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Curious BC "Behaviors"


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Hey Hey,

 

I hope this is right spot for this post?

 

Background:

 

Iam a proud first time BC owner, always had GSD or mixed breeds in the past. Well "Your my boy Blue" or "Blue" for short is now 7 months old and this past 7 months is all he needed to sell me on BC for life. However I have run into a few "Behaviors" I would like some input on.

 

Activities:

 

Blue and I share two passions atm, hiking and Disc (im sure we will dabble in agility, but I heard its addictive and I really enjoy our long treks and disc!). When it comes to hiking I can keep him off leash with no problem, he is absolutely amazing with recall for his age and seems to genuinely like to share the hike with me. He equally enjoys our disc time!

 

The "Behaviors":

 

When we are on hike he will not take water, from bowl, from creek, nor a water bottle. I understand an animal knows when its thirsty but some of these hikes are long and being summer now its hot and I worry about dehydration. Once we get home he bee lines for the water dish and goes camel mode?

 

The other "Behavior" seems to only happen after we have had Disc time. When we go back into the house he fixates on the 1/4" space between the oven and counter, then bobs back and forth as if he sees something. I can stop the behavior by sending him away, but if I call him back he goes right back into that mode?

''

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Hi, and welcome! For future reference, this topic would fit better under "general border collie discussion".

 

For the second behaviour, I can't guess why he does it, but I'd try to prevent him from accessing it as much as possible. BCs are prone to developing OCDs of all kinds, and you never know when one of them can get him into trouble. For the first, can you try getting him to lap a little water from your hand? At least, I had to do that for a while with my dog before she was willing to drink from her bowl. Oh, and she had to see that it was the same water as I was drinking :rolleyes:.

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Sounds a bit similar to something I encountered with Sassy. There were 2 places of interest outside that she would occsionally obsess on. One was right outside my bedroom and the other was an old landscape timber retaining wall. Not long after noticing her obsessing I encountered indications I had termites and started thinking she was actually hearing termite activity. Sounds strange for me to think that, and I imagine her hearing isn't anything that spectacular over any other dog, but she can be in my bedroom and I in the livingroom on the other side of the house. I faintly whisper 'meow' and I hear Sassy bark each time.

 

Oh, but seriously, turns out one time I see a small lizard on the retaining wall and Sassy going after it. Another time I see the (a) lizard at the bottom of my siding and Sassy is there trying to get it. Finally realized it was the lizard all along and to this day she still hangs around those spots. And all I need say now is 'Where's the lizard' or 'where's the bugs' and those are the two spots she'll run to.

 

Not saying you have lizard's or bugs, and haven't a clue as to why you're observing this after disc, but maybe at one time there was something in there? BTW, you ever stash the Frisbee in there?

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My dog is also peculiar about water. I know he's thirsty by his body languge and by how long it's been since he last drank, and how far we've walked on a hot day. In order to keep him cool, I take him to parks with lakes on hot days. But in order to get him to go IN the water, take a drink, and wet his belly, I had to start carrying treats with me. If I toss one in the water, he'll wade in to get it, and then he'll take a drink while he's in there. At least I know he's not getting dehydrated. Stilll, he drinks barely enough to keep going: when we get home, he heads to his water dish and gulps it down, like your dog.

 

Mary

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Welcome! What a nice-looking little guy!

 

Remember to be careful on your hikes to not overdo it with a youngster. Growth of the bones is not over until after a year of age (often around 14 months or so) and so you need to be wise in how much strenuous exercise/impact he gets.

 

I would avoid allowing him to look at that spot. My guess is that he can see something (maybe his shadow) back there and, as pointed out, obsessive-compulsive behaviors are not uncommon in Border Collies. Once established, they can be nearly impossible to eliminate so stop it now - either block off the view or prevent him from looking in there (as you have already done).

 

Best wishes!

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BTW, you ever stash the Frisbee in there?

 

WOW you hit the nail on the head! I have never stashed the Frisbee there (that would be silly) but my wife keeps her pizza pans tucked in there. We have since found a new place for the pizza pans and behavior has stopped!! Its funny I started this post out with Curious "Behavior" and turns out it was just a very observant BC!! I actually feel bad because I would constanty correct him, "Blue, no go lay down" and the whole time he wuz like "What? lay down, we still have disc's to play". I will make it up too him though, mebbe next time he wants to herd the cats I could go Sgt. Schultz "I see nothing!" :rolleyes:)

 

Thanks for the input all!

 

As for the water issue guess I'll see how things go.

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Regarding the water issue, I don't know if this helps, but my dogs will often not drink on a hike until they are sure I'm not going to go off and do something interesting while they have their heads down drinking. So, I make it very clear to them that I am just going to sit there and wait.

 

I have also taught them to drink on cue ("water"), which is a very helpful word for dogs to know. Some SAR dogs are taught never to drink anything without being cued to do so, both to protect them from unsavory water sources and also to keep them from accidentally disturbing "evidence".

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When you take a break on the hikes, have you tried to actually sit down while giving him water? With Kona, if I'm standing up, he's always ready to move and won't stop for water either (similar to what Alaska previously mentioned). I figured out that if I simply sit, he seemingly thinks, "Oh, ok break time, eh?"

 

Also, something to consider - he's pretty young to be disc dogging. Sue R mentioned being cautious on hikes. It's even more critical to ensure he's not leaping too much. At 7months, growth plate closure hasn't occurred - jumping/leaping prior to the plates closing has potential for problems down the road.

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Also, something to consider - he's pretty young to be disc dogging. Sue R mentioned being cautious on hikes. It's even more critical to ensure he's not leaping too much. At 7months, growth plate closure hasn't occurred - jumping/leaping prior to the plates closing has potential for problems down the road.

 

He rarely if ever is jumping, I am either throwing blades or sending the disc far enough he is just retrieving. The only time we catch is with the soft disc and at most he may raise up on his rear haunches, nothing strenuous.

 

As far as hiking goes, we will do some 4-8 mile trails but most are pretty Mickey Mouse with a destination at the halfway point we usually spend an hour have lunch or take in the sites. And with my 6 yr old son usually in tow the pace is not what you would call power hiking:)

 

But you know i do worry because he is verry "Leggy" and when he is running or playing with the other dogs i worry about those long legs getting fractured.

 

ill post a couple pics

 

Picture_001.jpg

 

 

Picture_005.jpg

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He is just too appealing! If you don't want to keep him, send him to me. He looks an awfully lot like my Celt, who is also white-factored and is similarly marked and with those same ears.

 

What a charmer!

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Gorgeous dog for sure. A border and a JRT - you really go for the mellow breeds, eh? :rolleyes:

 

I know what you mean with a "leggy" dog - Kona is almost 20lbs lighter than his "sister" (a Toller), but is about an inch and a half taller than her.

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Sue, I can attest to the appealing and charming part. He's full of hugs and kisses too! Ive had the opportunity to exchange both with him!

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Gorgeous dog for sure. A border and a JRT - you really go for the mellow breeds, eh? :rolleyes:

 

LOL no doubt! Actually the JRT in that pic we are fostering his name is Banjo, think we have a home for him "knock on wood". My wifes JRT Piper would usually be right there for a picture but she had glacoma and recently lost her eye :D I wanted to get her a little doggy borg implant, you know an ocular brace with an infrared beam she could run around the house driving the cats crazy. However the eye removal surgery was $700.00 so Im sure borg implant would be out of our price range:)

 

She is doing well though, starting to get her "Step" back! And as far as I am concerned she is as adorable as ever!

 

Piper.jpg

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