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)

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 does

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

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

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 colla

@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 iss

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 be

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 item

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 exp

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