Can I do this? Is this mean?

[Smoke Jaguar]

In face, what do you think they do at the RSPCA? Do all the dogs roam around? They are in small enclosures and are walked 4 times a day.

That's what I meant to include in my post! I guess I had late night brain fade I've cleaned enclosures and they are NOT backyard size, even by high-density housing standards!

[paycyn]

I am a vet nurse (live in NZ but trained on OZ) and it is by no way wrong to do this it is perfectly fine! Ignore your SIL I would say it is very responsible to keep her confined till she is older as puppies get into everything all the time esp border collies. We have a pug puppy and she is still locked away in the laundry at night at 4 months old. At least I know where she is and that she ownt chew anything and end up poisoned etc.

Sounds like you are going to be great responsible owners

[YoYo]

One more thing my mum reminded me of, and I'll use my sister's Weimaraner as an example....My sister took her dog with her everywhere, and when it came to the crunch of being left alone, she didn't know how to be left alone IYKWIM? She wasn't taught to be left for long periods (or even shortish periods) because she went everywhere with her (this dog also destroyed all the retic in the garden and did managed to escape her LOCKED crate). So it's important to not only take your dog with you, but also to teach it that it can be left alone. Good luck, I'd love to see photos!

[NaeNae]

How exciting - is today Doggie Day????

Just wanted to pop in and say that I think your SIL needs to just keep ill informed opinions to herself. It amazes me how small some peoples minds are when it comes to keeping animals.

FWIW - our dogs are tethered all day when we are not home. They have their kennels, fresh water and food or bones but we live on a farm in a rural area and do not have enclosed yards this is the only way we can have them.

As a city chick I always thought this was very mean, until I moved here and know that a bad decision to let the dogs off unsupervised can result very quickly in not having a beloved pet with us anymore.

Best of luck hun, as a BC owner they really are wonderful wonderful dogs, highly intelligent, good herding instincts and can be very protective. They also are great jumpers so if your keen endurance training things ( you know where they do those circuit things) are great. Ours just loves jumping up onto the hay bails and into the water troughs .

Nae x x

[Muppity]

I just wanted to add my bit

I have two beautiful chocolate tricoloured border collies (so brown adn fawn and white) and they are the loves of my life. When they were little I would put them in the laundry occasionally when I was going out for a few hours and they would just sleep. I could come home and open the door and they would still be asleep. Now they still love going in there to lay down whenever they get the chance.

Enjoy your Banjo - and yes - if it is anything like my two boys then he will make you very fit!

[Jennifer13]

We have two high-energy Jack Russells (although you wouldn't always know it from the amount of time they spend lying around sleeping) and they are shut in during the day when we are not at home. One of them has an amazing ability to get himself out of fully-fenced backyards (generally under) and it is much more dangerous for him/them to be running around the neighbourhood than to enjoy a few sedate hours lying on the couch. Knowing Border Collies, your pup will probably figure out how to build an extension ladder from the playpen parts and take himself on an excursion! Keeping him safe and secure is very important.

The only proviso on enclosing or limiting a dog's space while you are not at home is ensuring they have plenty of exercise and space at other times.

How exciting that you get your pup this evening!!

[Smoke Jaguar]

I misread one of the previous posts and it made me laugh at how it COULD be read...had to share it:
Put your SiL and her opinions in a pen!!
Could she be jealous that you're getting a dog?
I have a GF who wants a puppy when she get back from an OS trip but doesn't want to put fences up and has looked into an 'invisible' fence (a nice way of saying 'electric shock collar') and said the sales person (or wherever she got the info) said it was a very low shock so that it wasn't cruel. Ummm, yeah. But I held my tongue and suggested some other things they could do - cos the RSPCA ISN'T down with these methods and I'm not quite sure how to phrase it. That's called putting on my 'filter'. So your SiL needs a filter, when she's let out of the pen

[helle]

One more thing my mum reminded me of, and I'll use my sister's Weimaraner as an example....My sister took her dog with her everywhere, and when it came to the crunch of being left alone, she didn't know how to be left alone IYKWIM? She wasn't taught to be left for long periods (or even shortish periods) because she went everywhere with her (this dog also destroyed all the retic in the garden and did managed to escape her LOCKED crate). So it's important to not only take your dog with you, but also to teach it that it can be left alone. Good luck, I'd love to see photos!

:yeahthat:

My aunty has a ****aspanual (sp?) that she treats like a baby, and, well yeah... she's ruined him. He's so evil!
Irgnore your SIL, I think you have quite a good little set up for your new family member! and in no way would the RSPCA come down on you. If the area is clean, pup has water and food when it's needed then there is no reason, and they're wasting there time (and yours)

And good on you for thinking ahead!!

[~Jayne~]

Guess what??? Our baby is here!!! He is sooooooooo freaking cute & we just LOVE him to bits. I have been making the girls push him down & say 'NO!' when he jumps up at them & he is now 'sometimes' just coming & sitting at their feet, but he gets very excited & sometimes forgets. All in all it's been really great & I am putting him in my ensuite at night & he slept last night til 4am without a peep then I put him outside & he wanted to stay out there!!! So I left him out there, but I put the lights on cos he won't go onto the grass if it's dark & he was asleep in his kennel at 7:30am when we got up!!

Today is the first day I am leaving him alone, so he is going in the 'dreaded SIL pen' heehehe

I haven't mentioned the pen anymore to her but I did ask her last night to stop roughing him up, she was doing that push him away so he would come back at her thingy & I asked her to stop because I didn't want him to learn that behaviour around the girls. You know they get all excited & start growling & stuff - I know it's only playing, but my girls don't like that & so I asked her to stop doing it & she was miffed but she can suck it up. He's OUR dog.

But sure enough, this morning he tried playing that with Jessica & she didn't like it so I made her stand up & take him to the door & put him outside.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE her playing with him, but I don't like the jumping all over her type of play & neither does she.

Oooh MUPPITY the tri-colours are JUST beautiful! We tried for one of those, but none came in the litter, even though Mummy dog is a Tri Colour, but he does have tiny little fawn eyebrows! LOL

Ok, when I get a chance tonight I will try & upload some photo's!

Love Jayne

PS _ I can totally see already how they need firm training right from the word go!!!

[Smoke Jaguar]

She so was NOT trying to push him away - everyone surely knows this is the way to engage a dog?? And it's certainly not appropriate to encourage that reaction in a dog when it lives with small children...what is WRONG with your SiL, who apparently knows stuff about dogs? He might be better off outside when she comes round
Definitely set the parameters from the start - we knew our big dog was going to grow huge, so he was never allowed on the couch or the bed (except when I was watching the Athens Olympics and I was getting up to a cold house in the mornings, when he was about 12 weeks old and we'd had him 3 weeks and he'd survived his pneumonia near-death experience ) and we asked visitors not to lift him up to the chairs.
Well, I hope her actions with your new addition have alleviated any kind of guilt she may have been trying to induce, because, clearly, she has NO clue!

[~Jayne~]

Yeah she was doing that whole push away thingy to get him to come running back to her & then pushing him away again, you know what I mean, & then he got really excited & wanted to do it over & over again?? But I am teaching the girls to push him down when he jumps so I want him to NOT come back if he is pushed away - for him to realise that pushing him down means 'no' & that he has done something inappropriate.

I like how you look that the longevity of the puppy's life, that it will only be a pup for a very short time & a BIG dog for the majority of it!