Our now 11 month old border collie/boxer mix has been introduced to dog parks. We have a bit of a problem.  Our very friendly (little too friendly)dog has issues with other dogs at the dog park.  It is a bit of hit or miss. Once she played well with a 7 month old male, although her behavior is not exactly what I observe with other dogs.  Today she was okay at first kind of made friends with a dog, then a new dog came up to her and she growled at it a bit. This also happend when she had a "playdate" with a friends female lab.  It almost seems like she is protecting myself and my daughter from other dogs.  The aggressive behavior doesn't match her otherwise jolly self.  Is this just a socialization issue or something else?

Part beaver indeed!  She ate big chunks out of our wood patio posts during the winter. They were partly covered by big pots of geraniums and I didn't see them until it was too late.  They know also have chicken wire decorating them!  Thanks for your responses, guess I will just have to double up on the chicken wire!

Our ten month old border collie/boxer mix is having a great time eating our redwood trees that are about 10-12 feet tall.  Yes, she gets plenty of exercise and attention. I have staked chicken wire around the trees, but she is managing to bend it and still get to them.  She is given lots of toys/rawhides to chew, so I am at a loss.  Does anyone know if there is a product that you can spray on the trees, or wrap the trunks with to discourage this behavior?  She is with us most of the time, except at night. She gets hot in the house and would rather sleep outside.  This is when she is having fun with our trees!  help!

Thanks.  She hasn't seen the vet yet, just noticed the dandruff yesterday.  In all other ways appears very healthy.

Okay, after reading tons of info about various dog foods, researching ingredients and trying to find something that fit our budget....we went with Kirkland Puppy Food which had a very decent list of ingredients.
Now, our 8 month old puppy has dandruff and is shedding quite a lot. Some of the shedding is due to our mid 70 degree California weather.  The shedding has been going on for about 3 weeks and since she has very dense fur I wasn't surprised until I saw the dandruff.  Now what??  I don't know what to feed her, and it seems one persons success is another's failure.  Any suggestions would be great!

I did finally settle on a food that will be a good choice for our furry friend.  But...I thought you all would enjoy this... After reading all your great advice and doing a bit of research I headed out to the local chain pet store to do some "bag" reading about ingredients.  I got bombarded by one very eager pet food rep and another who was very quiet, but I did ask a lot of questions...that they couldn't answer! The eager rep didn't even know what menadione(spell sorry?) was! I'm thinking, geez I just read a couple websites and I know what it is?!  Someone else couldn't tell me why her company used BHA in their products.  They both were very nice and told me to call the dog food company for further explanation!!  THANKS AGAIN!!

Thanks again for the site. I did just that, good and bad list!

I just spent some time on the dog food project..it is great! I found one food with a great ingredient list, no bad stuff...until the very end, menadione.  So I made a list and I think I might spend some time at the pet store today.  Just a couple of days ago we found a small privately owned healthy dog food store, might make my way back over there!  Thanks for the info about wet vs. dry.  Do most of you only use wet or a combination of the two?  THANKS

Thank you. I think I will try maybe to stay away from the grain based and look for more meat.  Also, I was told by the vet to take her off wet (that is all she got when she was very young)and only feed dry, something about it being better for the digestive system.  This seemed odd to me at the time, because she loves wet and I can't see the harm in mixing the two together.  I will make a list of what to stay away from, chemicals, harmful ingredients, etc.  Then off to the pet store I will go.  I do appreciate all the suggestions.

Thanks for all the wonderful input on pet food.  I've read many of the threads...and I am confused.  Is there anything out there that most people like? A consensus on a good brand for my 6 month old boxer/border collie?  She has displayed no allergies or serious problems with the foods she has been on.  She was a mess when we got her at 4 weeks old, ticks(that I had to remove with tweezers)in between her toes, fleas, worms, malnurished.  I knew nothing of dog foods so I tried Science Diet and she grew like a weed! But, several of you say Science Diet has issues.  HELP!  I am getting stressed!

Thank you. I have been a little curious about the free feeding too.  I grew up with "country dogs" who were free fed, but it is such a different life then our "city" dog.  A whole new learning experience for me!  This is funny, I thought when I had to take Biscuit in for puppy shots it was just one time!  Didn't even know a rabies vacination was a law!!  The vet looked at me like I had lost my mind, when I asked why I had to have the rabies(of course I was going to do it anyone!).  I didn't know Beneful had even been recalled.  I fed her the rest of her Iams yesterday, so out with the Beneful.  THANKS.  There is so much info trying to sort through which would be a good food choice for her and not deplete my bank account!

Thanks for the advice.  You all have some interesting stories.  Luckily our "Biscuit" who my daughter named after the book series for children - is a bit wild, but luckily not too big.  Yesterday we had a surprise visitor and I actually got her to calm down and sit (although it was a stretch and if I would have let go there would have been trouble!)and then she got petted.  Thanks it worked - and it is a good workout for my arms!

Wow! Thanks so much for all of your great help. Growing up we always had dogs, but we lived way out in the country and things were just different then they are now for our "in town fur baby"!  My husband, daughter and I just love her and like I said yesterday, "I don't buy them food shipped from overseas, why should I feed it to Biscuit." I didn't know anything about some of the "bad" treats so thank you so much!

Oh, forgot to mention, we switched from the Kirkland because she was having really bad gas!

Thanks. I looked on the American Nutrition site and noticed that they also make brands called Harmony, Blue Buffalo and Natural Balance.  We began feeding her Science Diet, she was in pretty bad shape when we got her as a puppy.  I tried the Kirkland and had to fill her bowl every other day.  We just switched to Beneful -which is definitely not my favorite and now she is needing a new bowl full everyday.  Which I am sure is due to a large amount of fillers in the food.  I just want to find something that is healthy and hopefully well priced as well. I would rather pay more, and make sure she is eating what is the best for her.  Thanks for your feedback!