Sherry Thoeny Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hello, I am new to the group. There are three humans myself, my husband, and our seven year old daughter (Sydney). We have a dog that is a mix of no telling how many. Her name is Pepper. Sweet dog. Loves attention, but don't really care if she pleases you or not. She is smart, though. Pepper: My husband, Mike, and I have our own business. We install flooring. ceramic, hardwood, etc. Anyway while at a job we fell in love with a stray. She had been dropped off at this house in the country. She was so sweet, and smart. Very pretty. She just had something special about her we could not refuse. The lady we were working for is known to take care of all strays. So she has drop offs pretty frequently. But this dog was obviously cared for. You could see where she had a collar on. But we could not find anyone who had lost a dog. So we brought her home. She was great. We named her Hershey becasue of her color. The vet said she was Australian Shephard mix. She dissappeared a couple of months ago. We were heartbroken. We missed her so much. In fact we still do. I still daydream of finding her. And still dream of it at night too. Hershey: So we missed her so much, and we thought about getting another dog. But it had to be the right dog or puppy. We searched local rescues, petfinder, and anywhere else we could think of. We looked and looked, and finally found Candy. She is a Border Collie about 15 weeks old. I do not know a lot of her background. Her parents are both Border Collies, and owned by the same man. The father is a blue merle, and the mother is black and white. He went to the hospital, so his puppies had to go. They were taken in, and homes were found for them. We were forunate enough to be able to get Candy. She is so great. Definately a good addition to our family. Candy: I do however have a couple of questions. Candy and Pepper are not getting along at times. I think they have not decided which of them will be boss. When Candy first came about two weeks ago, Pepper let her have her way. For example Pepper was laying on a dog bed. Candy looked at her and growled. Very light growl. Maybe not even a growl, but not sure what else to call it. Anyway Pepper just got up and walked away. We told Candy no, and led Pepper back. For the most part they get along. But there have been a couple of times they get into it. They will snap at each other and go round and round. They are not trying to hurt each other. I mean not once has there been so much as a scratch. It really seems to me they are just trying to both be top dog. At times they even play together. They have had maybe four tiffs since Candy came home. The last one Pepper got Candy down and Candy submitted. Like I said I think they are just getting there hierchy (sp?) figured out. My instinct is to let them sort it out. They of course are never alone together. They sleep in seperate areas of the house, and are separated anytime we are gone. I would really appreciate any input. Next is not really a question I guess as much as an observation. Candy does not play much. She loves to wrestle with us. She loves to run. But she shows no interest in dog toys. Does not care for balls, ropes, etc. She likes dirty clothes. She likes to drag them around. If I could just get her to take them to the correct place She does carry a couple of toys, but I cannot get her to play with them. The only thing she has chewed is a roll of paper towels, and the cover of a book. I did get her to use the treat ball. She loves to snuggle. It has just suprised me that she does not play more. I would love to get her interested in a ball or stick or something I can throw or roll. I am to out of shape to run with her:) I have really enjoyed reading the group. One of the members has a dog that I would swear is my Border Collie mix I had when a kid. She was just awesome and my best friend growing up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoresDog Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hi Sherry, and welcome aboard! Your dogs are so neat-looking! I'm no expert, but I will say that when we got Daisy at about a year-old, she wasn't a big player. She sure is now, though. She just needed to learn how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bc friend Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Welcome to the Boards! I'm sorry to hear about Hershey. Candy is a pretty baby and she probably just needs some time to learn how to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smileyzookie Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hiya! Glad you found the boards and welcome! This board has been a tremendous help to me for almost a year now. Im sure you'll find it very informative. Your dogs are beautiful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyoBC Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hey Sherry, welcome to the boards! I love Candy, she's so cute. She'll be beautiful when she's full grown. I think it will probably just take time. When I adopted my Black Jack he didn't play at all and he's around two yrs. old. After about a week of working with him he was playing as much as I would let him. Just enjoy it now, pretty soon you'll never come back inside from playing without getting that "please, just one more time" look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth G Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Welcome to board. You've got a real cutie there! My two pups did not play much either when I first got them either. I had to kind fo teach them what a dog ball and a basketball were for. As soon as they learned they could herd/ chase them, they were all over the idea of playing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosefarm Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Welcome to the boards, so sorry about Hershey. What a pretty pup! I obsorb more then I post here, is a great source of wisdom for me -- welcome. --Denise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hi Sherry, welcome to the boards. Have fun here. Your dogs look lovely and handsome. I think, your dogs shall find out, who`s the boss. I had a problem like you introduced it. I received my 4 years old female BC and a 5 years male BC as puppies. In automn of 2005 I bought an three months old Australian Shepherd female. The male BC loved the little Aussie from the first moment on. The female BC was angry with the new family-member. She showed her teeth, when the puppy came near to her. During the weeks and monts since than, they found an arrangement. They ignore each other with one exception: when tey play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry Thoeny Posted February 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hi Sherry, welcome to the boards. Have fun here. Your dogs look lovely and handsome. I think, your dogs shall find out, who`s the boss. I had a problem like you introduced it. I received my 4 years old female BC and a 5 years male BC as puppies. In automn of 2005 I bought an three months old Australian Shepherd female. The male BC loved the little Aussie from the first moment on. The female BC was angry with the new family-member. She showed her teeth, when the puppy came near to her. During the weeks and monts since than, they found an arrangement. They ignore each other with one exception: when tey play. Yeah, that is what I think. I think they will figure out who is "Top Dog". When Hershey came home there was absolutely no friction. But Hershey was so submissive. She would submit to anything. The cat walk by Hershey lay down belly up. Candy is a good dog, and not aggresive, but not that submissive either. And I think it took Pepper a day or two to realize that she did not want this pup ruling her life so to speak. I appreciate your feedback, though. It is hard to know for sure to let them figure it out. Thanks again, Sherry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smileyzookie Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Wow! I just realized how much Hershey looks like a brown version of Rivendell!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry Thoeny Posted February 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Wow! I just realized how much Hershey looks like a brown version of Rivendell!! They do look alike. Right down to the white chin:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carson Crazies Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Hi Sherry, and welcome to the board! Part of what might be going on here is the pup losing her "puppy license" with the older dog. To a certain degree I would let them sort of work things out between themselves - within reason of course. If the pup goes over and the older dog moves, I would just let it be - as long as the pup isn't inappropriately constantly bullying the older dog. Sometimes my older dogs will let the puppy have what he wants, and sometimes they won't. I don't think it means that he's usurping their positions, they sometimes (I think) just choose their battles. Good luck! Puppies are a lot of fun, and a lot of work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry Thoeny Posted February 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Hi Sherry, and welcome to the board! Part of what might be going on here is the pup losing her "puppy license" with the older dog. To a certain degree I would let them sort of work things out between themselves - within reason of course. If the pup goes over and the older dog moves, I would just let it be - as long as the pup isn't inappropriately constantly bullying the older dog. Sometimes my older dogs will let the puppy have what he wants, and sometimes they won't. I don't think it means that he's usurping their positions, they sometimes (I think) just choose their battles. Good luck! Puppies are a lot of fun, and a lot of work! I think that Pepper is just setting the rules. At first Candy (the puppy) acted like she owned the place. She wanted to control where and what Pepper did. The first day or two Pepper just kind of gave in. We think maybe Pepper thought she would be in trouble if she stood up for herself. The last couple of weeks Pepper has put Candy in her place. She is not hurting Candy. I have to see it though But she is setting boundaries. The last time Candy submitted almost right away. So I think Candy is getting the message. Candy is so much fun. I love the way her whole body wriggles when we come home, or when we get up in the morning. She is so much like the BC I had as a child I find myself lost in pleasant memories, and then sad over losing her all over again. She still does not play with toys much. She wants to play with people. Who needs toys when I have humans. She sleeps at the foot of my daughters bed at night. It only took a couple of times for her to learn the foot of the bed, not Sydneys pillow. She really is smart, and a great joy. She likes our cats, or rather likes "herding" them. But I guess she knows which ones belong here and which don't. Yesterday I heard her give a very quiet growl. When I went to look what was up, my MIL's cat had come up for a visit. LOL, Candy knew that cat did not belong inthe house. She had never had that reaction to our cats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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