pure kona wrote:

> On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:06:21 -0600, Kathleen
> > wrote:
>
>
>>pure kona wrote:
>>
>>
>>>On Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:19:40 -0600, Kathleen
> wrote:
>>>e photos!! We must have gigantica BC. Mollie is huge but
>>>just as sweet as your dogs look. Love BCs.
>>
>>Scully is 30 pounds, Zane is 40. When we first started playing flyball
>>almost 7 years ago Scully was one of the smallest BCs we saw. But
>>because small dogs bring lower jump heights there has been a strong bias
>>towards very petite females. These days it's not uncommon to see 25,
>>even 22 pound females.
>>
>>The need for fast height dogs was also the driving force behind the
>>first generations of purpose-bred sport crosses. The border-jack was an
>>attempt to transplant a border collie's intelligence and drive into a
>>jack russell's body.
>
>
> Kathleen, did you mean that they are breeding down the size of BCs?
> Ours must weigh close to 85 pounds. Too big to pick up on our scale
> today. But when we got her I read everything on BCs and remembered
> that one book said they have a real range of size and thee is no
> standard, according to the AKC- I think, for a BC. But every BC I see
> now, seems to be oh so petite and that is why I call ours a gigantica.
> Lovable and wonderful and in a big portion.

I make and sell protective skidboots for canine athletes. I've fitted
literally thousands of dogs in person and via e-mail. I have *never*
seen or heard of an 85 pound BC, let alone an 85 pound FEMALE BC.
That's gargantuan. In fact, if she's not tremendously obese I'd want to
see a DNA panel on her before I'd be willing to believe she's full
border collie and not a newfoundland cross.

The breed has a broad range, yes, but it runs between maybe 20 pounds
for the extremely petite female to 65 for a really huge male. Zane's
sire was 63 pounds but could have stood to drop 5. His mother was 40
pounds. Zane weighs in at 40 pounds but he's an athlete on a controlled
diet.

If in fact your dog is a pure bred, papered BC, and she actually weighs
85 pounds, I would strongly urge you to ask your vet for a candid
assessment of your dog's weight and overall fitness. Many dog owners
believe that because the vet says nothing about the dog's weight during
routine visits, that the dog is in okay shape. In point of fact, many
vets have become gun shy about mentioning weight because so many pet
owners are emotional about weight and food.

I can tell by the way you talk about your dog that you love her. The
single most important thing you can do to extend the length and quality
of her life is to keep her thin. Food is not love.