Kayleegator

I've heard that the indigenous name for the Tasmanian devil translates to "the nasty one": they are famous for their bad, bad tempers, even with each other. I'm glad there are none of them around here, in far northern California!

This is an interesting thread. We just got back from a 4-day road trip. One of the stops was at my sister's house, where our dogs met for the first time. Her Cassie is a very submissive, undersocialized, rather neurotic spayed female labradoodle, about a year old. She has an eating disorder, eats all kinds of weird things, has had stomach surgery to get a rock out, has to be carefully supervised at all times. Kaylee is a 5-month-old unspayed BC, who's confidence has been building. She's been going to the dog park and playing with the big dogs, and is very brave. I've never seen her act aggressively, though. It didn't work. Cassie barked at the stranger in her back yard, and Kaylee barked back, with an aggressive, "I'm gonna kick you, because you are sooo wearing a sign" sort of bark. I mean there was some tailwagging, too, and I think she might have played after an initial sizing-up, if Cassie had been up for it. But Cassie was terrified, and we put her in the house alone. And as we played with Kaylee and watched her learn the on-site rules, watched her learn to roll a basketball with her nose, so fast we couldn't catch her... I was struck again by the grace, intelligence and adaptability of my BC. She's a double-handful to deal with at times, but I can see her developing into a fabulous dog. I feel that I'm being challenged by her excellence, to provide her with opportunities to be her best. And I'm glad she don't wear no doodle 'Kick Me!' sign.

Awww, sorry to hear about your Owies! I hope you are both up and running around very soon!

Oh, how sweet! She looks sooo familiar! Enjoy the puppyhood!

That's exactly our situation, too.

Cute pics! He obviously has no clue that the ogre is about to munch his little fuzzy butt! My neighbor has seen local stock dogs riding horseback, in front of the riders. When they've got cattle to move, they jump off, run and do the job, and jump back on for a while. You could start Jeeves early...

HOW FUNNY! Do you remember the old kid's riddle, "What's black n white n black n white n black n white n black n white?" It used to be 'a nun falling down stairs', but now it's two BCs playing on the stairs!

I remember going through that with my Collie, Lucy. Poor Lucy was so allergic she worried her back into a big black scab. I flea dipped her over and over and defleaed everything in sight, and did my best to eliminate all corn from her diet, which I think did help, but wasn't the whole problem. What made a BIG difference in regrowing the hair on her back was adding Lipiderm to her food. Here's one resource: http://www.1800petmeds.com/pselect.asp?LV=...amp;PG=Lipiderm I could write one of those glowing customer reviews: I've recommended it to others it has helped, too. Good luck!

This is one of those things that isn't funny at all when it's happening, but OMG, you and your kids are going to be remembering it for a long time! Whew! I hope lil Saki is feeling better now, and all concerned are comfortable.

Oh, Jim, that is such a great visual! My girl got to play with a 6-month-old 85-lb mastiff the other night, and she took him DOWN... often by the cheek. Shiney, Capm!

I really like these stories of 'Geese Police', BCs hired to keep golf courses and parks free of goose colonies. It's better for the geese, because they will leave and find more suitable habitat. The dogs have jobs. Gotta have jobs! and nobody hurt.

Kaylee will happily shred Lindee's fluffies, she's sure they need it! She plays soccer, too, is building skill. I think it's a sign of a VID, Very Intelligent Dog. We know a dog (Shar Pei/Rottweiller mix) who is SO good at soccer that he can flip rubber toys up in the air with his feet and catch them in his mouth! Hiding toys and treats around the house, and introducing a squeaky, are excellent suggestions. The first squeaky we gave Kaylee was rather alarming, but she was able to shred the fluffy it was in anyway. I do like Dale's sit-stay practice, with hiding toys around the house. We are currently working hard on down-stay during mealtimes. Dog logic says that if you sloowwwly squirm along on your belly in the direction of the cat, or better still, underneath the chair of someone who is eating, you are still technically 'Down'. A pig ear is a good thing. When you've demolished it in record time, but before the conference call is over, be sure to wipe your mouth all over the carpet, so you can have something to sniff and rip at later. It makes Ma laugh and gets her in trouble. Heidi, I wish I had your (albeit stormy) acreage to run this girl on. We're still working on recall, so we can run off-leash on the football field, but we're not there yet. The dayglo Flying Squirrel works as a visual recall, but if I dare throw the thing, I'll never get it back without an awful lot of trudging about, sigh. I need to get out a long line and work with that, as hot dogs are totally passe now.

OK, so I'm (trying to) work from home with a busy-brained BC pup. Kaylee is 4 1/2 months old now, and would spend all her time at the Dog Park or digging up my garden, given her druthers. She's not exactly stir-crazy, but she needs activity, and I've got to try to get something done. My DH and I walk her for a mile or so and play with her for the first couple of hours of every day, Fetch and Tug, for the most part. DH plays 'Monster' and 'Hide n Seek' in the house with her, too. Once in a while she'll go Crackerdog, also known as the Zoomies, and run around our little house as fast as she can, to the horror of the cats. She's got lots of toys, Kongs, tennis balls, etc. but she prefers fuzzy textures, things she can get her teeth into (and shred, if possible). She's dug a couple of holes in carpets, so has to be watched about that. The favorite toy of all is the Beloved Sock Tug, two of my husband's socks knotted together. At least they used to be socks. Now it's just a ragged ball of fiber that we keep tying up on itself. She's taught herself new games: take 2-3 toys and push them around and under table legs so she can pounce on them on the other side. Take a toy and stuff it under a piece of furniture, then dig at it until a person gets it out again. Yeah. My water spray bottle had to come out, for that one. She doesn't really retrieve: it's far more interesting to play Keep. I'm working on that. She'll trade a ball for Sock, but not the other way 'round. Sock is the only toy she will Drop. So we can throw it for her. Racketball in the hallway. She's learning mid-air catch. Sock is the favorite Tug toy, too, seconded by a rope tug with a bone threaded on it. This morning I remembered a dog game my friend taught her Scotty, which is Find It! I wrapped the Sock up loosely in an old towel, and taught Kaylee 'Find It!' and it's kept her (and me) busy for at least half an hour now. Did I mention she likes to dig? What games does your BC play?

Aww, I love this Capt. Annie story! Am looking forward to a picture. We didn't get around to it this year, but DH & I want to take Kaylee out in our canoe. I think she'd dig it, but fishing might be a bit too exciting for all of us. My trainer's dog is a Corgi. Teaching him to swim was a challenge because of his long, heavy body: he sank in the middle! But now, with the help of his life vest, he happily paddles around after Emily: cute!

Saki looks a LOT like my Kaylee! Kaylee's getting longer and taller now, pushing 5 months. The shiny, wavy adult coat is coming in and the puppy fuzz is drifting away. Enjoy your little girl, she won't be a baby for long!

It just makes my heart sink to think that someone would try to STRANGLE that beautiful, intelligent girl! I'm SOOO glad you've got the heart to raise her. I'll enjoy hearing about her progress!

Kaylee loves her tugs, and one of the best is a rope with a bone on it. When we get tired of Tug (she never does) she can gnaw for a while. Kongs don't interest her as much as tugs do, at least right now. A couple of old socks knotted up are the current favorite, but they are not going to last another week. She enjoys tennis balls, can play soccer with one, with another in her mouth, and will spend hours pulling the fuzz off them, which is probably not good for her. She loves the flying squirrel toy so much she will keep and 'kill' it, rather than retrieve it. It works great as a recall device! This is supposed to be a tough toy, but she's managed to get a hole started in the middle of it, and is working on making it bigger. Hooves are good to gnaw. They are cheap and last for a loong time. Kaylee prefers the smoked ones.

What a beautiful, beautiful girl! Yes, she's worth the OT, she's worth the loss of the cruise this year, if necessary. I profoundly hope that all the testing finds the problem, that it's treatable and that she can recover quickly, too. Hugs to you all!

Hi, John! We're in the same boat. I've got a little girl BC named Kaylee, who will be 5 months old tomorrow. She weighs about 22 pounds right now, but I swear she's bigger every morning! We've been making jokes about the Magic Crate: put the puppy in at night, and in the morning, she's bigger! Kaylee is sometimes a handful, but we're doing better this week than the last several. What a dear, funny, smart thing she is! I'm sure Charlie is keeping your house lively: I'd love to see a picture of him!

For those in Northern California, I highly recommend these people, for grass-fed lamb and beef: http://www.tawandameats.com/aboutus.html They ship frozen via FedEx, as well, and their meats are absolutely delectable! I don't know if they use BCs, but their website does show a Pyr flock guardian.

Happy Birthday, Michelle! I can't imagine a nicer birthday present! And I hope your flu is better, soon, too. I like the sound of Taj: it's furry, somehow.

What a little fuzzbutt! Awwwwww! My Kaylee was already 10 weeks when I got her, so I missed the little baby stage. This picture has made a mushbucket of me. Enjoy your little guy for all you're worth!

RE: the Herriot Tricki Woo: years ago I picked up a term from TW. The quote was something like "Dear Uncle Herriot, Tricki Woo's gone crackerdog!" I thought 'crackerdog' was so funny, and the perfect term for that silly, fast, figure-eight running they sometimes do, even in the house. I bet Tricky goes crackerdog sometimes, even if he's not named for that character! The other thing Tricki Woo did in the book was on occasion, "...go flopbot". I'm still not sure what that means, but I suppose it could have something to do with anal glands...

Awwww! I love your profile of Usher: you know your boy so well! He's a sweetie, even if he is a nerd.

Here you go, a youtube vid of it! You could do a video of Woobie sometime, and use it for a soundtrack!