Floppy Puppy

[Dogsareme]

I went down to do some training with the shelter dogs today, and they had this sweet little dog. She was really dirty, and looked old, so I played with her then gave her a bath. While I was playing with her, I of course took note of her teeth, and she was just a puppy! Probably about 4 or 5 months old. She was losing her puppy teeth. After I bathed her she looked way better, and you could tell she was a border Collie.

I put her on a leash and took her outside. I noticed she likes to flop alot and will drag her back legs a bit. I thought at first something was wrong with her back legs. Once I got her outside all the way she was still doing the same thing, but then she would jump up and run run run.... then come back to my feet and flop all over. She was also doing submissive peeing a few times and would constantly turn her belly up to me, and this was just while I was walking her to the training feild.

I got her to the training field and sat down on the grass to pet her a bit just to kind of show I was not going to hurt her. Of course she kept rolling to show her belly, so I thought, Okay, I will give her a belly rub. But when I did you could feel that she was just all tensed up. And then I took note of when she would roll on her back that her jaw was right tight as well as her body tense.

So I decided maybe I would start with the come game. I ran in one direction backwards and called her to me. She did great at that game and when she got to me she would sit right away. She loved getting the treats and was very gental. But something else I noticed when she would sit after coming, she was again very tense, and was just staring into your eyes. ( I dont' try to look a dog in the eyes unless I am training focus, but bending down to give the treat you just kind of look at the mouth right? So I noticed that her head would stay straight up even though I would put her treat below eye level to give it to her, she stayed looking up.) I found her behavior a bit strange.
And then after she would do her flopping thing around you, almost like her legs where giving out, but when she was about 5 feet away from you she was running like any other pup just having fun...

I'm thinking she was kicked around. She doesn't cower when you go to pet her. I have never seen this kind of behavior before. I'm a bit worried. What do you all think of this?

[kalija]

I'm not sure if this is the same thing, but my pup Zuki is part border collie, and he often stares intently into my eyes. I was kind of thinking it was just a BC thing. He also looks "up" a lot, I mean he will follow a ball in the air with his eyes, or an airplane or bird. Our GSD does not do that, playing ball, she sees you throw and runs where she expects it to fall. So I was thinking that all this watching was a breed trait. I think they are just very visual dogs.
Maybe she is tense when she rolls over because she is expecting to be kicked or hit? If she got yelled at a lot, she would probably roll submissively, maybe her prior owner then hit her. Sad, I hope she can get over it and find a good home!
Have no idea about the flopping though.
On second thought it kind of sounds like the flopping might be a submissive act also, if she only does it when near you.

[calgal]

I went up north to look at a Border Collie that I was interested in adopting from the rescue. She did the very same flop. Each time anyone would come up close to her she plopped flat out. It was the first dog I've ever seen do that. Maybe they tend to have a very submissive way about them. Since the one your training is still a baby, I'm sure you can get her used to attention and not be so afraid of being hurt. She sounds like a very nice pup.

[GoldenPup]

My BC mix did it a lot when she was a puppy and she saw something neat to watch (...birds in the lawn...scary cats...). She'd flop down and watch what was going on...

Though if she is dragging her back legs, that would be more of a thing for the vet....pinched disc maybe?

GoldenPup

[Dogsareme]

ya, I wonder what it could be. Maybe I should write a Border Collie breeder and ask about this. It worries me because I have never seen a dog act like that, but it could just be nothing from what you guys are describing seeing other BC's do.

I sure hope it's not a medical problem in that young of a pup. Having my own dog have a medical problem at a young age was pretty hard. I will ask the shelter if they can bring the pup in to get x-rays.

[k9hullio_sam]

One of my neighbors used to have a husky (but she was really little and now that I think about it, maybe she wasn't a husky after all..hmm) Anytime that you would pet her, she would roll over and pee...EVERY time. They don't have her anymore, as she needed a lot of exercise and they couldn't give it to her in a town house (she went to live with their sister or something). I imagine the BC is just really scared. Maybe you could play some games that would raise her confidence??

[calgal]

dragging her back legs sound like she could have hip-dysplasia. I sure hope not. Keep us up on this.

[Dogsareme]

I went and worked again with the pup today. I've named her Sweet Pea lol. She was not so bad with the floppy stuff today. Though she was still very very submissive, just not as bad. I have never seen a dog this submissive before.

I mentioned to the shelter that maybe they should have her brought in for an examination. Once again, said they just don't get the funding for that and can't. I called my vet to ask him what he thought, and he mentioned it could just be because she is so submissive that it looks like her legs are giving her problems, and to just keep an eye on her. He also said she is very young to have HD, but it would not be the first time a young pup had it.

She is such a sweet thing, though I think she will need work to become an obedient family member for someone. She seems to want to chase cars really bad. I took her for a walk and she kept trying to take off after all the cars, and walking on the street there are tons. She was everywhere. Also she pee's everytime you go to pet her, she gets under your feet constantly, and is scared of alot of noises. All things I am trying to work on her with. I'm thinking I might take her, work on her for a few months, and at 6 months old find someone who wants to adopt her. I don't know, what do you guys think about that?