GentleLake

Don't have time for much of a reply right now but do want to point out that allowing her to do this can cause skeletal and/or thyroid damage. If I were you I'd switch to a harness immediately to mitigate the risk. A no pull harness may even help with the pulling, though in my experience they're no panacea and not a substitute for training.

Don'tcha just love when that happens? It sounds like she's dong really well. Good job, both of you.

@D'ElleIf I have my other dog with me, who is too dog reactive to pass the greeting-unknown-dog part of the therapy dog evaluations, I'll usually just say that I'm training for calm behavior. And ppl usually respect that too. If they don't I figure I've done my part and will just turn around and walk away. But it sounds like you've arrived at a solution that works for you. If your aim is to be completely truthful I'd suggest using "support" rather than the other 2. They both have specific definitions that wouldn't be accurate in your situation. Besides, it sounds purposeful (which it is) and most ppl don't understand the nuances among the terms anyway.

This. Because I'm often training potential therapy dogs now, I've found that if I say "She's training to be a therapy dog" people are more inclined to take you seriously and don't try to push the issues. If it seems like they may have a few minutes I'll sometimes explain that we're working on calm greetings and enlist them to help. Most of the time it works like a charm. Willing assistants who are truly strangers to me as well as to the dog. Win/win. And even if this isn't what you're training for, just saying that you're working on calm greetings will usually do the trick. But if it doesn't seem to I wouldn't be above a small fib in telling them that. People love the idea of helping tran, especially helping a dog to become a working dog of some sort.

It takes more like 3 months for the hormones lost through desexing to abate, so it's a little too soon to know how much (if any) impact neutering him may have. But it's a common misperception that neutering (or spaying) stops marking. It may lessen the impulse . . . sometimes. For one thing it's not entirely a hormonal behavior. At some point, hormones or not, it becomes habitual with most dogs. I adopted a ~6 y.o. female border collie mix who was spayed by the rescue right before I adopted her. She never stopped marking, and she lived to be ~17.75 y.o. My recently deceased purebred male, also neutered at ~1.5 y.o., marked for the rest of his lifetime of ~16 years. This of course doesn't mean that dogs can't be trained not to mark in the house. Of course they can, and both of the dogs I mentioned above were successfully house trained. And it's achieved the same way you house train a puppy - watch them like hawks so you can interrupt and praise the cessation while getting them outside, and praise profusely whenever they go outside. It's my firm belief that ppl think it's harder to house train adults than it is puppies. That's nonsense of course, but I also think that ppl aren't used to having to keep their eyes on the adult adoptee like they (hopefully) take for granted they have to with a puppy. Or that they should rely on some sort of confinement (e.g. crate, x-pen) or tethering the dog to you when you're not able to devote that same 100% attention on the dog. So the answer to that question is just to treat him like a puppy for this. The advantage of house training an adult is that their muscle control is better so that when you interrupt they can usually hold it till you get them rushed outdoors. Even the most persistent markers get the concept pretty quickly; generally if there's a more extended issue it's because it can be hard to break the habit, but it's still a matter of persistence on your part. Don't be discouraged; he'll get it. 3 months is just getting to the end of the honeymoon period. Now's when he'll be more likely to start experimenting with behaviors you haven't seen much (or any) of yet because he's getting comfortable enough to start experimenting with behaviors he may have been repressing before now. It's such an exciting period for the relationship you're developing together starts to take form. Enjoy it.

Just a few hours left!! the auction runs until Saturday March 13th at 5 pm EST. That's TODAY! You must join the group to bid. Proceeds will help cover Zest's medical expenses. https://www.facebook.com/groups/755389698246517

@Kiko, welcome to the Boards. First of all, this group doesn't have anything to do with Whatsapp so I don't think anyone can add you, and AFAIK it wouldn't connect you to the Boards anyway. Secondly, when I click on your link I get a "Sorry, this page isn't available" message. So no pic to be seen. Finally, it's very hard to tell by a photo alone if a dog is or isn't a border collie. For one thing, working border collies have no breed standard that applies to their appearance or even size. I've seen some purebred border collies I would never have guessed were anything other than Heinz 57 type mixes until I saw them working, at which point there was no mistaking what they were. Because of this singular disregard for what working border collies look like as opposed to what they do, there's more variety among border collies than probably any other breed of dog. We might be able to tell you that the dog looks like it "could" be a border collie, but few here would offer any further assurances. And we'd be likely to say that an ID would depend just as much as how the dog acts as how it looks. To muddy the waters even further, many mixed breeds end up looking a lot like border collies. This is one of the reasons behavior is as important an identifier as appearance. Sorry not to be more helpful. But if you'd like to post a picture directly to the post (or at least provide a working link) and tell us why you think your dog might be a border collie I'm sure you'll find some people willing to offer some opinions.

I had one many years ago and had mixed results. It was originally purchased for a pointer/retriever mix who loved to wander. Most of the time it kept him home, but if he really wanted to go we could watch him contemplate how badly he wanted to and when he'd decide to go he'd brace himself and then make a dash across the line. As someone said, getting shocked to come home was never an option. He'd sit in the neighbors' yard and bark till we went to get him. That said, we ended up getting a second collar for another dog, a border collie, later and it worked well for her as long as the collar battery was good. The instant it weakened she was off like a flash, which was more than just a nuisance because the reason we put her on it in the first place was that she like to sneak off to attack neighbors' dogs. As others have pointed out, the fences do absolutely nothing to stop anyone or anything coming in. People, dogs, cats, deer, bear - nothing is deterred in any way from coming in, which means that people or other animals with ill intentions still have free access. Or if your dog's inclined to chase and gets "fired up" to the point that she'll breech the current fence there's a good chance an EF won't stop her either. And last but not least, border collies are a pretty sensitive breed and some might be more traumatized by the training than some other dogs. Even my phlegmatic pointer mix was so frightened from the initial training that it took weeks for him to venture more than a few feet from the back door at first and several months until he was comfortable using the entire yard. It's one reason some rescues won't adopt to ppl who use them. Oh, and the underground systems, unless they've improved from the earlier models, are like lightening rods. Ours was struck a couple times, necessitating new wire to be installed. One time the whole thing needed to be replaced when a lightening strike blew the indoor unit off the wall and across the room. There are other relatively inexpensive alternatives for fencing. You can buy metal posts and rolls of plastic snow fencing or even deer fencing if you need something taller. Just something to think about.

@Irish Collie, sorry to be so late in replying. At this point I'd be interested in knowing if you've had any noticeable results. I'd also like to suggest that, if you haven't done so already, you have a vet check your dog's health, including oral health. Many dogs these days already have some pretty serious gum disease or other dental issues by the time they're 3 years old. Periodontal disease can cause bad breath, as can broken teeth, and can also lead to other health issues. Another reason to discuss this with your vet is that bad breath can also be an indicator of other health issues unrelated to teeth and gums. My old guy who had chronic kidney failure at the end of his life had increasingly bad breath, even though he was raw fed and had always had remarkably good breath - to the point that other ppl would remark on it - prior to that. Bad breath can be an indicator of other illnesses as well. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to know what you've done so far and how it's working out for you.

Hi, @Hazey Dazey Wanted to offer a belated welcome to the Boards, and say thanks for welcoming a hapless working dog into a home more suited to her nature. I'm not really sure what to suggest when she's having trouble accepting that some people and dogs are interested in interacting with her, but for starters I hope you can stop thinking about her as stubborn. She's not being perverse in ignoring you, but more likely is just super disappointed and confused that others aren't as into her as she's into them. I have a dog a lot like this - she believes everyone should be her new best friend. She just doesn't take it quite so hard as you pup does; she's more likely to just keep trying to get to the person (she couldn't care less about dogs), but when I see that someone's not going respond to her advances I just say something cheerful before she has a chance to start pulling and briskly keep walking. Timing is important here; you'll have to pay attention both to other people's and dogs' reactions and try to keep her distracted and moving before she goes into drop-and-howl/bark mode and maybe have some yummy treats on hand to initially distract and then to reward her for getting past without making a scene. It'll probably take some time and practice until you get it down, but you'll start to pick up the right moment to start heading her off. Wishing you the best in helping her past this hurdle. We love getting pictures and updates, so I hope you'll let us see her and know how things are coming along with her.

Congratulations, Geonni! I'll be sure to look for it.

So sorry for the huge paragraph breaks. Not sure how I can undo them, but please read to the end anyway. Thanks. This beautiful puppy was hit by a car last week in upstate NY, ending up with very serious but operable injuries that resulted in her owners opting to have her euthanized. Zest has been relinquished to New England Border Collie Rescue (NEBCR), who is holding an online auction to raise the funds needed for her surgeries and rehab care. As of this writing there have been 128 items or lots donated. There are border collie specific items, generic dog items, items for people and even a couple of cat oriented items ranging from smaller single items to several big ticket items, as well (including a high end leather collar for the folks who love bling!). Definitely something for just about anyone. The auction will go live at 5 pm EST today, Sunday March 7th and run until Saturday March 13th at 5 pm EST. https://www.facebook.com/groups/755389698246517/ Please share this information widely; the more bidders, the more chance we have of making money to help Zest recover and be ready for adoption. Thanks for reading! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEBCR needs your help! Late [on March 1st] we were contacted about a 7 month old female border collie with serious injuries including a broken leg. Zest was hit by a car and the family had chosen to have her euthanized (for reasons we do not know and will not speculate about). Thankfully an NEBCR volunteer works at the clinic and was there and convinced the family to relinquish her to rescue instead. Since accepting Zest into rescue we have found out that she also has a fractured hip that will require subsequent surgery/care once her leg is addressed. We don’t have a final estimate yet, but expect that the total cost for her care may climb to $10,000+. NEBCR never turns dogs away due to medical issues or age, however as an all-volunteer non-profit organization, we cannot do this important work without the help of our generous supporters. This is even more important now, as the COVID pandemic has put a major dent in our fundraising efforts over this past year. Your donation in any amount is very appreciated! You can donate directly through PayPal...on our website [https://www.nebcr.org/] or via check sent to: NEBCR c/o Mo Clark 14 Winifred Rd. Framingham, Ma. 01701 THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! NOTE: As a registered non-profit NEBCR is legally only allowed to use the funds donated to or fundraised for to assist in the care of dogs that are current NEBCR foster dogs. Those funds cannot be given/donated/transferred to private individuals for use for any reason, or to assist with any dog that is not legally an NEBCR foster dog. This family determined, for reasons that we won't get in to and will not question, that they felt it was best for their situation at this time to relinquish Zest to NEBCR.

Just to clarify, there are 2 different chemicals in the collar. One for ticks, one for fleas. The interesting - and to me scary - thing about all this is that my vet assured me that the chemicals in these collars are considered to be of least concern by the EPA. I'd been trying to control ticks (which are terrible in my area, though I haven't seen a flea on any of my dogs for many years) with more natural approaches. One of my dogs is a tick magnet and they weren't working for her and not very well for the others either. And she contracted anaplasmosis this past year, which, albeit my experiences w/ TBDs is thankfully very limited, is more of a problem than the very highly problematic Lyme disease. I can't speak to the accuracy of the reports, but one thing I do know is that adverse reactions to meds, pesticides and the like are grossly under-reported, especially in animals, and many more won't even be recognized for being that. So whatever the numbers reported are, the problem's probably much more widespread than the current information suggests. And, yes, fleas, ticks and other pests are developing resistance to many of the chemicals used to try to control them. In some areas is seems to be regionally specific, so that any given treatment still works in some places while it's lost its effectiveness in others.

If she never gained it, then her weight was most likely perfect for her. My ex-MIL used to hound me mercilessly about my first border collie's being "too skinny." The only way anyone could have gotten him to eat more than he did would have been to hog tie him and force feed him. The problem is that too many vets are used to seeing overweight pet dogs and or show dogs. For some reason I fail to understand judges seem to prefer somewhat overweight dogs. I had a friend who was trying to get a championship on her Rhodesian ridgeback. He was a beautiful fit and trim dog who wouldn't eat more than he did, but he couldn't get the points he needed because judges said he was too thin.