imported_Foster

I know purebred border collies that only weigh 20 lbs soaking wet. Just like with any dog, you have some very small ones but then again you also get large ones. I have seen bc's that also are 60 lbs. If it is part lab, it could have be a field lab and could be small. Many people have a misconception that all labs are big. I have a friend who has a lab that weighs 40 lbs. Many working dogs are kept on the light side because it is better for the hips. My bc/ mix weighs 36 lbs and she stand over 20 inches at the withers. Yellow--hope you come home with that dog...and if it is part border collie, good luck. It will be in a great home if you can take her...

Before she breeds she has confirmed homes for the purebreds and her borderjacks. I am not condoning the practice but unfortunately, there are many folks out there that are breeding borderjacks and border borders. She has many dogs but I am not sure how many are hers. She takes in people's dogs and trains them in obedience, flyball and agility. She also takes in rescues and finds homes for them. So she does do her good deeds too. Her borderjacks are placed in sport homes only. Many of her border collies are placed in only sport/working homes. She does not place dogs in pet homes usually. I am not defending her and I don't think she should be breeding mixes but at least she is responsible about it.

The pictures you all are giving me of jrt's herding mice...makes me wanna :drinking: Just like with any breeding you never know what you will really get. And many times the border collie and jrt breedings are for height dogs but you don't always get that. And when that happens, the breeder will try to find it a suitable home as a big dog... I only know this stuff because I know someone who does it...she breeds AKC show border collies and versatility border collies. And she dapples with the purposeful mix breeding in order to get faster height dogs. I don't condone these breedings but they are going to happen and will always happen. I do give this person credit because she finds suitable homes for all the dogs and if the home does not work out, she will take the dog back and either keep it or try and rehome it. She checks in periodically with all the owners and if she feels that you have not lived up to the agreement, she will take the dog from you. She has done this before. She removed a dog from a home that did not care for the dog properly. She is a good breeder but she dapples with the mix breeding so I don't know what to think. I agree that all this breeding is bad but I can also see the other side sort of... Oh well...I will never breed so I don't have to worry about that part...

Hobbit, I sent you a private message. Yes I came out of the "closet" about being a poodle owner. It was scary but I managed to come clean. I feel much better. You know there is an article that I will have to try and find that states that at one time poodles were used for herding. My herding trainer also says that he trained a standard poodle that was great and could out herd some of the best bc's. Unfortunately, non-herding breeds cannot compete in the competitions. I think one day our trainer plans to hold a non-herding breed herding event for fun.

The problem is that many border collies are not small enough to bring down the jump height to what they want. The folks I am talking about are very competitive folks who want the fastest dogs which is why they are breeding these mutts. I understand their thinking just don't agree with it. They want to be the world record holders. They still have the chance for a bc brain but just in a smaller body...It seems the ideal jump height is below 12 inches. You take the height of the smallest dog on the team and measure them at the withers and then subtract 4 inches to get the jump height to a minimum of 8 in and max of 16...just a little background. If I want a height dog for flyball I would go out and buy one that small, ie: my mini poodle. He is a pet first but I decided to train him for flyball. He is doing great but is not super fast but that is ok with me. I don't plan to ever make racing news. And if he would have been a flyball dropout, so be it. He would still be my best little buddy. I am actually afraid that poodles may become popular in flyball and then people would want to start breeding poodles and bc's...

I give my acd rimadyl periodically with no side effects so far. All we need to do is take her in periodically for bloodwork but the vets don't think that there is much to worry about since she only gets it rarely. But for alternatives, Ascriptin (?) seems to work great.

Well the whole poodle thing got me to thinking. I was wondering what people thought about starting a new discussion. A discussion on the purposeful breeding of border collies to jack russells (borderjacks) and the breeding of border terriers to border collies (border borders) for doggie sports? These people want the brains of the border collie but the smaller height of the JRT and BT...this seems to be a big thing in flyball. I am not sure how I feel considering I think there are enough dogs in the world without breeding mutts. The difference between these breedings and breeding the poodle mixes, lab mixes, etc...is these breedings are for a particular purpose. I know someone who breeds borderjacks and they seem to be great dogs and I would love to have one but even if I could have another dog I don't think I could bring myself to buy a borderjack from a breeder. I either rescue my pups or I go to a breeder if I want a purebred. I just don't know what I would do if I had the choice. I can sit here a rationalize reasons for and against but I just thought I would ask those people who aren't into the whole doggie sport world like I am. I do flyball and I am quite addicted to it. I keep flip flopping on my thinking. I met a borderjack that I would steal in a heart beat.

Well I guess I need to admit that I own a poodle. Please don't laugh, I grew up with poodles, please forgive me. He is technically a miniature but is built like a toy. He is just under 12inches at the withers. He is a beautiful black and is about 16 months old now. I keep him in the puppy cut. He is all dog, in fact he thinks he is a rottie. He goes herding with my acd and my bc/mix. The sad thing is, he does a pretty good job at it and the sheep are terrified of him. They actually give him the respect he wants, which is the last thing we needed in the house. A poodle with attitude, ugh... Now regarding the poodle mix thing. That annoys me to no end. There are enough dogs in need of homes out there that no one should be breeding mix breeds especially if they do not have a purpose. And unless a dog is one of the best of the breed, purebreds should not be bred either. I really wish people would stop messing with purebreds and leave them alone to be purebreds but then I think that unless someone played with breeding different breeds together, I would not have my beautiful acd.

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Bc's come in many different shapes and colors. And many times look similar to an aussie. I could have sworn I saw a dog this weekend that was an aussie with a tail, wrong...a few of us thought this. We asked and it was a bc. Also, bc's can have striking blue eyes - of course these are the blues and reds. They can also be smooth haired. To me the body shape looked more bc than aussie unless the aussie was from working lines in which case it looks leaner. So anytime people say it must be a aussie mix, I always think it could also be a bc mix and vice versa. One of these days, I will have to post some pics of my bc mix and see if anyone can guess what her other half is...and then I will post a pic of her sister and see what people say. Does I make any sense?

Just because I disagree with you does not give you right to judge me and be beligerant. My family has also been in the police force for years. My question is: when was the last time anyone stuck up for a cop that was attacked by a dog? Or for a cop that shot a dog because he felt he was in danger? When was the last time any of this kind of stuff made the news. If this would have attacked the cop, we would not have heard about it. Which is not fair. Many cops are attacked daily but no one gives them a break. I am not justifying what the cop did. He overreacted but there could be circumstances that we don't know. Sorry if I feel he does not deserve to loose a job over this. After all, a dog is a dog and cannot be compared to human life. We will have to agree to disagree...

Well the day you become a cop and have a dog coming charging at you, you will have the right to make a judgement call. Maybe you should go do some ride-a-longs with some cops and see what the real world is like. Or maybe go check out some hospitals and find some patients that have been attacked by a dog. Like I said...I am not justifying what the cop did but there are 2 sides to every story. And I am sorry a wagging tail can mean a dog will attack and does not usually mean a dog is friendly. It all depends on the dog and what is happening. And before anyone says that I have something against the breed...I don't. I was just defending pitbulls on another board. I love the breed. And I am not a cop. Sorry if I am able to see both sides of the story because I realize that people are human and they do make mistakes. My first instinct would be to shoot first and ask questions later if I was doing my job and saw some dog come running at me. I don't care if the dog was a darn teacup poodle, wagging its tail... You say there were 4 cops--how many people in the car? Let's see about 1 cop per person in the car plus one extra to oversee--sounds about right to me.

Well I am on Rotts side. He was wrong for shooting the dog but you also have to look at his side. I am not justifying what happened. I just think it was a mistake and that he is probably sorry. OK so the arrest was unjust, but they thought it was legal. The owners asked for the door to be closed, cops said no. Many times cops leave the doors open. Allowing the guy to go back and close the door, could have given him a chance to escape or get a gun/knife etc... If the cop went to close the door, the cop could be at risk. A wagging tail does not mean a dog is friendly. I am sorry this cop does not deserve to loose his job. How many times do you hear on the media about a cop being attacked by a dog, NOT OFTEN. So a cop shoots a dog and now he is a bad guy. Why was this dog not contained in the car? How do we know this cop was not attacked while on duty by a dog and is just more cautious? Cops are attacked often by animals. What would you all say if the cop chose NOT to shoot the dog and the dog did attack? Chances are you would not have heard about it. When is the public going to try and protect the cops? You know cops are in a high risk field trying to protect us and themselves. If the cop felt threatened he had right to shoot and shoot to kill. I am an animal lover but if i felt threatened even if I was wrong, I would not hesitate to shoot.

My first question would be what is his size? I am not sure I see rott in this dog. I can see aussie/catahoula but not rott. Of course if the dog is bigger than what it looks in the photo, maybe it could be rott. I would also suggest maybe a bc mix of some sort.

Here are my 2 cents. ACD's are a strong/hard headed breed. They are also very smart and need mental and physical exercise otherwise their behavior could make you scream and question your sanity in getting an acd. Part of Kenzie's problems could be boredem. You could be giving the dog enough physical activity but you need to work the brain. It does seem to be somewhat of a dominance issue. If Bruiser keeps trying to steal Kenzie's food then Bruiser is part of the problem. Kenzie is not to take total blame. Do you play tug with these dogs? Do you allow them to play tug with each other? If you do, STOP now. I have 3 dogs. An acd, a bc/mix and a mini poodle. My acd and bc/mix are both females. My bc/mix is semi dog aggressive-she has been attacked before. When my bc/mix was younger, we allowed the females to play tug because they played so well together. As she got older, my bc/mix wanted to be dominant and she is. And we have to treat her as such. That has helped. We also do not allow them to play tug with each other any longer because it will start a fight. The acd is stronger so the bc/mix gets pissy about it. Kenzie could be biting you out of fear but I have to say that you should not have put your hand in the crate after the dogs were fighting. Her biting was wrong but so were you. If she was cowarding at all, then you should leave her alone. She goes to her crate to get awy from what is happening, let her. Have you taken Kenzie to obedience classes? If so, I would suggest sending her back to class for a refresher. It will help with her socializing and many time instructors that are worth a darn can give you the free advice you want and need. Dealing with her aggression with any type of strong corrections I think will make things worse. I would also suggest working with Bruiser. He seems to be a little confused on what is expected from him. If you can't get him to leave Kenzie's food alone by command, you need to work on his obedience. I agree that you should keep a diary of what starts the fights and the biting. You may find out that something triggers it. If you can figure that out, you are one step closer to figuring out a solution. If you are planning to have kids, I would suggest getting both dogs out and about and around babies/kids. That would be your firt clue to whether or not your dogs are kid friendly.

Have you thought about finding a place that will take in troubled dogs. I can't remember what breed Hazel is but check out/contact these folks in NY... [url]www.glenhighlandfarm.com[/url] They take in troubled bc's and try to rehabilitate them and if they can't, they will keep them at the farm. If Hazel is not a bc, maybe these folks would know of something similar for her breed...or maybe they could at least find someone that can help you out. Now to reply to what is going on with the aggression: You are young, tried your best and unfortunately you failed. If she has been like this since she was a puppy, she probably came from bad breeding. If that is the case, there may not be much hope for her to be rehabilitated but you need to do what you can to find someone to help you. Rehoming her is a bad option. It will not solve her problems UNLESS she is sent to a home of with an experienced dog handler who knows how to deal with aggression. Call your vet and explain the situation...your vet might be able to find or know someone that can help, maybe even willing to stop by the house to take some blood...never hurts to ask. Your parents have right to be upset but if anything, this is more their fault than yours. Unless they were willing to take on full responsibility of a dog, even financially when there are problems, they should not have allowed you to buy a dog. They should have been providing you the resources over the last 4 years to help Hazel out. I think people need to give you a break. You are trying everything in your power to keep Hazel but your parents are hindering your efforts. Do you have a friend who drives that would be willing to drive you and Hazel to the vets? Of course some of the problems do stem from your lack of knowledge when it comes to dogs. I have read some of your posts regarding how you deal with Hazel's aggression and you have most likely only made it worse without knowing better. At this time, there is no point in pointing fingers though. Until a decision is made about Hazel, you should not take her out in public or allow her to be in the company of visitors to your house. If worse comes to worse, you may want to discuss buying a muzzle as a short term answer...and no I don't believe in muzzles but sometimes they are needed. You are in a tough situation for a 15 year old. Try printing out these posts and show them to your folks... I think it was wrong of your mom to suggest looking for another dog when Hazel is not even gone...if she is sent away or euthanized, you should not get another dog until YOU can afford and have the resources to care for a dog tha may have issues. Or, your parents need to agree to dish out the money and time to help with another dog...I do agree with others that this situation is bad and I don't think you or your parents should even think about getting another dog until EVERYONE is willing to make the sacrifices needed to be a dog owner. Sorry for rambling but many things in this series of postings are annoying.

My cattledog had this problem. Turned out she was allergic to the plastic bowls (sorry did not know better at the time) so once I switched to stainless steels bowls the pimples went away.

The pocket poodle is another name for the Teacup poodle which is TINY...it is smaller than the toy and many don't get much bigger than your hand. It is a shame to breed a dog that is that small....they have enough problems with poodlees and luzating patellas in the minis and toys, can you imagine th health problems with the teacups...it really infuriates me...I have heard of numerous health issues with these dogs... Yes I also own a mini poodle to go with my acd and my bc/mix. I really get tired of people messing with breeds and making them something they aren't... OK I AM OFF MY SOAP BOX NOW :x

For the trash can problem: My girls decided they liked trash a couple months ago. I got tired of putting the trash can on the couner and did what I should have done earlier. I put a "shake can" on the lid of the trash can. The trash can sits against a wall so the shake can sits on the lid and against the wall so it was not real secure on the lid, which I wanted. They have not been in the trash for a couple months now and we do not need to put the shake can on the trash but we still do periodically. Especially, if there is something really "tasty/smelly" in the trash. Sometimes we put it on the trash just because...we do it maybe once or twice a week, as a reminder. One of my dogs is very sound sensitive so I knew it would work for her but did not realize it would work for the other trash seeker. They both stay pretty far away from the trash now. If you do not know what I mean by a shake can, it is a small metal can that I put coins/screws/nails, basically anything that will make loud noise when shaken. You can also use an old soda can...

Please tell me how to find the off switch on an acd...mine is go, go, go all the time. She is a pistol. Thankfully, she can be controlled during flyball months but oh lordy, if we take time off from flyball, she becomes a maniac. Acd's are no better than bc's. It all depends on what you do with them. They both need a lot of mental exercise. That seems to wear them out the most. Physical activity only goes so far. My bc/mix was a hyperactive puppy and was that way until she was about 2. Now she will just lay around most of the time. But you bring out the ball or frisbee she becomes a maniac. People think she is hard to deal with because at flyball she is wild. When people from flyball come over for the first time they see the real her. Cuddle, Cuddle, Cuddle. She is extremely lazy...

I have actually seen these mini australian shepherds also known as north american shepherds. I think they are ugly and are lacking in personality. If they were truly mini aussies they would look like small aussies not these funny looking dogs that I have seen. I once again agree with Hobbit, there is some other breed in the woodpile or their is some inbreeding going on... I said it before, you will always get some extra small pups in any given litter but that does not make them minis...they are just small. If over time all the runts are bred together maybe you would get a true mini but right now, they don't truly exist in my opinion with regards to the acd or aus. shepherd.

Just like with any breed you are going to have the munchkin in the litter but they are not mini heelers. I have seen some pretty small heelers in my travels but they are not called minis. I agree with Hobbit that these so called minis are probably mixes. And why anyone would want a "mini" heeler is beyond me. Just wish people would stop messing up these breeds.

You really need to take your dog to the vet. There are many things that could be causing the tremors including chemical reactions, environment or even seizures. I friend who is a vet has a dog that starting having mild seizures that started off has just head tremors that were heat/exercised induced and then started to become more frequent and turned into full seizures. You really need to make sure that there is not something medically wrong with your dog. Oh and this dogs whole litter has been prone to seizures. A good breeder will let you know this. Find out from the breeder if any of the litter mates are having the same issues or if any previous ones did. The breeder did tell my friend with some of the litter seemed more susceptible so she was prepared...

Personally, I don't think that is too long. All of my dogs will spend at least that long in a kennel. If you think about it, you are actually breaking up the time spent in the kennel from 7 hours to 5 hours at a time with a half break in the middle of it. If you are going home for that half hour, you will just need to make sure to make that 30 minutes worth it. I was never big on keeping the dogs on a particular schedule on the weekends. The only thing that was similar was the fact that when I could not watch my dogs or I had to leave, they would be kenneled. Other than that, they get freedom on the weekends...

Are you sure that Kenzo just hasn't her pad area down during play? One of my dogs does this all the time even while we play outside in the grass. It heals within a couple days and she will tear it again and then it heals. She has some white pads and they seem to be more sensitive and they rip easily but her black pads will be ripped and every once in awhile.