Tracey M.

Just as an aside, if you find good prescription prices at Costco, you don't need to be a member to take advantage of them. Just tell the people at the door that you are just going to the pharmacy. You need to be a member to buy anything else there, but not prescriptions.

It's a long shot, but is there any chance that Black Jack may have been "zapped" by static electricity? If, for instance, you scuffed your feet on the carpet and then touched him, he might become fearful of your touching him. This problem could come and go with weather changes, and would usually be better outside than in. Just a thought... Tracey

My dog has that spot on his tail, and also a similar one just behind his withers. It showed up at about the age of your puppy (just when the adult hair starts showing through the puppy fuzz). I asked his breeder about it, and she said it was because he was "white factored". He does have white on the inside of his back legs all the way up, which I had heard was another indicator of white factoring (?). Now that he is two, the white is only at the base of the hairs; the ends are the same color as the rest of his body. So the white only shows if the hair is parted. It may be that quite a few dogs have this white tail spot, but it is hidden under the main coat color. Are there a lot of white factored dogs, and what does it mean to their offspring? (My dog is neutered, so I'm just curious. Oh, and there are MANY generations between him and any true working dogs!)

When my dog was young and his tail was just getting "plumey", he came in one day with about half of the white tip of his tail looking scissored off. I looked everywhere for the missing fur, thinking he had gotten it stuck in the fence or something. Nothing. A few days later, I looked out the window and there he was, happily rolling on his back, WITH HIS TAIL TIP IN HIS MOUTH. Apparently, he had bitten off the missing tail feathers! So--does Geaugeau ever chase (and catch!) her tail?

I?ve found this thread to be very interesting. Earlier there was some discussion about the idea that herding dogs were ?quirky and ballistic?. Maybe you would like to hear from someone who bought into this idea for a while. When I first started looking for a border collie, I looked at AKC dogs because that was my background in dogs. (Many years ago I worked for a lady who bred and successfully showed German Shepherd Dogs.) So I talked to show people. I found a breeder who had dogs with beautiful temperaments, which is what I was most interested in. She had sheep on her property, and she had all these lovely, furry, black and white, friendly dogs. So I put my name on her list and waited for a puppy. Meanwhile, I read about border collies online and in books, and found this board. I began to get a feel for the ?right? way to breed good working dogs (although it took me a while). What I did get early on, from almost all sources, was the idea that working-bred border collies WERE NOT FOR EVERYONE. I totally understand why almost everyone puts this disclaimer first when someone says they want a border collie. It is something that needs to be said. But in my case, I started thinking ?Well, maybe I NEED something a little ?watered down?. I?m not going to be herding sheep. I want to do a little obedience, maybe some agility, and I REALLY need my dog to be good with my kids and with their friends. I certainly don?t need to have a dog who herds them into a corner and won?t let them out.? So the really sweet, fluffy dogs looked about right. As I said, I bought into the ?quirky and ballistic? thing. So when a puppy became available from the show breeder, I took him, even though I was starting to feel a little guilty about getting an AKC dog. In the year and a half we?ve had him, he has been nearly everything I hoped for, and where he isn?t, it?s my lack, not his. So I?m not sorry we got him. But I?ve kept reading these boards (and Thank You to everyone for much excellent advice!) and if I were in the market for a second dog, I would go to a working breeder or perhaps try rescue again. But the point of this long ramble is that I was frightened away from the working-bred dogs by the very people who loved them the most! I guess the intent is to steer the unprepared toward an ?easier? breed, but I just went part way away, to AKC. I wonder if this happens to others as well? Or maybe I?m just realllly slow at catching on?. Tracey