonas down & some food, which they devoured straight away & they snuggled into the bedding & went straight to sleep. Poor little buggers. The next morning she went to see them but they were gone. Probably back in the bloody shop window !!!! How do these people sleep at night. she has since reported this incident but didn't think to take any pic's at the time & without them there is no evidence. I will not enter a pet store, buying all my dog needs online & I don't believe they should be allowed to sell anything with a heart beat. Leave that to the experienced breeder's.

This is just soooo sad Cockerlover for everyone involved & your dearest Oscar. I feel for you but some how we just find the strength & look at what quality of life Oscar has & if you feel it is too much for him & when the pain he is in out ways the pleasures in this little guys life. You will have your answer. I knew when it was time for my 'special' boy to leave me & as hard as it was i had to let him go cause his quality of life had left him. I was carrying him around cause he couldn't walk, his back legs had gone, he was 14.5 years old. He was in a lot of pain. That was no life for him. That was almost 3 years ago now & I still think I made the right call at the right time. He just looked up at me that particular morning, right into my eye's and it was like "see you again mum" he closed his eye's & slipped into a coma, & never regained consciousness. Little did he know i had already rang the vet the previous day & arranged to have him put to sleep that morning. Not a day goes by that I don't think about & I miss him terribly. He is running around though, now over rainbow bridge, pain free & having fun. And I will always believe that. Till we meet again Redman, my boy. My thoughts are with you & your darling little Oscar. So sad, forever young.

I leave no food out either, whats not gone with in 10 mins gets thrown out. I don't leave water in the crate over night & while toilet I tend to limit water intact after about 6 o'clock at night, cause it's light's out at 10pm usually. I have groomed my 2 daily since the day I got them as puppies. Sometimes they only need a quick brush, sometimes a lot more. I am probably too fussy with them, LOL, But I think it is a good idea as it gets them used to being handled. Stella is 6.5 months now & I can do anything to her without objection. Look in her mouth,clip her nails what ever. She will stand still as long as need be. Both mine now are so used to it, as soon as the grooming bag comes out they both come to me, the eldest stands still & gets groomed, while the younger one lies next to him & waits her turn without me saying a word. Then they come inside for the evening. IMO i would be getting her used to being groomed / handled no matter what the breed.

Welcome Pickled Roo, She is soooo cute !!! Yeah I would have to agree with other posts.3 feeds a day & too cold in Vic to leave her outside during the day. Totally understand it is difficult when you both work. I have crate trained both of mine & I used to think it was cruel but it is the best thing I have ever done. They feel safe & they are, you can take them anywhere & move the crate where ever you want. Helps heaps with toilet training as well. Was thinking if you crate trained your new addition & installed a doggie door, during the day you could put the crate just inside your home, hard up against the doggie door with the crate door open, if you get what I mean, with heaps of warm bedding, toys, kong so your puppy can go inside out of the cold if he/she wants & your home will still be in tact when you arrive home from work. Just a thought. Good luck & enjoy your new little puppy.

Hi dandybrush, I have noticed no changes with Stella so far after her being desexed but as you know she has only just been done recently. Sonny had done at 6 mths also & I have noticed his body shape did change slightly, a little more heavy set if that makes sense & it did quieten him down a little. I have owned a number of other dogs in the past, another BC 'Candy',in particular, she was desexed after 1 litter, no change at all & she was a very high drive girl. An ACD girl desexed at 6 mths, body shape change slightly but no change to drive, still tried to rounded up everybody all the time, The breeder that breed Stella did say to me that will make no difference to her at all if I had of waited till after she had her first season. And me not having the facilities to accomodate her during this time,in a pretty heavily populated dog area. Just wasn't prepared to run the risk of anything happening to her either. The vet also said the same thing to me so I went with their knowledgeable advice. Totally understand your concerns though, they are just still babies at 6 mths aren't they? As you know I was really worried about it but Stella flew through the whole ordeal like nothing happened. The hardest part was keeping her quiet for 10 days, she just wanted to run around even the next day. LOL

I use Black Hawk and I find both of mine thrive on it & they are lovely & shiny & healthy. You don't seem to need to give them much either. I also give mine other stuff, chic carcess, roo mince veges, pasta, e.t.c but you don't have to if things are a bit tight. Excellent product & service & really reasonably priced & my dogs love it !!

Yes, another BC owner that had exactly the same problem. Only a hell of a lot worse. I've always had BC's since a child but have never had a puppy with these kind of issues.You never stop learning with a dog. Especially a clever one. I got Stella when she was 12 weeks & she had fierce food resource guarding issues at first (big time) with her prized chicken wing. Any other food/ toy/treat was not a worry.I could take anything else straight out of her mouth. Played the'swap' game with her for a while, during this time on occasion as she saw me approaching, GULP, she would swallow the wing whole only then to vomit it back up & eat it again It did take a bit of time to gain her trust, so she knew I wasn't going to take her favourite thing & I did start to gradually sit / walk around her as well while she was munching away, not neccessarily paying her attention all the time but just being around her doing stuff. This has worked really well for us as now she can just relax & enjoy her food where as before you could tell by her body language she was on edge & just keeping a 'lookout' all of her mealtime. I haven't had anymore issue's with any resource guarding/scoffing. So I used a mixture of all of these methods, patience & plenty of praise. I still supervise all meal times( but out of sight) as I have another BC, who is a very slow eater & she will try to eat his dinner too if I'm not around to guide her back to her bowl.Or keep her amused so my boy can finish his meal in peace. Enjoy your new BC puppy, "Honey" I am presuming she is a red ? I love the breed. I do have a soft spot for the red's. I rescued a beautiful red dog, he was with me for 14.5 years & he was just natures gentlemen & my constant companion. If Honey is anything like my Stella she will keep you on your toes & loving every minute of it You will find this site a wealth of information & everyone is very helpful. Good luck, keep us posted !!!

I totally agree with guiding your dog into position. Shaping them. There is nothing wrong with 'hands on training' IMO especially with young dogs. Time out's are ineffective. Makes much more sense to me to show your dog what you require of him if he is not quite getting the idea. As they catch on & respond correctly to your command you remove the shaping. Dogs again IMO are not being taught anything by being isolated even for a moment apart from becoming more confused They just want to please you & it's up to us to make our directions crystal clear to them. find what makes them tick. Every dog is different. Once we find that, life with them will be a bed of roses.

I know my 2 Border Collies would go stir crazy be lunch time in a unit / townhouse. I personally don't think they are suitable for that style of housing. House with a large fenced back yard & exercised daily, yes. I would be thinking along the lines of a Poodle or Pap if it were me.

Yep, I'm hearing you Steve & all fellow doler's who just so happen to be responsible dog owners. How hard is it to be considerate of other people. I would be scared to death if some random dog (a big one at that) came galloping up to me out of nowhere. Poor woman It is dog owners like the one in question that give us die hard,'try to do the right thing & be aware of our actions & surroundings a bad name!!! My poor Sonny has been limping for 2 days now due to an another irresponsible owner who did not have her bloody aggressive dog on a leash I gave this woman a piece of mind She's like, "well he's usually o.k." HMMMMM. She didn't even attempt to help to get her dog off mine.My boy has to take it easy for a few days now till his leg is better. No walks or anything. So not fair. When we were just minding our own business.This dog came out of nowhere & grabbed Sonny from behind & it's owner wasn't even within close proximity at the time either. Some people just don't give a damm about anyone/anything except themselves.

If it is demodex the other dog can't catch it. The only time it is spread from one dog to another is from mother to puppies in the first few weeks due to the very close constant contact. Definitely don't use Advocate on a dog that has had the heartworm injection. Actually this is a further reason to not use heartworm injections. If you do need to treat mites it severely limits your options. With demodex their are other treatments but if you are unlucky enough to have a dog get sarcoptic mange (scabies/fox mange) then the only really effective treatment is Advocate or Revolution. Prior to their invention, some dogs had such chronic cases of sarcoptic mange that they had to be pts. Thankfully sarcoptic is rare in city dogs but unlike demodex,it is highly contagious between dogs humans and other animals, so is much more serious. Been reading up on this demodex mange & there was a pic of a puppy with it on his left eye & it looked exactly the same as what my girl looks like. but at least it is not contagious I guess,least my boy wont get it too. You have a point with the yearly heartworm vac. thing, it does seriously limit your options for treatments, doesn't it? I have never had a problem with any of my dogs with mites / demodex, Stella is the first. I mainly got the yearly heart vac as it was recommended by my vet & it was one less thing to remember. Thank's again for your help. I have been very worried about it all.

Just a quick update with Stella. Her eye area is looking slightly better today than it has of late. I have some Advocate on the way. Will put her on that for a few months & see how she goes. Was going to put Sonny on Advocate as well, just in case he has caught what ever Stella has although he is showing no signs of mites / mange but I don't think I am able to as I have him yearly vaccinated for Heartworm at the vets & I noticed that the Advocate covers Heartworm as well. Thought it would be unsafe to double dose him, so I will just keep him on Advantix. Hope I am making the right choice with him. As I am unsure what is really wrong with Stella exactly it makes it hard to know. Thank's everyone for your help with Stella so far.

Everyone I know that just treated the affected spots with the wash, always had further outbreaks during the dog's life. Treating them all over seems to get rid of the problem permanently. I opted for this because the most likely time for a further outbreak is during pregnancy and the wash cannot be used then at all or when they are feeding/raising a litter. If a bitch has an outbreak when raising a litter, some of the puppies will also get it and then have to wait until 12 weeks to be treated. Not an issue for a desexed bitch but a real problem if you intend to breed. Not sure what the success rate for Advocate is these days or if it can be used on pregnant/feedign bitches, but it may be a better option than the old wash solution. I have just had Stella desexed 2 weeks ago now. I did notice a slight hair loss previous to that & when she was at the vets getting desexed he did her first skin scraping then. Didn't find anything. Then when I took her back to get her stitches out in 10 days the problem had not improved so he did another scraping & again found nothing. I think I might swap her over to Advocate maybe it may get rid of it, rather than washing her in Dermadox as it seems very toxic.

Forgot to add that she was given by my vet a course of skin anti-biotic's as it looked like the hair loss might be starting in the other eye area,mirroring the left eye. That has cleared but the left eye hasn't improved really.This is doing my head in

No wandering jew JulesP in our yard anyway, but Miss Stella, Sonny & myself walk lots around the place & being a puppy as they do she is pretty much got her nose into everything. I do try to supervise all the time but it doesn't take a second for them to be into something so that may be food for thought too.

Hi groupfive, That's such a coincidence you had the very same thing happen with your BC I am feeding Stella 1 cup Holistic dry food, 1/2 cup of a mixture of roo mince ( human grade) vege's,pasta, a sprinkle of Rofus & Coco's,'skin & coat vitamin's', 1 fish oil capsule/ flaxseed oil & a chicken wing daily. She is a picture of health apart from this hair around the eye thing. Sooo frustrating I have always feed her the same food pretty much, only the quantity varied. Might be worth a try.

Yes, funny you should mention cats, as we don't actually own one but I have noticed a growing number of them in our area of late. Wandering on our front yard & on the roads. The wash my vet wants me to use is called Dermadex dog wash. He said it smells aweful. Your right it will be annoying & difficult to do. I am reluctant to use it, there has to be a better way to cure her. I thought maybe if I swapped her over to Advocate or Revolution, would that get rid of it? When the weather starts to warm up again I could swap her back to Advantix cause the ticks in our area are really bad especially over Summer.

Interesting aussielover but we don't have any cats. And their was no blood when the skin scraping's were done. But her eye does look worse now cause there is more hair missing, naturally enough.