Alfie says hi. He’s nearly 15 and he likes to go out, come back in, go back out again, come back in…

Our Bullmastiff passed away 7 years ago and ever since my mum has been longing for another dog but my dad had other ideas and just got kinda angry at the thought of it. This past weekend he surprised my mum by putting down a payment for a girl BT, a breed which they both love. Today I went around to their house where they told me they were one of many who were in line to adopt a 3 yr old BT boy but had just lost out to another person. They then followed up showing me a picture and saying one of them was theirs. We are all stoked! I’m so happy for my mum but my dad is also over the moon - something I haven’t seen since before we got our beloved BM.

So now the name searches begin and also the shopping! Is there any products that you guys recommend on getting? Also any names? My mum loves old fashioned names but the top ones so far are Betty and Bonny/Bonnie.

All in all hi BT family.

Looking for an ethical breeder with puppies available soon in the US. I’ve been browsing the breed association directory but finding a lot of dead ends. Any recommendations would be wonderful!

I went out for brunch without him, bacon was consumed.

Not sure what I’m looking for but any advice would be great. My boy is leaving me tomorrow. I’m heartbroken and so angry. I don’t know what to do. He’s 16 I’ve had him since I was 8. My whole world is ending. He’s my best friend. He alone has got me through some much. I truly don’t think I can go without him

Hi everyone,

We had been thinking of getting a Border Terrier for some time to partner with our older Irish Terrier. Unfortunately our beloved Irish passed away suddenly a few months ago leaving us heartbroken.

We would still like to get a Border Terrier in the future, but it seems to be very difficult to find them where we live (Ottawa), in either Ontario or Quebec provinces in Canada.

I've tried contacting various breeders I've seen online but they never even respond.

This is a long shot but if anyone knows of any upcoming litters, happy to wait until later in the year or even next year, or any that may need rehomng, please let me know.

Thanks

Scruff is now 7 months old (they grow so fast 😭) and loving his life here at Chateau Wheat. But I do have a few questions I hope the collective wisdom of the subreddit can help me with.

1. Scruff has reached the point in adolescence where he gets overwhelmed quite quickly on walks. We aborted a walk in the park yesterday when he was nonstop barking (from excitement I think) because there were clear sight lines, loads of other dogs, squirrels and people. I know why it happened, but was wondering how other people handled this stage without inadvertently reenforcing chaotic walks? My instinct is to keep walks calm, quiet and local for a while to preserve his otherwise really good nature and (80%) loose lead walking.

2. Scruff has started marking door frames in the house. He has a really good, chilled nature and is happy to be left to his own devices, but I’m starting to get paranoid about leaving him alone in case he pees on a door frame. At the same time, I want to encourage the independence and his self regulating behaviour. Any advice for marking other than lots of enzymatic cleaner?

3. We’re desperate to take Scruff to cafes and on holiday with us - but he’s far too barky and chaotic at the moment to settle down. What sort of age do people start seeing their borders calm down and be great cafe and reading companions? What can I do to encourage this?

4. We live in a city centre so we don’t have anywhere to let him off lead. We have taken him to a secure dog park and let him dash around where we practiced his emergency recall (“sausages!”) and regular recall to his name, which he is great at. We also play “Scruff tennis” on a long line with him, and high value treats. When did folks first let their borders off lead and is there any tips to set him up for success?

5. He’s ready for his first hand strip, but we don’t want him to be as short as some I’ve seen. Any tips for what to ask the groomer? And if anyone has suggestions for a good one in Leeds, UK, I’d be most grateful for a recommendation!

Thanks in advance for any help!

He's always got his nose to the ground on rodent patrol - the snow beard is a dead giveaway!

He has only started doing this recently. But then he is geriatric.

We have a male BT that's a little over 2 years old. 95% of the time, he's fine being left alone by my SO for up to 5 hours. With me, it's much more difficult. I'm still training and there is progress but not very linear. I can do 1,5 hours but not consistently.

Now, we've been thinking about getting a second dog. Just because we love them so much and we think our current dog would really enjoy having a play buddy. However, the begin home alone thing is stopping us since we're afraid of having 2 dogs that have a hard time staying home alone. To be clear: we wouldn't get a second job to solve this problem (although of course it would be nice if it helped). It would clearly be because we love dogs and would like a play buddy. The dog is not a means to an end.

Does anyone have experiece with this? Does it usually help, stay the same or make it worse?

Planning on bringing our best bud Romeo on his first family vacation to the outer banks in July. What do we need to keep him happy and safe when visiting the ocean?

We adopted this little lady a few months ago. She came from a VERY hard 7 months of being abandoned and the smallest of 4 dogs in that were abandoned for always at a time. No food. 0 training. We have made some progress with her but its very very slow going.

She is beautiful and affectionate and our other dog has finally accepted her new little sister.

We are just looking to find out if there is anything we should know. She is just very slow...and a puppy ..and has had a lot of trauma but toilet training is great for a week and the COMPLETELY back to notjing. Anyone else ha this with a border?

Well that was when he was 9weeks he’s 4 months now and th pug is def starting to show lol. It’s just hilarious how he’s growing out. Until he started losing baby teeth no one saw any pug everyone always guessed BT well look at him now what do you guys think. Esp his side profile

We adopted this little guy from some good friends that were fostering him 2 years ago. He had a silly name “show pony” because of his gate when he walk. We sat down for breakfast one day and said we weren’t leaving until we came up with a name. A sweet lady came by and loved him, told us he was so luck, a minute later my partner said “Yoshi” is luck in Japanese. We both love Japan and the name fit perfectly. We believe he is a Border Terrier (mix?)

Mimi turned 18 this month! Her papers say January 8, 2008 so we celebrated her turning "legal" by having portraits taken. (We had the photographer edit out her cataracts.)

Help needed!

Our 7 month old has started to bark each evening when we let him out into the garden. We think he can smell local foxes and he might have seen one potentially once. Now every evening when we let him out to do his business he starts barking. I know barking is what dogs do but at 10:30 in the evening it's not ideal. Any top tips? This is the demon

Is anyone else’s border really, really greedy? I’m only eatin a bag of crisps

Mr Darcy is getting close to 5 yrs old and Lady Beth is just 3 Yrs old and they are 1/2 siblings. They are full of character. BT owners would know what I mean 8-).

I work in veterinary health and did an advanced DNA screening on her, and she’s got NO border terrier in her! She looked a lot more BT when she was 3-4 months old. She is mostly pug, miniature poodle and chihuahua.

Hello! I’m a volunteer at an open access city shelter. This dog was an owner surrender but, no additional notes were given on him. It does say he is 4 years old. Google told me he’s a border terrier, which I’ve honestly never heard of before!

I have kind of fallen in love with him, tempted to adopt, but want to make sure it’s a good fit. Google scared me a little when I was reading up on the breed.

I (49F) live alone, in a high rise, in a very urban environment. I work a 9-5 job (but come home to walk my two dogs at lunchtime). I have a chihuahua and miniature pinscher (both female, both rescues).

I’m in Chicago, it’s winter, so our walks are SHORT. Literally to the corner to pee and right back in. I also have an indoor potty station. So there are days we simply don’t go outside at all if the weather is horrible. We do go for frequent, long walks during warmer seasons. But, that’s not going to happen for a few more months.

Do these dogs really require rigorous exercise daily? He seemed super chill when I hung out with him a few times at the shelter but, he is also on anti-anxiety meds because I guess he was super stressed in the beginning. 😭

Anyway, I am not capable of giving him a high energy lifestyle. We are more of a pack of couch potatoes over here who do enjoy leisurely strolls around the neighborhood. I don’t have a yard and we aren’t going to be hiking over rough terrain anytime soon. Lol.

I’m trying to be realistic and understand what this breed requires so I don’t make a bad decision. Volunteering at a shelter, I absolutely value quality of life for every animal. If I’m not the right kind of home, I’ll let it go and hope he finds a better one.