Dinham Borders

06/01/2026

Further to Clancy’s first post he asked his dad to send me a video of him showing his bravery swimming out to fetch a ball for the first time. I love that he nearly tips over sideways when he turns around lol. Brave boy Clancy well done🐶💙🐾🤩.

06/01/2026

Another boy Clancy from Meg & Cole’s second litter late last year had his dad send a message with a Christmas update.
Chris has written:

Merry Christmas Nanna Suzanne. Hope you have a lovely Christmas. The toy you sent down with him became a Christmas present. 😬

Clancy lives with his family in Victoria and has also sent a video (to follow). 🤩🐶💙

06/01/2026

Steve and Gemma have sent this blissful picture of Ginger living life in confidence and love with her family. I get a lump in my throat when I receive these pics of our puppies knowing how much they are loved. Ginger was a litter from Meg and Cole late last year. Happy New Year to all our puppy families and our puppies, thank you for the care and love you have given and give to all our puppies to help them to fulfil their potential in life. New Years Blessings to all our BC puppies and the families who have adopted them. 🐶🐾🩷💙

01/10/2025

Our little black white girl from our beautiful litter from Shelley and Fudge has left to join her new family in Canberra. She is settling in well and making herself at home. Her new mum says ‘I did suggest her bed, she’s picked something else.

As long as you are comfortable little darling. This is Shelley’s first litter and they are stunner puppies as Shelley’s whole pedigree contains champions in every ancestor. 🩷🐶

01/10/2025

Delilah a lilac tri and her adopted brother Henry have been behaving and their mum writes ‘Just the best good doggos’.
Good to hear Delilah I hope you are doing good works in your assistance role in the community as well.

09/07/2025

Something we should be more aware of…………

Today our breed expert Carol Price returns to the subject of good feet in Border collies, and how important they are

IN PRAISE OF GOOD FEET

This lovely picture of our Cathy’s sheepdogs (left to right) Diva, her late Sean and one of his sons, Aran, shows how fit they look. But it also highlights what incredibly good FEET they all have. Which are just so important in any collie, but working ones in particular.

So often it is the anatomical details in dogs that make all the difference to the way they move or function, and feet can definitely be among these. Good feet in a Border collie should be small, neat, compact, well arched and with minimal gaping or ‘gapping’ between the toes. Bigger, wider or less well constructed feet, by contrast, can often make them more prone to arthritis as the dog gets older, and bigger gaps between toes means stones or other irritants (like grass seeds) are more likely to lodge between them.

SUPPORTS AND SHOCK ABSORBERS
Good feet are the main supports and shock absorbers, too, when a dog undertakes feats of speed and agility, and also aid the dog’s balance and roadholding when turning, cornering or stopping more suddenly. They also mean the dog is more able to cope with covering longer distances in greater comfort, especially over more rugged terrain.

For all these reasons, the quality of a dog’s feet (along with nice, straight, upright pasterns – marked on the pic here - rather than over-sloping ones, which can weaken the connection between wrist and foot) are one of the important things I look for myself when choosing dogs to breed from. But even if they are born with better feet, you still have to continually look after them.

FOOT MAINTENANCE
Keeping nails well clipped, and feet hair trimmed, for instance, helps maintain feet in the best shape. As will checking feet pads in higher or colder temperatures, to ensure they are not being damaged by things like hot tarmac, or freezing conditions, or salted grit put out on the roads. People can so often forget that, unlike ourselves, dogs do not wear shoes or trainers, and thus have no greater barrier between their foot pads and everything they come into contact with. Dogs exposed more regularly to hotter or colder temperatures and/or rougher terrains can benefit from special protective boots for their feet.

Any toes or foot pads with pinker, as opposed to blacker, pigment will need extra monitoring and care in collies, as the skin is far more sensitive to wear, cracking or sustaining other damage.

Painful feet can also be as painful for dogs as they are for us, and make exercise more painful too. So all in all, this is why having good feet in a dog, and keeping them that way, can add so much to your dog’s daily comfort, and also prolong their activity levels well into old age.

All text ©Carol Price/Collieology 2025

04/07/2025

In 2019, a solo hiker trekking through the Scottish Highlands took a serious fall while navigating a remote, rocky ridge near Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest mountain. With a badly injured leg and no phone signal, he was stranded, cold, and unable to walk.
But he wasn’t alone.
Nearby, a shepherd named Tom Hamilton was working with his Border Collie, Jess, high up in the hills. Jess suddenly froze, stared into the wind, and then took off running without command—unusual for her well-trained behavior.
Tom followed Jess, struggling through brush and rocky terrain, until he found her circling and barking around a man slumped on the ground. Jess had led him directly to the injured hiker, who had been lying there for several hours, increasingly hypothermic.
Tom called for help using a signal booster, and Mountain Rescue arrived within the hour. They later confirmed that the hiker would not have survived the night due to exposure. Jess’s instincts and determination likely saved his life.
The rescue team credited Jess with "an extraordinary display of awareness and focus," saying she acted almost like a trained search-and-rescue dog—though she was a working sheepdog by trade.

(couldn't find a photo of Jess, so had to use a stock one)

02/07/2025

Today we say happy 3rd birthday to all Ming’s second litter by Bailey born 2/7/2022. Otis has just sent birthday best wishes to all the siblings in his litter: Narla, Max, Smoochie, Harley, Chase, Romeo, Charlie and Hi-Ho Silver with a heavenly wish to Shaddai who passed away by accidental death earlier this year. 🐶💙💗😇

02/07/2025

Just received a funny message from Argis mum Jill while in their farm stay in Tasmania, saying:
I'm actually amazed that he's not dirtier since we've been here a month now and he gets into everything going including the creek then rolls in all manner of aromatic substances 😂🤣

After Argi was clean Jill reports he was a tad tired after all the activity.

You are loving life Argi. 🐶💙

01/07/2025

I LIKE TO LICK YOU!
Dogs just love to lick - themselves, other animals and people. Have you ever wondered why, though?

Whether you love it and it makes you smile or you hate it and it makes you run for the soap and sanitiser, licking people is a very normal, natural behaviour for dogs.

Historically, dog licks were considered to be medically beneficial to humans. Dogs were used in Ancient Egypt to heal injuries and cure diseases.
Fisherman in Fiji allowed dogs to lick their wounds, believing this practice would speed up healing.

The French have a saying: “langue de chien, langue de médecin” which translates to “a dog’s tongue, a doctor’s tongue.”

Gentle licking of some types of wounds may help to remove dirt or debris that slows down healing as the tongue catches foreign matter, which then sticks to the saliva and is removed.

Although dog saliva has some antimicrobial properties, allowing dogs to lick either their own wounds or ours can lead to serious infection from the bacteria found in their mouths.

Whether or not to allow your dog to lick you (when you don’t have wounds!) is a completely personal choice. I personally don’t mind occasional licking as long as it’s not my face and it doesn’t become excessive.

26/06/2025

DON’T GET A DOG!
Unless you can make a commitment.

In an ideal world dogs would be included as a member of our family and we would share our time and life with them in the relatively short time they have with us.

In an ideal world, we would take the time to learn about how dogs communicate through body language, be aware that there are emotions beneath behaviours – we would meet their needs and keep learning about updated, modern, force free, pain free methods to understand or modify unwanted behaviour.

In reality, dogs are often seen as just another item of property, an object, a commodity to be bred and make money from, a cheap, replaceable security system, a garden decoration, a toy to play with when the kids are bored or an accessory that looks good while out walking, running or taking selfies.

Just like us, dogs are sentient beings with the capacity to feel a wide range of emotions. They are naturally social beings that need to spend time with their humans.

A life spent confined and isolated with little or no human companionship, with nothing to do, is not a life.
Dogs need love, attention, mental stimulation and exercise. They need routine, consistency and predictable patterns. Dogs need us to meet their needs and they need to feel safe and secure in our world.

Having a dog requires commitment, understanding, patience and dedication.

It’s hard work, it’s sometimes messy, dirty and stinky, it’s often expensive and requires that we make changes to our lifestyle.

It’s a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly and without making a long-term commitment, but the rewards of forming a secure bond with another sentient being can bring so much joy and enrichment to both our lives and theirs.

17/06/2025

WHY DO DOGS TILT THEIR HEADS?

Some dogs have a really adorable way of tilting their heads to the side when we speak to them or when they hear certain types of sounds.

It’s thought that dogs that are more social are more likely to perform a head tilt to encourage and engage our interaction, but the most likely scientific reasons are to improve the accuracy of sight, hearing and interpretation.

Tilting the head changes the shape of the ear canal and positions the ears for a more accurate determination of sound direction. Head tilts are also seen when dogs focus on specific frequencies and tones in a person’s voice.

Their muzzle gets in the way, especially when looking at something in front of them. Tilting allows them to see around the muzzle and get a clearer picture.

We may not realise it, but dogs notice our facial expressions and may tilt to get a better view of our face and interpret any expressive cues.

Some other reasons are to obtain and process more information when they find something curious or interesting or simply because it’s a behaviour that has been rewarded with attention so the action will be repeated.

Head tilting with no apparent trigger, may be due to a health problem like an ear infection or vestibular issues which requires a vet check.

Interestingly, in human body language, we subconsciously perceive another person to be a good listener, be more empathetic, more trustworthy and are more drawn to that person if they tilt their head whilst engaging with us. Maybe dogs have instinctively known this all along - after all they are the true experts when it comes to communicating through body language !