Where the Wild Things Are

[barbarianoftheuniverse]

I have an eight month old Border Collie called Meg. She is far from perfect (and so am I).
Today she has been about 60/40 good. The 40 included chewing up my camera memory card which DH is sure he put safely on the mantelpiece. Every time I look down at this screen she takes a quick munch of the coffee table with her eyes on mine. This despite a 2 hour walk which included much in and out of streams.

Oddly fan Pip would rather he rushed in and said hi than stood and stared at him from a distance. It's usually on-lead dogs that are watching him that get a soft 'wuff' from him. He can't stand being stared at - and to be fair it is considered quite rude in dog language.

The cockerpoo pup yesterday was taken off-lead literally as they stepped off the street into the park. If he'd run the other way he would have ended up as road pizza, so it's probably lucky my dogs were there.

Dh and I were trying to have a think about all the dog friendly places we get get out to at weekends across the summer. I think the more places we can go where there are lots of dogs on-lead and under control, the more Pip will get used to it and start to relax. He knows how to interact nicely now and I think he just needs as many positive experiences as possible around other dogs to confirm to him that there's no need to stress every time he sees one approaching. VW shows are great for this, as there's always loads of relaxed friendly pooches at them. There are also a few free vintage car shows at the local agricultural ground that always seem to have lots of dogs at them, so hopefully we'll be able to do something most weekends.

We've had to give up classes as I no longer have a lift to get there. Mum's knee is so bad she can't drive anymore. She's having a knee replacement at the end of May / beginning of June, then there will be 6 weeks recovery, at least (it took a lot longer than that with the other knee) so we're looking at going back a year after we first started.

Pip seems to use polite body language and behaviour with other dogs when inviting then to play, but is a little so and so with poor Lurcherboy. He leaps on his head, nips his bum and ears, smacks him in the face and Lurcherboy just whines pathetically at him. I have to tell him to tell Pip off. He does snap at him eventually, but overall I think he's far too tolerant.

So that's why Finn doesn't look at other dogs when approaching them, if the other dog seems happy to play then he carries on bowing but still not making eye contact, if they aren't he trots off without looking at them at all. I always assumed it was because he was slightly nervous.

Eye contact is downright rude NCIS. The right way to approach is with eyes averted and in a sort of curve (think yin/yang). Head on approaches, nose straight up the backside approaches or flying straight into the side are considered extremely bad manners.

Great little book for learning the basics is Turid Rugaas' On Talking Terms with Dogs. Both my ds's read it last summer in anticipation of Pip's arrival and they are fascinated with watching all the dogs in the park interact now.

Finn is even cleverer than I thought then as he seems to do that instinctively, he approaches like a crab and then suddenly veers off if the other dog doesn't respond.

Thinking back my springer used to as well although she did such an exaggerated crab like walk it used to make people laugh.

He sounds like he is fantastic at canine communication. I find Border Collies are often intuitively great at it, my Collie x girl was a natural communicator too, although she was never really all that fussed with playing with dogs outside of our family - she'd say a nice hello if they insisted, but then move on and do her own thing.

Pip has probably had more socialisation than many dogs in terms of careful introductions, but sadly too late for it to be instinctive. He's still very stiff when approached and always ready to run away. Makes it a bit awkward in our park, as he really needs off-lead interaction to learn those skills, but with his tendency to bolt in panic, I can't let him off when there are other dogs close by, as one side of the park is open to the carpark and then a main road. I have to keep him on a long-line instead, so he has the choice to put some distance between them if he wants to, but I still have some control. Unfortuately there are a lot of dogs that will just give chase and their owners never seem to call them back, they just laugh at the great big puppy running scared from their smaller dog. s

I guess Border Collies are bred to read 'sheep' not that mine has ever been near sheep, nor will he ever get the chance unless well secured on a lead!

Borders have such incredible eyesight. I love watching them do their 'collie eye' thing.

My two couldn't have been less interested in the sheep on Thursday, despite having a fantastic view from the comfort of their crate. Not sure they'd be the same if we ever ended up in a field with some though. My old Wheaten seemed to think sheep were other Wheaten Terriers. Whenever she saw some (thankfully only ever through a fence) she'd go all wiggly and play bow at them.

There is nothing polite about Maz I am sorry to say Moose...he is a canine hooligan I do not jest when I say he leaps on dogs to say hello He is slightly better than he was I think, but this is very hard to gauge as he is such a pest that he no longer is given the chance to prove himself.

But, the other day he did manage to peg it from his doggy friends in the park to pester an on lead dog ...they had foxed me as I had seen their approach and put him on lead and they then veered off to the park in front of the hall. Unfortunately they just circled the hall appearing at the other side just as I'd let him off and the temptation was too much. He hared off at full tilt with me in hot pursuit (panic mode as they had a toddler too and Maz loves kids) but he did slow down and approach from the front, to one side, waggy but low to the floor. Luckily they were nice to me

I know he 'knows' the rules as there used to be two large labradoodles come to our doggy meet ups. Unfortunately one was attacked elsewhere and they are sometimes fear aggressive now and understandably found Maz too much. They'd obviously reached their limit one day and one of them got hold of him and shook him. It scared him to death. They don't really go much anymore but he knows how to behave as he manages to be very respectful around them!

Fascinating stuff!

I've spend an hour on the sofa with backache and minty has been lovely and close, enjoying a chance to escape the kitchen! He's been circling, flopping down for 5 mins, then up circling again, flopping down - he just can't settle! Don't know if it's because he's usually only in sitting room in the evening with all of us so it's out of routine. Kids at grandparents, DH on train and it's thrown the dog! I dread to think how he'll do at kennels next week, I think this breed are particularly keen on routine and hate change.

Most of us have moments like that at some point Fan. Lurcherboy totally embarrassed me after we lost Oldgirl when he ran after a man walking a teeny little terrier pup and absolutely refused to recall. I was worried for a minute that he'd suddenly realised he was a Lurcher and decided the teeny pup was prey, but he slowed up and circled them instead of charging in and eating it! I apologised to the man because Lurcherboy had approached them and not come back and it turned out the guy was on his phone and hadn't even noticed!

As long as you do your best to make sure it doesn't happen that's all people can ask.

I do have to admit I miss the days where all the dogs in the park were off-lead and chose who they did and didn't want to mix with. Dogs generally do sort themselves out if left to it and it's often the result of them being restricted by leads that leads to tension and snappiness. I feel like mine don't get enough off-lead exercise sometimes because there always seems to be some reason why it's not the right time to let them off. Although, I do think some of that is me worrying about them not responding to my cues, even though they haven't really given me much cause to doubt them. I think I sometimes worry too much about potential criticism from other dog owners.

I think most dogs like routine Mint. I have to be really careful not to let my two get into too much a routine or they become bossy and demanding, telling me when they expect their walk/food etc.

When I was really poorly over a few weeks recently I realised how much I must have been online when, once I was better, the sound of my laptop closing had them both jumping up and looking excited. I guess when I was ill I didn't move off the sofa much except to fuss, feed and let them in the garden etc, so the sound of my laptop closing became a cue that something good was about to happen.

Mine lives to embarrass me. Everyone knows it's her before we have even entered the training hall as does high pitched, excited squealing and occasionally a kangaroo impression
We were late this week and one of the women said to me, we wondered where Molly was, it's been ever so quiet

I've just got back from my first walk for a few days(been on night shifts) and was watching just how Finn approached other dogs, it's fascinating. He drops into a typical sheep dog down close to me, then inches forward, if the other dog ignores him he walks off pretending he hasn't noticed them but if they look like wanting to play he turns his head away and walks sideways then rolls over at their feet. A mad five minutes then ensues as they bounce around together,normally around my feet trying to trip me up! I assumed he did this ritual because he was nervous but from what you say Moose it's because he knows what he's doing.

Dh tells me he was duffed up by a black lab a few days ago, it rushed at him when he was minding his own business and grabbed his hindquarters, it's a good thing he has a very hairy bum so wasn't hurt just scared, he was very wary of the next couple of dogs he met but then was happy with the rest.

Have booked Finn in to be neutered on Wednesday, rather nervous but the timing is good as we're going away in two weeks time and want him to be more or less better before leaving him with DD for the weekend.

Ooh hope it goes well NCIS - I was terribly nervous about it beforehand and it was nearly two weeks in all before he was completely himself again but I'm so relieved now it's done and dusted and I don't have to worry about him annoying other dogs or being a target or getting scent of a bitch in heat and doing something stupid...

Fitz is now with the dogwalker and apparently being perfectly behaved which is a relief - two more days and we'll be back home again :)

That's one of the reasons I want him done now as he's probably going to have to go to doggie day care occasionally. Glad Fitz is being well behaved on his holidays.

He'll be fine NCIS, in my experience most young dogs breeze through it barely noticing anything's amiss.

Pip is a bit out of sorts today. Not sure what's up. Dh and ds1 said they saw him kind of shivering when he was lying in the living room yesterday evening, but I haven't seen anything odd - he's just not quite himself. He did get completely worn out yesterday, as Lurcherboy finally decided it's actually fun to play in the garden with him and they spent a lot of the day with Pip barking at Lurcherboy, who then chased him round and round and up and down the garden. Both slept very well last night. So he could still be a little tired from that I suppose. Will keep a close eye on him though, just in case.

Ds1's new best friend came round for the first time yesterday. His family had a lurcher themselves until recently and it was lovely to have a child visit who wasn't at all phased by the size of our dogs. Pip did his best to endear himself to him by coming charging in from the garden, looking up all doe eyed at him, then throwing up half a bowl of water mixed with half chewed grass, narrowly missing the poor lad's shoes. Fortunately, being a dog person, it didn't phase him at all.

I have added a picture of Pip's new favoured sleeping position - weird dog!

Finn sometimes has quiet days, especially after a busy day with other dogs.
I am a little concerned about the food the vets are going to give him after the op. I asked if I could take some of his normal food in and they said they give them ED(?) tinned food afterwards. I would really rather he had his usual raw food or some raw minced chicken and am happy to take some in for him. Do you think I will be able to insist on it?
The only time he's had any funny tummy problems has been when he's eaten a strange type of dog food that he's not used to and would rather we don't have any problems post op.

Pip is sometimes a little quieter after a busy day, but he's usually still really nosey and likes to get involved in whatever we're doing. He's been in bed pretty much all day today, other than when I brought him in the other room to do his teeth, claws, ears and grooming.

My vets don't feed them after ops. They make sure they're fully awake, have had a drink and passed water and you can collect when they are sure they're fully recovered from the anaesthetic. They advise a light meal of fresh cooked meat or white fish once they're settled back at home. Not sure why they'd need to feed him at all to be honest.

Okay, so he wasn't ill - all good there, but ...

... he's done it again! Yet another injury requiring vet treatment.

This time he was in the garden with Lurcherboy. They had a chase about and last I saw were lying around sunning themselves.

The phone rang, I was speaking to my husband for about 20 minutes. Asked ds2 to let the dogs in, as they'd appeared at the back door and as they came in he shouted "Mum - Pip's injured his side." Went to look, expecting a scrape, but no, not this time. He'd somehow managed to remove a chunk of flesh, about and inch and a half square across his right hand ribs - it looked awful.

It's times like these I am so glad we live across the road from our vets. Called and God bless her, our favourite vet had just finished surgery and was putting her coat on to go back to the main branch, but instead waited to treat him herself. So I grabbed his lead (thank God again that I'd just bought some slipleads, as there was no way I could put his harness on) and dashed out the door with 3 children in tow.

At first it looked like he might have had to have a minor op to sort it out, but after some cleaning and checking (not to mention he was only a couple of hours from having eaten his breakfast) she said it was through the fat but not any deeper, so felt it was ok to clean and staple it instead.

His reputation is starting to precede him at the vets, he's had more injuries in the 8 months we've had him than Lurcherboy has in 8 years.

Bless him, he was so well behaved and just stood quietly while she treated him. Didn't make a peep at the staples, but squealed when he had the antibiotic injection!

He would pick a day when my husband is away on business, both sets of Grandparents are away on holiday and I have absolutely no-one to give me a lift in an emergency (I'm not allowed to drive for health reasons - hopefully will be able to again soon). Also chose one of the most expensive months of the year for us and as usual the treatment came in at just a touch under the excess for his insurance.

So, I have just handed over my Christmas money (that I'd been saving in an envelope to spend on myself - something I never do) to the vets - and of course it came to just under the excess for his insurance - again.

Noooo moose - not again!!! Pip definitely wins the doghouse award for most accident-prone pup .

I know, honestly, it's getting beyond a joke, hopeless hound. I was telling the vet earlier that if he insists on keeping this up I'm either wrapping him in bubble wrap or investing in a full suit of body armour for him!

He's now sporting a rather fetching surfy VW tshirt, courtesy of ds2 and is none too pleased about it, but it's keeping him away from the staples and keeping the wound clean so he'll just have to cope.

He's been very subdued and slept all afternoon - just woken up 4 hours late for his meal and is staring intently at his feeder, then at me - so at least he hasn't lost his appetite, as he hasn't a spare ounce to lose weight-wise.

Big hug for Pip although a bit loathe to as he might get injured by it We're giving lots of attention to a slightly bewildered Finn as he's off for the snip tomorrow.

Good luck to Finn for tomorrow - not that he'll need it. He'll probably be fine - but you'll be on pins all day.

Here's Pip sporting the latest in injured pup designer wear! (Please excuse the mess in my living room. )

Just dropped Finn off at the vets, the nurse commented on what good condition he is in and how calm he is especially for a Border Collie. I was ridiculously proud of him.