Homesteading after living aboard

Bonanza was enrolled in a cage fighting class today.

It was billed as a puppy training course.

Myself and the other puppy owner were trained on how to approach training with our respective pups. While we were listening, Bonanza and the four month old German Shepard puppy rolled around the floor nipping and chasing and tackling each other. The German Shepard has a good 10-12 pounds on Bonanza. It was fun to watch and the trainer said the dogs had good communication with each other. IE no one got hurt. And Bonanza has had a good long nap this evening! He put himself up into his kennel to nap.

Yesterday, I asked for Bonanza’s shot records from Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC) so he could go to school.

And two things happened when I called: The lady on the phone remembered my name and said “wait don’t tell me your dog’s name…I remember…it is Bonanza!” This is amazing to me—because they have hundreds of animals go through their shelter every week. She remembered Bonanza and me — and in her mind we are paired. That is amazing care from RACC right there.

And his papers say border collie mix! But they told me his mom was a black Labrador. And a lab mixed with a border collie is called a “Borador”. I have a Borador!

This crossbreed combines the friendliness of the Labrador Retriever and the intelligence of the Border Collie, so all in all, he is a good all-round dog!

Border Collies are extremely intelligent and intense dogs. A survey of some vets voted the Border Collie as the most intelligent breed of all time. Have you ever heard of the saying ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’? Well, this is definitely not true when it comes to Collies.

Combine that with a Labrador retriever whose line is best known for being friendly, and gentle, and intelligent also. Labs crave affection from their family and the aim of their game is to seek love, attention, and praise.

The Border Collie Lab mix needs a high level hour of exercise daily as an outlay for all that energy and intelligence, and if they don’t get this, the pup can become bored, restless, and destructive. Their intelligence and need for love from their humans make exercise very rewarding, and also acts as a great bonding tool for both you and your canine friend.

The trainer recommended these Doggie door bell for potty training. I had never heard of them before, but basically every time you take the puppy out to pee/poop, you have them ring the bells with their paws. With repetition they will come to associate going outside with ringing the bells and will start to do that independently when he needs to go out. So I ordered them. I will update you!

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