We’re trying to switch our girl from Blue Buffalo to a sensitive stomach kibble because she’s prone to vomiting. The Blue Buffalo is making it worse lately. Does anyone else use a sensitive stomach food? If so what brand do you use?

My two amazing rough collies (brother and sister litter mates) recently passed away. They had a long, prosperous life—my boy died in December, and my girl passed away five months later. I’m grateful for the approx. 13 years we had together; they were my everything, and I’m devastated.

While I’m mourning, I want to start doing my due diligence and educate myself regarding breeders. Ideally, I would like to stick with the same breeder. However, she doesn’t breed that often, and I’m uncertain if she’ll have another rough collie.

I’m willing to travel anywhere in the USA for my next pup. I want to avoid puppy mills and find a reputable breeder that prioritizes temperament and health (tests for CEA/CH, MDR1, DMS, PRA-rcd2). Having a great lineage is important to me as well as AKC champion bloodline. I would love to hear your recommendations. Thanks

I posted a couple days ago asking about travel sickness experience in puppies, since I’m now proud dad to my first puppy! My other Rough Collie I was given when he was just over 9months, so this is a new experience for me - raising one from just a little’n. I’ve raised spaniels from babies, but never a roughie before.

He went on his 4th car journey with me today into town, and he wasn’t sick at all! I’m so chuffed with the little fella, he was very brave and once we got home he was happily playing about with me in the garden almost immediately. The last car journey he was a little upset and quiet afterwards, so I was so happy to see him bounce back almost immediately this time round. Still got a long way to go with him and car sickness, but it’s the little wins 🫶🫶

I’m a bit worried with his socialisation progress though, since I got him a bit later [11weeks instead of 8] he won’t be fully vaccinated until he’s 16 weeks old. I’m privileged enough to have animals on the property so he can be socialised to different livestock and some people but urban areas are a bit difficult. He has a dog rucksack I can carry him in around town (I have an arm injury, so carrying him in my arms for long periods isn’t feasible) but I just don’t want the little fella to turn out like my older boy (scared to death of traffic/buildings/towns) since it made agility a bit harder for me and the old fella.

-—

I do have some questions if anyone has the chance to answer them or give anecdotes <3

Questions <3

1. What kind of chews can they have when they’re this little in your experience? Google gives me many many contradicting answers, so far he’s being given hairless rabbit ears since they seemed safe across multiple sources, and dried fish skin/cubes. His breeder also said she gives her puppies one raw duck neck or chicken wing a day, but on the packaging it says only recommended for 8months+ and for dogs that are on a raw diet?

2. Socialising - what kind of things should be priority, and how did you go about it doing it gently? Is there anything you wish you’d have exposed them to in hindsight? Seb is quite nervous right now, he even runs for the hills when I sneeze bless his little heart, so I don’t want to overwhelm/flood him by accident.

3. Training? - At the moment aside from “sit“ which he’s picked up off Logan [my older rc] I’ve been focusing on games (chase me) and just overall general bonding with him? i figured since I was able to train Logan at 9 months old with no difficulty, then most training at this age isn’t as big of a priority as just bonding and games? Along with things like learning car rides can be fun, walking on lead and socialising? Or should I also be scheduling in some basic obedience/trick lessons at this age?

4. Anything else? Things you wished you’d done, things you wish you wouldn’t have done? I really just want to make sure that Seb is set up in the best possible way. I wouldn’t change my older boy for anything, but I definitely wish I could've had him from a puppy incase I could’ve helped him to experience the world a bit better.

I’ll also include the uh, “puppy/dog tax” I’ve seen mentioned xD

[his ears were taped by his breeder, I’m working on removing it slowly as the adhesive wears out <3]

Little man Seb <3 [12 weeks]

Big man Logan <3 [8.5yrs]

How does your RC fair with tissues or any other paper products?

My dear Iris is the Ninja Master of Tissue Abduction So silent, so swift The same with a cardboard box..had I know sooner, I would’ve spent less on toys she won’t play with

my sweet girl is about to be 8 on September 3rd🥳 when we found her, we got her shots and also was told she was a mixed collie! if anybody can help me what is she mixed with that would be amazing

My boy is 4 months and a little over 30 lbs. He just got the okay from the vet to go out on walks a couple of weeks ago. I would consider him on the higher end of a med energy dog. And we’re so excited he’s not trapped in the house or patio anymore!

It’s been miserably hot and muggy where we live, but today wasn’t so bad. We usually do only about 20 minute walks but I had to carry him some of the way home today. I wore dark clothes and long pants and didn’t get very hot and I hate the heat. I also have a papillon (thinner coat though) who recovers much faster even with longer walks and more exercise.

He does get a little tired but the real concern is how fast the heat zaps his energy and how long it takes him to recover. He loves his walks and is always very happy to go but maybe we should shorten the walk time and build stamina and tolerance. Either way, we’re going to be more aware of this on future walks!

Any smooth owners have issues with heat tolerance? Maybe we’re just doing too much too soon/young?

I’m so sorry if this is the wrong place, I’ve never really used Reddit before. I just got my second dog [11 week old rough collie puppy] a few days ago and the poor little lad gets awfully motion sick even after 5 minutes of driving. My older rough collie didn’t grow out of it until he was 6 years old but my lifestyle had changed a lot and I really would like to get little man comfortable and happy with the car so we can safely and happily travel to hikes and agility trials in the future.

Does anyone have experience with this and what helped/what made it worse? And what age he might grow out of it if I’m lucky? He’s off to get vaccinated at the vets today and I’m dreading the drive because I hate the fact the poor little lad suffers through it.

I understand it might be because his inner ear isn’t developed, but I don’t want him to go from true motion sickness to anxiety induced motion sickness because I couldn’t help him when he needed me to at this stage.

Hi, so I’ve got an RC that’s a little over a year old and his paw pads are pretty rough and cracked, I’ve tried in the past using pure coconut oil but I’ve found that he’s pretty allergic to even a teeny tiny amount of it. I’ve looked at a lot of different brands and dog safe, pet made moisturizers for paw pads but every one I’ve come across all contain some amount of coconut oil. So does anyone out there know of any brand that doesn’t contain coconut oil or any safe alternatives I can do to help him? Thank you I’m advance! :)

Looking for something to keep the girl cool during the summer, wondering if anyone had any success with them?

Thanks

i haven’t settled on if i wanted a female or male, so i’d love to hear names for both! there’s no limits to this. names for tricolors, sables, anything! go crazy. i need some ideas!

I love how extra long the snoots are.

Hey collie friends! Anyone have a barking problem with their collies? I grew up with collies but we had horses and lots of land. They barked if a car came to our house or a horse got out but I don’t remember this much barking. Now I live in town with a small fenced back yard and we take her on daily walks, to dog parks, to hiking trails. I’m a teacher so I’m off work all summer. She eats three times a day and goes out to potty fine. But anytime I sit down to rest it’s non stop yapping, she stairs at the cats and yaps, she yaps when we try to eat.

We love her and she is amazing other than this. Any recommendations? It’s definitely trickier having a collie in town than on a farm.

I got a 5 year old rough collie 4 months ago she has puked 5 times in the last day and won’t hold any food down anyone got any tips on how to help her?

I have a 3 year old male rough collie. Had him since he was 11 weeks old. As a puppy, he was handled and socialised a lot, he used to love getting fusses off strangers but wasn’t a fan of cuddling. I’d pick him up and put him on my lap to snooze and he’d go lay on the floor. As he’s got older, he’s never slept laying next to me and isn’t one to cuddle up or need to be touching. He’s got very head-shy seemingly out of nowhere, if a stranger tries to pet him he swerves and dodges them. He used to love it though? Not aggressive in the slightest, never growls at me or anything like that, he just seems much more content on the floor than near me. Is anyone else’s collie similar?

My sweet collie loooves other people, including my boyfriend's parents. She is so snuggly and sweet with them (which is lovely!), and she'll hop up on the couch and lay next to them on the couch.

However, with me at home, she is so aloof and pretty much is on her own! I am so glad she's a confident dog and can handle being with other people, but I do wish she was a little more snuggly with me!

update: we fasted him for 24 hours and he has had hills gi biome yesterday and today, then we will start a veerrrryyyy gradual transition back to his current food, by recommendation of our vet. She recommended that we do it over 9-12 days but if at any point his diarrhea returns, then we should consider switching his diet or adding a fiber supplement. She says it likely returned after our last transition from hills to purina from switching from such a high fiber diet back to normal too quickly and partially due to stress.

Lots of information here but I would appreciate some advice.

My 1 1/2 year old male collie has been having some issues. He started having diarrhea about 3 weeks ago (all in the house btw), keeping in touch with our vet, we tried chicken and rice but that didn’t help much, so the vet prescribed us Hills GI biome food to use until the diarrhea cleared up, then to return back to our regular food. He hasn’t had as bad of diarrhea since but still like cow patties when he typically always had great consistent poops until now.

We use Purina One digestive health formula. Should we switch his food? Any recommendations?

Also, he has been having diarrhea in the house most days and he also pees in the house when he goes, and I feel that it is important to note that we have a newborn, less than 2 weeks old. I have been trying positive reinforcement when he goes outside and i’ve tried to be patient since he seems sick, but could this be more behavioral because of the change instead of just because he is sick? He is fairly skittish with new things to start, he is doing well with the baby but i’m thinking his house accidents are at least partially related to the new addition, even though they started about 2 weeks prior.