Michael Parkey

Sorry to hear it, and hope it is nothing serious!

Well said!

Look at this from the standpoint of risk assessment. If we list all the possible ways dogs can come to harm in order of frequency, where would playing fetch rank? Top ten? Top one hundred? Top one thousand? The risks from playing fetch are extremely low, and easy to prevent.

Every problem you attribute to fetch could have multiple other causes, including stock work.

How many dogs are truly obsessed with fetch? By obsessed I mean to the point of being a significant behavior problem for the owner or a health problem for the dog? In my entire life (68 years) I have seen only one. All of our concern about fetch may be a solution in search of a problem.

Referring to your other thread about balls, apparently this is a much more controversial subject than I ever imagined. Some dogs love fetch, others can't be bothered. Currently we have one of each. Levi is the border collie, and he loves fetch, but only with a ball. Frisbees or other toys simply won't do--throw one of those and the game immediately becomes keep away. We play many different versions of fetch. The simplest is human throws ball, dog brings ball, repeat. But this gets old after a while. One of Levi's favorite alternates is fetch played during a long walk. The huma

Thank you, D'Elle. I resent being called "mindless" by someone who has never met me or my dog, and never seen us play fetch.

beachdogz, for your son's dog that destroys balls, try a lacrosse ball. They are indestructible. They fit in a Chuck-it thrower and are extremely bouncy, which our Levi loves.

I was going to suggest a Jolly Ball, but we always wore shoes.

I agree with Journey. Border collies are smart enough to find a work-around for so-called invisible fences. One Australian shepherd I know learned that if she stayed close enough to the fence that the warning buzzer sounded but not close enough to get a shock eventually the battery would run out and she was free! Another pair of Aussies learned that if they ran full tilt at the fence, the pain was brief but the freedom was worth it. Of course when coming home it wasn't worth the discomfort, so they stayed outside the fence.

Your rescue dog sounds like he has found heaven!

Our Australian shepherd puppy had a fear reaction to carports at about the same age. Carports are common here (we have one too) so this mostly happened on walks. We remained calm and let him get a good look at any threatening carport from what he considered a safe distance. After a few weeks it passed. Interestingly, he was not afraid of our carport when we left the house through a door under the carport. It was only when we came home from a walk and approached the house from the carport side that he didn't like it.

cute, Cute, CUTE!

You have great advice above. I just want to add that we really appreciate the puppy pictures.

Thanks! We are suckers for puppy pictures.