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Meet Gus


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Hello, my name is Dan and I recently got my first BC in about 15 years. I had a great 75% Border 25% Australian shepard years ago. I recently decided to get a dog after going years without. I knew I wanted a border collie. Well I happened to find one about a month or so ago. He was the last one left out of his litter. He had a small issue with his tail, either his mom bit the tip off, or it just turned out short. I went and looked at him when he was 5 weeks old, and watched his mom work some sheep. She was very impressive and apparently had been an Illinois champion at some point.

 

I picked Gus up when he was 7 weeks old, on December 20th. He has been wearring me out since, mainly taking him for pottie breaks. His puppy biting is starting to get under control. He has learned to sit, and is starting to understand "lay down".

 

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aghhhh!! ENOUGH with the puppy pics. Gus, Riley, Kaycee, Asker, that really cute little German Shepherd puppy!! It's more than I can take!!

 

JUST KIDDING! :D

but if I go out and get a puppy...it all your (plural) fault! :rolleyes:

 

Gus is cute; so are the rest; I hope I can be happy living vicariously through these puppy pictures!

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Welcome! What a little live-wire he appears to be.

 

Just a word of caution - do not allow Gus to "stare" at the horses. For a Border Collie with any instinct to want to work and control stock, this is the beginning of an interest in that type of stock. Horses are one animal that Border Collies should not work as they can be very dangerous to the dog.

 

I made the big mistake of raising my first real working-bred pup around horses at the stable where I worked. He was a very keen pup and I found his interest in horses (and the brooms and rakes) to be very amusing. But it wasn't so amusing when he became obsessed with trying to work and control horses, on lead or off, or attack the tools I was using in barn cleaning.

 

The best way to avoid this type of problem is to not allow Gus around horses until he is old enough to understand that he shouldn't be interacting with them. OR, make sure to teach him a "leave it" command and use it NOW, so that he understands that he is not to be interested in working or controlling horses.

 

I did a better job with my second working-bred pup, who ignores all horses except my one gray mare. Since I have not been good and consistent at dissuading his interest in her, he still is quite obsessed with staring at her and looking for opportunities to try and work her. I have done better with my third pup, who shows no interest in horses at all.

 

Best wishes!

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He really wasn't staring at those horses for long, he was pretty nervous of them, and I just happened to get a picture when he looked their way. He wanted to hide behind me. I tried to show him some cows, but he was a little nervous of them too.

 

I am going to do Agility with Gus, since I have no livestock of my own. The horses belong to my parants, and the cows I showed him belong to their neighbor. Gus will only be around them on the weekends. Their neighbor is actually where I got my first border, Kate, years ago. When I had Kate she didn't get to work livestock either, but right or wrong, I taught her to herd our other dogs. We had about 10 at the time, mostly golden retrievers. Now whenever I would take her on a longer walk over to the neighbors, she would love to chase his cows. Though I would stop her as soon as she started to do it, you don't want your cows loosing weight or breaking a leg after all.

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