The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Dogs => Topic started by: plumseverywhere on January 29, 2013, 05:31:48 pm
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Our murph is nearly 6 months now and we have news on his parenting which has made my day! Dad is a border collie from nearby farm (not samoyed as was initially thought) and mum is a JR/yorkie cross. So he is a real mishmash but I can at least look towards certain traits and I believe my understanding of his parenting will make me a better owner (I hope!)
He is so eager to please, returning now from distances when I call him back - even when he has the scent of something he will come when called. He comes along for school run and apart from when other puppies are there, is calm and very well mannered on the lead.
Toilet training we've mastered (touch wood). No accidents in the house for nearly 2 weeks _ I know, don't count my chickens ;)
Good citizen training classes start Feb. Neutering and chipping Feb 8th.
cat is settled with him but is still the boss ...he has also learnt to respect and not chase the chickens, although he does stare them down ;) - will never leave him unsupervised though.
Sheep and goats are used to him and still have the bossy ewe put him in his place but I've set up a safe place (hurdles that only he can get into) and if I say "in your box" he runs in out of harms way. He stalks and stares and has herded them once :innocent:
All in all - perfect family dog that also fits into our little smallholding brilliantly. Oh and he chases rats... :excited:
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Well done you and well done Murphy. :thumbsup:
Could do with some piccies though :eyelashes:
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Not sure if this one is working...
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and another...
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:roflanim: It's working Plums.
Just shown my daughter and asked her what kind of dog do you think this is. Straight away she said a collie :o .... no hesitation. How about that????? Told her that his dad is one and she says he looks just like one too.
He is really cute.
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I've been arguing that he's a collie since we had him. The lady (a friend) we bought him from, was convinced that her Sammy was the dad but now even she agrees a neighbouring collie boy got in there first ;) Just to see him with the sheep and his version of 'the eye' and I have a feeling he really is BC and that this outweighs even his terrier traits! Love him to bits, he's so good with the children. Looking forward to him getting a little more lax on the lead though, my shoulder hurts!!
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He is growing up fast. Sounds like a super dog to have around :love:
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You are all doing so well with him, :excited: we watched a programme about some very rich people who lost it in the end but, there dogs pooooooed every where....all dogs can have a mistake, after all if we need to go we can get up and let ourself to the toilet, dogs usualy cannot....when we had the last litter it was warm and they could get in and out thier puppy room and none pooped in thier room, all went outside, it was so cute.........before you know it he will be dancing on BGT :innocent: :innocent:
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He's lovely and it sounds as though he's settling in brilliantly. :thumbsup:
Your shoulder shouldn't hurt, though, because you . ARE . NOT . LETTING . HIM . PULL . ON . THE . LEAD . ARE . YOU?! NOT . AT . ALL ., EVER. >:(
Seriously, they will very quickly develop a habit of leaning on the lead - so if he's pulling, you simply stop. You move forwards only when the lead has some slack in it. He's half collie, he'll learn really quickly IFFF you are totally consistent ;)
But if that's your only real problem, you are doing a great job with a lovely pup ;D :thumbsup: :love: :dog: :bouquet:
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Well he is just gorrrrrrrrrrrrrgeous :love: . Sounds like you are doing a brilliant job with the training despite an achey shoulder ;)
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;D no you are right Sally - never let him pull :innocent: seriously though, I must be sticking at sorting this out and as of today, I will try harder. I've been stopping. Turning around. Trying to hold his attention etc. And if I talk to him, he walks beautifully looking up at me all the while but its on the way to school to collect the children. He pulls ahead, panting like a mad thing to get to them.
we also need to work on his knicker obsession. Won't be long before he delivers a pair to me when I have company round or something ::)
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He sounds like he's doing brilliantly and you've done so well with him :thumbsup: Lol on the knickers obsession :roflanim: Yes, good plan to work on his pulling as it's a pain (metaphorically and literally) to have a dog that does, but otherwise I'm very impressed with what you've achieved with him :thumbsup:
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The knicker thing is weird. Its like he's trying to get the full collection as he'll find a pair of mine, one of hubby's (pants not knickers in that case!) then one each for the kids. He puts them in a pile where he can keep an eye on them ::)
When Scarlett, the youngest, was poorly he sat with his head on her bed just watching her sleep. He's only a puppy still but is acting like a wise old man at times!
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Plums, he sounds just gorgeous :thumbsup: I love the pic with his specs on. He looks very intelligent. As for knickers and pants there is nothing my Archie likes better as well, with the odd sock thrown in too ;D
The Good Citizenship class should be able to help with pulling on the lead if you haven't mastered it by then.
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Plums, Alf, now 7 yrs old, can heel off lead but still has a tendency to pull when he is on lead and is somewhere exciting :excited: . If I carry a walking stick, he associates this with gundog training, he then heels properly. ::) Obviously a fault in MY training and not HIS fault.
I think it is so much harder when your dog is a family pet. Quite rightly your attention on the school run and other outings has to be split between dog and children. Alf will "take advantage" and knows full well when I can't give him my full attention and insist upon totally good behaviour from him. Also, when I am firm with him if we have visitors, he does a defiant, submission thing and lies down pitifully as though he is a really poor soul .... his method for getting away with whatever he is doing. ::) ;D
SITN recommended "Understanding BC" by B. Sykes to me. There is a section in their on heel work. You would have to do the exercise at a time when it was just you and Murphy and if I read it correctly he will need to be quite good at sit and stay before you begin. You set off, when dog gets in front he is told to sit and stay, you walk on and he is given command to join you. Repeat constantly. Book has illustrations which make it clearer. I am going to give the method a go. Every little helps. It says that at first you don't walk far :roflanim: but they soon get the idea.
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Thanks In the Hills - I have that book by my bed as I picked it up from Amazon when I was considering buying a BC. I shall study the section you mention later! We've just spent a lovely hour in the field enjoying the sunshine and wind (!) and soon as I found a log to sit on to enjoy the view, Murphy is laid at my feet gazing up, very cute.
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Arhhh, its always hard to start but persistence pays off, I find it very funny that our oldest Lab never ever pulled and neither does her daughter but Rhum the Chocolate does not pull more like get glued to a place or slowly tries to get ahead so we have to occasionally check her...but do pursue it as its not good to have a pulling dog..unless you have a sledge!!!!
Our washing machine is in the garage were I feed the dogs, ROhan my yellow lab is very quick to steal any sock, pants or tee shirt so I have to keep an eye on that as that's her thing!!!
If I did not have my dogs I would be fatter (yes) and not so happy as they bring me more than any money could! xxx
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And now we have bottom nipping and a Murphy who wants to round the children up...Thank goodness for Barbara sykes book! this dog is definitely more collie than terrier!!
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But hopefully he has inherited the terrier lack of shedding his coat everywhere. Sounds like a great dog to have.
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When we were kids we lived on the coast. Whenever we were walking on the beach, the two collies would circle round and round us, especially if some speeded ahead and others lagged behind - not tidy ;)
As far as bottom nipping goes, if the victim turns and shouts 'no' in his face, he will learn not to do it. The other thing the older ones can do is accompany the 'no' with a nip of his ear, like his mum would have done.
Oops, edited to remove ipad typo 'improvements!'
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But hopefully he has inherited the terrier lack of shedding his coat everywhere. Sounds like a great dog to have.
I wish! Tony and I were only discussing last night how much black hair there suddenly is EVERYWHERE!! is that a collie trait?
As far as bottom nipping goes, if the victim turns and shouts 'no' in his face, he will learn not to do it. The other thing the older ones can do is accompany the 'no' with a nip of his ear, like his mum would have done.
will try this today...need to tell all the children what we need to do, lots of 'no' and yelps for a while. When its just Tony and I (or even just us and the eldest) Murphy is so quiet, just follows us, lies at our feet - we forget we have him! but add the 8 and 6 yr old to the equation and we have chaos. I've been putting him in his quiet place to calm down when he starts getting nippy and yappy, not sure if that is the right thing but its like he feeds off of their energy and vice versa.
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Its like any human, if you are around excitable people you become agitated or heightened and visa versa, around depressed people, you too can feel depressed.
We had a lovely Rottweiler cross and he would get over excited if children ran etc but he never growled or nipped as I was doing Foster Care, I just made sure he was not off lead around screaming running children...they do have a bad press but bless him, he was a lovely dog.
Its best to keep the atmosphere calm around him, when people take their dogs to agility or competitive running type trials, they do wind the dog up to get them going full pelt and often they will nip in excitement. At Murphy's stage in development.....I would play that excitement down.
Strangely my daughter had a busy and very noisy excitable household and had terriers and a lurcher but they were fairly calm, I suppose if its around them all the time they get used to it........!!
Now I am confused myself...my stupid Gemini traits :innocent:
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;D we'll see how he progresses - think he'll do well at agility, the classes i'm hoping to take him too (when their land has dried out!!) also run agility lessons. Be good for him to have something to really get into.
Right now he is asleep on my feet, soon as I get up to go out he'll be by my side. He sits in the car happily - he's perfect just a few tiny things to work on. Keep forgetting he's only 6 months old as he's so mellow and easy to train!
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and here he is circling the sheep and keeping them in one place (!)
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:thumbsup:
Yeh, second the "keep things calm around him', lots of dogs, especially youngsters, will get hyper and nippy if all around is hyper. I think you've got good instincts re putting him in a quiet place and him feeding off the general energetic mayhem :thumbsup:
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I'm enjoying reading about Murphy's progress :D
My instinct was to put the younger kids in a quiet place - but then I've always had dogs and never had kigs ;) :roflanim:
It's pretty common and not specific to collies that the pup relates to the younger children in the family as he would his siblings - and puppies play rough, fighting, nipping games with each other. In my experience it is best that he not think the kids are his siblings, rather that he knows he is bottom of the heap and has to do what everyone tells him. Which can be hard to achieve because of course the kids love to play and rough-house with him...
You'll have read it already, I'm sure, but now the relationship with between the children and the pup has reached that stage, read again the section at the end of the Barbara Sykes' book, "Kids, Collies and Misunderstandings." She makes it pretty clear and puts it much more eloquently than I ever could.
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Well he's certainly calmer at the moment - he's been to the vet for 'that' visit and is currently sporting a lampshade on his head. He has adapted to it quite well but spacial awareness is lacking and he's pretty much removed my knee caps and throws the kids over regularly. great fun
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Poor Murphy :D He'll be back to normal in no time and a much happier dog lacking the frustration some entire dogs have. No health worries as he ages either with prostate problems and other hormone induced problems. :thumbsup:
Those collars should come with a hazard warning :D Did he just get 'done' today?
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He was 'done' Friday Mummyshaz, in my (daft) wisdom I thought that being done on the friday would mean we could watch him over the weekend but what it actually meant was there is an extra 5 pairs of shins and kneecaps to be whacked into what with everyone being off of school/work!!
He's struggling to drink and I've tried all sort of bowls so he can get his lid over them but hes freaked out by it! I take it offperiodically for him to eat and drink now. He's being checked over on monday (tomorrow). He's still found a way to lick his wound dressing with the lid on!!
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He can get infection by licking the site and the healing process will be slowed which will mean longer with the hood :o Choose a pair of old shorts from one of your girls and cut a hole for the tail. Keep them on around the house but remember to take them off for outside otherwise he'll wee his pants ;D and his street cred will be straight out of the window if he sees another dog :roflanim:
You can also add some cardboard to the collar m to lengthen it to stop him getting past it.
It's a pain I know but only for a week or so if you can stop him getting at it.
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Plums, when Archie was 'done' he wore a lampshade too but still managed to lick the important area. I watched him as much as I could but you can't keep your eyes on them the whole time.
When he went back to get the stitches taken out he had already done it himself :roflanim: Luckily he didn't seem to have done any harm though.
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Really?? oh no!! glad no harm done though. The hardest part was keeping him less active than normal, he's still meant to be on lead walks only and this is a dog that has to run and run and run..........
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'Lead walks only' - oh, I remember that, with an active dog! ::) You'll have to tire him mentally, since you can't physically - show him lots of new things, do lots of little training exercises - he'll love it, and it'll tire him nearly as well as running about.
When I had my JD in the same situation, it was late summer and the blackberries were out. I showed him how to pick blackberries and we sauntered along the hedgerows, picking and munching the blackberries as we went. :innocent: When he was back to fully fit, he showed the other dogs the trick, so then we'd be all 5 of us grazing the hedgerows on walks! :D
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:roflanim: I pick berries too but my dogs watch my every move and often pick where I am picking, especaily when it comes to billberries......I have a good rucksack with a little stool, so I can sit and pick while they roam around picking, its funny.......I noticed one of the people that ownes one of our pups, has a tread mill.......that sounds something that could be used too!
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How did murphy's check up go, Plums?
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Not too bad....but they've given him an even larger lampshade, Mummyshaz!!! aaaaaaaaagh! he has managed to remove one suture but the wound is still in tact, they gave him a shot of antibiotics and he's got to go back again tomorrow!
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:o oh the little €~>%€$ :roflanim: It is so difficult keeping clever dogs off those stitches. Get those shorts on him ;D ( yes, really ).
If you have a large kong, keep him occupied by smearing soft cheese inside with some of his dry food. it works wonders to keep confined dogs using their brain. There are also treat balls where the dog works to get the food out. Well worth getting one as there may be other times when mental stimulation is better than a good run. It does tire them just as much :thumbsup:
After thinking about Murphy I took the plunge and got our cat, Frodo, castrated yesterday ;D He is just ignoring the fact he has nothing there now despite the two dogs turning him upwards for a look as if to keep pointing out to him they are missing :roflanim:
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When we had a small dog, he was done and that was OK but he kept trying to bonk my daughters Bedlington so I put some kids pull ups on him......mind you, sometimes his little male bit popped out!!!
Can you put an all in one baby thing on him? I put pants on females in season before!!!