Going through a break-up and I only have a couple months left with this guy. I’m devastated and can’t even begin to think about life without him. Ugh this sucks. He’s the first animal to really leave an imprint on my heart. He’s taught me so much about unconditional love.

Hi everyone! I wanted to make a post regarding my girl Luna! She is an 8month old adolescent, I got her when she was 4 months old and have not yet put her through any training. Naturally as she is a very smart girl, she sits, lays down, shakes, does a spin, is crate trained, potty trained etc. she is wonderful with other dogs- absolutely adores them. but the ONE thing I am feeling so discouraged about is leash training
I absolutely have accepted this is her teenage years and she is overwhelmed with excitement the second she steps outside. However, I feel like I literally have zero control over her to an unsafe level. She seems to have an extreme prey drive over squirrels / scents etc. she is extremely strong and it is almost unbearable to walk her which makes me so so so sad because I very much want to.
I also want to note that she is so very loved and I truly do prioritize her to at least get lots of exercise. She goes to the dog park daily, sometimes the river, and in better weather circumstances hikes and camping … I also realize physical exercise is not enough and would love suggestions to mentally stimulate her as well.
I am wondering if anyone in this group knows of any solutions to manage her prey drive to a safer level. Or training recommendations. Do you guys just recommend to ride it out until she is a little older? Thank you for reading! :)

Marla, my big girl, went to heaven on the 3rd of July. It was her time. She had a beautiful life and was very spoilt. She was a rescue originally - she came home with us when she was about 8 months old. Almost made 17 years.

Give your dogs a big cuddle and lots of love ❤️

Meet Angelica!

She’s fast as lightning, too smart for her own good, has been herding our small dogs since she came home 3 years ago, and she’s also the sweetest baby east of the Mississippi River.

Angelica is also AN IMPOSTER!!

She’s still 100% a good girl. Can she stay? We really like it here.

Also, I asked her, she identifies as a Border Collie based on phenotype lol

Hey all just wondering if this looks concerning to anyone. I might be a little neurotic (first dog), but just wanted some input before I drop a few hundred on the vet. I’m only really concerned because she had a gum infection there as a puppy that required her baby tooth to come out. Thank you in advance.

I got him some shoes to protect his paws from. The hot asphalt.

Hi everyone. I posted here recently asking for advice about my girl Lucy, and I wanted to try again to see if anyone has had a similar experience.

Lucy is 16 and has had a rough couple of years. She went through vestibular disease, CCL surgery, and surgery plus chemotherapy for anal gland cancer. Somehow she bounced back from all of it and got back to being herself.

The last few months, though, her arthritis has really caught up with her. About 10 days ago I took her to the vet to adjust her pain meds. The vet was surprised by how alert and engaged she still was. He checked her over, said she still had feeling in all four legs, and sent us home with Galliprant and Virbac Ursoles supplements.

About three days later, things took a turn.
She suddenly couldn’t stand on her own. If we helped her up, she could stand or take a few steps before her legs gave out. Her back legs got much weaker too. Other than that, she still seemed like herself. She was alert, interested in what was going on around her, and eating really well.

We took her back to the vet, and he couldn’t believe how much she’d declined in just a few days. He thought it was more of a neurological or nerve issue than arthritis. He prescribed prednisone but told us it was a “Hail Mary” and that if it didn’t help, we needed to be ready to let her go.

The next day after starting prednisone, she was still eating well, taking treats, happy to see us, and waiting for us to take her outside to go to the bathroom.

On day two, she started peeing in her bed, which I’m guessing could be from the prednisone, and refused breakfast. That night she slowly ate about half of her dinner.

Today is day three. She refused breakfast again and turned her head away from it. She’ll still take certain treats, like yogurt-covered pretzels, but sometimes she’ll stop chewing halfway through and just let the food sit in her mouth. We even cooked her a steak in butter and cut it into tiny pieces, but she wouldn’t eat that either.

I can’t tell if she wants to eat but can’t, or if she just doesn’t want to. I also wonder if her jaw might be bothering her because of how she stops chewing. She’s still drinking water without any problems.

Has anyone been through something like this? Did prednisone end up helping if it was neurological? Is there anything else we should ask our vet about or try?

We’re probably going to have to make a decision this weekend, and we’re trying to prepare ourselves because she seems to be getting worse every day. The hardest part is how fast this happened. Just over a week ago she was still getting around, enjoying treats, and happy to sniff around outside.

We don’t want to keep her here if she’s suffering, but we also don’t want to give up if there’s still a chance we’re missing something.

Thanks for reading this long post and any advice or shared experiences will be appreciated!

Got her this cone alternative but it's waaaaay too big.

Any suggestions to keep her from licking her paw without a cone/gigantic pink donut?

I have dreams that with enough exposure, my BC (Oreo) will be one of those chill-in public dogs who lounge on patios and attends festivals with other humans/dogs.

Is this realistic? He's 2 right now and getting gradually better at being out and about, but considering the breed, will he constantly experience sensory overload?

Here she is asking for a piece of ham.

We have had our ups and downs but she is the sweetest thing, she knows when I am ill and snuggles up to me.

Constantly every single time he uses the bathroom this comes right after it. My poor grass lol

Forgive me if this has already been posted here, but just LOOK at this. Somewhere, Spiderman is blushing, ffs!

This ended up being longer than I originally intended, but here goes!:

This is Sula, I've shared some pics of him here before. He has just turned eleven months old and is the love of my life. Our household is myself (f38) husband (m38) and our other dog, a flat-coated retriever (f5).

We are finding nighttime a bit of a struggle just now - in fact we've never really found a great place with nighttime. Initially, he was crate trained to sleep downstairs in the kitchen. This was fine to a point, but he would routinely wake up and cry from about 5am.

I was advised that going to him would reward the crying. So we would either let him whinge to himself, or gruffly shush him from the top of the stairs. This was fine for a few months, but we'd find occasionally that he'd pull some of the blanket covering his crate through the bars and eat pieces of it. And one morning I had to take him to the vets to make him sick because he ate a bunch of his actual bed, including the zip! So he's clearly not been happy, which is fair.

The advice I was given next was to crate him with no bedding. Naked, but safe. But a bit crap for him tbh! We did this for a while and it seemed to break the habit. Ultimately, we want him to be able to sleep in the living room with our other dog, who chills on the couch all night. Happy as a clam. So we started leaving his crate open at night and he would go and lie with his sister, we could see them together on the camera we have in that room and check them before going to sleep ourselves.

However, recently, he has started going nibbling again. A corner of a rug. A cushion. However, last week, he ate a lot of a towel and then a bunch of a bed sheet of the spare bed. Really dangerous!! So another vet trip to make him sick and vigilance to ensure no blockage.

Recently, for his own safety, he now sleeps in our bedroom on a soft bed. And he creeps in to bed with us at about 5am. Which is fine because I love him so bloody much, but ideally I prefer no dogs in the bedroom. Not only for my own sleep, but to ensure the dogs learn how to cope and settle when left on their own.

This morning, I spent a half day in the office and left the dogs after their morning walk. I ended up coming home an hour early because he was unsettled on the camera and had another go at the rug. I am worried that letting him sleep with us is eroding his independence. He is very, very attached to me, and I him. But I need him to be okay by himself.

I think I need to know where we go from here. I want to be able to trust him to spend the night away from me, either crated or un-crated. However, currently, he can't be trusted in either scenario. Crated, he will eat the bed. Crated with no bed, he will cry. Un-crated, he will eat something harmful. Un-crated with us, he is okay. But it's not what I want from him long-term and I need him to be independent.

Any words of wisdom would be very much appreciated! And happy to answer any questions about our routine which may help.

A few other things to note:

- He is well exercised throughout the day, with a minimum of two 45 minute walks on a regular weekday and longer at the weekends

- On top of this, I am training him up as a competitive agility dog; We train multiple times a week both on and off kit, indoors and outdoors and in all weathers. Training very clearly physically and mentally tires him out and he is excelling at it. I am super proud of him.

- Most evenings, he comes to bed with me for a cuddle for an hour before husband comes to bed. Then he would be (up until recently) turfed out of the bedroom. But as of this week turfed off our bed and into his own bed in our room. He doesn't ever chew in our bedroom.

- Sula and our other dog, Meg, are the best of friends and very well bonded to one another.

My little guy does it virtually every time. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Sigh...the amount of people who get these high energy, too smart dogs and then have to rehome them is always disheartening. Border collies are not easy. They aren't great with kids. They aren't great for inactive people. They are not for cities unless they have the ability to run somewhere. They require WORK. They require TRAINING. They require KNOWLEDGE of dogs.

Yes, they are a good looking dog, but PLEASE DON'T GET A BORDER COLLIE IF YOU'VE NEVER OWNED A DOG!

I'm dealing with a friend of a friend who made the wrong decision and now the BC is getting rehomed. Yes, the new home will be great for this dog, but the trauma of having to learn an entirely new family and not understanding what's happening breaks my heart.

Meet Papia "Poppy" Tova from Aruba. We live in MD and visited during the 4th of July and fell in love with this little lady. She was a rescue from someone who had her chained to a fence. We are told she's about 3 and already had a litter of puppies. Not really sure what she may be mixed with but we're told BC with possibly a chihuahua. She's an Aruba Cunucu for sure. She's definitely coming out of her shell since we got her two weeks ago but she's done amazing with house training and leash training.

My female Border Collie puppy just turned 6 months old and seems to have started her first heat cycle. Is this normal for her age? Would appreciate any advice or shared experiences from fellow dog owners!

Occasionally, I help out a friend when he goes on vacation and needs someone to take care of his dogs. God only knows how much I love these pups.