Hello...

[Daenerys]

So I guess this is where people introduce their pups so I guess I'll hop on the bandwagon. About a month and a half ago I rescued a 3 month old from a local shelter. We named her Daenerys because I'm a huge nerd and a Game of Thrones fan and I just love Daenerys Targaryen (we call her Dani btw).

 

Since she's from a shelter we are unsure of her background, thinking she she could be mixed with anything especially since she didn't look like the average border collie with her two blue eyes, short fur, and ticking. The more research my sister and I started to do, the more we felt she was primarily border collie or even fully. We've gotten Australian shepherd, cattle dog, and my mom for some reason thinks she's mixed with a pitbul or a boxer (I don't see it). What do you think?

 

She's been doing very well with training; right now she's working on the basics I guess: sit, down, up, stand, down, off, let go, stay, come, roll over, back up and turn around. She basically has sit down but she doesn't listen ALL the time wich is understandable because she's only around 4 and a half months. All the other commands she isn't completely reliable without hand signals, but were working on it and she's picking up quickly.

 

Now a problem we've been having with her is with my 11 year old shih tzu. He wasn't properly socialized when he was young and grew up not really loving dogs. When she first came home she got into a bunch of fights with him which he was not too happy about but since has gotten better and only occasionally tries to nip him in the neck. I was wondering if you had any advice to get her to respect him and when he wants to be left alone. She is also EXTREMELY food driven and the slightest whif of food or sound that could possibly be food, she goes crazy. Taz, my shih tzu, is not really a good eater either and became worse with age. We normally give him some dog food mixed with some human food like chicken or turkey and he eats it slowly. Lately I've been giving him just turkey because he hasn't been eating. Dani thinks Shea entitled to whatever is in her reach and will try and eat the food if he backs away from it for a second or even while he's eating. As if now, we keep her in the crate while Taz is eating because we just don't know what else to do. Any suggestions would be great.

 

Thanks for reading if anyone did, I'm on my iPhone now and can't upload any pictures, so here is a link to her instagram account wich features a sleeping picture of Taz if anyone was interested (yes, Taz is short for the Tasmanian devil from loony toons )

 

http://instagram.com/doofusdani

[highway61]

Those eyes are a powerful shade of blue! My 3 month old pup has one blue eye that I constantly find myself staring into to. The brown eye gets lost in his black mask and I don't even notice it. Congrats on your rescue, good karma for you!

[Daenerys]

Thanks! Her eyes were definately one of the selling points. To me she was the most attractive dog in the shelter. It wasn't until we got home and I started to spend time with her and do a ton of border collie research that I realized what I had gotten myself into and how happy I was that I did it. She's such a sweet dog and a ton of fun, if you overlook her constant need to eat and chew everything

[Falon's Mom]

Well I think she is adorable! I however do not see the pit in her. Aussie and BC yes, but not pit. Those eyes are captivating. Congrats on the new addition to the family. I am not sure how to help with the food issues other then to suggest you teach her a "leave it" command. That way there when she heads for Tazs food you can tell her to leave it so he can eat in peace. I also use a "bed" command for my boy to send him to his crate while we eat our meals.

[Daenerys]

Thank you! We're working on leave it but she only does it during training sessions and not really during real life. She's getting very good at let go though now and will let go without my holding out my hand (although that doesn't really help my situation). And I don't see pitbul either, my mom just thinks she's abnormally huge and is mixed with a bulky dog although she is very lean.

[juliepoudrier]

I couldn't see a photo; the link just took me to a log in page.

 

Regarding your older dog, you need to protect him from the pup. She needs to learn a command that means "leave it." It can be those words or "no" or anything else that signals to her to stop what she's doing. I have a rule at my house that no dog is allowed to approach another dog's food bowl unless the other dog first walks away.

 

For now, I think it's wise to crate Dani while Taz eats. And I would physically intervene if she harasses him. No old dog deserves to be pestered by a pup, especially one that's too rambunctious. I would probably use a combination of a verbal correction ("no," "ah ah," "leave it," or similar) and distraction and/or removal whenever she approaches the older dog for any reason, unless it's completely clear that he doesn't mind.

 

She's just being rude toward him and needs you to teach her that her behavior isn't acceptable,

 

J.

[gcv-border]

Welcome - and what a lovely girl.

 

I agree with the posts above about teaching her some self-control at feeding time.

 

Jovi