The health and lifestyle of my own dogs

Living as a single person alongside my pack of Border Collies has certainly shaped my lifestyle.

I have lived with dogs all my life.

From my dad's rescue mutts, to the highly well-bred working sheepdogs on the farms I worked on.

From the injured and struggling dogs I treat in clinic, to the enthusiastic dogs I teach at our dog training club.

And to my own dogs, who I have shared love, laughs and occasional heartbreak with for nearly 40 years. I have lived alongside a total of 23 Border Collies so far. Some I lost far too young, and some made it to a grand old age.

A multitude of emotions, highs and lows, but always love, respect and perfect partnerships.

I would not live my life any other way.

Our shared need for routine, order and control of every situation is well met, and allows for easy integration into my work needs and their exercise needs.

I can work knowing that they rest and settle together without disturbing me. And then, when it's time for exercise and mental stimulation, they get my undivided attention.

My working days in the clinic can go on till late evening, and some weekends. My dogs are happy to settle in their room while I'm busy, and I know that on the rare occasion one of them needs my attention during this time, I'm only metres away. I have a camera set up in their room so I can see them on the monitor above the door, and they can hear my voice alongside the sounds of clients and their dogs coming and going.

Our day always starts with exercise, and once they have had their breakfast at home, we travel to work and they have playtime while I set up and get ready for my first client.

This routine helps them understand and settle while the clinic gets busy and my attention has to prioritise something other than them. At midday, my attention returns to them for our midday exercise and playtime. I know then that once they have had their dinner and returned to their room, I can work for another few hours while they sleep.

We have a walk again in the evening, and then back home to chill out.

Without the "off switch" installed into all my dogs when puppies, this would not be possible. This to me is crucial behaviour that all dogs should be taught, especially those with a working brain. I could not manage to work with recovering, injured and sometimes scared and sore dogs, if my dogs were barking and wanting my attention.

When mummy is working, you must relax and wait until she's finished.

My dogs know that when my attention is away from work and on them, they have it undivided.

No walking and scrolling through my phone.

No letting them run about while I sit in the shade.

Just me and them, walking, running and playing.

We have a similar routine on the days when I'm teaching agility classes too. They know that they will have to stay in the van for a while and relax, until it's their time to either do some training or have a good run around.

We are a partnership, them and me. I can divide our partnership into two sets of criteria: what I expect from my dogs, and what I give them in return.

Manners

I class good behaviour as good manners. I prefer the term, as I feel it reflects that the dog knows "good manners", rather than just following a pattern of "good behaviour" that may have been drilled into them through conditioning.

As mentioned, they stay quiet while I am working, but good manners cover so many things. They don't steal food from me or each other. They sit and wait in their "place" for their food bowl to be brought to them. They don't go to each other's bowl, and in fact, because their bowls are put down in age order, they will wait until the appropriate bowl has gone down before they start on their own food. They don't barge through doorways. They wait in the van until I've told them they can get out. Basically, they are pleasant to live with.

Off switch

The super important off switch — a necessary factor in the ownership of a working breed like a Border Collie. All my puppies are taught that being on their own for a period of time is good, normal and the required behaviour. This is the time for them, and the older dogs, to relax, reflect and recover from the previous exercise period. It is important to their mental development and their ongoing mental balance.

Respect of each other

Even though their room is on multiple floors and partitions, there are still a lot of dogs in one space. I have entire dogs and bitches, neutered dogs and bitches, and young stock. Obviously, when the girls are in season they are kept separate, but the rest of the time everybody shares the same room. Younger puppies join the main group (I call it general population) once they reach five months. Anyone who needs space due to injury or illness is also separated off into another room to give them some peace and quiet. I know that they will all respect each other's space, and most of them have their own spot in the room that they call their own. This applies at home too. My dogs have free run of the house, and again most of them have a favourite place to rest. Some choose to sleep on my bed, and some choose to sleep on the settees.

But they all get on and live in peace with each other. Older dogs are given space, and no one is allowed to barge through doorways in front of them.

Exercise

Integration of litters and youngstock into exercise is intensive for the younger ones and steady for the oldies. They also get water treadmill sessions weekly, mainly through winter and out of the agility season.

Vaccinations, worming and flea treatment

Again, I'm not writing this to preach the rights and wrongs of veterinary care. I trust my dogs' vet completely, and I love the fact that she is just on the end of the phone if I need her. I also value her expertise on working breeds, and the understanding that if I say one of my dogs is off colour or injured, she can see it too, no matter how subtle, and doesn't try to tell me that nothing is wrong and that I'm imagining it.

I do vaccinate my dogs until they are a year old. They get their puppy vaccines and their first booster. After that point I will only vaccinate if I feel the need to. If I am planning to mate a girl, I make sure that everyone is titre tested and vaccinated if need be. I always vaccinate the mum-to-be well before mating.

I don't worm my dogs, unless they're pregnant girls or puppies. I don't like to fill them with chemicals unless there is good reason to, such as illness. I carry out worm counts twice a year, and if I needed to worm them, I would. They have hairy rabbit ears every day, which really helps as a worm deterrent — dogs can't digest the hair, so it acts as a loofah, scraping through the gut and cleaning it all out.

For flea and tick control I use products I feel are safe, and I use them around peak tick season.

A whole lotta love

This goes without saying: anyone who knows me knows that I am besotted with my dogs. I kiss and cuddle them all the time. I have conversations with them — I ask their opinion on whether they want a Greggs sausage roll between them as a treat, or a steak bake. I spend all my time in their presence, whether home, work or away. I don't go out socially; I don't have holidays away from them. I put their needs first and foremost, with one exception: my walls are covered in large photos of my long since and never forgotten dogs. Some doing agility, some running and playing, all taken in good times and helping to form amazing memories. In fact, my walls are so covered in photos I can't remember what colour the wallpaper is underneath. I have boxes of rosettes and trophies in the spare (our agility) room, and I put their most special rosettes — the ones that won them up a grade — around their photos, as a permanent display of their awesomeness in agility.

I often see the T-shirt that states,

"Dogs are not my whole world, but they make my life whole."

I beg to differ. My dogs make, and are, my whole world. I would not want to live any other way, and each one of them has a piece of my heart, as I have a piece of theirs, when they leave me.

My time with TV and a cuppa

Oh, how I love a cuppa and chilling in front of the TV watching true crime docs. This is MY time — the time I spend glued to the screen for 30 minutes with a big mug of Yorkshire's best. All my dogs lie around me snoozing, as if they know not to disturb me, as if they feel I deserve this time to myself. I'll have one hand on my mug and one hand tickling Rewind's belly as he sleeps. I'm usually sat on the floor leaning on the settee while they all occupy the settees or huge, soft dog beds. Simple pleasure, I know, but valuable to me, as it's my brain's chance to switch off once all the day's tasks are complete, and my dogs are happy, healthy and satisfied with their day. I can't settle until they do.

So, as I sit here on the laptop finishing this piece, I can already feel Bane pushing his bum into my knee, reminding me it's time for his massage. It's still very warm outside, even for 8pm. I'm sure plenty of people are lounging beside a pool, or sitting in a pub garden, drinking cool beers and switching off from their hectic work lives. Yes, of course I am a little jealous. But would I swap my life for theirs? Not a chance. I'll settle for a bum rub followed by a night in front of the TV and a cuppa, any time.

— Kate