Border collie Jack passed away on February 28, 2022

[Roxee'sDad]

Re: Jack - new to my house

Hi Natalie,
Just wanted to drop by and let you know we are keeping positive thoughts and prayers for you and Jack. Hope it isn't anything serious.

I've really enjoyed your story on Jack at least until the latest "on no" news. Hope it works out.

By the way, what are JRT's? Maybe Jack Russell Terriers?

All our best to you.
John (Roxee's Dad)

[ladysmom06]

Re: Jack - new to my house

Hi John,

By the way, what are JRT's? Maybe Jack Russell Terriers?

Yes, they are Jack Russell Terriers.

[ladysmom06]

Re: Jack - new to my house

Hi Nat,

Interestingly, our behaviorist, Sophia Yin, has an Australian cattle dog and... a JRT named Jonesy who she says is the most difficult dog she's ever trained! Met him at class the other day - he was boinging up and down for a squeeky toy, rising at least four feet, almost five feet of vertical lift!

Lady use to do the boinging thing before she got sick. She could go pretty high too.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Jack - new to my house

I've been doing some searching as I had read that hyperthermia is a somewhat common problem in border collies... There is a syndrome called Exercise Induced Hyperthermia where in just minutes the body can actually overheat. If you measure their body temperature, it will be very high even though they haven't exercised much.

http://195.184.239.210/health/exerci...erthermia.html

http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/i...ic=21143&st=20

It is good to know, even if it might be hard for Jack given the climate, that heat intolerance seems to be a pretty common thing in border collies. It may be that we will just have to pace him some this summer and give him frequent breaks where he relaxes...

[eyelostit]

Re: Jack - new to my house

I've been doing some searching as I had read that hyperthermia is a somewhat common problem in border collies... There is a syndrome called Exercise Induced Hyperthermia where in just minutes the body can actually overheat. If you measure their body temperature, it will be very high even though they haven't exercised much.

http://195.184.239.210/health/exerci...erthermia.html

http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/i...ic=21143&st=20

It is good to know, even if it might be hard for Jack given the climate, that heat intolerance seems to be a pretty common thing in border collies. It may be that we will just have to pace him some this summer and give him frequent breaks where he relaxes...

I think this is what happens to Niki at times when we get some lows, I'll look at those links, thanks

[Dollydog]

Re: Jack - new to my house

Hi Natalie,
I'm glad you've got a hint about what could be affecting Jack. With our long cold, winters it almost seemed cruel to have a little dog that couldn't go out for any length of time when it was so cold. I used to feel so guilty for bringing her here when she had to poop in -40 degree weather!

My Lady could go 3 feet straight up off the floor, up until a few years ago. She tries to jump up now but usually falls, so she's learning not to do it.
Take care,
Jo-Ann & Lady

[k9diabetes]

Re: Jack - First overnight trip a big success!

We needed to go to Reno to meet up with my mother Sunday and decided to take Jack on his first overnight trip....

I have four (or six, depending on your thoughts about hyphens... ) words for how the trip went:

25-acre off-leash dog park

In other words, canine heaven on earth. Really, truly, seriously.... delirious joy.

It's essentially a pasture just off the end of Rancho San Rafael Regional Park in Reno. Basically a square 25 acres on the side of a moderate slope with rivulets of water running down the hill in skinny streams and across the grass in places in a very thin layer.

I have literally never seen Jack that happy before.

He was totally in his border collie element. Running flat out across the pasture, splashing through the water, wading and rolling in the little streams.

And only twice did we have any significant problems recalling him (with chicken as an incentive) - when he got a full half way across the pasture and in the midst of some very good stuff and when he found the toad.... that he did NOT want to give up.

We took him yesterday after lunch and then this morning before we left.

I think I'm gonna post a Dog-Friendly places thread as I know a bunch of folks here are close enough to Reno to maybe wind up there some day.

We also had two meals at Archie's Grill, which is just up the street from the regional park entrance. They have four or five tables on a well-shaded patio above street level where dogs are welcome so Jack could eat with us too.

He did great. He was a little anxious once we went to bed in the hotel last night - stayed at the Reno Ramada Casino, which welcomes dogs of all sizes and charges just an additional $20. No accidents, no problems... he was very relaxed in the hotel room while we visited. Still not crazy about elevators but was getting used to it.

For most of the two hour drive each way he looked out the front window so he was tired enough to be pretty mellow when we arrived. Today on the way home, he was still looking out the front window most of the way home but his upper eyelids were drooping and he looked like somebody trying to stay awake to watch a movie!

Natalie

[eyelostit]

Re: Jack - First overnight trip a big success!

That sounded great, I can just picture the elevator ride

[Margaret Boyle]

Re: Jack - First overnight trip a big success!

We needed to go to Reno to meet up with my mother Sunday and decided to take Jack on his first overnight trip....

I have four (or six, depending on your thoughts about hyphens... ) words for how the trip went:

25-acre off-leash dog park

In other words, canine heaven on earth. Really, truly, seriously.... delirious joy.

It's essentially a pasture just off the end of Rancho San Rafael Regional Park in Reno. Basically a square 25 acres on the side of a moderate slope with rivulets of water running down the hill in skinny streams and across the grass in places in a very thin layer.

I have literally never seen Jack that happy before.

He was totally in his border collie element. Running flat out across the pasture, splashing through the water, wading and rolling in the little streams.

And only twice did we have any significant problems recalling him (with chicken as an incentive) - when he got a full half way across the pasture and in the midst of some very good stuff and when he found the toad.... that he did NOT want to give up.

We took him yesterday after lunch and then this morning before we left.

I think I'm gonna post a Dog-Friendly places thread as I know a bunch of folks here are close enough to Reno to maybe wind up there some day.

We also had two meals at Archie's Grill, which is just up the street from the regional park entrance. They have four or five tables on a well-shaded patio above street level where dogs are welcome so Jack could eat with us too.

He did great. He was a little anxious once we went to bed in the hotel last night - stayed at the Reno Ramada Casino, which welcomes dogs of all sizes and charges just an additional $20. No accidents, no problems... he was very relaxed in the hotel room while we visited. Still not crazy about elevators but was getting used to it.

For most of the two hour drive each way he looked out the front window so he was tired enough to be pretty mellow when we arrived. Today on the way home, he was still looking out the front window most of the way home but his upper eyelids were drooping and he looked like somebody trying to stay awake to watch a movie!

Natalie

Hi Natalie,
Sounds as if Jack had a great time this would do him good
It is nice when you get a place where you can have your dog in with you
when you have a meal, we usually find one with an outside garden.
Our last dog was a Jack Russell we loved him too bits they are great wee dogs he was 16 when he died and he was a hardy wee dog.
No wonder Jack was nodding off he would be dreaming about all the splashing about and all that freedom.
We go away for a week on Sat and it's a 2hour run we are looking forward to it.


LOl

[forloveofandy]

Re: Jack - First overnight trip a big success!

Just catching up on this post. He is such a cutie. He looks like a very happy dog. He sounds like a good match and great addition to your family.

That baby picture is just incredible!

[k9diabetes]

Re: Jack - First overnight trip a big success!

Jack got a second trip to Reno on Tuesday and went berserk with happiness at the huge dog park. The grass had gotten tall and he careened through it at high speed, even occasionally coming when called!

He ran so hard and so much that he was exhausted for a full 24 hours after! Went back to the hotel Tuesday evening and he crashed. I could see just from his eyes that he was exhausted.

Man, I wish we could find someplace like that around here. Jack has had some problems at dog parks in recent months but the Reno park is so big that a dog really doesn't have to interact if they don't want to. We are gonna have to find him a pasture!

You can really see when he's out there the country that he was made for. Poor guy is a pasture dog living in the suburbs!

________

The other funny thing is that I went today to a pet store near home... nice store, browsed around, lots of good toys and snacks and healthy stuff. So I get to the counter and right next to the cash register is a box of note cards with pictures of dogs and cats on the front. Which caught my eye because looking back at me from the note card in the front of the stack was.... Jack!!

The cards were printed for the local SPCA to support them financially and there was our Jack, formerly Bo, smiling in one of his SPCA pictures. In fact, there were a dozen note cards with Jack smiling away... he is very photogenic!!

It cracked me up to see Jack there. The back of the card says:

Bo
was rescued by the SPCA

Natalie

[BestBuddy]

Re: Jack - SPCA poster boy

Wow, Jack is famous.

I'm glad he had such fun in the big dog park, how far away is it? Maybe you better move to the country and get some acres.

Jenny

[AlisonandMia]

Re: Jack - SPCA poster boy

Zac is a bounding pasture dog too! He loves any excuse to leave the ground - is Jack like that? And we have had "problems" at dog parks too and basically don't use them anymore - the situation is just way to "hairy" in every sense of the word! Zac is simply too reactive to be put into such a chaotic and overwhelming situation - and he really does annoy the other dogs by trying to round them up!

Watch out for allergies if the grass is flowering. My husband's working sheep dog went down with a severe asthma attack after a few days of working sheep in big stands of flowering grasses. She wasn't by any means an atopic dog (never any itching ever or anything) and it was a one-off thing - maybe it wasn't really an allergy as such but more a mechanical reaction to dust (ie so much pollen). It was pretty scary.

Alison

[We Hope]

Re: Jack - SPCA poster boy

Natalie,

Does your county have a Forest Preserve District or something similar? We have dog parks in this area which are part of the Forest Preserves; they set some of the land aside for the dog parks. You might find one closer to home if there's something like this in your county.

Jack is probably hoping you'll all move to Reno and live happily ever after!

What a surprise to see Jack looking back at you! Did you get all of those with him on it to use as your note cards?

Kathy

[k9diabetes]

Re: Jack - SPCA poster boy

Jack isn't much of a herder actually. He doesn't annoy other dogs so much as they annoy him - he's not keen on playing with other dogs. What we really need is somewhere where he can stretch his legs and run all by himself, which is really hard to do cuz he needs a fence.

We actually own some land up in the foothills that borders National Forest on two sides but haven't been able to get up there since we got Jack. I'd still like his recall to be a bit better too... if he sees a bunny or a squirrel, he'll take off.

What we need is a pasture... we are actually looking into trying to find something like that. Some herding dog trainers have facilities that you can rent for herding practice.

His other big issue is men with things in their hands, like cell phone, keys, etc. He got surly with a Petco employee the other day because he had something in his hand. That's a big one for us to work on.

Alison, how to do you exercise Zac? Neither of us is a runner and Jack is not a good enough leash walker to use a bike plus he freaks out at all kinds of things - kites, flapping trash can lids - and lunges after squirrels and rabbits and sometimes cats.

We did buy Jack a Hide-a-Squirrel, which he likes and I just ordered him a puzzle from www.clickertraining.com - I think he needs mental stimulation as much as physical actually. But finding somewhere he can really run without arguing with other dogs is a major challenge.

Natalie