BC Crazy

Thanks for the tips. I am going to try those products next . :D

Not quite sure where that comment stemed from. :D I am open to everyones opinion. Thats the idea of DOL. I thought. After 20 years I am sure you have pretty much seen it all in the dog world : & I gathered showies kept their dogs inside or put a light day rug on them or something. Anyone that knows me knows I would never intentionally' down' anybody.

How much exercise does he get? Upping that will speed up the process. My vet recommends halving food intake for weight loss - no mucking about. Geez, halving his food intake, that certainly is not mucking about alright. My vet said to cut down by 15%. They all have different ideas. I am going to go for 1/3 & see how we go. Sonny gets 5km walk/run, 2.5 hours he is out & about every morning & 20 mins or so most afternoons. Rain, hail or shine, without fail. We live walking distance from a leash-free dog beach , so he gets to swim as well as mix with other dogs. But when he gets home from morning run he sleeps for 3 or so hours, Then arvo walk, Back home, grooming. then he comes inside has his dinner & sits with us to watch T.V & when we go to bed, so does he in the laurndry in his crate until morning. I have started to motivate him a lot more during our walk's in the morning to run more & I am finding he wants to run more & more which is great. Because before he was quite content to walk beside me all the time, which is wonderful but I have got him running most of the time now, which he is lovng & is great for his waist line. wow, what a lucky dog you have I had an Australian Shepherd, who sounds like she had a similar build to your dog. She weighed 23kg at her heaviest. Her father, who was a show dog and taller than her weighed 25kg. So I think it would be ideal to get him to around 23-25kg. Unless he is a HUGE Border height-wise. Our aussie was on 1.5 cups of dry food a day plus a bone once a week (no dry on the day of the bone). Adult dogs only need to be fed once a day. BTW I am also cutting back on Mindy's food, as I can't feel her ribs with the flat part of my hand. She is currently getting 3 cups of dry puppy food per day (or equivalent in bones, etc) . Obviously too much... She gets exercised heaps and is always walking with me (she comes wherever i do lol), but I guess you have to be really strict with labs! I am cutting back to 1.5 cups for a week and then see how we go. Yes, as both my dogs parents were over 25 kg, his dad was 26.5 & was grand champ. in his day, I would be really happy with 25.5kg's, I am after the' ribs' feel too & at the moment they are under cover.LOL. Well ,first diet day has gone really well, he is looking for more food but I ignored him & I am sure he will get used to it just like he did eating his head off before & he will feel tonnes better in his new slim line bod.

Geez, I might have to start being a 'hard arse' LOL

How much exercise does he get? Upping that will speed up the process. My vet recommends halving food intake for weight loss - no mucking about. Geez, halving his food intake, that certainly is not mucking about alright. My vet said to cut down by 15%. They all have different ideas. I am going to go for 1/3 & see how we go. Sonny gets 5km walk/run, 2.5 hours he is out & about every morning & 20 mins or so most afternoons. Rain, hail or shine, without fail. We live walking distance from a leash-free dog beach , so he gets to swim as well as mix with other dogs. But when he gets home from morning run he sleeps for 3 or so hours, Then arvo walk, Back home, grooming. then he comes inside has his dinner & sits with us to watch T.V & when we go to bed, so does he in the laurndry in his crate until morning. I have started to motivate him a lot more during our walk's in the morning to run more & I am finding he wants to run more & more which is great. Because before he was quite content to walk beside me all the time, which is wonderful but I have got him running most of the time now, which he is lovng & is great for his waist line.

Yes, my boy Sonny has lots of bone and has a lot of coat. Very showy fellow. Got that 'look at me' thing going on Very handsome boy even if I do say so myself. LOL I have had heaps of people stop me & ask heaps of questions about him & he is like "Yep thats me they are talking about & I am beautiful ".

Your Aussies are beautiful. Yes, I am obviously giving Sonny far too much to eat per day so we are now starting to reduce that amount by small steps each day. He loves raw vegies so we are bulking his half a cup of dry food with half a cup of the. Half a small chic. carcess per day.Fingers crossed we will see some results soon, I will keep you posted as I am on a mission to reduce his waist line.

Thankyou for that article PF, it is very interesting. Does it also apply to puppies? I am afraid Mindy is overweight if it does. If I am totally honest, she could stand to lose a few kgs (in my opinion). Although we often get comments about how slim she is and what good condition she is in (for a lab), she is a tall lab girl and has naturally longer legs and a deep chest, so probably looks thinner than she really is. I acutally can't feel her ribs at all unless you press really hard maybe its just skin??? She does have a decent waist though. Guide dogs have said she is a perfect weight (one week ago) but personally I don't think it would harm her to lose a little weight. BC Crazy- is your border a working line or show border? I find a huge variation in weights of working and show borders. In my opinion? Yes. There is absolutely no need for pups to be chubby and IMO any breed with a history of growth/joint issues would benefit from being kept lean as a youngster. Labradors should have waists and obvious tucks like any other breed. The fact that a goodly percentage of them have neither doesn't mean they shouldn't. Use the flat of your hand - no rib at all means she could benefit from trimming down. My Border is show lines. Didn't know that there was such a huge variation in weights?

Hi Bracken, when I wash Sonny my BC at least once a month, ( i am very lucky cause he loves it ) it takes me the same about 2 hours & like you I am about to get a little girl, hopefully mid Feb, 2011. They are very addictive or we are just out of our mind.

Sonny my 2.5 year old Border Collie gets bathed in his Booster Bath outside. It is one of the best things I have ever purchased, saves your back & Sonny loves it. Jumps straight up into it himself & I also dry him in there. As I am short, Hydro baths were just a bit too tall for me. You can run these off your laundry taps but I am lucky enough to have hot/cold water outside so washing him is a breeze. Another bonus with them is they only weigh 6kg, so are fully portable & easy to store with removable legs & can hold up to 75 kg. It also comes with a built in harness if need be but I took it off as Sonny just stands there, he loves his baths.

Hi, totally agree with you about keeping our four legged loved ones looking their very best, just cause they are not show dogs doesn't mean they shouldn't look like they aren't, does it? Yes much to Sonny's disgust too.LOL. Although sometimes I have watched him with his eye's closed as I am brushing away so it must not be all that bad. I have tried quite a few different UV conditioning sprays, Chris Christensen spray is about the best so far & I apply it daily when he gets groomed. I am probably just too fussy but I am tired of people saying "is he a tri colour? ".Might take him & get him professionally de shed or at least see if I can find a patient pro groomer to show me how to use my Mars coat king correctly as I don't think I am taking him back as far as I should or could. Just another idea.

Sonny is very healthy & seems extremely happy. Even when I have been out & about with him, complete strangers have commented on him numerous times ' What a happy dog ',' Look at his beautiful coat ' e.t.c I don't show him but I try my best to keep him looking his very best. I was doing the mashed pumpkin thing previously & that is how he lost his first 1.5 kg in 2 week's. But then he just refused to eat the dry food if I put the mashed pumpkin in it ,so I stopped adding it. I am going to go back to giving him that now though, cause I am on a mission with him now. Very interesting article, I can not feel Sonny's rib's but the rest of him doesn't fair up to badly going by the pinch test.

Firstly, thank's so much to everyone for all your help. I am only a new member & am grateful for any help / advice as I want to learn as much as I can about my beautiful BC's. Oh dear, I am just going to have to be very strong & stick to a very strict diet with him then. His father was 26 kg, apparently, Nahrof, 'Say No More'. And his mum was on the larger side as well. Even so ,I certainly am not doing him any favours by trying to give him too much varietyI think. I started last night by giving him half cup of light dry food & half a cup of meat. For a treat I gave him a small carrot a bit later on. Thats it . I must say I got THE LOOK from Sonny as only Borders can. I am not going to fall for that little trick anymore. Or the' follow me' trot to the treats cupboard. LOL. We have 3kg to go to reach our goal weight. Don't know what time ratio weight loss occurs at, suppose it's a bit like people we are all different. As my dear old dad used to say, "you will kill em with kindness" over feeding them.When I am through with Sonny, I will be able to enter him on "The Biggest Loser".

Yes, what you say makes sense. I may as well just buy very good quality dry food ( not light) & feed him less of it. I do feel guilty about giving a lesser amount but I feel criminal about him getting over weight. I have never had an over weight dog and I have had BC's pretty much all of my life. I am as we speak cutting "Sonny" back to one cup of dry food per day. will see how that goes. Thanks for your help. :p

Hello, Was wondering if there are any Border Collie owners that could help me with my 2.5 year old neutered BC. My question is I am currently feeding him Royal Canin light, 1.5 cups per day, with 1 chicken carcess or 1 cup of beef casserole made with rump steak & vege, yes spoilt, I know,LOL also some raw vegetables just to add variety, which he loves. He is exercised 2.5 hours a day, walking at a steady pace, he also plays with other dogs within this period as we live near a leach-free dog beach, so there is plenty of off lead running as well. Sometimes he gets a 20 min walk also in the afternoon. He is a very good doer as far as food goes & I have to watch what I give him as he was 30 kilo not so long So we have lost 1.5 kilo thus far. Does this seem like I should cut him back even further? I would like him to get to 26.5 or 27 at the most as he is not a lightly built Border. Would love any idea's/diets. Was thinking of swapping dry food. Although he looks a picture & he is lovely & shiny. Haas anybody tried Cannadae dry food yet?

I give my B/W Border fish oil as well, I think it does help keep the coat dark a bit. Mostly by just reducing the amount of dry hair around her tail! I also use a sort of purple shampoo on her to whiten her whites which makes her black look darker in comparison, But you can also get a shampoo specifically to darken blacks from the same shop on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/Kelco-Black-Star-Color...#ht_3407wt_1141 Hi Bracken, your Gwyn looks like a beautiful girl. Yes I am using C.Christensen black on black & same white on white but must try to give fish oil as well. Did try to give him sardines but he turned his nose up at them ( fussy bugger) so might try fish oil capsules instead. I think I need to get a bit more heavy handed with stripping his coat but really am scared to wreck his coat, although I have noticed lots of loose hair coming out lately though.

Thank's Sheena & yes it is very difficult when he is a bit of a beach bum I do rinse him off everyday when we come home. I groom him every night for 10 mins or so to remove any dead hair & I use a Spray-on coat conditioner with U.V. daily. I also add Rufus & Coco coat supplement to his food daily. He is bathed every 3 weeks with Chris Christensen shampoo.

Easy keep him out of the sun. Or is this dead coat about to drop. Not that easy to keep an active BC out of the sun. But I have started to use a Mars Coat King on him to try & remove some of his dead coat, maybe I need to take more of his old coat off than I have. Didn't want to go over board as I am inexperienced at using this tool.

Hi, Was wondering if any would have any tips on trying to keep my 2.5 year old long haired Border Collie coat from getting so sun damaged. I pride myself in keeping him is pristine condition but find, especially around his pants, top of rump & behind his ears get that reddish, burnt look & being black & white it is not a good look. I have tried many leave in conditioners with minimal improvement. Maybe there is good one I have missed .He goes for long walks on our local leash-free beach daily & I certainly would not want to stop him having fun. Any help or tips on grooming him, would be greatly appreciated.