ruffmuttk9z
New Member
Well, I figured if I'm going to stick around for a while I ought to properly introduce myself and my pack of dogs.
My name is Debbie and I live in the DFW area of TX. I have 10 dogs of my own, mostly border collies, all rescues. Here are a couple of photos of them. Here is an entertaining video of all 10 dogs plus a foster dog.
I train all of my dogs solely on my own. We compete in agility, dock diving and frisbee. We used to do flyball but found the politics too much to handle and left the sport just under a year ago. The dogs are also trained to pull and have sledding harnesses for pulling me around on a scooter. We go hiking almost every weekend on trails with creeks, or we go to the lake. They sleep in my bed at night. I also run a border collie rescue. I have rescued, rehabilitated and rehomed over 130 dogs in the past two years, solely on my own out of my own home.
I got my first dog, Rascal (~5yr old JRT/Pointer), on Valentine's Day of 2004 as a ~9wk old puppy. She came from the Mesquite animal shelter and came down with Parvo 4 days after I brought her home. She survived only to be told she had a heart murmur and she'd never be a sport dog (I wanted to do Flyball). I did it anyway with her and she did fine and has been fine ever since. She is the most athletic dog in my pack and also the smartest (sorry BCs). Rascal also plays frisbee and has lots of cool tricks. She also likes to brag that she is the only dog that never has to stay in a crate.
Through flyball I was introduced to border collies and the rest is history. I got my first BC, SoBe, as a 3yr old from the OKC animal shelter in Sept 2004. He was terrified of the world but is a completely different dog now. He has learned flyball and competes in dock diving and agility, and dabbles in some frisbee. SoBe just celebrated his 7th birthday. You can see his birthday video here.
The third dog, a 9mo old BC/ACD mix named Mojo, joined the pack in Jan 2005 from the Norman, OK animal shelter. Mojo was crazy from Day 1. He loves any toy and will tug your arm off. He came to be pretty easily recognized in the flyball lanes as his fastest times are in the low 3.7s range. We quit flyball almost a year ago though so he has resorted to catching frisbees and pestering the other dogs. Mojo is 4.5yrs now and leader of the pack (behind me of course). Around Christmas time Mojo was bitten by a brown recluse spider. Just ask if you want to see pictures of that!
Tally, a 3yr old BC joined the pack in April of 2005. She was just starting flyball in Feb of 2006 when a collision with little Rascal (just playing ball, no foul play) left her with a broken front leg. She had surgery to repair the leg and spent several weeks in a split and several more weeks in rehab. She has made a complete recovery and will always have a very expensive screw holding her right front leg together. She came back to flyball better than she left. Tally also likes to catch frisbees but is far too dignified to learn any tricks whatsoever. She will be 6 in the Spring.
Rumor, a really messed up BC/Sheltie mixed joined the pack at 4mos old from another rescue group in June of 2006. From Day 1 this pup was a mess. She had severe separation anxiety and peed and pooped in her crate daily. She made a mess out of it too. She would escape and expen and destroy my house. She bent metal crates and practically scratched holes in plastic ones. This went on until she was over a year old and now finally at 2.5yrs she is halfway normal. She is off of meds completely (was on Clomicalm for a long time) and can even stay out of her crate without redecorating most of the time now. But, her hips and knees are bad and she has no idea what is going on, ever. She lives in this paranoid state of happiness and anxiety. She is one in a million for sure. She was a mess right out of the birth canal but she sure is cute!
Dizzy was the 6th dog, a BC, and she joined us at 2.5yrs old in Oct of 2006. She was a private rehome because 'we had a baby.' Dizzy is my do-it-all dog. She picked up flyball in about 2 days, does some pretty impressive freestyle frisbee moves and is my current agility dog.
Tank, BC, joined the gang in Feb of 2007 at just 5 weeks old. He was part of a litter I rescued from the Balch Springs animal shelter. There were 3 left when I got there and they had nasty skin infections and were just in bad shape. A few days later one of the pups got very sick and ended up dying. Distemper was the diagnosis. Tank and his brother Tex survived and seem to have no ill-effects but there were many sleepless nights involved in pulling those two through. Tank is a frisbee-a-holic and he also has a love affair with any ball he can find. Tank is my #1 scooter-pulling dog. He was born to pull and he just loves doing it! He is 1.5yrs old now. Since it's obvious my pack is accident prone I will add that
Tank was bitten by a water moccasin a couple of months ago.
Stella, my first red BC, joined the gang in Aug 07 at 9wks old. She was listed as free on Craigslist due to being the runt of the litter. WTF?! Anyway, she is a cool little dog that came to me with a load of problems. Shortly after I got her she came down with kennel cough which progressed to pneumonia. She was sick for 3 mos and had to take some pretty nasty meds to finally get her well. Shortly after she began having seizures. Funky seizures. Not grand mals but definitelty seizures. She was alert and competent but could not move her limbs, her eyes would dart back and forth and she'd fall over. But she WANTED to go play. She never loses her bladder or bowels and it takes her about 24 hours to regain total use of her legs and body. It's so strange. She was on Phenobarb for a few mos but I hated how it made her so ataxic so I took her off of it. She's only had one incicent since then
which was 3 months ago. Ever since her seizures her back legs are weird. They are very wide and bow-legged and she walks funny. She gets around fine, can run, keep up, etc, but she just walks funny. She has also been plagued with urinary tract infections. Anyway, she's in beginner's agility but is having issues with the dogwalk due to her funky back legs so may not continue much longer. Poor kid. She LURVES toys, especially frisbees but rarely catches them due to incoordination. Stella is about 14mos old now.
Secret, my heart dog, joined us in March of this year. She was the first of my true foster failures as I actually put her up for adoption before deciding she'd found her home. She is a cute little red-tri mini aussie (I think). She is friendly as all get-out and squeals with delight at the sight of any people. She smiles! She's just beside herself if people don't pet her. She doesn't care for toys but will work for food all day long. She is training in agility. She is 9mos old and the keeper of my heart. Crazy little dog.
Fury, a BC pup, joined us in May of this year at 8wks old, an owner surrender after she'd been adopted from a shelter. It was WAY too soon for another puppy but sometimes our hearts make irrational decisions and Fury was too good to pass up so she stayed with us. From the description the woman that surrendered her gave me, I believe Fury survived Parvo before she came to me (she'd had her 4wks--can you believe she was just 4wks old in the shelter w/her whole litter). She also survived sarcoptic mange at 8wks old followed by a violent case of coccidia. All before she was only 2mos old. But this pup has a strong will and is healthy and happy now at 7mos old. She is a little fireball! She lives for the frisbee and is also in her second pre-agility class. I have high hopes for this little pupper!
I guess that's about it (finally)!!
My name is Debbie and I live in the DFW area of TX. I have 10 dogs of my own, mostly border collies, all rescues. Here are a couple of photos of them. Here is an entertaining video of all 10 dogs plus a foster dog.
I train all of my dogs solely on my own. We compete in agility, dock diving and frisbee. We used to do flyball but found the politics too much to handle and left the sport just under a year ago. The dogs are also trained to pull and have sledding harnesses for pulling me around on a scooter. We go hiking almost every weekend on trails with creeks, or we go to the lake. They sleep in my bed at night. I also run a border collie rescue. I have rescued, rehabilitated and rehomed over 130 dogs in the past two years, solely on my own out of my own home.
I got my first dog, Rascal (~5yr old JRT/Pointer), on Valentine's Day of 2004 as a ~9wk old puppy. She came from the Mesquite animal shelter and came down with Parvo 4 days after I brought her home. She survived only to be told she had a heart murmur and she'd never be a sport dog (I wanted to do Flyball). I did it anyway with her and she did fine and has been fine ever since. She is the most athletic dog in my pack and also the smartest (sorry BCs). Rascal also plays frisbee and has lots of cool tricks. She also likes to brag that she is the only dog that never has to stay in a crate.
Through flyball I was introduced to border collies and the rest is history. I got my first BC, SoBe, as a 3yr old from the OKC animal shelter in Sept 2004. He was terrified of the world but is a completely different dog now. He has learned flyball and competes in dock diving and agility, and dabbles in some frisbee. SoBe just celebrated his 7th birthday. You can see his birthday video here.
The third dog, a 9mo old BC/ACD mix named Mojo, joined the pack in Jan 2005 from the Norman, OK animal shelter. Mojo was crazy from Day 1. He loves any toy and will tug your arm off. He came to be pretty easily recognized in the flyball lanes as his fastest times are in the low 3.7s range. We quit flyball almost a year ago though so he has resorted to catching frisbees and pestering the other dogs. Mojo is 4.5yrs now and leader of the pack (behind me of course). Around Christmas time Mojo was bitten by a brown recluse spider. Just ask if you want to see pictures of that!
Tally, a 3yr old BC joined the pack in April of 2005. She was just starting flyball in Feb of 2006 when a collision with little Rascal (just playing ball, no foul play) left her with a broken front leg. She had surgery to repair the leg and spent several weeks in a split and several more weeks in rehab. She has made a complete recovery and will always have a very expensive screw holding her right front leg together. She came back to flyball better than she left. Tally also likes to catch frisbees but is far too dignified to learn any tricks whatsoever. She will be 6 in the Spring.
Rumor, a really messed up BC/Sheltie mixed joined the pack at 4mos old from another rescue group in June of 2006. From Day 1 this pup was a mess. She had severe separation anxiety and peed and pooped in her crate daily. She made a mess out of it too. She would escape and expen and destroy my house. She bent metal crates and practically scratched holes in plastic ones. This went on until she was over a year old and now finally at 2.5yrs she is halfway normal. She is off of meds completely (was on Clomicalm for a long time) and can even stay out of her crate without redecorating most of the time now. But, her hips and knees are bad and she has no idea what is going on, ever. She lives in this paranoid state of happiness and anxiety. She is one in a million for sure. She was a mess right out of the birth canal but she sure is cute!
Dizzy was the 6th dog, a BC, and she joined us at 2.5yrs old in Oct of 2006. She was a private rehome because 'we had a baby.' Dizzy is my do-it-all dog. She picked up flyball in about 2 days, does some pretty impressive freestyle frisbee moves and is my current agility dog.
Tank, BC, joined the gang in Feb of 2007 at just 5 weeks old. He was part of a litter I rescued from the Balch Springs animal shelter. There were 3 left when I got there and they had nasty skin infections and were just in bad shape. A few days later one of the pups got very sick and ended up dying. Distemper was the diagnosis. Tank and his brother Tex survived and seem to have no ill-effects but there were many sleepless nights involved in pulling those two through. Tank is a frisbee-a-holic and he also has a love affair with any ball he can find. Tank is my #1 scooter-pulling dog. He was born to pull and he just loves doing it! He is 1.5yrs old now. Since it's obvious my pack is accident prone I will add that
Tank was bitten by a water moccasin a couple of months ago.
Stella, my first red BC, joined the gang in Aug 07 at 9wks old. She was listed as free on Craigslist due to being the runt of the litter. WTF?! Anyway, she is a cool little dog that came to me with a load of problems. Shortly after I got her she came down with kennel cough which progressed to pneumonia. She was sick for 3 mos and had to take some pretty nasty meds to finally get her well. Shortly after she began having seizures. Funky seizures. Not grand mals but definitelty seizures. She was alert and competent but could not move her limbs, her eyes would dart back and forth and she'd fall over. But she WANTED to go play. She never loses her bladder or bowels and it takes her about 24 hours to regain total use of her legs and body. It's so strange. She was on Phenobarb for a few mos but I hated how it made her so ataxic so I took her off of it. She's only had one incicent since then
which was 3 months ago. Ever since her seizures her back legs are weird. They are very wide and bow-legged and she walks funny. She gets around fine, can run, keep up, etc, but she just walks funny. She has also been plagued with urinary tract infections. Anyway, she's in beginner's agility but is having issues with the dogwalk due to her funky back legs so may not continue much longer. Poor kid. She LURVES toys, especially frisbees but rarely catches them due to incoordination. Stella is about 14mos old now.
Secret, my heart dog, joined us in March of this year. She was the first of my true foster failures as I actually put her up for adoption before deciding she'd found her home. She is a cute little red-tri mini aussie (I think). She is friendly as all get-out and squeals with delight at the sight of any people. She smiles! She's just beside herself if people don't pet her. She doesn't care for toys but will work for food all day long. She is training in agility. She is 9mos old and the keeper of my heart. Crazy little dog.
Fury, a BC pup, joined us in May of this year at 8wks old, an owner surrender after she'd been adopted from a shelter. It was WAY too soon for another puppy but sometimes our hearts make irrational decisions and Fury was too good to pass up so she stayed with us. From the description the woman that surrendered her gave me, I believe Fury survived Parvo before she came to me (she'd had her 4wks--can you believe she was just 4wks old in the shelter w/her whole litter). She also survived sarcoptic mange at 8wks old followed by a violent case of coccidia. All before she was only 2mos old. But this pup has a strong will and is healthy and happy now at 7mos old. She is a little fireball! She lives for the frisbee and is also in her second pre-agility class. I have high hopes for this little pupper!
I guess that's about it (finally)!!